What Makes You Buy A Book? by DL Larson

Last night I attended a meeting about the pros and cons of publishing on one's own, plus the options of e-book selling. The discussion was lively and extremely informative. Both POD and e-books have a place for marketing, thanks to the pioneers who have shaved a path to give authors more options when it comes to publishing their work.

Toward the end of the meeting the question came up, "what makes folks want to buy a certain book over another?" The answers were plentiful. The genre was a major decision, the font, the price, etc. The top answer was the BOOK COVER!

As writers we understand the appeal of book covers. The writing may be terrific and exciting, but first it has to be noticed. Authors have not always had much control over their book's design, but that has changed plenty in the last few years. POD publishing and e-book publishing have improved the options just as it has left the burden of much of the work on the writer. The cover is usually the author's responsibility to find the cover that works best for their story. Places like Think Stock have thousands of options to pick from. Another option, especially if you as a writer don't have the time or inclination to do this on your own, is to hire a cover artist. After the meeting last night, I'm convinced the expenses involved in hiring an artist will benefit the book in the long run.

With so many options available to the avid reader, the writer must step up to the challenge of having an intriguing hook to catch the reader's attention. An eye-catching cover can do more than blog tours, radio or book signings. That's exciting news for writers. Perhaps our time and money and effort would be better spent on fantastic book covers rather than time away from writing by doing book tours, etc.

The question I'm asking you today as a reader, what catches your attention and what makes you buy a book? Is it the cover? The back blurb? Word of mouth?

Share your thoughts with us!

Til next time ~

DL Larson

Alligator in the River by Morgan Mandel

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2631716,alligator-chicago-river-caught-082410.article

Well, today they captured a baby alligator that was swimming in the Chicago River. What made this event so unusual is that alligators are not common to the Chicago River. Anyway, the poor critter will be watched for about three months, then hopefully released somewhere it can adapt. They say it was probably somebody's pet, since it looked well fed and in good shape.

I like to use everyday examples and tie them to my writing experience. Many writers swim around, do their best to follow the rules and try to get somewhere, yet all along they're swimming in the wrong place. The problem is how to know where the right place is. Is it better to go with a small press, a traditional press, or perhaps strike out on your own by self-publishing through ebooks, or print on demand?

All of us alligators need to make that decision. We can't expect someone to scoop us up and make the decision for us, as happened to today's gator. Take heart, though, you can always change your mind if needs be, or do a combination. Right now, I have two novels with a small press, one is self-published, and all are also in ebook form. I've submitted a partial to a traditional house, but am undecided what my next course will be. When the time is ripe, I'll take action.

Now, where do you swim? Or, aren't you sure yet?

Morgan Mandel
http://facebook.com/morgan.mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com/

Even editors get a pink slip

I receive the electronic version of PW Daily from Publishers Weekly and lately there have been lots of annoucements about folks who've lost their jobs at publishing houses and some of them are editors. So tough times have hit all of us.

This isn't the only evidence of cost saving moves at publishing houses. Even the big guys are starting to use Print-On-Demand (POD) something that was considered tabu not that long ago. Truth is that POD is a very cost-effective way of producing books and printing only those books that readers want to purchase. Blend this with the availability of electronic books and the green effect is dramatic.

As the major publishers began to use POD it was mostly refered to as short press runs, but the processes were effectively the same. The quality of POD has increased dramatically over the years and given the current economic strife POD is finding a much broader audience. Ironic isn't it? Ironic that it took a financial crisis for elitist attitudes to be humbled into accepting such a process. But this isn't the first and only time. I often say that money makes the world go round and it's amazing what changes will take place when money does the talking.

When I first started reading romance novels, most people looked down on the books as well as the readers. Granted, some of the novels were wanting of substance but so are lots of other passtimes or other forms of escapism. But enough of them were well worth the read and hey they brought lots of happiness to lots of people. Fast forward to today and more romance novels are sold than any other genre and business is booming. So, not so many editors at the publishing houses with this genre seem to be getting pink slips.

Message to publishers - keep those happy endings coming and readers will help you keep you bottom line healthy, even in tough times.