@HareBrain suggested I start this thread since I now spend (not for the first time!) a good proportion of my time buying books (I opened a bookstore this year). Most books I buy from an online catalogue and, apart from margin, what else attracts me to a book? I’m hoping this might help those looking at bringing out books or with small publishers where some of the marketing lies with you. Feel free to ask anything (including things like how to approach shops)
Here goes:
The cover. Definitely a big part of the equation. The cover should indicate the genre (I really need to upgrade Inish Carraig which I suspect might have been a bigger hit with a more clearly SF cover and title) if possible. Go to a bookstore and look at the covers of books in your genre. A space marine in armour? Military sf. Two kids running away from a laser coming down from the sky? YA sf adventure. Ones that work well on the shelf: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of... series, very clearly SF: The Martian, ditto: Gaiman’s titles as very clearly branded. Ones that don’t work well - could be SF or fantasy, and then where do I put it (this will become a theme), unknown author name and strange title (this from the lady who has a SF called Inish Carraig) that doesn’t denote genre: ditto.
The Title: strong indication of genre, something that invokes some kind of good, ‘what’s that, then?‘ I see, literally, tons of titles. Most pass me by. A few I’ve bought recently just on the title: Challenger Deep, a YA book (good cover, too), Meanwhile in Dopamine City.
this is important - most booksellers won’t read your book and they may not read your genre. Unless you make it easy for them to know what theyre buying, they won’t because they won‘t know how to recommend it.
the blurb - don’t leave me wondering what in the heck your book is about. I have one in the shop (The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters) that is supposed to be brilliant. But it’s kind of steam punk mixed with mystery and reads kind of crime like but it’s actually urban fantasy. I’ve put it everywhere and nowhere feels quite right. It’s a great eye catching cover from a big publisher but I can’t understand where it goes. (Sometimes this can work though -
The Liar’s Dictionary, a new release, is an intriguing enough cover to excuse the fact it doesn’t quite tell me what the book is about). Be clear, tell me the genre and keep it short. Some author quotes help but they should also be clear: ‘a great, brash space adventure’ works better than ‘a wondrous book full of great concepts!‘ ditto ‘a clever and intelligent writer’ tells me more than ‘terrific writing, I just loved it’.
Quality - this is something I’ll be looking at for sure. Most self published books are terrible on the shelf. They are cheap looking because their spines bend and the paper is thinner and they just look a bit wick (a local term, naff is closest I think) on the shelf. you can get away with that at conventions since your book mostly won‘t be sitting alongside others. but once it’s sitting with others it’s important it looks good quality.
check out the latest Terry Pratchett discworld hardbacks, they are lovely. Many paper book buyers are looking to treat themselves. Pretty sells. Thin paper, curling and bowing books aren’t pretty. They feel cheap, even though they’re mostly more expensive than equivalent paperbacks. I’m not sure what the answer to that is, but I’ll be exploring it for my next release, even though mine are okay on the shelf as it stands, they could be prettier.
Here goes:
The cover. Definitely a big part of the equation. The cover should indicate the genre (I really need to upgrade Inish Carraig which I suspect might have been a bigger hit with a more clearly SF cover and title) if possible. Go to a bookstore and look at the covers of books in your genre. A space marine in armour? Military sf. Two kids running away from a laser coming down from the sky? YA sf adventure. Ones that work well on the shelf: Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of... series, very clearly SF: The Martian, ditto: Gaiman’s titles as very clearly branded. Ones that don’t work well - could be SF or fantasy, and then where do I put it (this will become a theme), unknown author name and strange title (this from the lady who has a SF called Inish Carraig) that doesn’t denote genre: ditto.
The Title: strong indication of genre, something that invokes some kind of good, ‘what’s that, then?‘ I see, literally, tons of titles. Most pass me by. A few I’ve bought recently just on the title: Challenger Deep, a YA book (good cover, too), Meanwhile in Dopamine City.
this is important - most booksellers won’t read your book and they may not read your genre. Unless you make it easy for them to know what theyre buying, they won’t because they won‘t know how to recommend it.
the blurb - don’t leave me wondering what in the heck your book is about. I have one in the shop (The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters) that is supposed to be brilliant. But it’s kind of steam punk mixed with mystery and reads kind of crime like but it’s actually urban fantasy. I’ve put it everywhere and nowhere feels quite right. It’s a great eye catching cover from a big publisher but I can’t understand where it goes. (Sometimes this can work though -
The Liar’s Dictionary, a new release, is an intriguing enough cover to excuse the fact it doesn’t quite tell me what the book is about). Be clear, tell me the genre and keep it short. Some author quotes help but they should also be clear: ‘a great, brash space adventure’ works better than ‘a wondrous book full of great concepts!‘ ditto ‘a clever and intelligent writer’ tells me more than ‘terrific writing, I just loved it’.
Quality - this is something I’ll be looking at for sure. Most self published books are terrible on the shelf. They are cheap looking because their spines bend and the paper is thinner and they just look a bit wick (a local term, naff is closest I think) on the shelf. you can get away with that at conventions since your book mostly won‘t be sitting alongside others. but once it’s sitting with others it’s important it looks good quality.
check out the latest Terry Pratchett discworld hardbacks, they are lovely. Many paper book buyers are looking to treat themselves. Pretty sells. Thin paper, curling and bowing books aren’t pretty. They feel cheap, even though they’re mostly more expensive than equivalent paperbacks. I’m not sure what the answer to that is, but I’ll be exploring it for my next release, even though mine are okay on the shelf as it stands, they could be prettier.
I have one bookcase for sf, another for fantasy and a small one for horror.
