Pearls of Wisdom

Built-in audience eager for more content: The author’s YouTube channel, MEPearlA, has 124,000 subscribers, with some videos amassing hundreds of thousands of views. The author will tap into this built-in, adoring audience to drive sales of her book, which will showcase some of the same characters and advice that have made her videos such a cultural phenomenon.

Author with cult following: Author has been celebrated by Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, New York magazine, and more, and media is guaranteed to be interested in this book delightfully inspired by the author’s online presence.

Mysterious author continues to interest media and internet writ large: The enigmatic, eccentric nature of Pearl (the squirrel deity) and Georgette Spelvin (her human caretaker and YouTube’s "Possum Lady") has given these characters a certain cult status. Combined with the Reddit boards dedicated to finding the true identity of Georgette Spelvin and devoted followers writing to Pearl for advice on her website through the years, loyalty to the cult of Pearl and Georgette has proved enduring; this lasting intrigue speaks favorably to the marketability of the book.

Unexpected addition to a successful genre: Pearls of Wisdom is the latest entry in the eternally popular category of books that merge animal humor with spiritual humor, appealing to the same large market as The Tao of Pooh (Penguin, 1983, 430,000 RTD), A Sloth’s Guide to Mindfulness (Chronicle Books, 2018, 24,110 RTD), and The Little Book of Sloth Philosophy (HarperCollins, 2018, 56,370 RTD). But while these books feature conventional characters and well-known spiritual traditions, this is the first book of its kind to feature underrepresented (but beloved) creatures and an eccentric, cheeky approach to mysticism to speak to a forward-thinking, satire-hungry audience.

Playful aesthetic of package makes book a unique visual treat: With the same attention to glamour, oddity, and whimsy that has made ME Pearl a sensation online, Pearls of Wisdom will immediately surprise and intrigue readers, utilizing highly designed spreads rich with full-color photographs and innovative layouts. Emphasizing absurdity, irony, and mystery, the package will delight fans of Twin Peaks, fantasy, and farce.

Untapped selling potential of underdog animal stars: According to Marie Claire ("Raccoons and Possums are the Internet’s New Favorite Animals," 2019) and the New York Times ("The Cutest Animal on Instagram is Probably in Your Trashcan," 2019), "trash" animals including possums and squirrels are the new "verminfluencers," drawing millions of followers and mass fandoms once relegated only to kittens, goats, and llamas. Despite the surging interest in these adorable, eccentric critters, this is the first book to give them a starring turn—tapping into the zeitgeist and meeting the desires of a growing audience.