Book hype…
Sometimes a reader or interviewer asks me, “Do you have afavorite novel?” While I often write about favorites in posts to my Facebook page on Tuesdays, my general answer is that I have a lot of favorites. I don’t measure them by how much I remember about the story, nor by whether I’m motivated to read them a second time, but by the memory of how much the story entertained me and/or made my life more meaningful. All the book hype in the world can’t tell me if that will happen.
I’ve recently noticed many mystery novels have hype something like “…and the reader will experience a story with an unexpected twist.” Maybe even twists. Other people I know have noticed this too. Some overly zealous marketer (who doesn’t read?) must have thought, “Mysteries, twists,” and decided including the keyword “twist” in a blurb or its title would sell books. I don’t know about you, but I ignore a book with that kind do hype.
Part of the enjoyment of a book lies in the discovery process—not in someone telling you it’s going to happen, but when you discover it happens. Whether they’re twists in a mystery or action in a thriller or a monster’s curse in a horror story or quirky ETs in a sci-fi tale, discovery is part of the excitement.
I suppose this relates to spoilers. Hype can be a spoiler. Saying “There’s a great twist” is almost as bad as saying who the murderer was, and so forth. Whether publicists write such hype or the authors do, it’s not effective. Just the opposite!
Book hype also occurs in reviews. I’m guilty of that myself sometimes, expressing enthusiasm for a book I’ve read with zero-content words and phrases. First, reviewers are readers, and sometimes they act as cheerleaders, publicists more than critics. I’m speaking to criticism, of course, in the general sense of a careful analysis of book quality—the good, the bad, and the ugly. As reviewers, we can play the hype game, but we’re obligated to back it up with analysis. Very few reviews on Amazon do this. They should be ignored if they don’t. (Unfortunately Amazon encourages this. They’re only interested in the ranking so they can calculate their average.)
So let me write some generalities: A novel has a chance to be one of my favorites if it’s filled with delectable discovery opportunities, a story that is a full meal of new and wonderful tastes. I like to think that I write such stories; I certainly try to do so. How could I not expect other authors to do the same? And I don’t want some publicist to give away the ingredients of my zesty dish before I can taste it!
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Free fiction. Want to get to know my fiction writing? I don’t give my novels away—they’re already bargains, as you can see on Smashwords—but I can provide you with some appetizers that are free: Check the list of free PDFs on my webpage “Free Stuff & Contests” and then follow the instructions for downloading.
In libris libertas!
