Hire this cat to hang out next to your books. PROBLEM SOLVED.
I've been wanting to write this post for awhile when a case study fell into my lap. And by "case study" I mean, I bought a book by an author I'd never read before. The book is the first in the Collector series by Chris F. Holm, called Dead Harvest. I'd like to tell you the story of how I went from never having heard of Chris F. Holm to buying one of his books--because, truly, with so many authors trying to get my attention, I'm kind of a tough nut to crack.
I became aware of his work in a hazy way. My friend and IB contributor sj at Snobbery reviewed Dead Harvest about a year ago. (Yes, it took a year for me to get around to this. I don't jump on the book train quickly.) I remember reading the review, but uh . . . as a book blogger, I don't really read book reviews with the intention of reading the book most of the time, unless something just really, really sticks out to me. Because I have a Pile Of Books That Needs To Be Read. Many of the reg'lar, non-blogger readers I know are in the same boat; they've got books and books that they have and want to read, or want to purchase and read, or have checked out from the library. It is a fact that book reviews, at least here at IB, get the least amount of traffic; people aren't sitting around waiting for reading recommendations. So I read the review, but didn't put it on my list of Books I Need To Acquire. I didn't forget, but I didn't actively remember, either.
sj, meanwhile, became a big fan of Holm's work--and friends with his wife via Twitter, which connected us somewhat. Paths began to cross on Twitter. sj would tell me about the books she was reading and really enjoying. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I was filing this away.
Then Amy got into the mix, reviewing two of Holm's books for IB back in April. She mentioned that there was an homage to Stephen King (who we love) in one of his short story collections. I filed this away, too.
Earlier this month, Holm wrote a post on his blog making the point that telling people to read books by women, just because they're by women, is actually doing a disservice to women. I agree with his point of view entirely; although I do think we should be challenging reader bias, I don't think we should be trying to mandate that people read books by women by being shouty about it. I'm planning a whole post about that for sometime soon, so I won't go into detail; suffice to say that I liked what Holm had to say on the subject, both in his post and in this comment to a post partially in reply to his post. (This is internet-comment-Inception, apparently.) Holm caught my attention and expressed himself so well I thought, hey, maybe I will also like his fiction, since he's so good at writing other things.
The final two things that sold Holm's books to me: the very reasonable price of $4.19 for the ebook edition of Dead Harvest, and the cover art for Dead Harvest. Lookit:
If you don't think this is awesome, I don't think we can be friends.
So, Dead Harvest is now chilling on my Kindle, waiting to be read.
Okay, blah blah blah. What does this even mean to me, a Very Important Writer who needs readers?
Simmer down, VIW. I will tell you.
I'd like to emphasize this first: at no time did Chris F. Holm approach me about reading his books. He certainly had access, and since Amy reviewed him before, he also knew that we had a blog and stuff. We never had that "heyyyyy you read books, did you know I WRITE BOOKS?!" conversation, but I still ended up buying one of his books.
I also like the way that Holm handles himself online in general. Whenever I see him on Twitter, he usually has something good to say; he isn't pushy or spammy about his books; he is nice to my friends and they seem to like him. His wife is also delightful. She regularly interacts with me, not as an Author's Wife but as a reader. Since I'm also a reader, we get on much better as two readers than as Book Blogger and Author's Wife.
I might never have gotten a taste of Holm's written expression if he didn't write about things that I like to read about online. As a feminist, a reader, and a rational humanist, a post about sexism and reading is kind of right up my alley. I would have been far less likely to read something he'd written about one of his books. (He also participated in a post talking about his favorite booze. This, also, was relevant to my interests.)
This transaction still could have been shut down if the design and price were wrong. Note that I, and most readers, do not expect a free book. But for a book my friend read last year that was put out by a small publisher, I thought the price was excellent; I would have probably paid up to $6 without a quibble, and maybe up to $7 with reservations. And DAT COVER! I can't begin to tell you how much I love the cover design for his series. Please note, authors, that isn't just a cover, it's art. Art draws people (har har). Design is important. Don't skimp.
Need an actionable list: Here:
- Don't feel the need to ask everyone to read your book to get readers. While you'll probably have to ask some people, it's not at all necessary to ask every blogger and reviewer you meet to read your book.
- Connect with people, not only as Author to Customer, but as reader to reader, or whatever to whatever. Just be cool.
- Get your book into the hands of appropriate reviewers who will genuinely enjoy your work. (This would be an appropriate time to ask someone if they want to read your book, as long as you follow protocols.) I don't actually think that Holm asked either sj or Amy to review his books--pretty sure sj found him through Angry Robot, I COULD BE WRONG!--but him having been reviewed by both of my lay-deez put him on my radar.
- Participate in things other than writerly promotion online. Write articles or posts that your target audience might like to read. (Tip: things your audience wants to write about includes their interests. If I'm not already a fan of yours, you writing about you or your writing does not fall into my interests.)
- Make sure your book is enticing when I go to buy it. If it's overpriced or poorly designed, I may well pass on it. I've done so many times.
Skeptical? Well, I've gotta tell you: last night, I decided to buy a book by another author for very similar reasons. I follow football player Chris Kluwe on Twitter; I started following him when he made news for being a football player who is also adamantly pro-gay-rights, and then saw that his handle was @ChrisWarcraft and I had to follow him. (Y'all know I spent a few, uh, years playing World of Warcraft). Last night, a page I follow on Facebook posted an article about Chris Kluwe's new book. I didn't click on the article because it was about a book by Kluwe, despite being already a fan; I clicked the article because it was about Kluwe's opinion of Ayn Rand, which piqued my interests enough to actually read the article.
I loved the excerpt. Then I got down to the book and had a good laugh:
This is the most majestic book cover I have EVER SEEN.
I'm buying this book. No question about it. I may even tune in to watch him play football sometime, despite the fact that football gives me conflicting feels.
If you don't take anything else away from this post, take this: very few of us readers will discover you through marketing or advertising. We're far more likely to buy your book in the Internet Age if we're able to connect with you somehow, even if it's not directly. (I'm not exactly BEST BUDS with Chris Kluwe.. or Chris F. Holm for that matter, although I think both of them are rad.) So think outside of straight book promotion and figure out how you can pique your audience's interests.
What about you guys? Have you discovered an author recently through a friend, a blog, Twitter? How do you usually find new authors? Leave your comments below!
[sc:greengeekgirl]
