Karen’s Chat – Does Your Book Stand Out?

If you are a regular reader here, you’ll know that I’m a prolific reader. I get lured in by book adverts on Facebook. It’s where I get most of my reading matter from.

I began reading the big blockbusters of seventies and eighties and never stopped. In the early days, books were precious because you could find them in paperback at local bookshops and libraries, and later in supermarkets.

Amazon launched its UK Kindle store in 2010 and I discovered it in 2013. Since then, the number of indie authors grew, and thousands of books were published. This was not a good thing because many were unedited and hard to read. But gradually, those dedicated authors learnt their business, started newsletters, built websites, and set up book groups. Their books, often in series, helped them build a following.

Then along came AI. I’ve seen lots of adverts for AI tools that can write a whole book from your idea. Or you can write it and it will do the rest.

This means the market will be flooded again, and finding a book that suits your taste amongst the thousands advertised has just become even more difficult.

So where does that leave me, the reader? How can I find a book when all I see are book covers, descriptions, and a buy link. With thousands of books vying for attention, what will catch my eye? Something a little different, that’s what.

If you are an author, it’s time to think out of the box. Here are a few ideas to help make your book stand out from the crowd.

• Create a photo of your protagonist and add a striking line from the book.
• Perhaps share a photo of the building where something happens, along with a few lines from the book to get the reader’s attention.
• If your book was inspired by a building, a situation or even a story you heard, write about that.
• Tell the story behind your book cover. What does it tell readers about the book? What made you choose it? You could even give your cover designer a mention.
• What inspired you to write the story? It’s always interesting to see how it grew.
• Create book pages on your website, and steer the readers towards them. You can see mine here.

Does your book contain Easter eggs? That would make a fun post. Think outsider the box.

Easter eggs are little details an author deliberately hides in plain sight for readers to discover. Here are a few examples:

• You could mention characters from one of your other books. Someone who’s read one of yours might think, oh I know them. For example, in my book Toxic, I had a character reading a book by an author I know. She was delighted to see her name.
• A reference to a real life event.
• You could include a detail of a real place that some readers will recognise. I’ve just written a short story that gives real facts about a house that was built by a businessman in the late eighteen hundreds.
• In Play the Game, I named the lead characters after two people who were having a romance in the TV series Chicago Fire
• I took my character Julie, from Timelines, and had her give a lecture in a virtual reality room where she took questions about her time travels.

Can you think of more ideas? If so, please share them.

Everyone’s reading experience is different. We all like different things. We are so lucky to have many writers who explore genres that never existed before. With so much choice, you can now find exactly what you want.

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