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Chandler: Random House booked an initial $10,000 ad campaign on Goodreads

Otis Chandler · Goodreads: Otis and Elizabeth Chandler · Feb 7, 2022 · at 44:41

Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler recounts how the company stumbled upon its advertising business model through publisher inbound interest.

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“Someone at Random House, the very nice woman named Julie Sills pinged us and said, hey, I love your site. And you know, I'm at Random House. I'm in charge of marketing books. Is there any way we can work with you? And so she Set me up with the guy at Random House who does that. And he said, I'd like to do a 10,000 dollar campaign.”

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