Comparing Authors: Yay or Nay?
In the long run what it comes down to is saying that Author B's work is like Author A's work! I guess in some ways it's supposed to be complimentary. That if you enjoyed B you will enjoy A. I was thinking about this in ways that are more related to promotion. How do you respond to this? Now I can't say I've ever seen on the cover of a book, Author B is the Next Author A! I guess it's more typical to see For Fans of Author B on Author A's cover, that isn't so bad, it's really saying if you like A you might just like B! That's more of the right kind of promotion I think.
Then there's also the whole comparing authors based on what they write. It might have just been a mere comment somewhere in the blogosphere some years ago, when The Vampire Diaries were being reprinted for the upcoming TV show to debut and I swear I saw....that someone said The Vampire Diaries was just some ripoff/redoing of Twilight. And let me tell you, I saw red. I probably had steam coming out of my ears. Now I know, everyone might not actually dig into research before making such comments. It's likely they read Twilight first and then started hearing about The Vampire Diaries and seeing it being re-released AFTER Twilight was out and the movies were out, just "assume" it was a NEW book and not a reprint. Obviously, The Vampire Diaries predated Twilight by a little over a decade. Heck, it made me laugh when in one of the newer ones that Matt or someone was pulling out their cell phone, this one released between 2009-2011, so yeah pull out a cell phone. I'm mainly thinking of those honking 90 ones that they likely had because they were the graduate class of 91 or 92. That I'd have to fact check, but my books are buried in my closet...or basement...I can't remember where (that's my next project--adding a column in my inventory list to tell me where said book is at! LOL!).
After that tangent I feel like I've forgotten where I wanted to go with this post. But yeah, basically, I'm not a fan of seeing promotion for authors wherein publisher or the advertising department wants to say that this new author is just like this already published author. That they're the next Stephen King or whatever. Not that I think there's too much of that kind of promo these days. I don't know...like I said, I feel like I got thrown off topic with that mini rant above! And I know I've ranted about that here before, so apologies if I made you suffer through that again! Lol!
I think I'd prefer it when I see authors I already love blurbing this new author's book. In fact, that's what led me to pick up a few new authors over the years. When I was hesitant to just go for the new read, I looked closer and saw that 2-3 authors I already love were saying how great the book was. That actually works the best for me when it comes to picking up new books!
But in the long run, how do you feel about the promotions that want to compare authors? Do you like them? Do they help you decide to read this new author's book?
