World, Writing, Wealth discussion
All Things Writing & Publishing
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Who can spread a word about a book?
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Jeez, I cannot stop posting! This is why I had to go AWOL for a while--you guys have the best discussions! Anyway, my friends and I talk books all the time and often recommend books to each other, but we are all professional philologists. On the rare occasions when I interact with other types of people, we talk about books much less, except possibly cultural phenomenons like Harry Potter or the 50 Shades books.That being said, my friends and family members have started talking to each other and to me about my books, which is nice.
Nik, you have struck the real problem. Word of mouth is great because if someone actually talks about it, the event is so rare that the listener takes notice.
I think a lot of us have moved "word of mouth" into "word of screen," talking about books online on websites, reviews, forums, blogs, etc. And I don't know that it's a bad thing, as we can recommend a book we might not otherwise mention that way, because it's such a take-it-or-leave-it format.Not having the pressure of recommending a book or having to be the one telling readers about it is what I like about marketing tools like those here: https://ryanlanz.com/advertise-your-b... You can put your book or service out to tens of thousands of people who will not complain if they don't like what your recommended (or wrote), and you don't have to feel like you're bragging. Plus, it's affordable, with options starting at about the same as a cup of coffee...a win all the way around. :-)
i belong to a Book Club so of course we talk about books, there and socially. Getting guest posts on other author's websites helps too - I host a different author each week on www.ritaleechapman.com. If you are interested you can contact me through the website. Won't get you a lot of exposure but every bit helps!
Are books' discussing still a go at public gatherings (as much as they happen)?
Marie in this group has a good book review blog. She's mostly done horror type books, but I think she wants to branch out. She reads lots of Goodreads authors.
This is an absolutely bizarre thread for me. All you have to do is a search on the web and there are tons of places to find out about books. The beauty of the web is the very same as its biggest failure, there is so much out there it can be tough to either find the right news things or narrowing your search down to the right size. Me personally, it is still word of mouth. What I have noticed is that I do read paper and that itself generates discussion with recommendations. People are more likely to ask about a book as compared to an ereader. Maybe it is obvious I am reading a book and they may not know what is on the ereader.
My friends and I discuss and recommend books to each other all the time plus write reviews on NetGalley, BookSiren, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter
Book lovers love to share when they find something interesting. I always feel good when I take the time to review one I really enjoyed.
When I'm searching for a good book to read, in any genre, the first thing I do is type into Google 'best [insert horror, sci fi, fantasy, etc.] books' and see what comes up on those lists. Then I'll look them up on GoodReads and read a bunch of reviews. I always look at a few of the bad reviews because these days you can't rely on all the 'glowing' reviews.But as far as word of mouth, book clubs, libraries, and such, almost never, which makes me feel somewhat hypocritical as a self-published author. I guess you could say that by searching top book sites it is somewhat word of mouth but that method tends to favor traditionally published works. And there are a lot of good self-published stories out there that may never get discovered.
Whether published by a traditional publisher, vanity press, or self-published, no method is as effective as traditional marketing, promotional, and publicity venues and methods for creating awareness of a specific book among avid readers.Promoting any product requires investment of effort, research, time, and money. Very few novice authors ever achieve commercial success within this extremely competitive field. That said; some have. There is no reason why you might not eventually become one of them. I wish you success.
G.R. wrote: "And there are a lot of good self-published stories out there that may never get discovered...."You have tapped a great point for me. Until I came to Goodreads, I never read much by independent authors thinking it was mostly fan fiction or not ready for prime time. However, I won a Independent author's book and loved it. Since then I read lots of independent and review all that I read, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I take every review no matter who wrote what seriously. I do this because it is important to treat every author both fairly and seriously. Have I been treated the last six years. Lots of great stories that I wonder why they cannot get published in the regular ways.
As to why they cannot get published in the regular ways, I think that many choose not to bother. In my case, I tried the first step, which is to get an agent, but agents get up to 30,000 enquiries a year and they take on no more than two, unless they are just starting. An agent wants the author to help with promotion, which means the agent wants the author to be close, either to the agent or to a sizeable market. There are no agents in NZ for my type of writing, so, well, it was self-publish or spend the rest of my life writing query letters.
Not too long ago, the title of published author could be applied to only a few hundred thousand living writers. Thanks to the invention of the personal computer, the internet, and self-publishing venues, literally millions can now technically and legitimately claim to be a published author.Unfortunately, as with any product, the first casualty attributed to expansion from a few well-established, experienced producers to vast numbers of unestablished, inexperienced producers, is, more often than not, quality.
Instead of trained, professional, unbiased gatekeepers being tasked with judging whether or not a manuscript meets at least minimal quality requirements for consideration for publication and widespread distribution, the producer of the work now often makes that determination.
In order to ensure even a minimal chance for commercial success, a novice writer should allow unbiased, qualified individuals to judge the quality of their work prior to investing the considerable time, energy, and money required to produce, market, promote, and distribute formats of their book.
The odds against attaining commercial success within this extremely competitive field are daunting, but not impossible, to overcome. Be realistic and honest with yourself and you may actually become one of the few who do eventually succeed. I wish you success.
Jim wrote: "....In order to ensure even a minimal chance for commercial success, a novice writer should allow unbiased, qualified individuals to judge the quality of their work prior to investing the considerable time, energy, and money required to produce, market, promote, and distribute formats of their book.The odds against attaining commercial success within this extremely competitive field are daunting, but not impossible, to overcome...."
Not bad an advice. There is a lot of support and mutual encouragement among authors, yet your sobering voice is not less important to bridge between actual and desired
But do people (except for specialized sites like here) still discuss books?
When the last time you talked books during a coffee break at work or with someone in real life?