Literary Culture

Gossip Girl is releasing the first complete season on DVD August 19, 2008 (U.S.).

Will those who flock to purchase the DVD set of Gossip Girl when it is released be interested in reading the novels that inspired the TV show? Warner Home Video and Hachette Audio hope so. They have packaged the DVDs alongside an audio book of the first Gossip Girl novel written by Cecily von Ziegeser and narrated by Christina Ricci.

From a purely marketing standpoint, this is a great idea, even if it only gets a small percentage of viewers to listen to the audio book. It will introduce them to another means by which they can get their Gossip Girl dirt via traditional books and eBooks that they can listen to on their ipods.

Traditionally, the Gossip Girl novels have sold well. There are 12 Gossip Girl books in print and they have sold over 5.6 million copies. Oddly though, the eBooks have not encountered the same success. In the first five years of releasing them as eBooks, they sold only 1000 copies yearly according to Bookscan.

It's difficult to tell how Gossip Girl followers will react to the eBooks. On one hand, they can be downloaded onto ipods and listened to at the gym or beach. However, audio books have traditionally been more utilized by commuters on their way to work, a demographic that Gossip Girl's core audience falls short of.

The important thing to watch will be to see how Gossip Girl fans respond to this marketing gimmick. Reading in any form should be encouraged, even if it amounts to listening to an audio book of the latest goings on between Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf and the gang.