I've had book club versions. What I was told was that it was a good thing for a first novel because it got the book and my name in front of people in the wilds of the vast US where bookstores are unknown and who wouldn't have bought it otherwise. I don't know how true this is, and the money was so derisory I couldn't believe it, but it did happen.
Book club is good to have. It's kind of a marketing tool; it creates buzz, the sense that there's already some excitement from other legitimate sources about your work. I know some authors who hate it because they think it hurts their paperback sales, but I personally think it's a good thing to have. Yes, the money sucks, but otoh, look at this way -- in some sense, someone else is paying you to advertise yourself in a way that's a selling point when presenting the book to buyers, etc. As opposed to you having to pay someone else for an ad.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-09-16 08:44 pm (UTC)Book club is good to have. It's kind of a marketing tool; it creates buzz, the sense that there's already some excitement from other legitimate sources about your work. I know some authors who hate it because they think it hurts their paperback sales, but I personally think it's a good thing to have. Yes, the money sucks, but otoh, look at this way -- in some sense, someone else is paying you to advertise yourself in a way that's a selling point when presenting the book to buyers, etc. As opposed to you having to pay someone else for an ad.