Today, Gay Ingram is visiting and offering a good suggestion for all
writers. Gay is a prolific writer, publishing both fiction and non-fiction. In addition, she is active in several writers groups, maintains a website, and blogs.
What do we authors want most of all? Readers. Experts advice published authors to build a readers base. Suggestions on how to accomplish this proliferate. Use social media; create a blog; have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbledOn, Pintrest…the list goes on and on. If you are diligent and determined, you soon find yourself dedicating hours to the internet.
Then there are those who advocate personal one-on-one interaction with the reading public. Soon, you find yourself laboring under a heavy schedule of speaking engagements, school visits, book shows, and signings. This leaves very little time for the actual writing.
For a published author to be successful these days, it becomes necessary to wear many hats and become involved in a multitude of activities. All of which, takes you away from what brings joy to your heart, writing.
With the recent revolution in the availability of books both in print and in digital, we are seeing a proliferation of books. On the other hand, the number of people who take the time to read a book has dropped significantly because of the internet.
So what are we published authors to do?
A recent article featured a roundtable discussion of several independent publishers. Here’s what a couple of them had to say: Barbara Epler publisher of New Directions said, “I think the main concern is finding readers for amazing books.” “Could any of us have enough readers? More book clubs. Get the books into readers’ hands.” That’s from C. J. Evans, Editorial Director of Two Lines Press in the Nov/Dec 2015 issue of Poets & Writers.
Which got me to thinking. How does one begin a book club? I would suppose the same way we writers form a critique group…by bringing together some like-minded folks. So, what if we went to our local library, local newspaper, or maybe people we socialize with or go to church with? What if we agreed to meet for a couple of hours once a month, having all read the same book, and talk about our experience in the reading and how the book did or did not affect us?
I’m already planning to write a letter to my community newspaper editor, have a visit with my local librarian. There’s even a community- action group director who’s always interested in ways to make our community a better place to live. I want to talk to that director.
Whom can you talk to?
JIM: What do you think? Can you get a book club started? Let’s hear your thoughts on this.
Visit Gay’s author page on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Ingram/e/B008VS6AJI/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1458234965&sr=1-2-ent
I belong to a book club in Mt. Pleasant and find it a fun group of women to be with. We get together once a month, sometimes at a restaurant or someone’s home. The discussions of books we’ve read independently and books connected with the group are always interesting.
Glad to hear you are enjoying your involvement with a book club. Yea for readers.
Sometimes book clubs are associated with libraries especially if the library has a friends of the library group. I have tapped into several of these groups, and they have been very supportive of my work. I only wish fewer book clubs were into main stream literature and more into mysteries.
Hi Lesley- A library’s friends group is a good place to find a book club. Do they have a website you could use to contact more mystery readers?
Thanks for your imput, Patti/Ann.I know you are a very active author also.
Hi Gay and Jim,
Good idea, but I’d take it one step farther. Form a “Indie” book club. I’ve had 3 different clubs read one of my books and I’ve met with them to discuss it afterwards. However, I find that most clubs focus on best-sellers or famous authors, so I’d like to see some clubs dedicated to only self-published authors. I also think that part of their bylaws should include writing reviews when they’re done with the book. That would be even more helpful.
~Ann