Category: Bookish Question

Do you want detailed descriptions of a novel's main characters?

Bookish Question #295 | Do you want detailed descriptions of a novel’s main characters?

What’s your view on detailed character descriptions in fiction?

Personally, I’m not a fan of detailed descriptions–whether that’s descriptions or character, setting, or anything else. I’d rather get on with the story. A brief description is fine, but please don’t spend pages and pages telling me things I don’t need to know.

(I don’t need to know the character’s eye colour or hair colour or blood type unless that’s going to be relevant to the story in some way.)

If authors do feel the need to include a description, make sure it’s not the character describing their own eye or hair colour. The only time I think about my hair colour is when I’m at the hairdresser … or deciding I really need to go to the hairdresser.

I do have a bad habit of skimming or ignoring overlong descriptions, particularly if I’ve already formed a mental image of the character. For example, if the author describes the character as attractive with a tidy beard, I have a problem. I do not find beards attractive, so I either have to imagine the character as attractive and cleanshaven, or not attractive.

I mostly read romance novels, so you can guess which one I pick.

As a result, I prefer more vague character descriptions. Tell me what I absolutely need to know, and let me imagine the rest.

What about you? Do you like reading detailed character descriptions, or do you prefer something vague?

What books have you read that are unforgettable?

Bookish Question #294 | What books have you read that are unforgettable?

One of the downsides of being an avid reader is there are So. Many Books. And it’s impossible to remember all the details. This means I only remember the very best … or the very worst.

(But I’m not going to mention them.)

There is also this little issue called age which means I’m more likely to remember a book I read years or decades ago than a book I read last week or last month?

(Or is that just me?)

Having said that, there are a lot of books I do remember for different reasons (mostly good).

Here are a few that have stuck with me over the years:

Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson, the prequel to her well-known O’Malley romantic suspense series. I read and enjoyed the whole series, but the prequel and first two books (The Negotiator and The Guardian) were by far my favourites.

Christy by Catherine Marshall, based on the her mother’s story. Christy was is one of the first Christian fiction novels and was later turned into a television series. Now, the annual Christy Awards recognise the best in Christian fiction.

Frasier Island by Susan Page Davis, a military romantic suspense with a very low-key romance, a book I’ve read and re-read because I loved the premise and the characters. I recently re-read and enjoyed as much as I remembered.

Confessions of a Teenage Hermaphrodite by Lianne Simon, a coming-of-age Christian novel set in the 1970s which raised my awareness and understanding of some of the complex issues around gender and God.

And for something more recent, When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer, a unique twist on Christian historical romance (followed by the even-better sequel, In This Moment).

That’s five books I’ve read, re-read, remembered, and enjoyed.

What about you? What books have you read that are unforgettable?

Do you prefer to buy ebooks or borrow them from an online retailer or public library?

Bookish Question #293 | Do you prefer to buy ebooks or borrow them?

I tend to buy ebooks (or get review copies from NetGalley).

I haven’t signed up for Kindle Unlimited as a reader because I already have so many unread books that I’ve bought. I really feel I need to read them first!

(I also should read the books I have before buying more, but that’s a problem for another day.)

I also haven’t signed up for KoboPlus or any other ebook borrowing programme.

I haven’t even borrowed any ebooks from my local library, even though they do offer ebooks on loan, again because I have so many of my own unread books.

Howeve, I have recently been checking out the library’s online collection and there are a few nonfiction books I’m interested in reading … so maybe I’ll request them.

What about you? Do you borrow or buy ebooks?

What is one thing you wish authors knew about their readers?

Bookish Question #292 | What’s one thing you wish authors knew about their readers?

This is easy, and it should also be a no-brainer. After all, authors should also be readers, and it shouldn’t be difficult to switch between reader brain and writer brain.

I wish authors would remember that not all books are for all readers.

We all have favourite genres, tropes, and writing styles, and it’s not a personal attack if someone doesn’t like one (or all) of your books. Some people don’t like romance novels. Some don’t like murder mysteries. Some don’t like fiction at all.

If someone doesn’t want to read your book because they don’t read that genre, that’s okay.

Our job as authors is to find those readers who DO like they genre/s we write, not to castigate those readers who don’t. If you like small-town contemporary Christian romance, then I hope you’ll check out my debut novel, Always By My Side.

I wish authors would remember that we can’t love everything equally.

As soon as you have more than one book, readers are going to compare them and have a preference. The fact they preferred your second book doesn’t mean they disliked your first book (and vice versa).

If you write in more than one series, some readers will follow everything you write and others will only follow one series or genre or trope.

For example, I love Roseanna M White’s spy/investigator novels.

I’ve just finished A Beautiful Disguise, and it was wonderful (my review will post next week). I’ve also read some of her other series and while they are perfectly good novels, I didn’t enjoy them as much as her spy/investigator stories.

I wish authors would remember readers love to read … not write reviews.

I enjoy writing reviews and sharing them with my blog readers (and sharing them on Amazon, BookBub, and Goodreads). But sometimes it’s nice just to read a book and enjoy it (or not), and know I don’t have to write a review.

I do appreciate everyone who has reviewed Always By My Side on Amazon, BookBub, Goodreads, or any other website (especially their own websites), and I appreciate the effort it takes.

Reviewing the books you read on online sites does help readers find books they will enjoy. Reviews don’t have to be long – a couple of sentences explaining why you liked (or disliked) a book is enough.

Even if you don’t enjoy reviewing  books online (or can’t), you can still support your favourite authors by buying their books for yourself or for others, by requesting and borrowing their books from your local library or from Kindle Unlimited, or by telling your friends about books you’ve enjoyed, whether that’s in person or in online groups such as Avid Readers of Christian Fiction.

(And if you live in Australia or New Zealand, remember to add your reviews to Koorong! They’ll send you a AUD 10 gift voucher for every four reviews you write on their site, with a maximum of one voucher per calendar month.)

So that’s three things I wish authors knew (or would remember) about their readers.

What do you wish authors would remember about readers?

Do you subscribe to email lists with ebook deals?

Bookish Question #291 | Do you subscribe to email lists with ebook deals?

Yes. The two main newsletters I subscribe to are BookBub and FaithBooks.

BookBub is the granddaddy of all email newsletters. Authors pay for the advertisements, and it offers one or two free or on-sale books each day for each genre the reader selects. I use it to follow Christian fiction and nonfiction.

I have found I’m not buying as many books as I used to from the BookBub newsletter. I click through to Amazon, but then find one of two things:

  • I already own the book, probably having bought it during a previous BookBub promotion
  • The sale is a Kindle Countdown deal, which means it might be advertised at 99 cents or 2.99, but it’s full price for me (because Kindle Countdown deals are only available to readers in the USA and UK).

FaithBooks is a newer newsletter focusing on Christian fiction. It’s free for authors to advertise, and promotes new releaes, 99 cent ebooks, and sale books. If you like Christian fiction, I do recommend signing up for the FaithBooks newsletter.

I also get emails advertising multi-author giveaways from sites like BookFunnel and Story Origin.

These can be hit and miss—I downloaded half a dozen free books from the last promotion I saw, but didn’t even get through the first chapter on half of them. The plots sounded great, but the writing (and editing) took all the enjoyment out of reading. My initial reaction was that they’d been written by AI, but I also wonder if they might have been ghostwritten. Either way, they show the importance of having an actual human read and edit the output before publishing to ensure the dialgoue sounds something like human speech.

I also subscribe to a lot of individual newsletters—often because I signed up as part of a BookFunnel or similar deal. I probably subscribe to more than I should because I feel guilty for downloading a free ebook then immediately unsubscribing, even if I deleted the ebook after the first chapter.

What about you? Do you subscribe to email lists with ebook deals? If so, what’s your favourite?

Do you look at authors' Pinterest boards?

Bookish Question #289 | Do you Look at Authors’ Pinterest boards?

As I said last week, I’m not a big Pinterest user.

I’ll often look at a new-to-me author’s Pinterest account to see if I want to follow it.

  • If it’s posting bookish information such as character portraits or pictures of the book’s setting, then I might follow.
  • I might follow if they’re posting about their hobbies … if our hobbies are similar.
  • But if their account is mostly repining things I’m not interested in, then I’m unlikely to follow them.

I usually find their Pinterest accounts as links from their author website. If I put my marketing had on, I think the content an author pins (or posts) should be relevant to their readers. It shouldn’t be dominated by their own hobbies or interests, especially if those things are not interesting or relevant to their readers (*cough* US politics *cough*).

It may be the way I’ve trained the algorithm, but I find Pinterest is mostly links to blog posts. On that basis, I prefer Instagram (which is more visual, as Pinterest was originally intended to be), or Facebook (where it’s much easier to follow the link).

What about you? Do you follow authors on Pinterest?

Who are your favourite Christian authors to follow?

Do you use Pinterest to find bookish information?

Bookish Question #288 | Do you use Pinterest to find bookish information?

Like most social media networks, Pinterest is driven by an algorithm, which means it shows you the content you regularly engage with.

I tend not to visit Pinterest to look for bookish information, so I rarely find it. Instead, my Pinterest feed tends to be filled with recipes (sometimes useful), home renovation ideas (rarely useful), or fashion (pretty but not useful as most of the clothes aren’t available in New Zealand and the seasons are wrong).

This is where hashtags come in handy. If I was looking for bookish information on Pinterest, I’d have to use bookish hashtags like #AmReading or #ChristiFic or #ChristianRomance.

However, I tend not to use Pinterest a lot.  My go-to social media network is Facebook, with Twitter and Instagram taking turns at second place. I find a lot of bookish content on Instagram. I’ve obviously trained that algorithm better.

What about you? Are you active on Pinterest? Do you use it for bookish information?

Do you like authors responding to your reviews on social media?

Bookish Question #286 | Do you like authors responding to your reviews on social media?

Do I like authors responding to my reviews on social media?

If they’re saying thank you, then yes.

If I tagged them in the review (perhaps because I was part of their street team), then yes.

If you’re not sure what a street team is, then check out this post:

What are the benefits of joining an author’s street team?

And if you’d like to be part of my review team then email me via the contact form above.

If they are criticising my review, then no.

I don’t tag authors on critical or even positive reviews (unless I’m part of their street team), so it feels slightly stalkerish if they find my review then find me and comment on the review.

I’m also happy when an author does respond to a review.

An author who takes the time to say thank you or who reposts or retweets my review earns my gratitude … and makes me a lot more likely to read and reviews their next book.

What about you? Do you like authors responding to your reviews on social media?