Why that book? Why that author?

Tis the season  . .. 

cj Sez: I found the questions below at another blog a few months ago and thought what a great idea. So, here are some questions for you authors and readers.  (I hope you reply.)

What makes you want to buy a book – the cover or the blurb on the back of the book?
For me, it's both. The cover has to grab me, then the blurb has to make me want to know more about the story.

When you get into a story, what keeps you reading? Is it the bad boy hero or the tough, strong-willed woman or the cast of characters that help push the story forward?

Heroine or hero, I have to find a plot. I also like to find humor and some quick repartee in even the darkest of moments. When my heroine is about to go where she shouldn’t go or has never been before, I want the scene to be scary yet challenging at the same time.

What makes you like one author more than another?

I’m a wordsmith, but I’m not into graphorrhea.* That is, I want to be enchanted by the author’s voice…how she/he uses a few precise words and syntax to evoke some visualization and/or emotion in me.

            * graphorrhea  \ı graf-ә- rē-ә \ n : mental disorder marked by the writing of a long succession of meaningless words.

“A novel of such great length and of so little worth could only have been written by someone caught in the grip of graphorrhea.”

If you’re into reading a series, when do you get tired of it…or do you?

As long as the author keeps the storyline and characters fresh, I don’t have a problem with continuing to read a series ad infinitum. It’s when the storyline gets stale and takes the same direction over and over that I’m no longer interested in reading the next book, and I'm on to the next author.

Which brings me to reviews:  Do you take the time to write a review?

Without readers, authors have no audience, without an audience, authors are out of a job. Whether it's written on Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, blogs, etc., constructive feedback is what keeps us going. We want to know our strengths and our weaknesses. We're polite; we say please and thank you.

I’d love to know your answers to these questions. So write in, already.

In the meantime, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj 

cjpetterson@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

Choosing Carter  -- Kindle  /  Nook  /  Kobo   /  iTunes/iBook

Deadly Star --  Kindle  / Nook  / Kobo

An ARC goes to . . .

cj sez:
 

In my last post, I promised to send a reader an unedited Advance Review Copy of CHOOSING CARTER, but I can’t send just “one.” So, I’m going to send one to Kaye George, one to Deborah O’Neill Cordes, and one to Vickie Fee. Watch for it, ladies, and thanks for stopping by. ’Preciate it. Hope you enjoy the read.

I checked the Crimson Romance website last week and discovered they’ve scheduled the e-book launch of CHOOSING CARTER for August 17. Now I know why I’ve been under so many short deadlines. The last one was the galley corrections. I got the galley from the publisher on July 18, and they needed everything back on July 20. (That’s why this blog post slipped to Tuesday.)

I thought, okay, that’s three days. I can do this. Then Mother Nature stepped in. For the last three days, my part of the Gulf Coast has been the target of amazing electrical storms. The power at my house kept going on and off like a light switch with a short circuit. And when there was a lull and I tried to turn the computer on, Internet Explorer would quit working and restart (which it just did again now).

Do I sound like I’m whining? No, I’m bragging . . . I completed the task despite all those hurdles. Yessss. Take that, weather and internet bugs.

Now, I can relax, take something for my hellacious headache, and get ready for a day trip to “The Magic of Books” writers conference in Long Beach, MS, this weekend.

See you-all next time. In the meantime, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

 

PS:  The toon is from my Facebook page. I warned 'em I'd share it.