Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Speaking Event

So Monday night, I did a speaking event at my church. The topic of their monthly women's ministry meeting was WHAT ARE YOU READING (which is why they asked me to speak!)

I gave my speech by an outline I created: What Do You Read, Why Do You Read, and then ended with Why I Write, and my testimony of how I began writing.


It went really well! Everyone was interested in the process of what it takes to get a book published. A lot of things surprised them (just like they surprised me when I first got into this business!) like how little input authors have with cover art, titles, and even back cover copy. It was fun sharing what I knew to an interested crowd. I also sold a lot of books afterward, which is always so encouraging.

I also got some good feedback from a variety of readers in a variety of ages...

Here's what some of their favorite genres were...

Historical Romance (which makes sense this is in an industry best seller right now!)
Nicholas Sparks (apparently he is his own genre now! ::wink::)
Romance in general
Mysteries/Suspense

I was a little surprised to hear about the mysteries since so many publishers have recently done away with "cozy mystery" lines, and since romantic suspense is on the decline. (at least for now. Come on, comeback!)

What do ya'll think?

PS - For more industry chatter, visit me today at www.scribblechicks.blogspot.com !

2 comments:

Georgiana Daniels said...

Sometimes I wonder how much is chicken and egg. For example, the industry loads itself with one genre, so that genre naturally becomes many peoples favorite type of book because they are reading so many well written books in that genre. Am I making sense or do I need more coffee?

Sherri M said...

I sort of agree with Georgiana. It does seem as if one genre gets pushed more than others. Then, when everyone gets 'tired' of it, a new genre is pushed.

I have to say my personal favorites are Inspired Romantic Suspense. I have to have the good triumphs evil storyline. :)