Meryl's Notes Blog

I’m a member of an online book club and one of the neatest things — though I don’t participate — is the conference call with the author of the book we’re reading. Turns out our book club leader wasn’t one of the few who came up with the great idea as according to USA Today, it’s becoming popular.

These calls are a great opportunity for book clubs and authors. Book clubs get closer to the author and feel a personal connection while authors gain sales, publicity, and goodwill. HarperCollins makes it easy for readers and authors to connect with its Invite the Author. David and I were talking about AuthorTracker, another HarperCollins service. It’s a service that notifies you when your favorite authors release new books, go on tour, and when excerpts are available. It’s a great marketing tool for publishers while it gives fans easy access to their fave authors.

I haven’t seen other publishers do this… yet. I expect it’ll become a regular feature for most publishers. Some authors have their own mailing list like Rambo’s David Morrell. Not a fan of the Rambo movies, but loved Morrell’s Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing. Didn’t even know he was the Rambo author till I read this book.