Sunday, December 23, 2007

Book to Video Partnership Between Harper Paperbacks and MySpaceTV Provides MySpace Users with How-To Information

MySpace has struck a content deal with Harper paperbacks and bestselling author Neil Strauss (The Game). Starting today, the MySpace community can view weekly video episodes that explore the false myths of dating from Strauss's new book Rules of the Game. The videos, created exclusively for MySpace, can be seen on MySpaceTV (http://www.myspacetv.com/) and on Strauss's official MySpace profile (www.myspace.com/neilstrauss).

Each of the eight weekly episodes will be approximately three minutes long and feature David Faustino ("Married with Children") and Corin Nemec ("Parker Lewis Can't Lose") acting out a "rule" from the new book with a mission at the end of each "rule." At the conclusion of each video Strauss will explain more about the "rule" featured in Rules of the Game and challenge the MySpace community to incorporate it into their own dating lives that week. The first mission regards stepping outside of the dater's comfort zone.

"MySpaceTV has enabled me to not just tell people how it's done with a book, but to also show them with videos of real-life interactions. After watching David Faustino get actual phone numbers with, for example, his identity concealed, his hands tied, and his mouth duct-taped, no guy should ever have to fear approaching a woman under normal circumstances again," said Neil Strauss.

The series aims to connect with MySpace users through interactive video posts to the author's profile reporting their personal experiences using the "rules". Every week, Strauss will choose one user who submits the best video of the week to win different prizes, such as a one-on-one dating consultation with him. In addition, the user who undergoes the most impressive transformation wins a free ticket and travel to Strauss's next Stylelife Academy seminar. The Rules of the Game series will culminate on Valentines Day with a special video from Strauss.

In addition to promotion on MySpace, every copy of Rules of the Game sold will have a MySpace sticker on the book jacket driving people to Strauss's profile - marking the first time MySpace has participated in this type of promotion.