What Makes You Buy a Book?

Today, I read a great post by my new hero J.A. Konrath over at his blog, and had to share.

He discusses marketing and promotional tips that have worked for him, as well as dispensing this great advice:

"What are the last ten books you bought, and what made you buy them? Use those techniques to sell your books to other people. Do what works on you."


I'd never thought about self promotion that way, and I felt like facepalming when I read that.


It's so deceptively simple, but brilliant.  We're all our own audience since we're writing what we love to read, right?  So what makes us buy books?


I'd love to hear your thoughts :).


What was the last book you bought, and why did you buy it?

Online Plaforms: Why They Work!

Today, I'd like to share a real-life story of how an online presence/platform can lead to book sales!

On Friday, I wandered into Borders on my lunchbreak, not intending to buy anything, but just hanging out in the warmth with my husband, killing some time (we work together, which rocks.)

He stops at the bathroom, and Lo and Behold I'm near the Romance section. I have read the occasional Paranormal Romance, so I'm tooling around when I think "Wait a minute. Don't I know someone whose book came out recently? Lisa Dale? Doesn't she write romance?"

I scan the shelves and sure enough! There she is, sandwiched between Claudia Dain and Jacquie DAlassandro: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, by Lisa Dale.


I peer in closer and think "Hey, I think I saw the book trailer for this, and it looked pretty good." I pick it up and begin to thumb through it.

Phrases like "An author to keep an eye on" and "A haunting debut" pop out from her book blurbs. At this point, I'm totally excited. I feel like I know this person from my interactions with her online--I follow her blog and Twitter account, and am emotionally invested in her being successful.

She seems very cool, so I am overwhelmed with the sudden
need to pay it forward and support her. My credit card pops out of my wallet like a pop tart from a toaster!

My husband is back by my side rolling his eyes, because I swore I wasn't going to buy anything, and here I am clutching a book and grinning. Oh, well!

I sat in the tub that night, reading through a contemporary romance (something I never thought I'd buy), and LOVING IT. I'm not done yet, but so far the book is very emotionally real, the characters full of depth, and the tension is high. I've already put Lisa's first book, SIMPLE WISHES, on my Christmas list for Santa. It's made of awesome.

My point? I swear, there is one :)!

After finally putting the book down, I went to find out how I'd first heard of Lisa and why the heck I knew about this book in the first place. It turns out, she'd started following my Twitter account (@twoheadknight), and I'd followed her back (@LisaDaleBooks.) She send me a really nice message at first, we tweeted a tiny bit, and then I followed a link to her blog. Her blog is awesome, so I stuck around, saw the book trailer, and the rest is history!

Isn't it amazing how such a small thing like following someone on Twitter can lead to a book sale? And a book sale to someone who doesn't normally even read in her genre?

I can honestly say, too, that I felt emotionally invested when I saw her book there because she'd made such a cool impression online. I cheered when I saw the book and snapped some pictures, either to send to her as a "yay, I bought your book" or to post here. Hooray! It feels great to support authors, and even better to get a good read out of it.

So, brush off your blogs and your Twitter accounts, people!

It definitely pays off to put yourself out there :).

My question to you:

Have you bought a book based on something you've heard online or because of an author's blog/tweet?

Building a Platform & Other Fun Things

Who doesn't love platforms? They're sexy, fun, and.... oh, wait. Wrong kind of platform.

We've all been hearing a lot about platform building recently from agent blogs and writer blogs alike. However, I feel that it's been a bit heavy-handed about getting known online and not so much about working on publishing credentials. Sara Tribble (of "I Am Write") had a great post about this and will be hosting interviews with editors to help us learn how to get started.

She's also challenging us to write a short story or piece of flash fiction for each interview she posts :D. I'm game! Who's with me? Let's get on this bandwagon and try to build up our platforms (or at least writing skills.)

Something else going on soon is Book Blogger Appreciation Week, which you can read about here read about here. It's coming up in September, and there will be fabulous prizes and fun for those of you with blogs discussing books. Stop on over and check it out.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that I'll be leaving you guys this upcoming week. I'm going to MAUI (SQUEEEE!!!!) and won't be back until next Sunday, 7/26/09. I promise to bring back pictures and to tell you all about it. I haven't gone anywhere since my honeymoon four years ago, and am so excited I'm literally vibrating with anticipation in my office chair. Is this day over yet?

Here's a pic for you, and have a wonderful weekend/week without me!

Book Promotion: What Do You Do?

I read a wonderful interview today over at the Cynsations blog that got me thinking about promoting books: http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2009/06/new-voice-sydney-salter-on-my-big-nose.html.

Author Sydney Salter talks about what she's done to promote her book MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS. She links a lot of good writers' resources and talks about the importance of overcoming your shyness to get yourself out there. It's a must-read.

In this day and age, most of us have come to realize that book promotion is going to land almost entirely on our shoulders, which leaves us asking... what do we do now?

I've read a few great books on the subject, including Steve Weber's PLUG YOUR BOOK, Lissa Warren's THE SAVVY AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO BOOK PUBLICITY, and Jaqueline Deval's PUBLICIZE YOUR BOOK. I highly recommend these if you are looking for a place to start gathering info.

However, I find the most helpful tips come from authors themselves. You can see case-in-point what's working and what's not by following their careers and reading interviews.

What do you guys think? For those of you who are published, what efforts do you make to promote your work?

For those who are striving, what do you plan to do when the time comes? :)