…and I am preparing - what we in the trade call (woop-de-do) - an AI sheet. It’s an Advance Information sheet to give to bookshops and to the wholesalers who supply them.
This is where I need your help. I have to say on this sheet who the likely readers of the book will be, and one of the ways book people tie this down is to say who I write like. e.g. would readers of Joanna Trollope like my novels?
So all you people out there who have read my books – please will you let me know (in the comments box below) who would be the likely readers of my books? What other authors do you read? And secondly, who writes similar books?
When I get some replies, I will tell you who I thought of, but at this stage I don’t want to lead the witnesses.
Hello Ms. Hepworth,
ReplyDeletePlease keep in mind that I have a very eclectic taste in books. Regardless of that fact, I hope my list helps:
Jack Kerouac
Chuck Palahniuk
Ernest Hemingway
Elizabeth Kostova
Philip K. Dick
Caleb Carr
Patricia Cornwell
Cormac McCarthy
and many more...
Good luck!
Well it's an interesting list, and thanks for commenting, Jacob, but I am not convinced I could market my books on the basis that readers of Kerouac, McCarthy, Palahnuik and Hemingway would enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteYour reply is one of the funniest things I've read in ages. You should tweet it!!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, I don't like to say who you are like because you just like you, not someone else. But I think people who like relationship books (especially with a wry or sarcastic edge), probably women, would love your books. My favorite authors are Marge Piercy, Joyce Carol Oates, Emma Donoghue, J.R.R. Tolkien, Susan Vreeland, Alexander McCall Smith, J.K. Rowling, Harriet Doerr, and Jane Hamilton. Mostly women writers. I can't wait to see the cover! Karen
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen. This is very helpful. And I am dying to show you the cover but I am trying to keep it a secret - we will have to see how long that lasts!
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I have very eclectic taste. I too enjoyed your response :)
ReplyDeleteOK, dear readers, this is the list of writers I came up with to give potential readers of my new novel a hint as to who I write like. In other words, if they like the following writers' books, they may well like mine - Anne Tyler, Nora Ephron, Mavis Cheek, Elizabeth Strout, Joanna Trollope, Elizabeth Buchan, E.M.Delafield (author of The Diary of a Provincila Lady.
ReplyDelete