Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Morning Puzzle
Did anyone else catch the ad for James Patterson's new Alex Cross book? Is that overkill or what? I could hear a whole choir of writers screaming "Kill him! Kill him!". Which brings up this question. Are book sales so bad that a best selling author feels the need to threaten killing off his series character in order to increase sales?
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8 comments:
I look at the row of his books sitting on my library new books shelf and say he may have peaked. Why do they buy a dozen copies? Can't people wait a few days to read him?
Our library is the same way. I quit reading Patterson when he started parceling out his books to other writers. And I quit reading the Cross books when he pulled the killer who tracked Cross through four books out of his hat like a rabbit trick. No foreplay of dropping clues, just dumped the killer in our laps. I hate writers who do that.
Never read him but good luck to him, I say.
He's not a bad read, Paul. His early Cross books are great fun to read, like "Kiss the Girls".
I just found the ad quite odd when I saw it. The man has been very fortunate and yet he's threatening to kill off his main character if you don't buy and read his book? It just doesn't sound like a good advertising strategy.
The only Patterson I've read (and probably ever will read) was "First To Die." It was a lesson to me to stop choosing my reading material from bestseller lists.
That's about all our library seems to purchase. That and cozies with cats. I don't have anything against the cozies and I do enjoy some of them but a steady diet would kill me. That's why the summer books sales are such a joy for me.
That sounds like the fastest way to alienate loyal readers and the possible new reader who is looking for something different to read.
Good Lord, what an ego.
I agree, G. You'd think they could have come up with a better promotional idea than that.
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