Going to the Bookstore Like a Writer

Recently, our own Jan Drexler posted about how to read like a writer. How to analyse, consider, and deconstruct fiction to improve our own writing. If you didn't get a chance to learn from these wonderful posts, you can read the two-part article by clicking HERE, and then HERE.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Ah, welcome back! :)

After reading Jan's articles, I got to thinking about how, in addition to reading to make you a better writer, you can also make observations elsewhere. Including a bookstore.

So, on Friday night, my dear husband took me to Barnes & Noble to take some pictures and make some observations. (Warning, this post will be picture-heavy, because I couldn't resist!

What can we learn as writers by going to the bookstore?


1. Whether there are any of your books in stock. (Admit it, pubbed authors, you check when you're in the store.) In all, our Barnes & Noble had three of my titles in stock this time. Yay! It's informative, and you have a chance to liaise with the booksellers at that store, and to let people know who ask that they can pick up a copy of one of your books locally.


2. Whether any of your friends' books are in stock. I found lots of friends' books, including this beauty by Tina Radcliffe. :) Show of hands, how many of us have gone into a bookstore and thought, "I know her. I know her, too. I know him. I've met him." And how many of us have turned our friends' books face out on the shelves??? :D


3. A trip to the bookstore allows us to find out what's new. As much as we try, we can't possibly be aware of every new book in every genre. A trip to the bookstore, however, will show us books grouped as new releases, by popular authors, and by new, promising authors. Why do we need to keep up on new releases? Because it helps us know what is trending, the genres, the topics, the authors. By knowing what's moving in the market, we can write more intelligently for the market we're targeting.






4. A trip to the bookstore will give you a quick overview of the types of titles that are trending. Titling books is often quite difficult for a writer. How to distill their work into 3-5 words that give the reader a clue as to what the story is about without giving the whole show away. Notice how titles fit the genre, too. Mystery, romance, general fiction. The titles carry the flavor of the story. Peruse the titles in your genre, see what appeals to you, think about words that reoccur, words that readers identify with your genre. Try mixing and matching words and ideas to come up with a title that fits your story and your market.





5. Find out what cover art is trending. I LOVE looking at, flipping through, admiring, and otherwise engaging with books...and I am a sucker for a beautiful cover, one that tells me right away what the story is about, the genre, the target audience. At the moment, because  am writing a Regency series, I am drawn to books written in that era, and books written about that era. I love that you can immediately tell the difference between the history books and the novels, but that both have similarities, too. There are trends in covers that I am not crazy about...I am not a fan of the 'Marie Antoinette' cover where the heroine is headless. I'd rather see her face, or even all of her from the back, than no head at all. But that's just me. Lots of folks love those covers because they say it lets them imagine what the heroine looks like for themselves.



6. A trip to the bookstore can help you narrow down where your book should be shelved. When you pitch a book to an agent or editor, the first thing they will want to know is, what genre is your book? The agent wants to know so they can inform the editor, so the editor will be able to quickly ascertain whether the story fits what that publishing house buys and puts out. The editor will want to inform marketing. Marketing will want to know so they can inform book buyers at the major bookstore outlets. And the book buyers will want to know so they will be able to shelve the book appropriately to reach the readers most likely to buy the book. If you can't tell what it is you write, the battle is so much more difficult to get that book onto shelves. Peruse what categories are marked at B&N and try to see where your book fits.



7. A trip to the bookstore can help you with the dreaded "Comparables/Competition" section of your proposal. In this part of the proposal, you're asked to compare and contrast your book with others in your genre. There are helpful pointers for this section that we can talk about at a later date, but the bookstore is a great place to begin your search for books like yours.


8. A trip to the bookstore can really help when it comes to writing 'back cover copy' for your book. It's hard to distill your book into two or three paragraphs that will really grab the reader, and writing effective back cover takes practice, but you can get a jump on learning how by reading. Read a lot of examples. Note what appeals to you, what grabs you? What similarities do you see from one book to another? Especially read the back cover copy from books in your genre to see what is trending, what various publishers are including, and even take a peek at the author bios to see what is being included there as well.

Trips to the bookstore are just plain fun, but you can also gather valuable information while you're there that will help you stay up on the latest trends and to make your book proposal the best that it can be!

When was the last time  you were in a bookstore? 

Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. She’s a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota, and she is married to her total opposite and soul mate! When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, www.ericavetsch.com where you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at https://www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/ where she spends way too much time!




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Journey along in the Old West as four women travel to meet their husbands-to-be and discover that nothing is as it was planned. Eve’s fiancé is in jail. Amelia’s fiancé has never heard of her. Zola’s newlywed husband is dead. Maeve’s travel is misdirected. Can these brides can find a true love match?
The Galway Girl by Erica Vetsch
Kansas, 1875
A mail-order mix-up sends Irish lass Maeve O’Reilly to the Swedish community of Lindsborg, Kansas. Will Kaspar Sandberg consider it a happy accident or a disaster to be rectified as soon as possible?
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