You Haven't Answered Yet?

Jeff Cohen

After reading Erin's very helpful post on promotion I got to musing--as I do frequently these days--on what actually drives book sales other than having the name "Stephen King" or "James Patterson" on the cover. (Even Bill Clinton is going to Mr. P. to work on his first thriller.) And while this sitting and staring made me look all sorts of deep it did not really result in much of an answer.

It did raise a few more questions, though. But they were not the sort that I can answer on my own. I need your help. I need readers (and what author doesn't?). So I'm asking the readers who visit this blog this week or every week a few things that can help authors better understand what works and what doesn't. For example:

• Do contests help? If you see an author is offering a free copy to anyone who can identify the 14th word of the Gettysburg Address (it's "a") will that make you stop and take notice? Will you enter? How do you feel if you don't win?
• What kind of contests are most appealing to you?
• Do posts on Facebook or Twitter give you information or just annoy you in the course of your working day?
• Does this blog, in addition to giving you vital data on my health, get you at all excited about upcoming books?
• Do you go to an author's web site? What generally drives you there? What do you look at on a web site?
• What gets your attention: The cover? The title? Do you just buy everything one author you know writes?
• Do reviews make a difference to you?
• Do blurbs?
• How do you find out about new books and new authors?
• Is this too many questions?
• Is Terri going to ask me Five Questions? 
• What do you want to know when an author takes questions? If I did a session of Ask Me Anything on Facebook, what would you ask? Would you follow it?
• Have you ever thought: Why doesn't an author do [fill in the blank]? If so, what?
• Do book signings drive you out of the house (to get there) or out of your mind (from boredom)?
• In short: How can I (because let other writers ask on their blogs) get your attention with a new book, like for example EDITED OUT?

Come on now, readers. I'm counting on you. Don't be shy; answer below in comments. Let's start a discussion. Because without readers a writer is just some yutz who types things out and then wonders why that was necessary. Besides, it's way too late for me to get a real job.

Comments

[Dru]

1. No. I'm not going to win, so I don't enter them.
2. The ones where everyone is a winner.
3. I've found some new-to-me authors on Facebook, so yes it does work.
4. Yes it does
5. I'll go to an author's website if they are a new-to-me author and also to see what's going on with my authors if I haven't seen anything from them on social media.
6. Cover. It will depend on the book. Sometimes author writes in a genre I don't read, so I wouldn't buy that particular book.
7. I read what I like. If I know I'm going to read a particular book, I won't look at reviews but if I'm not sure, I may look at a review.
8. Not really
9. I scour Amazon, Stop You're Killing Me, on Facebook, newsletters, word of mouth
10. Nah
11. I hope so
12. I have no idea
13. ?
14. I love going to book signings. Gives me an opportunity to tell the author that I enjoyed their book.
15. By letting me know a month in advance; then a week; then the day before. I normally know what book I'm going to read and/or buy a month before it is released.

[Debbie]

I won Edited Out through a Goodreads contest. I'm polishing the review to post there, on dorothyl, and Amazon. I love Facebook author post, will occasionally follow to a blog (always yours). I don't do Twitter, or Pinterest, or... I don't read Amazon reviews until after I've read the book, if at all. I basically go to an author's site when I think, "Whatever happened to..." and find that they abandoned their website too. I love mid-list author signings, have occasionally been the only audience not related to the author. When you get too successful, I quit coming.

[Jeff Cohen]

Thanks, Dru!

[Mare Fairchild]

I'm not big on contests as I don't win often either and only mess up the odds for other people. This blog makes me very excited, FB posts about books are helpful to me as I don't have a lot of time to prowl about online, I love book signings (once drove 4 hours to Manchester, NH to meet Hank Phillipi Ryan, Felicia Donovan, Jessica Conant-Park, and Susan Conant,) and I tend not to pay much attention to reviews as I find them unreliable unless I know the author of said review. I know that I missed several questions, but I hope that this helps a bit.

[Kate Gallison]

No good at self-promotion. I can tell you what doesn't work. A few years ago I bought ice cream for everybody at Bouchercon, printing up what was then my writing name (Irene Fleming) on napkins. The ice cream machine malfunctioned. An hour later as I sat disconsolately in the hallway mourning my failed PR campaign a woman came by with an ice cream cone. "Where'd you get that?" I said. "They're giving ice cream away," she said. "Some writer is sponsoring it."

[Aimee Hix]

Do contests help? Sometimes

What kind of contests are most appealing to you? Fun and easy. A "contest" that I "won" recently was you had to send the author a picture of a Coke bottle with the MC's name on it and you got a free series-themed tote bag. Super easy and everyone who participates wins.

Do posts on Facebook or Twitter give you information or just annoy you in the course of your working day? Information. The good thing about those mediums (well, FB,anyway - Twitter is all.the.time.annoying) is that if I'm not in the mood I can skim or skip that post and come back later or never.

Does this blog, in addition to giving you vital data on my health, get you at all excited about upcoming books? I like coming because I like supporting the people who write on the blog. In general, I already know when stuff is coming up so it's really about participating and engaging.

Do you go to an author's web site? What generally drives you there? What do you look at on a web site? Usually I'm looking for the series order or other archived data.

What gets your attention: The cover? The title? Do you just buy everything one author you know writes? Yes, yes, and yes.

Do reviews make a difference to you? Not generally but if I find that I'm losing interest in a long-standing series I'll check reviews to see if my complaints are echoed. That's usually when I stop buying the series.

Do blurbs? Yes! I bought Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead because Sue Grafton blurbed it "I love this book." SG will get my attention in a blurb as will other authors I like and respect.

How do you find out about new books and new authors? It's definitely a matter of recommendations from friends who are bloggers and authors.

Is this too many questions? Maybe.

Is Terri going to ask me Five Questions? Dude, you need to ask her yourself.

What do you want to know when an author takes questions? If I did a session of Ask Me Anything on Facebook, what would you ask? Would you follow it? Hmmmm ....

Have you ever thought: Why doesn't an author do [fill in the blank]? If so, what? The biggest downside to writing myself is that I start to second-guess choices an author makes. 'Oh, I would have worded that differently.' 'Hmmm, is that the strongest decision for this character?' I try to turn it off but it's a struggle.

Do book signings drive you out of the house (to get there) or out of your mind (from boredom)? I go if it's a friend. Generally, I won't brave the onslaught if it's a famous author (who isn't a friend) because the crowds are annoying. But at a conference ... I'd be stupid not to meet Sara Paretsky or Carolyn Hart.

How can I (because let other writers ask on their blogs) get your attention with a new book, like for example EDITED OUT? Just keep writing good books, staying connected, and being the good guy that you are. For me, I'm in the world so it's my connections that matter. I want my friends to succeed and I will hand-sell books to people in the bookstore. I don't do that for jerks no matter how good the book is but ... one I find out a writer is a jerk, I can't enjoy the book anymore anyway ....

[carl brookins]

way too many Q.
Contests? No never. don't enter, never won
FB and Twitter? Most definitely yes
Blog maybe
Author web sites are always useful
Book cover/title/etc/ Only read all of one author--Shakespeare.
Reviews--yes, write and read 'em
Blurbs--mostly useless or badly written or too revealing--I avoid 'em.
Newspaper, radio and Tv interviews are good,
useful and even valuable. Also conventions.
Yes, too many questions.
have a nice day.

[Shannon]

I will buy a book if I know the author, and I really enjoy the other books in the series. For me, it's important to have the book offered either through my library, on Kindle Unlimited, or under $7 for the ebook. At this point in my life I don't have an endless supply of "fun" money to spend on books.

I don't enter contests, but I do see them offered on Facebook. The rest I don't enter is because the authors having the contests are for series I don't enjoy.

I get recommendations from my two online book groups, and also use the site "NoveList", which lets you find books based upon books you've already read.

I read the blurbs on FictFact.com(my site that I use to track my books I read), and will usually try to get more information from Amazon. However, I never read the reviews from other readers.

Hope this helps!

Shannon

[Sue Trowbridge]

I'm not gonna answer all of those Q's, but I'll answer a couple:

I no longer enter contests, because most of them just seem like a way to gather email addresses for mailing lists, and heaven knows I'm on enough mailing lists.

How do I find out about books? I have some friends whose tastes are fairly similar to mine, and those are the recommendations I take the most seriously. I also pay attention to awards (I'm currently reading this year's Edgar-winning book), reviews (online and in print), and what people are talking about on social media.

[Catherine]

Do contests help?

Most contests seem to be giving away books in the middle of a series, or the latest, not the first in the series. If I haven't already been reading, I'm not much interested winning a free book. Besides, I rarely win AND most contests I've tried are hard for me enter on my elderly iPad so I have to remember to try when I'm using some other, newer device. So it pretty much doesn't happen. When I don't win? I hardly notice.

Do posts on Facebook or Twitter give you information or just annoy you in the course of your working day?

I'm rarely on Twitter. For that matter, I don't often spend a lot of time on Facebook. When I see something from or about an author I'm interested in, it might remind me to look for a book.

Does this blog, in addition to giving you vital data on my health, get you at all excited about upcoming books?

Not so much excited about books as interested in you which leads to interest in your books or reminds me of something I want to read.

Do you go to an author's web site? What generally drives you there? What do you look at on a web site?

Occasionally. Not a lot because often it's hard to find what I'm looking for, like the order of publication (or suggested order to read, if not the same), information about particular books (not spoilers but enough to give me some idea what a book is about), or information about the author.

What gets your attention: The cover? The title? Do you just buy everything one author you know writes?

Probably it's either information about a new book by an author I already like or recommendation from someone I "know" (could just be another author I like).

Do reviews make a difference to you?
Do blurbs?

If they're short, especially if written by someone I know.

How do you find out about new books and new authors?

Mostly from friends or one of my kids.

Is this too many questions?

LOL nah

What do you want to know when an author takes questions?

I like to get to know people so although it's really none of my business if you're happily married or if you like dogs, tidbits like that may make an author more interesting to me and so raise my interest in his books.

If I did a session of
Edited cover
Ask Me Anything on Facebook, what would you ask? Would you follow it?

maybe

Do book signings drive you out of the house (to get there) or out of your mind (from boredom)?

neither. I *have* stood in line to get a book signed but not many times.

In short: How can I (because let other writers ask on their blogs) get your attention with a new book, like for example EDITED OUT?

Talk about it. Not ad nauseam but occasionally. Say a bit about it, tell what inspired it, say what was hard about writing it or, I dunno. Give a bit of insight into the book or you. "So glad I finished it!" "I hate the editing process." "So and so at the Such and such museum was a great help in learning about ____." "Mark your calendars, it's coming out next month." Assume we're interested (or why would we be reading your blog, email, etc) but also give reasons why we should be.

Hope this helps some.
Catherine

[Kristopher]

Well, let's start out by admitting that I am far from the average reader, so anyone should take my answers in that context.

The only contests/giveaways I enter are those offered through Shelf Awareness. And that is only because I know the odds of winner are better (it's an industry site) and they are not going to add me to tons of mailing lists.

Blurbs don't really do much for me because as one who is active in the community, I know how these things "work." The only time a blurb will make a difference to me is when I know it is an author who rarely blurbs - then I will listen. But the average reader is not going to know that information.

Like Dru Ann, I pretty much know what books I am going to be interested in, so I mainly use reviews to gauge my interest in titles that are outside of my standard interests. If I see something getting really positive reviews, I will always consider it, even if it's not typically "my thing"

I go to far too many booksignings. And always buy a book when I do.

[Annette Naish]

I am lucky, and win contests...sometime.
If the book being offered is one I want to read, I enter.
Not a fan of Facebook or Twitter
Yes, I like to read what an author says about the next book etc
I do go to author's website, particularly if I know they have a new book coming out and
the author makes me pay attention, and yes, there are some authors who I would plan to buy whatever they write, but recently I have found that is no longer true, covers can be a draw, but the book must be one I would want to read
I look at reviews if the book or author is one about which I am unsure - If I am looking on Amazon, it is as interesting to see who panned a book as who liked it...strange as it may seem there are people who bad mouth a book but have never read another book or at least never reviewed another book....they are suspect to me
Blurbs are meh
I find new books from book sites - friends who read the same type of books - reading what some of the book group members have said
Yes, too many questions

[Jeff Cohen]

Thanks to everyone who took the time and made the effort to answer! I'm not sure I know anything more on how to promote a book, but the answers were very interesting and helpful!