Does Knowing Something About the Author Really Help You Decide to Buy their Book?
At the risk of sending mixed messages here, I want to let you know there are still a few ARC reading copies of Drowning in Deception available. If you decide to accept a free ARC, you’re under no obligation but I hope you’ll also write a review. You’ll find it https://booksirens.com/book/VZCE56X/QS4T83T.
At the same time, the Kindle version is also available for preorder here.
As an author with a book about to be released, I find myself spending time claiming my author pages on various platforms, including Amazon, BookBub, and Goodreads. Of course, each of them wants a biography.
Since I’m new to the whole author-biography-writing thing, I thought I’d ask — what are the things you want to know about an author who’s new to you? Do you really care about the biographical details like where they were born, went to school, got married, and suchlike? Or are you more interested in what caused them to turn to writing, and to author that particular book?
I’d love to hear your thoughts — you can drop them in the comments below.
Here’s what another ARC reviewer had to say about Drowning in Deception:
My oh my!! How twisted a little cozy mystery this one was!!! We’ve all heard the horror story HOA’s , but this one is especially horrendous to see when an evil person chose to seek revenge on fellow condo owners and turns up dead. I was so far off the mark on who dunit, but I was fully invested in the story and some characters. I liked the comraderie of the condo owners after the evil was removed. I found many enjoyable moments in the senior community and commiserate with their aches and pains. Lol.
What I’m Reading
Murder on the Prince Regent by Irina Shapiro
It’s London, 1859, on the River Thames. The packet ship Prince Regent is moored upriver from the docks after a passenger is found dead in his cabin.
Sebastian Bell is assigned to the case, and Gemma Tate, nurse and close friend, goes along to assist.
The victim is an English lord, Anthony Blackstock, and the circumstances of his death are bizarre. His wife has also disappeared.
Will they be able to solve the case before the ship docks and the passengers disperse? It’s a race against the clock for Tate and Bell in this, the sixth book of that series.
Murder in Venice by TA Williams
Dan Armstrong, retired London DCI living in Tuscany, gets an invitation to the home of one of Hollywood’s foremost movie stars. What brought that about?
The star, Alice Graceland, tells him she wants him to play the part of the detective in a murder mystery game she’s hosting for a few old friends, and invites him (and his black lab Oscar, of course) to her private island in Venice.
With visions of maybe having the two detective novels he’s written turned into movie scripts, he takes the train to Venice.
The reality turns out to be far different. Alice has gathered together the most uncomfortable group you could imagine, most of them Hollywood actors, directors, producers, and others involved in the film industry.
Then the murder mystery game night turns deadly.
This is the thirteenth in the Armstrong and Oscar cozy mystery series.
Notable Quotes
Years of practice had taught her the art of invisibility, but her features remained a liability. Dark eyes that lingered in memory. Full lips that drew second glances. The kind of face that made witnesses reliable.
- Into the Atlas by Zack Hacker
Lawyers and law enforcement personnel find that eyewitnesses are anything but reliable, so to have “the kind of face that made witnesses reliable” indicates that it was thoroughly memorable. I like the understatement.
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Wise Words
Sadly, I couldn’t come up with a challenge worthy of my readers this week. I’ll try to do better next time. . .
It seems to be an expectation that readers will want to connect to the author, but I've never chosen to read something based on the author characteristics.
This may not be helpful, but I spent an eternity putting my bio together until the realization hit that I rarely, if ever, read the author bio of the books I purchase. I see the cover, read the blurb, then make a decision.