Lmst

I’m a big King reader and when people find out, I usually get one of two reactions:

1) Ew. I don’t like horror/King/white male authors.

2) I’ve never read a King book but I know he’s popular. If I WANTED to read one, which one should I pick?

I suspect the reason people haven’t read Kings (when they don’t hate the idea in the first place) is because they’ve seen the size of It, Needful Things, The Stand, Tommyknockers, etc etc etc and are intimidated.

So I ask if they like horror, as King does so much more than just horror.

If they say yes, I direct them to this book.

I wouldn’t say it’s his strongest book, but I would say it probably has the most King tropes boiled down to the minimum level before the sauce turns to goop, if you know what I mean.

It’s short but loaded with horror and the werewolf aspect is a comfortable cultural touchstone. People know what werewolves are where they might not be familiar with the lore of, say, killer shapeshifting sewer clowns.

It’s also got enough of King’s… we’ll say social commentary.

There’s more of everything in other books, but if anyone wanted to give King a shot and they liked horror, this is a good taste.

This edition, though… ugh. H&S printed this as part of their big re-do of the Kingbow and it’s a size that doesn’t match with a spine that doesn’t match in an already questionable theme.

For context, for whatever reason, this second stab at a Kingbow features neutral and pastel colors and absolutely zero organization as a total collection. They could have gone ROYGBIV from first book to last but no. Or they could have kept this fuckin’ thing going to fill in the big gaps but no - newer paperbacks have different spines with colors that don’t fit the theme.

Seriously guys, what the hell? All the heavy lifting was already done! How hard is it to just KEEP GOING?

#books #bookrecommendation #booktok #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #booksky #readersofpixelfed #read #readinglog #stephenking #cycleofthewerewolf #hodder

Hodder offers bonus workbook for some other book where some context would have been nice.

Hodder & Stoughton (a publisher that is part of Hachette UK) are offering a free workbook with pre-orders of The Third Perspective by Africa Brooke. I could find exactly nothing at all to say what would be in that workbook.

While you can preorder here (T&Cs apply) Hodder’s news feed fails to actually say what the book is about. A cursory Google suggests it might be Africa Brooke’s first book. A look at the picture, confirms it is her first. Sadly, I am otherwise unaware of Africa other than the continent of the same name.

Waterstones had a bit of a description which sounded like The Third Perspective is a fresh perspective on interpersonal relationships. This leads me to guess that the workbook is some sort of journaling prompt thing based on the book in question. One assumes that Africa Brooke is in some way authoritative on the subject but then again… Who knows. Not I. (Yet.)

One day publishers will give us enough information to write an interesting article about book releases. Come on Hodder, is a basic press kit too much to ask?

I googled Africa’s name and found out exactly why this first book was getting a wet Wednesday of a promotion (as opposed to the usual nothing at all). Africa Brooke has an Instagram account with over 279,000 followers.

Hodder smells fat payday. This is why platform building matters. Platforms close book deals.

Is this book any good? I can’t tell you.
Is Africa Brooke an expert on relationships? I’m not sure but she’s an influencer and that’s worth money.
Could Hodder have done a better job? Yes, they could but they are already miles ahead of other publishers so there’s not exactly a lot of competition.

While I might not know Africa Brooke, those follower numbers prove that people value what she has to say. Social proof that The Third Perspective will most likely be a quality offering.

Even though I am not in the right orbit to hear about this book, Hodder’s headline put it in front of me just as I was looking for something to write about. The lesson here is that a half-arsed headline from a publisher is so rare that I am willing to make about as much effort as it took to write this. Were all publishers sending out top-quality headlines this would have been a miss. The publishing industry needs to do better. Fortunately, this may work to Africa Brooke’s advantage. When your publisher vaguely gets it and the others don’t that’s a win.

I wish Africa all the best with her book launch. That’s a mighty powerful platform which will sell more than a few books. If relationships and journaling are your bag, you might want to check the book offer out. 279,000 other people seem interested.

I will almost certainly report more news from the direction of Hodder as they know how to share headlines properly. I might even try to be less sarcastic. No promises on that front.

If you follow Africa Brooke or know of her, perhaps you can say something positive or interesting in the comments. I’d love to know more about the book and its author which is a weakness Hodder needs to work on but perhaps you can help me with?

TL;DR: An influencer has a book coming out; there is a pre-order bonus; get it while you can.

Bonus nerdy bit: If you want to chuckle at Hodder’s lack of SEO skills, this is the URL for the form from the feed: https://hachettebookgroup.formstack.com/forms/template_form_to_copy__newsletter_sign_up__copy_copy_1_copy_copy_1_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_2_copy_2_copy – I don’t even know where to begin. The Google result on the right site looks better and has better SEO: https://www.hodder.co.uk/books/2024/03/01/pre-order-the-third-persepctive-and-receive-an-exclusive-companion-workbook/

#AfricaBrooke #AuthorPlatform #HachetteUK #Hodder #HodderStoughton #influencer #AuthorBuzzUK

https://authorbuzz.co.uk/2024/03/07/hodder-offers-bonus-workbook-for-some-other-book-where-some-context-would-have-been-nice/

Always delighted to have local scribe
@lr_lam visit. L kindly dropped off an advance copy of her upcoming Dragonfall for us, which we're eager to read. Coming this May from HodderScape (just in time for Edinburgh's @cymerafestival !!)

#Edinburgh #books #fantasy #Dragonfall #FantasyBooks #Hodder #Edimbourg #author #writer #Edimbourg #livres #bookshops #librairie