Jenn J McLeod - small-town storyteller

You might have expected this blog post to be a really long and thoughtful discussion about the book business, when it’s actually about the way authors pop up on social media, crying virtual tears of joy, and gushing over reviews! I mean, it’s just a bloody book after all—not a Powerball win.

But in a way being published is like winning the lottery. There is luck involved and with so many books out there, Australian fiction in particular, when a reader looks to spend their hard-earned dollar and chooses your book over others, it’s better than a lottery win. (Okay, that’s a lie. A Powerball win would be pretty darn good right now. For a start, I wouldn’t have to write this blog post. I could just go out and buy all my books myself — although that kinda defeats the purpose of why I write stories!)

This post is about all those annoying authors like me: “woo-hooing” and “squeeing”, almost peeing their pants with excitement, and posting to social media when most of their social media connections already know the book is coming out. I mean, you’ve been following our journeys all this time, right?

 I’ll tell you the truth about authors and book buzz . . .

Launch time for an author brings with it a sudden urgency—one that is a stark contrast to the leisurely year it took to write, edit, perfect, cover and print the paperback—and it kinda flips an author’s world upside down. (They go from quiet achievers in their lounge room to awkward promoters of their finished product.)

The buzz about the launch is important because in the paperback world, there is a finite time for that book to hit the magic sales mark, which makes the publisher happy and the booksellers.

Booksellers . . . Now here is something readers might not realise. 

Just like your local newsagent orders in the daily paper and what doesn’t sell that day gets bundled up and returned to the publisher – no cost to the agency operator, booksellers can do the same with books. They might order in sixty copies of a new book and in six weeks, what hasn’t sold, can be (not always) returned to the warehouse. (A small bookshop won’t have the shelf space to stock multiple copies of every book and while you can always ask the bookshop to order a novel in, if it’s not there, on the shelf, it’s out of sight, out of mind.)

So, say 5,000 books left the warehouse (yay!) and 3,000 came back – unsold in six weeks (boo!)*

That, dear readers, is why authors make a big noise, often preaching to the converted. They are urging those of you who are thinking of buying their book to not delay.

Make a bee-line to your bookstore because those early sales figures can have many ramifications, including keeping their books on the shelves longer. And because every author understands a reader can’t buy every book, the simple act of sharing a buzz post, or mentioning an author’s name at a dinner party, can help enormously. Sometimes it’s the smallest of things that can have the greatest impact, like the bee — the hardest working creatures on the planet (apart from authors), with their contribution to the bigger picture often unappreciated (like women writers!) *wink*

Okay, so, how and when a reader buys a book is none of my beeswax, but can I just say…

Whether it’s my book or another favourite author (and there are an awful lot out for Mothers Day in May including many of my friends: Natasha Lester, Nicki Edwards, Fleur McDonald, Kerrie Paterson, Tricia Stringer,  Mandy Magro, Lily Malone, Kayte Nunn) I urge you, on their behalf, to not delay that all-important purchase if you don’t have to, and to think about sharing a post/tweet or two, as many of my readers already do. (And there, my lovelies, is a rhyme… Just. For. You.)

So, there you have it . . .

The truth about the book buzz and all those annoying social media posts.

On behalf of busy authors everywhere,

Happy Mothers Day and happy reading,

Jenn J

*not actual figures. 🙂

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