The other day when I got home from work, I noticed a box from Amazon.com next to my front door. Because I had just received my recently placed order earlier in the day at the office, my first assumption was that they had made a mistake and sent a duplicate package to my home.

But when I got inside and opened the box, I realized it contained Eeeee Eee Eeee, a book by Tao Lin that I had placed on my Amazon wish list months ago. Still confused, I logged in to my Amazon account to see if by mistake I had been charged for an item I had not yet ordered. I had not been charged, but I noticed that the book had been marked as "purchased" on my wish list.

And while I was relieved that the book was not sent to me by mistake, I had a bigger mystery to solve now: Who sent me this book? And why? It wasn't my birthday, and no gift-giving holiday was near. I am not the kind of girl who random people shower with gifts, and so, after asking my boyfriend and mom if they had sent it to me, I was thoroughly perplexed. And a bit creeped out.

So I did what anyone would do to solve a modern-day mystery: I turned to the Internet. I noticed that the return address label on the box had the author's name, so I logged in to Twitter and started asking people what they knew about Amazon wish list protocol. I knew Amazon wouldn't tell me who sent the package, but I wondered if they put the return address of the sender or if they use the address of the product company (or in my case, the author) as a default.

When no one on Twitter knew the answer (Amazon guru Laura Creekmore was sadly absent from Twitter that night), I turned to Google. I put the return address into Google Maps to see if I could determine if it was a publishing company or a residence. Using Street View, I found the address to be of a building in Brooklyn that looked to be a mix of apartments and businesses. That didn’t really help me much, and I was starting to feel like a stalker.

So I went back to Google and started using search terms like, "Tao Lin + free book," "Tao Lin + Eeeee Eee Eeee" and "Tao Lin + Amazon Wish List." Finally, just ask I was about to give up, I came across Tao Lin's blog, Reader Of Depressing Books. The title bar only displayed "*" which probably explains why it took a while for me to find it in a search engine (tip: If you want people to find you easily, use descriptive title bar information).

But then I saw this:

*i did something* i ordered 20 tao lin books on amazon for people's wish lists on amazon, i believe this to be an effective promotional and artistic plan in terms of 'steady cash flow without a real job' and 'decreased existential despair' based on my timing, the effect on sales rank, foreign sales, possible reaction from media and those receiving the books unexpectedly…

It all made sense! I was part of some guerilla marketing campaign, one of the lucky 20 who were chosen to receive one of Tao Lin's books.

I'm now about halfway through the book, and it's as strange as I was hoping it would be. I also plan to order another one of Tao Lin's books, partly because I like his writing but partly because of the experience of receiving this one by surprise. It was an odd marketing tactic, but hey, I'm a bit odd myself.