Putting on the buzz …

• Posted in About Books, On Writing

I’ve heard so much about J.R. Ward and her Black Dagger Brotherhood books that I finally reached into my to-be-read pile this weekend and started the first one, Dark Lover. More to come when I finish it.

But it got me to thinking about how much I’ve heard about her — and how cool her books are supposed to be. And I was wondering how that happens. What makes buzz? Is it one reader telling another? A good review on a popular site like All About Romance? A feature in Romantic Times? Luck of the draw?

Other authors I’ve noticed getting a lot of attention recently are Marjorie M. Liu, who’s been mentioned in RT a couple of times recently. Lora Leigh too. And, of course, there’s Nora Roberts, who’s always on everybody’s radar screen.

What about you? Who’s the hot author you’ve been hearing about? What book do you want to read right now? How did you hear about it? What are your friends reading/recommending? Inquiring minds want to know …

2 Responses to “Putting on the buzz …”

  1. Meljean says:

    I think, more than anything, it’s buzz. Dark Lover got good reviews, and it hit the USA Today list … but mostly it was when the reader buzz started that I really noticed it. People saying, OMG OMG! YOU HAVE TO READ THIS!

    Romantic Times probably helps, but not as much as buzz — and that’s only because there’s SO many books being reviewed, and many getting good reviews, that it can’t really convey how great something is (because no reviewer is going OMG! OMG! in the RT reviews) A 4 1/2 star is still only a 4 1/2 star, just like the review next to it.

    And I think a lot of that happens offline. Some of it online, sure … but mostly word of mouth and booksellers saying “you’ve got to try this!”

  2. Jennifer Estep says:

    Whatever it is, however buzz happens, it’s working for Ward. Everybody on all the blogs/sites seems to absolutely love her books and can’t get enough of them. Seriously, it seems like she’s mentioned on every single site I look at.

    I think it’s really hard to break out of the vampire genre these days, but she seems to be doing it in spades.

    One of the women in my critique group is a voracious reader, and she recommended “Dark Lover” to me. She really likes the books. She wasn’t like OMG! OMG!, but she gave it a solid thumbs up. I trust her opinion, so that’s why I splurged and bought a copy.

    I think after I’m done with “Dark Lover” (I’m on page 90 right now), I’m going to give it to my significant other and see what he thinks about it.

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