What Causes Readers to Place a Book on Their Keeper Shelf
I’m in California this weekend celebrating our oldest daughter’s college graduation! Please give a warm welcome to my wonderful reader friends Joy, Crissy, and Amy. They’re here to provide insight on a question near and dear to an author’s heart. What elevates a book to a reader’s “keeper shelf”? -Becky
What Causes Readers to Place a Book on Their Keeper Shelf:
1. The characters move off the page and take up residence in our hearts.
2. We start referring to the characters as if they’re our friends. “My friend Nora told me a story about this chapel…”
3. The cover gave us heart eyes the moment we saw it. You know the ones… Author? Doesn’t matter. Back blurb? Didn’t even read it. But that cover smooth-talked us into buying it all on its own.
4. It’s autographed to us personally.
5. We went from wanting to toss the book across the room at one point, followed quickly by wanting to hug it to our chest in adoration.
6. We want to both shout from the rooftops for the world to read it AND keep it close so that it’s only ours. Sharing can be hard when you find a book that is special to you. What if no one else likes it? The Horror!
7. We were unable to pick up another book for a few days after reading it.
8. We’ve met the author.
9. We were on the launch team and had a great time getting to know both the author and our teammates so now the book is a treasured keepsake.
10. We lived and found ourselves within the pages.
11. We read the entire book in one sitting and then contemplated starting it over because we finished it too fast.
12. One of our future children (or pets) will be named after one of the characters.
What causes you to add a book to your “keeper shelf”?
