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A Monk Jumped Over a Wall by Jay Nussbaum has been generating quite a bit of notoriety due to his rather unique, for authors anyway, marketing strategy.

The strategy in question? Why a Nymphomercial of course.

Minds out of the gutter now folks, Jay Nussbaum and a small group of his friends cleverly brought to life an entire scene from the novel and posted it on YouTube. In it, the main character is at a job interview, and boy does he lay the B.S. on thick – in more ways than one. What made the biggest impression on me however was the opening to the video, where a blonde bombshell in a bikini is reading Jay’s book and does a little promoting of it. She reads an excerpt from the book that states that you can sell anything, any product, if you use a pretty girl.

Naturally the bombshell thinks that’s absurd. Is it? Does sex really sell? I’d have to say that he is right on the money there. The video doesn’t necessarily say what the book is about, and while the interview is amusing, I imagine most will remember the girl and her mention of and endorsing of the book. I can also imagine a lot of people buying it out of curiosity now because of said video.

Nussbaum, by the way, is holding a little contest where you will have a chance to win a free autographed copy of A Monk Jumped Over a Wall. Exact details are posted on the video’s page and his website.

A Monk Jumped Over a Wall revolves around a young Manhattan attorney employed at a law firm whose clients take great pleasure in brutal foreclosures on home mortgages. When the attorney decides to try to help a family keep their home, he finds himself at odds with his firm.

It sounds intriguing to me, because let’s face it, we’ve all been brought up to believe lawyers have no soul and no heart. So the idea of an attorney with a soft spot is quite compelling, not to mention the thought of people being forced out of their hard-bought homes is a topic to push anyone’s buttons.

Is this a book you, yourself will be looking for the next time you visit the bookstore? What about this marketing strategy, is it possible to see more books advertised in this manner in the future?