The Way to a Reader’s Heart is Through Her Book Group
Posted by: Kaite Stover
It’s not the newest marketing trend out there, but it’s certainly one of the most inexpensive. I have a sense that many other authors and publishers will be taking note of Joshua Henkin’s “so simple why didn’t I think of that” method for promoting his titles.
Henkin contacts book groups and readers directly and offers to lead discussions for them. To date, he’s facilitated more than 80 groups either in person or on the phone. This is no mean feat considering many authors won’t be getting the publicity push they may have enjoyed in years previous. The economic downturn will manifest somewhere and no doubt publicity is one of those places.
The author keeps an eye out for reader comments on his most recent novel, Matrimony, which was critically well received and made the New York Times list of Notable Books of the Year for 2007. Henkin watches GoodReads, book review blogs and other websites. Then he contacts the reviewers and offers his services. Henkin has driven to almost as many book groups as he has contacted via speakerphone.
Henkin has plenty of experience discussing all the finer points of a novel with a myriad of readers. His most intriguing observation? “There are two kinds of book groups: those that drink and those that don’t.”
Maybe Henkin would be willing to facilitate a discussion on a book he didn’t write.
