Peter Farrugia talks with publisher Chris Gruppetta and author Pierre Mejlak about their latest book release and the untapped potential of internet marketing in Malta.

Merlin publishers have led the way in book marketing on the island, using Malta’s fascination with social networking to good advantage in their latest campaign for Pierre Mejlak’s collection of stories Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid.

Rather than a departure from his earlier work, Mejlak sees this new collection as a necessary development. The experimental microfiction of Qed Nistenniek Nieżla max-Xita gives way to a broader view, as Mejlak turns his focus on the ubiquitous short story.

“I want to give as much attention to the story as to the style and structure,” says Mejlak.

And with a working relationship that spans 12 years, author and publisher have come to know one another’s tastes and style well enough to realise that the time had come for a change of pace.

Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid includes 10 short stories united around the evocative power of memories.

“Critics who had an exclusive look at the manuscript said that compared to my previous work, emotions explored here go deeper. The characters are more scarred and the locations are more lived-in,” says the author.

Set in locations and cities Mejlak has visited or called home over the past seven years, they promise to be the work of a maturing voice on the local scene.

Featuring a set of 10 ‘e-postcards’ designed by Pierre Portelli (one for each of the 10 stories in the book), the campaign presents a winning combination of tantalising images and provocative text, encouraging all kinds of interest and online participation.

The e-postcards are elegant in their simplicity, including an image and a line of text drawn from Mejlak’s collection, with the Merlin logo and a date which was eventually revealed to be the date of the launch. There was no direct mention of the book or its author.

“The response has been beyond our expectations,”says Gruppetta, “it’s so difficult to say ‘I’ll take somethingviral’ because, by definition,viral happens spontaneously and cannot be stage-managed. So it was a bit of a risk.”

One that has paid dividends, if the number of comments and tags are anything to go by.

The campaign also featuresa competition where Facebook users tag themselves andfriends, and try their handat writing a sentence thatfollows on from the featured text.

“The comments have takenon a life of their own,” saysGruppetta, “and the competition will continue until July”.

The goal behind the e-postcard initiative was to combine creativity and innovation in a perfectly viable medium. Gruppetta is keen to let the public engage with the mechanics behind Merlin’s marketing and tap potential readers at the source.

“One had to be creative and find new ways to interest people. You can dress up mediocre writing with all the glitter you like, but what ultimately sells is good content.”

Commenting on the role of writers in selling a book, Mejlak says, “at the end of the day I think it’s the publisher who should determine what role the writer must play in a publicity campaign. Sometimes it’s in the publishers’ best interest to keep the writer miles away from a microphone or TV camera. Other times it’s different.

A publisher is always in a privileged position of knowing the writer and his style well and will use that knowledge to best place his writer in the campaign - either at the very centre of it or at the periphery.”

Working with the internet has given literature in Malta a new lease on life, not least when it comes to marketing.

Small budgets make traditional advertising difficult and finding new ways of getting the message out there, to an eager audience, is all part of thechallenge.

“The internet gives us a wider audience at a lesser cost – although I would emphasise that the amount of time invested to make an online venture work is much more than that for a traditional one,” says Gruppetta.

With another successful campaign under its belt, Merlin’s ready for more.

“We’re working on some very exciting stuff including Simon Bartolo’s first young adult novel in English, a work that will thrill, disturb, amaze and wipe away misconceptions about Maltese authors writing in English.

“I’ve been lucky with somevery unusual, very well written manuscripts. We’ve signed them up and are currently in the editing and production stages.”

Readers, take note – with publishing in Malta undergoing a renaissance, it is local interest that will keep creativity high and set new standards for up-and-coming authors.

Dak li l-Lejl Iħallik Tgħid will be launched at Palazzo Falson in Mdina, on Wednesday.