Comments on: Fame

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:15:36 +0000

i am constantly, constantly taking risks on new authors–at least in part because I read so much that there’s nothing left by my ‘favourites’ in the bookstore–and constantly talking them up to my friends. My favourite way of doing that right now is facebook’s visual bookshelf; good books get good ratings and nice, long reviews, and if I really love it I’ll forward it to a couple of people.

I may be in the minority on that, however.

By: Adele

Adele — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:04:01 +0000

I love discovering new authors, often through book review blogs, pretty covers, interesting titles and quite often through authors I know I like linking them on their websites or community blogs like this.

By: Allen

Allen — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:40:36 +0000

A book co-authored with a writer that I trust will often prompt me to explore what else an unknown (to me) author has to offer. If they’re good I will go back for more.

Recommendations from writers have also often persuaded me to part with my cash in exchange for a journey with some writer I had not heard of before. If they’re good I will go back for more.

But there is one thing that has led me to more new experiences than any other. It’s a dirty word to some but I’ll say it now: Free.

We’re talking Sci-Fi & Fantasy here which implies “Trilogy” and even if it’s a singleton, if I can try some new author’s first work without cost (and they’re good), then in me, they have found a paying subscriber for whatever else they want to put out there.

There are many paths from obscurity. All of them start by being good. But in the face of the internet’s disruptive opportunity there is a new one and it starts with free.

By: Alma Alexander

Alma Alexander — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:12:38 +0000

Lydia: yes, word of mouth is still the ultimate promotional tool. You can stuff a full-page ad in the New York Times and it can still mean less than twenty people who are REALLY in love with a book telling twenty friends each about it….

Nathanael: I’d say start with the one whom you think the least number of people might know, and who – in your opinion – deserves a wider audience than that…

By: Nathanael Green

Nathanael Green — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:03:33 +0000

I can’t say how many times I’ve wished for a personal recommendation for something new and different from an unknown. So I’m going to heed your call and tell my friends about an obscure author I’ve found.

Now, the question is, which of my favorites do I talk up first?

-Nate

By: Lydia Sharp

Lydia Sharp — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:11:11 +0000

There are several issues involved with “fame”…the real enemy of the writer isn’t infamy, it’s obscurity.

That’s a really good point. I have yet to read anything of Meyer’s Twilight series. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it and I’ve heard a lot of bad things about it. In order to have my own opinion, though, I’m going to have to read it. And without all that talk amongst people I’m in contact with every day (in addition to all the media attention), I wouldn’t have considered it. It’s just not something I would normally read.

I suppose when you look at it that way, the hype is a good thing. You open yourself up for bad reviews, but when it comes down to it, people are reading your work. LOTS of people. As a writer, that’s all I would ever ask for.

I also enjoying “discovering” unknown writers, so to speak. They’re really not unknown because they’ve actually won awards and — look at that! — they have ten best-selling novels that I’ve never heard of. When I fall in love with someone’s writing, I tell everyone. And then I look for more work by that same author. Word of mouth is incredibly powerful, and I have yet to see any one publicity tool that surpasses its influence.