Irish author Sally Rooney has already been declared the representative of everything.

She has been called an expert on being young, or analyzed for her flirtation with Marxist theories.

Since Rooney's American publisher flanked her novel "Beautiful World, where are you" with a small fashion drop, the writer has also been the most famous figurehead for literary merchandise.

This refers to accessories or even items of clothing that are launched to promote a book.

Fan outfits for readers, so to speak.

The principle is known from pop music or football, where band shirts or club scarves have long been standard.

Later, the striking, sometimes decidedly inexpensive aesthetics were adopted by some fashion brands.

Authors and publishers are now bringing out such products more and more often.

While printed jute bags have a certain tradition in the industry, the repertoire now ranges from hoodies to logo tights.

These pieces are often only available in limited editions, if you can buy them at all.

That should draw attention.

And at the same time gives the book the aura of a lifestyle product.

In Rooney's case, the merchandise ended up in the mailboxes of selected people.

Influencers, models or the American film director and author Lena Dunham were among them.

They were sent illustrated canvas bags and bucket hats with the title of a novel embroidered by Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishers.

Everything in sunny yellow, here and there the pool blue of a Hockney painting shone.

The pieces were soon seen in the streets and on Instagram, where the recipients were happy to show themselves with them.

And by doing so, letting a lot of people know that something new from Rooney was coming.

In long lines

The marketing strategy worked, because the intention was, of course, to get the title talked about.

Possibly even with new target groups: Anyone who comes across a novel through a bucket hat, which could also come from a streetwear brand, does not have to be someone who usually goes to the bookstore.

Such a development has been observed in social media for some time.

There Booktoker – a derivative of Tiktoker – can bring a book into the focus of a new generation.

Some publishers have therefore long been using methods similar to fashion companies or sports brands to give their books visibility.

Instead of cosmetics or energy drinks, they send books and merchandise home to influencers - in the hope that the novel will make it into an "unboxing video" with an enclosed bath towel or nice packaging.

"You always send something that serves the staging," says Rita Bollig, DTV's marketing director.

Depending on the publisher's profile, such strategies may play a larger or only a very small role.

But few can ignore them, because there is always competition for short attention spans.

Hanya Yanagihara was one of the first in the literary business to realize this.

In addition to being a writer, she is also the editor-in-chief of T Magazine, the style supplement of the New York Times.

So you can assume that she has an interest in design, but also a certain savvy in marketing.

In any case, this is supported by the fact that Yanagihara had shoulder bags with a tomato-red block print designed for her latest novel “Zum Paradies” and advertised them on Instagram even before the book was published.

The designs created by Patrick Li have "a certain Supreme vibe," says Yanagihara.

In fact, the bright aesthetic is reminiscent of the red and white logo of the streetwear brand that invented the principle of fashion "drops": Supreme brings collections to market in such limited numbers that

A kind of identifier

Claassen Verlag, where the German translation of “Zum Paradies” was published in the spring, took over the strategy and the bag design.

Merchandise is understood there as a small part of large campaigns.

"It can act as a kind of identifier," says Sabina Ciechowski, head of marketing at the Ullstein Group, to which Claassen belongs.

This not only gives the novel visibility, but also ensures identification with the author or the idea behind the book.

"Precisely because of increasing digitization, consumers are very accessible to haptic and material marketing tools."