If you are a reader (or if you are a reader who also loves to write), Terry Whalin of the Whalin Literary Agency has a post, Good News for Book Lovers, with lots of good links in it. Here’s the first paragraph:
After attending Book Expo America last month in Los Angeles, I continue to sort through the information that I carried home. While people are touting the demise of reading and the printed book, I found this Random House / Zogby Poll encouraging for book lovers. I picked up a news release about it in the press room at BEA. The headline declares, “82% of Readers Prefer Curling Up With a Printed Book To New Reading Technology.”
Now while I have taken surprisingly well to my Kindle, a year ago I would have sworn that I would never enjoy reading on a device just as much as reading a printed book. (Not better but just as much.) However, I don’t believe the printed book will go the way of the dodo bird any time soon.
As an author who is trying to grow my readership (what author isn’t?), I loved this:
“When they find a book they like, the vast majority (89%) said they make a special effort to look for other books by the same author. Women (92%) are more likely than men (86%) to seek out books by authors they already enjoy.”
That line is taken from a survey on Book Buying Habits of Americans.
One of the things I have learned is that published novelists and those writers aspiring to be published (especially if they’ve been at it a number of years) look at books a bit differently. We often pay attention to who published a certain book, not simply who is the author. Most writers go into a bookstore with a particular book or books in mind. I would venture to guess that not many of us buy books based solely on cover art and back cover blurbs. That’s because we are gathering our information from other places. That’s not to say there still isn’t joy in browsing bookstore shelves. I doubt that ever goes away for people who love to read.
Of course, I could be all wet about writers being different in their book buying habits. It could be that this is just me. I do a lot of perusing of Entertainment Weekly, Publisher’s Weekly, and People Magazine, reading the book reviews and paying attention to story lines. I pick up on “buzz” and, because of it, have read books I never would have bought otherwise.
What about you? How do you find the books you want to read? Are you faithful to an author no matter the genre she/he writes or are you more faithful to the genre?
-rlh-
