Guest Post by Lynne Silver: Silence Isn’t Always Golden (eBook giveaway, too!)
The old adage about saying nothing unless you have something nice to say, doesn’t always work when it comes to authors and their books.
I’ll give you an example. I was at a cousin’s wedding a few months ago, and a distant relative came up to me and said, “Hey, I read your book.” Then nothing. Silence.
I smiled and told her I hoped she enjoyed it, and got away as fast as I could. Apparently, I am not alone in having that happen. People, don’t leave an author hanging. If your next sentence, isn’t “I read your book. It was awesome.” LIE. Find SOMETHING to say!
Let’s brainstorm some good things to say together.
IDEA 1: I read your book…And I loved your cover.
ANALYSIS: This is a tricky area. Authors don’t have a lot of input into their cover. You could, for example, end up with a cover with a three-armed heroine. (True story. See Christina Dodd). Or you could, in the case of my book, Heated Match, end up with a very hot cover (How adorable is my cover model?), but I’ve had my share of blah covers.
IDEA 2: I read your book….What a sweet dedication.
ANALYSIS: Nice. Make sure there was in fact a dedication and make sure the author is still friends with/married to/agented by the named honoree. In Heated Match, I dedicated it to my husband who has been endlessly supportive of my writing. But I can’t tell you how many dedications I’ve read where the author is separated from the person in the dedication. Check your facts.
IDEA 3: I read your book…I loved when…(name a scene)
ANALYSIS: This is great because you showed you did read the book. Be ready to talk about it. In endlessly excruciating detail. Authors can talk, and sometimes forget not everyone wants to talk POV or tension and pacing. I mean, if someone came up to me and told me they love the scene when my hero Adam gets locked in a room with his genetic match, Loren, I’d be thrilled. I may also talk your ear off about my process for writing and rewriting the scene. Be ready to have an escape excuse at the ready.
IDEA 4: I read your book…I loved it.
ANALYSIS: Obviously, in the interest of friendship and family, you lied. That’s okay; we all do it, right? I mean, in my case, how could you help loving Heated Match? It’s got genetically enhanced soldiers, DNA matching, hot sex and true love. (Am I quoting Princess Bride, yet?) But in the off chance, it wasn’t your thing, but you tell me otherwise, beware! If you tell an author you loved her book, she may ask you to 1) write a review on Amazon 2) Facebook about it 3) tell your friends 4) put you on her mailing list for every book she writes until the end of time.
(Disclosure: This is for face-to-face author meetings only. Go ahead and trash the heck out of me online. It’s a free country.)
Now it’s your turn. What would you tell an author if you read her book and didn’t love it?
The best answer (as determined by MOI) gets one free EBook (PDF) of HEATED MATCH. But beware, if you love my book, I will ask you to write a review on a book site, tell your friends, join my mailing list… 
A lead byline and a cover story were what journalist Loren Stanton wanted most. Until she meets genetically enhanced soldier, Adam Blacker. Team leader of a top-secret covert ops group, Adam never wanted to search for his genetic match, but whenever he gets close to Loren, things turn hot quickly, making him forget every reason he had for retaining his bachelor status.
After a scorching night together, neither is in any doubt they are connected at the DNA-deep level, although both fear the high stakes of what it means to be together. Loren gives Adam two weeks to prove he is bred for more than war. He must show he is coded for love.
About the Author:
Award-winning author Lynne Silver lives the life of a suburban soccer mom, volunteering with the PTA, doing laundry and working. By night she enters the sensuous world of alpha males and passionate heroines. She lives in an old fixer-upper with her husband and their two sons. When not writing romance, she reads it. Lots of it. Over and over and over again, preferably with a bag of M&Ms in hand.
Website: www.lynnesilver.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/LynneSilverAuthor
Twitter: @lynnesilver
Giveaway Details:
Remember, for your chance to win a PDF copy of HEATED MATCH from Lynne, leave your answer to her question in a comment:
What would you tell an author if you read her book and didn’t love it?
Lynne will choose the best answer to be the winner of her book. Entries will be accepted until 7/30/2012 @ 11:59 pm EST. 18+ only, please. Good luck!
Diana
Thank you for hosting me today!
Thanks for a great post and congrats on the newest release!
Grrr… that’s a tricky question… if I really didn’t like it, I’d just lie and say that I hadn’t b/c I wouldn’t want to have to explain why. Or I’d just say congrats on the release and success! Good luck in future endeavors.
I beta read a book for an author and stated exactly what I had issues with and why. You ask, I answer.
If I’m negative, I try to give examples and explain why. There was a certaion author who used the words poke and slit many times. What a turn off, blech! So, I mentioned (without the BLECH!…I think…I was traumatized….) that I hated it.
Thanks for playing Anne & Erin.
Erin- I like your spin. Focus on the future. Anne- good call when you beta read for the author. Don’t ask if you can’t handle the truth. And man, one of the harder things I have to do as an author is come up with names for female parts that are still sexy. There are tons of euphemisms for a guy’s junk, but women are trickier.
That cover model is a cutey-pie.
It’s always difficult to receive criticism, but if someone has something negative to say and they couch it in something positive, it’s way easier to take. “I loved your world-building! I wish I could be a mage in that universe and the sex scenes were great. I wasn’t a huge fan of how the bad guy was written, though. He was a little boring. I’d definitely read your next one, though.”
If you have nothing positive to sandwich your criticism, at least say the criticism nicely or suggest how it could’ve been different enough to please you. “I wasn’t a huge fan of how the bad guy was written. He was boring and I realized I didn’t know much about him. Delving deeper into what kind of person he is could have helped flesh out his motivations.”
I would congratulate them on their new book and just say it isn’t what I normally read. I wish them good luck in the future and to continue writing.
As a writer myself, I try to be honest. I do a lot of editing and I have to be constructively critical with my clients. So I will address the shortfalls in their story, but I will always make sure to talk about what I liked, too.
Congrats on the new release, Lynne!
Yes I do agree with Ruby, say the nice parts you did like about the book. I really don’t want to disappoint an author who has after all spend a lot of time writing the book. But honestly, not all books are for everyone. Some much hyped books I find only meh, and something I can’t understand why not everyone loves the book I loved so much.
And truth here, don’t enter me in the contest, as I don’t like reading erotica. (Which means, let someone win the book who will love it).
Mama’s advice is always best: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything. But if you’re in a situation where you really have to say something to an author you don’t know, I’d go with “I enjoyed your book. When does your next one come out?” That’ll get them talking and get you off the hook.
If it’s an author you know–critique partner, or someone you Beta-read for, then all bets are off. They want honest answers. At least I do. I want your help locating the weaknesses in my story that I might not see. It’s great to hear someone say they love the book, but it doesn’t help me FIX anything.
How am I going to pick a best answer?!?! All of you are obviously wiser than I am, or at least more tactful,
I wouldn’t say anything.