In these difficult financial times, I know authors and everyone who gets a cut in what they earn are worried about book sales even more than usual. They lament used bookstores and Amazon.com. However, in my observation as a blogging book reviewer, it is the Emotional Investment of the Reader which ought to concern them most. If the emotional investment is good, the financial one will follow.
I read tons of books, some good, some bad, and some quite powerful. This past weekend I made a haul from the big city bookstore and the library. When I got home, I kicked back on the sofa with a regular Science Fiction novel by a famous female author. It even had a strong romance. It read like any old Earth-bound political intrigue story, only it was set on another planet. Booooring. To me. Anyway, I sped-read to the end and tossed. I don’t think the author needs my help with publicity anyway.
Then, I picked up a Science Fiction Romance novel by a not-as-famous author. I started reading the prologue and instantly she goes for my jugular vein! (metaphorical speaking) And I’m, like, “Noooooo!” I had to put it down. Clearly, this was a powerful novel and I would have to make an emotional investment. That means setting aside time when I can read it without the house burning down and the children dismantling the car.
Guess which book I bought and paid full price for too? Now, do you get what I mean by ‘emotional investment?’
The thing is authors make money when their books sell new.
There’s a whole group of avid readers out there who stick with the used bookstores and libraries. The lower price of the books is a bonus to the real reason they get their books there instead of the New Releases. By the time books arrive on the shelves of libraries and used bookstores, they’ve already been thoroughly reviewed and recommended. These readers are avid, the kind every author dreams of attracting. The reason why they’re so avid is because they make a huge emotional investment when they choose their books. They’re cautious when they choose. They don’t want their hearts broken.
These readers value their friends’ opinions, both online and in real life. They tend to find bloggers with similar tastes and rely on them for discussion and recommendations. They’re wary of professional recommendations and promotions.
In my observation, anything an author can do to reassure these readers her books are worth the emotional investment is a very good thing. Remember, the goal is to woo this group of readers back to the New Releases.
A few ideas-
1) Cover art which actually and accurately reflects the story. Besides missing your book entirely, readers who realize inaccuracy feel cheated. Cover art designed for impulse buyers do not work on them.
2) If your subgenre isn’t trendy, the titles should reflect the subgenre. Makes finding your book easier in a sea of blood-sucking dead guys.
3) Find the bloggers and other people who enjoy your kind of book and send out ARCs and other promotional things two months in advance. Be sure to comment and answer questions or you’ll come off as a used car salesman.
4) A Heat Level rating system for the entire Romance genre. A lot of these readers would buy new again if they didn’t have to worry about Heat Level. Despite the trend for more graphic content, there are still many readers who find it repulsive and many are not religious. Their reasons are varied. A content warning for each of your books on your website would be an appreciated alternative.
5) Find ways to promote the authors of your subgenre. Remember, these readers trust personal recommendations more than professional promotions. If they like your books, they’ll want to find more books in your subgenre. They’ll be terribly appreciative and your subgenre will grow.
That’s all I can think of for now. Anyone else have ideas?
This post was submitted by Kimber An.
Related posts:
While we’re on the subject of advertising, you all might want to pop over to Dear Author and read what they have to say.
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/02/15/why-ebook-hardware-manufacturers-are-missing-the-mark-and-the-market/
You do know, don’t you, that authors don’t design their covers and have little say in the art. Often, the title, too, as editors and marketing have the final say on both. So don’t preach to authors, preach to publishers if you’re not happy with art and titles. It’s out of the authors control.
I know what you mean, Cindy. My most recent release has a misleading cover. It gives the impression the book is of a very ‘hot’ nature when it’s really of the same sensuality level as my two previous books. I’ve been seriously worried that my regular readings won’t buy it because they think I’ve deviated from my usual. I also worry that some will buy expecting a steamier book than it is. That said, I appreciate any blog that gives me ideas about getting the word out to readers.
Oh, I know that! And I’m not preaching. I’m suggesting. If at all possible, if any authors do get any say, I suggest they go for accuracy to snag this group of readers.
Readers may complain, but they’re not going to preach to the publishers. They’re going to stay in the used bookstores and libraries. They must be *wooed* back to the New Releases and, unfortunately, I understand the responsibility for that falls almost entirely on the authors nowadays.
Readers rule! Love them, respect them, treasure every single last of them.
Be very, very nice to them. Readers are the customers and the customer is always right.
I would imagine that, in this recession, there are a growing number of readers who are ‘non-impulse buyers.’
Different readers are reached in different readers.
This group of readers, I think, feels as if publishers really couldn’t care less about them, but then I see a cover like this one-
http://www.jasminejade.com/pc-4565-54-keeper-of-the-loch.aspx
And I think, “Wow!”
I haven’t read that book, by the way, but I certainly want to now.
‘Different readers are reached in different WAYS.’ That’s what I meant to write.
Thanks for the SFR shout out, Kimber An!
I second the notion about the role of bloggers. I think bloggers are the new hand sell–not that they replace the interaction in bookstores, but that they supplement it.
I think leaving comments on blogs is a great way to get the word out about one’s book, especially if one is a debut author. Case in point, I found out about Jess Granger and her forthcoming science fiction romance BEYOND THE RAIN by reading the comment section here at RTB.
I might have discovered her soon after that point anyway, but because she was actively participating in discussions, I learned about her book sooner rather than later. The early discovery allowed for emotional investment earlier on my part (and her Ethel the Space Pirate series certainly helped!), especially since she writes in my favorite subgenre.
Ditto for Kristin Landon’s THE HIDDEN WORLDS, which I enjoyed very much. I learned about it from a post by Tia Nevitt at Fantasy Debut…who I learned about from Kimber An
It’s a thrill to make such discoveries in the blogosphere, so it can only increase my emotional investment when authors meet us halfway in their promotional efforts.
KimberAn, you are correct that readers want to be emotionally invested in the characters from their favorite authors. The thing that also needs to be considered is that many readers have to watch their pennies. As much as they might want to buy that book during its first week out, they just can’t afford to do so. In order to buy anything, they must be sure that it is a story that they are going to want to read again and again. That is where the library and reviews come into play. Even then, many can only afford an occasional visit to the UBS, and still be able to put food on the table. Writers must still be thankful to these readers on limited budgets. Many of them are the very ones who are willing to spread the good word. As to book covers…sigh! I think that your idea that authors include heat ratings on their website is very good. Youare so right in that preferences for romance that is not steaming has nothing to do with religion. I had a cool Special Froces guy tell me that he just didn’t want to feel like a voyeur. If he was going to do it, he would do it. He didn’t want to read about someone else doing it. LOL I guess it all comes down to targeting the audience.
Thanks, Frances and Heather.
Frances, excellent point about authors needing to be nice to even the readers who can’t buy new. Maybe they can’t right now, but someday they will. In the meantime, they’re still reading. And, and, and, as you point out, they’re often the ones who are most willing to spread the word for you and that is priceless!
COVER ART. I just thought of a helpful tip for authors who get stuck with inappropriate cover art. *It reeeeeelly pays to be very nice to your established readership.* Besides spreading the word, if you get stuck with inappropriate cover art, they can really go to bat for you. The author can’t really complain much without her publisher not taking kindly to it or readers reading or hearing her comments and thinking she’s a whiney crank. However, let your established readers know about the inappropriate cover art and they will be seriously annoyed on your behalf!
If they happen to be bloggers, they’re likely to rant on and on about it all over the place. And the more they do, the more potential readers will take notice and become aware of your book. You can sell it in spite of the cover art. 
I happily give away a lot of eBooks to bloggers and noisy readers.
I don’t think readers know that these copies cost authors money though (you only get a certain amount of freebies – with my publisher, that number is 5).
I know that was an eye opener for me when I became an author.
So it IS a risky strategy.
Cover art, as folks mentioned,
authors have absolutely no control over.
I don’t even see my art until it is final.
Titles are usually discussed
but the publisher makes the final decision.
Even final edits belong to the publisher.
I’ve heard stories of last minute heroine name changes.
What we CAN do is write the best book possible and hope it connects with some (not all, it’ll never connect with all) readers. That’s what I do.
I’ve got the opposite with my newest cover – I wanted something that didn’t scream ‘romance’ but did hint at the action-adventure aspect of the novel.
I fear that anyone seeing it in the romance shelf would think it’s misfiled. It’s not that I don’t like the cover, but the artist zeroed in on one aspect of the book, and the “romance” isn’t even a whisper.
I didn’t get to see my cover art until it was a done deal (and I noticed the artist had the cover for sale on e-Bay –it’s an original painting, not a photo.)
My take is that if someone who doesn’t read romance sees the cover, maybe they’ll be interested and read the book “by mistake”.
Yeah, look on the bright side. You might recruit a few new readers to this genre.
Yeah — and since I’ve have very positive feedback from the XY readers, and assuming they’re not the typical romance reading demographic, maybe it’s better to have the more action oriented cover. At least they won’t be embarrassed to be seen reading it.
One comment on libraries:
I don’t know how things work in the States, but in Canada, they actually track how often a book is checked out, and authors (or at least Canadian authors) whose books are checked out more than x number of times actually get a form of royalty check based on the number of times a book is checked out.
And talk about a coincidence, Canadian SF writer Robert J Sawyer just posted on this very subject today. (check his website here)
Apparently, the US has no equivalent. And in Canada, in order to get it, you have to register your books with the government.
But as he describes it, No, it’s not a scam — it’s the Canadian government’s annual kickback to Canadian writers to compensate them for their lost royalties on copies of their books circulated in libraries.
Me buying books is how writers I like get paid. I know that, but I use libraries for about half my reading, don’t buy hardbacks except from writers I know personally, and I don’t buy trade paperbacks unless there is absolutely no other format for a book.
It has nothing to do with emotional investment in the author or the book. I can’t afford hardback they take up space I don’t have to spare in my house after I read them and are a pain to carry around while I’m reading. Trade paperbacks are a scam. They are always cheaply made and fall apart faster than mmbp and the cost is way to high for the quality. I much prefer mmbp size and weight.
I use libraries both for cost and ecological reasons. I have lately come to worry about the carbon footprint of the publishing industry, I no longer get magazines or newspapers, and I’m trying like hell to get off all catalog lists. I can’t in good conscious buy a book and then throw it out. My local paper re cycler does not take books. I used to re-sell books after I read them, but some of my writer friends have broken me of that habit. I used to donate books to library/school/church sales but I’ve been told most books there end up resold as uses and again you are taking money out of writer’s pocket.
Some form of e-reader is the answer, but I can’t afford one yet and I’m not sure the technology is matured. I also have some vision issues that will need to be addressed before I’m 100% happy with e-readers, although my husband had a Kindle from work. They make reading journals far less expensive. It is not a bad thing to use but not good for reading in bed at night since we haven’t been able to find a reading light that really works well .
I just commented about whether epubs allow authors any say-so with cover art at:
http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2009/02/19/epublishing-the-beginning/
It’s my opinion that readers “might” be happier with cover art if authors were given more say-so. Perhaps all pubs worry about that, so maybe new authors could be given limited say-so.
Maybe print pubs might change their ways if they saw it working with epubs.
Also, Shreela mentioned at the end a very wonderful idea I often forget.
A lot of readers enjoy it when a website, blog, library, bookstore, or whatever has a ‘if you like X, you might like Y’ list of recommendations.
For example,
“If you like STAR KING by Susan Grant, you might like GAMES OF COMMAND by Linnea Sinclair.”
or
“If you enjoyed this novel by Karen Templeton, you might also like the novels of Kara Lennox.”