“Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” Hits the Social Media Circuit

November 22, 2010 • 2:10 pm • POSTED BY anna hartley

Ever wonder what music Elizabeth Bennet likes to listen to after an afternoon of verbal sparring with Mr. Darcy? Curious about the type of sword Mr. Bennet recommends for slaying the zombies that are spreading at an alarming rate through England? Looking for some advice about marriage and propriety from Mrs. Bennet?

On Friday, we launched a campaign for Quirk Books’ smash hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, so that these questions wouldn’t have to go unanswered. The campaign is based on the question: What if the characters from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies had access to the internet and could communicate with one another online? It consists of character profiles on Facebook and a variety of other social networks, including Twitter, Goodreads, Last.fm, Youtube, MySpace, OkCupid, Delicious, and a “mom blog” written by Mrs. Bennet.

In addition to the social media profiles, we created a Regency Era anti-zombie apothecary kit, which includes a hand-written note from Elizabeth Bennet as well as a series of balms, salves, and restoratives to help even the weakest person survive the impending plague.  The kits were sent to bloggers and media around the country, to announce the social media arrival of Jane Austen’s beloved (and now zombie-slaying) characters. You can check out pictures of the kit on Lizzy’s Flickr account, or purchase one yourself on her Etsy page.

Over the course of the next six weeks, the characters will continue to tweet, post, and blog about their lives—enacting some of the book’s bone-crunching zombie action, as well as the inevitable drama of Austen’s classic 19^th century novel.

Check out the campaign landing page here. The campaign got some love from Entertainment Weekly and Publisher’s Weekly on Friday, and we’re pretty excited to see where it’ll go.