What makes a book a buzz worthy book?

(A conversation between two writers grappling with the concept of bigness & buzz.)

When we talk about trying to get buzz for books the question we usually ignore is will anyone want to read the book we've written? Does it actually deserve buzz?

Come on now admit it - we all know that not every book is THE BOOK. And not every book that gets buzz necessarily deserves buzz but in a perfect world what kind of books would get buzz and as an author how do we know if we are on tract or not?

How we know after the first fifty or a hundred pages that we should keep going or turn those pages into pee pads for the dog. (Note dog in left-hand corner.)

Now before we get a thousand responses that the only thing that matters is the literary quality of the book or the honesty of the author's intentions or the selfless goal of creating something beautiful, let us just say, yes, those are all fine criteria.

But. Good luck using any of them.

Knowing that something is beautiful and worthy and literary is no easy task especially when we are the creator and the critic in one.

Let's talk about something a bit easier than whether any of us are the next Valdimir Nabakov.

Let's talk about whether or not anyone will really truly want to read any of our books over someone else's. Or in addition to the sky-high pile of book already on that someone's to be read stack.

Instead of guessing, the thing to do, is find some readers that are not writers, editors or people that love us. That's kind of basic but astonishingly a lot of writers we know have never tried it and the only people who do read their books pre-pub (and possibly after) are friends and other very sensitive and sympathetic writers.

The truth is, writers acting as readers tend to ask all the great and lofty questions that make the author feel good and do things like notice the metaphor we spent three hours coming up with. Readers on the other hand say things like-- the prostitute in your novel pissed me off because she didn't hate her job enough. Why you'd do that?

This does not mean that when a reader hates a character we have to change her/him but we need to be aware of what we're doing because then it's in our control. (It's not like Vladimir would be surprised a reader found his narrator less that sympathetic, after all, he was working that.)

The next thing we need to ask ourselves is how many other books are there that are an awful lot like the one we're writing? Is it original at all?

Now before everyone writes in to remind us that publishers/editors are actually asking for the next DaVinci Code and the next The Lovely Bones and seem to want cookie cutter books, they don't really. They just are publishers/editors. If they knew exactly what the next big thing was they'd be the writers. So even though they ask for more of what's selling, we can't write cookie cutter books. They aren't the ones that get the buzz. They can't be the next big books. They can only be the next same books and while they can get some sales they will not soar. They won't get buzz.

So what will?

This is overly simplistic, but what will is a book that's about something big. The Lovely Bones, The DaVinci Code. Cold Mountain and Interview with a Vampire, to name just a few. Each is ABOUT something big. And like them or not, each resonates emotionally and intellectually on several levels.

Cold Mountain is a love story. And a story about war. And it's a rewrite of a the Odyssey. And it draws on archetypes. It's big.

Maybe we can't set out to do it. And maybe it make us so nervous to even think about this that it paralyzes us or makes us angry. But the more uncomfortable it makes us, the bigger the challenge and the better our chances of pushing ourselves to the next level and possibly writing something that is big enough to buzz.

In a prefect world we would be able to accept that not every book we write is going to be buzz worthy. Does that mean that they shouldn't be all published? Yes, no, maybe, but that's not the point here. Does that mean people won't buy them? Who knows?

Maybe it takes three, or five, or seven books before we write the one that takes off. Or maybe the first one really does take off. Or maybe it looks like the first one takes off but that one took seven years and seven drafts to get right.

It's actually quite rare for an ordinary book to be a big seller.

Yes, a bestselling author can write an ordinary book, but the first breakout book, the book the person becomes a bestseller with, is usually extraordinary in some way.

The thing is, lately -- and this blog is as much to blame for this as any-- everyone is trying to figure what advertising to do, where to get word of mouth, how to the get the book on the front table, how to get the editor to tell you the truth about the marketing plan or lack thereof, instead of asking the big question ---- is this book big enough?

Comments

[Morana]

I generally find that fielding it at random people who have a habit of poking holes in my opinions and abilities works quite well, in terms of getting a real reaction to a piece of work.

Something that goes big often resonates with a national or international mood; something that can be easily seen in Cold Mountain (though I had never heard of it before the film) and the damn daVinci code.

(And typepad -not mjrose- the following URL IS valid, you've let me post it before, so stop telling me no! http://crazybooks.zorya.co.uk)

The last book I read that truly deserved to be 'big' was Wild Swans.

[Sarah]

I'm cannibalizing myself to some degree, but I asked a similar question last fall with regards to "transcending genre," which often amounts to the same thing (can a writer break out of the mystery "ghetto" by writing a bigger book, usually a standalone"?)

http://www.sarahweinman.com/confessions/2004/11/transcending_ge.html

[Jane Porter]

MJ, I love your blogs. Even if they're uncomfortable, even if they hit too close to home (does my book deserve buzz? should it be widely read--I'd love to say yes, and yes--but is that true?). I love that you're willing to take a stand, go out on a limb, and face the music alone. And I agree, great books, buzz books that linger in readers' minds are books that say something, and yep, they're about something.

First time I've ever posted here, but I can't have my own blog now...I'm too hooked on yours.

Best,

Jane Porter
www.janeporter.com

[paul]

Hey MJ . . . I'm one of those readers whose a reader and not a writer and who tries to create buzz in his own way.

In my lifelong experience as a reader, I've experience different types of buzz -- buzz that's just buzz, or, as I like to think of it, "Wild Animus Buzz." Last summer, if you were in a big city, you could hardly escape stumbling across piles of ARCs of the novel Wild Animus. and that led to people talking about running across piles of ARCs of Wild Animus. But, although my eyes have probably looked more individual copies of that book than any other book in the last 8 months, I have yet to read a review of the book or find anyone who has actually read it. So, it seems the buzz was all that mattered -- the author may as well have bound a bunch of blank pages.

Then, there's the buzz that works. That's the sort of buzz that requires a combination of good story, a good author story, savvy marketing, and, probably equal to all of those things -- luck. A good author story is the author who beat all odds to write the book; the author who has come back after being in obscurity; the author who has a fortuitous meeting with an actor who wants to make a movie of the book. "Luck" is some world event that ties in to the book. Or, a lack of significant world events that makes this book's particular marketing campaign take off.

But I know when this sort of book buzz works because I see a book like Bel Canto or The Lovely Bones on people's end tables, on the front seats of their cars, or just in their hands -- six months, a year, two years, and more, after it gets published. Good buzz outlives any organized marketing campaign.

The third type of buzz is the type that brings an author out of obscurity. That usually comes about because of the efforts of only one or two people -- think Gore Vidal and Dawn Powell or Philip Roth and the eastern European authors he unveiled to the West.

As far as an individual author is concerned, I'd say write the best book you can this month or this year. Talk it up when it's ready to be published, but remember that buzz can be as effective as a lit match around a gas pump, or as flat as a limo's tires after it runs over broken glass.

[Jozef Imrich]

This goes with that

It's An Author! It's A Marketing Whiz! Wait! It's Both!

With profits in the publishing world pretty flat in recent years, big publicity budgets are largely limited to the heavyweights in the writing world, the proven novelists (such as Stephen King) or famous memoirist (such as Bill Clinton). Everyone else gets about $5,000 to $10,000 to promote their title, if they're lucky. Many get nothing at all... The days when it was enough for an author to launch a Web site and give away some tote bags are over. An unknown writer today has to be an imaginative entrepreneur, with strong marketing skills -- not just a wordsmith

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28628-2005Mar11.html

[Bernard Amador]

When the book To Know a Fallen Angel, a true coming of age story about a boys struggle not to become a sexual predator was released press releases were sent to help create buzz, some news websites picked up the story. Although, the controversial book was mentioned in a web news letter as far as India, I must say a book must cover a catastrophic issue to create buzz and gain the anyone's attention.