Rock & Roll Mystery Novel Attracting Music Fans Who Rarely Purchase Books

Rock & Roll Mystery Novel Attracting Music Fans Who Rarely Purchase Books

Unexpected Results Were Revealed When Buyers of the Mystery Novel Rock & Roll Homicide Were Analyzed Using MySpace Preference Data

SCRANTON, Pa., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Rock & Roll Homicide, a mystery novel hailed as, "A brilliantly written tale," by Midwest Book Review, was initially promoted through the social networking site MySpace. An analysis of the first 200 buyers revealed two very demographically different groups were purchasing the book.

The most interesting was a group of 18 to 35 year-olds that indicated they were not book readers. "Most of the buyers who fell into this category expressed a strong interest in rock music in their MySpace profiles," said author RJ McDonnell.

MySpace provides its users with a place to profile their interests in music, movies, television, and books. To be included in the non-reader category the buyer had to either leave the book preferences section blank (while filling out the other sections), or make a statement such as, "I don't read," or, "I hate books." The analysis was conducted on the first 200 MySpace users to purchase the novel, of which 88 were in the non-reader category.

This group can be subdivided into fans and musicians. The music fans were mainly female, found the novel's detective to be very hot, and frequently commented about enjoying the humor in the novel. The musicians and former musicians were predominately male guitar players and vocalists who related to the detective's unrealized dream of becoming a rock star.

The other MySpace demographic group buying the novel was primarily comprised of female mystery fans between the ages of 40 and 65. "They were more interested in plot development and the way my detective relates to his girlfriend and his father," McDonnell said. An Armchair Interviews Book Review of 9/4/08 confirmed that assessment by focusing on the novel's "wonderful character development." When McDonnell told this group about the non-reader phenomenon through his MySpace site, he received several replies regarding the older readers passing the book on to children and grandchildren whose reading was limited to the Internet. "I'm glad to see my novel is helping music fans to expand their love of lyrics, to other expressions of the written word," said McDonnell.

The story is told from the perspective of mid-20s San Diego private investigator, Jason Duffy, a former club musician. He is hired by the widow of a slain rock star to work his first murder case. In over his head, Duffy utilizes all of his resources and music industry experience to move his investigation forward. This includes mending fences with his estranged father, a retired and highly opinionated San Diego police detective.

McDonnell is writing a mystery series using the same core cast of characters. A book description, excerpt, author bio, media kit, reviews, and ordering information may be found at http://www.rjmcdonnell.com/. Media interviews may be scheduled by emailing rj@rjmcdonnell.com.

   Rock & Roll Homicide   Hardcover - Killeena Publishing, 2008   ISBN:  978-0-9814914-1-7   http://www.rockandrollhomicide.com/   

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: RJ McDonnell

CONTACT: RJ McDonnell, rj@rjmcdonnell.com

Web site: http://www.rockandrollhomicide.com/
http://www.rjmcdonnell.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment