Blogged last week over at Amazing Stories on the topic of discoverability. Here's the first part of the article and you can hop on over to Amazing for the full post...
How do readers and authors find each other? That’s the
eternal question, not only in the science fiction romance genre, but in
general. The concept is known as discoverability from the author side of things
and “How do I find something good to read?” from the reader viewpoint.
The ways to find new books used to be rather limited. You
could spend delicious hours in a bookstore (can you tell I used to love to do
this?), examining covers and reading the blurbs on the back, sampling the prose
a bit, to see if the story could entice you to part with your money. Some of my
fondest memories are going to the bookstore on Sunday afternoons with my Dad
and sussing out new science fiction novels, especially Andre Norton.
A few years ago, there was one book I kept picking up and
thinking about and then walking away from, and finally bought on my fourth trip
to the bookstore, Heart Change by
Robin D. Owens. That was my introduction to her Celta series, after which of
course I ended up devouring all the books. It was the cover that attracted me
initially. Never underestimate the power of a really well done piece of cover
art.
Of course recommendations from friends – that viral “word of
mouth” factor that is every author’s dream – are another good way to find new
reads, IF your friends are into the genre you’re looking to read. I guess my Dad was the first person to give me
“if you liked this, you’ll love that” science fiction recommendations. Since
many of my friends these days are also science fiction romance authors, that
helps. I’ve found all kinds of good books to read, and new-to-me authors, from
Ruby Lionsdrake to Michelle Diner to M. K. Eidem to Susan Grant and more, based
on word of mouth.
Additionally, recommendations from an author you respect and
like can carry huge weight. In the old pre-ebook days, it was common to have a
blurb or two on the cover from big names in the same genre. That’s still done
of course, but when browsing for ebooks it’s not as attention-getting. I have to say it was an incredible moment for
me when my favorite author, Nalini Singh, tweeted that she’d not only read my
book Wreck of the Nebula Dream, but
enjoyed it! I’m glad I didn’t know at the time that she was reading it or I’d
have been a nervous wreck myself. It’s a thrill to have someone you respect and
love to read, say they liked something you wrote. (And maybe some of her 29K
twitter followers decided to try the book too. One can hope.)
A free offering is another, no risk way to find a new
author.
There’s a whole group of us, some 800 strong, in
the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, and under that banner we’re issuing a
series of free samplers, known as Portals.
Currently we plan four volumes, with varying heat levels. Each volume has ten
first chapters from different authors, to allow a reader to try out different
worlds at no risk and then make the jump to the rest of the book if they’re
intrigued. I’m involved in the project and the first chapter of my award
winning novel Mission to Mahjundar is
in Volume One, along with nine other samples. We’ve got a structure behind
Portals, including a web page, a newsletter and many other plans to enhance our
discoverability. I was in charge of the cover design and you can imagine the
issues trying to develop something that worked for 40 authors, who write
different heat levels. Luckily my wonderful cover artist Fiona Jayde was
willing to tackle the challenge for us. We refer to the slightly scruffy but
sexy guy on the covers as our Portal Keeper....And you can go to Amazing Stories for my other suggestions!
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