Normally we promote other people's work, but this year we got a chance to make our own. In March, we launched Mayfly Quest, a book-marketing campaign for my postapocalyptic novel Mayfly. Book publishing rarely mounts the kind of campaigns that marketers do for entertainment and brands, focusing on getting books into the hands of people who weren't already fans. The focus of #MayflyQuest was reaching people who didn't know they should be fans.

Jeff Sweat has helped tell lots of interesting marketing stories over the years, in his PR roles at Deutsch, 72andSunny and now his own PR shop, Mister Sweat. But now he's getting a chance to apply what he's learned from creative advertising to build an audience for his own very special product—his first novel, Mayfly.