Historical Fiction Readers' Survey

Announcing the 2015 Historical Fiction READERS' SURVEY!

It's a short 5–10 minute survey and seeks input on reading habits, historical fiction preferences, favorite authors, favorite book titles, etc.

THE SURVEY WILL BE OPEN UNTIL MAY 14.

According to historical fiction author M.K. Tod, "Writers and readers have a symbiotic relationship. Ideas spark writers to create stories and build worlds and characters for readers’ consumption. Readers add imagination and thought along with their backgrounds and attitudes to interpret those stories, deriving meaning and enjoyment in the process. A story is incomplete without both writer and reader."

Tod then goes on to ask, "What do readers want? What constitutes a compelling story? How do men and women differ in their preferences? Where do readers find recommendations? What are their attitudes to pricing or their favorite reading blogs?"

A survey such as this reaches out to readers to seek their opinions.

So if you are a reader or a writer of historical fiction, please take the survey and share the link [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GXRD9B7] with friends, colleagues, and family and on your favorite social media sites. Robust participation across age groups, countries, and other demographics will make this year's survey even more significant.

If you so choose, at the end of the survey, you can sign up to receive the survey analysis report when it becomes available.

In 2012, author M.K. Tod conducted the first survey of historical fiction readers. Then in October 2013, Tod conducted a second survey.

Some of the highlights of the 2013 survey include:

GENDER MAKES A DIFFERENCE: Women and men differ significantly in their reading habits and preferences and their views of historical fiction.

AGE MAKES A DIFFERENCE: Those under 30 have different preferences for genre and time period and have different patterns of consumption and acquisition.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS HAVING A BIG IMPACT ON READING: Social media and online sites play an increasingly significant role for those choosing, purchasing, and talking about fiction.

BOOK BLOGS ARE VERY POPULAR: 1,473 participants listed one, two or three favorite blogs.

GEOGRAPHY: Responses to questions such as the use of online tools for recommendations and purchasing and preferred setting for historical fiction varied by geography.

PRICING: Sadly, readers are pushing for low prices. For example, 60% want e-books at $5.99 or less and 66% want paperbacks at $10.99 or less.

ONLINE BOOK CLUBS ARE GAINING POPULARITY: 21% belong to online clubs while 15% belong to clubs meeting in a physical location

VOLUME OF BOOKS READ MAKES A DIFFERENCE: for example, high volume readers have different expectations for book reviews, a higher interest in tracking their books, and higher usage of online tools and social media to augment their reading experience.

Survey author M.K. TOD writes historical fiction and blogs about all aspects of the genre at A Writer of History. Her latest novel, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE, is set in WWI France. The survey is supported by JENNY QUINLAN of Historical Editorial and by BEATRIZ WILLIAMS, an author of historical fiction.

Please participate in the 2015 survey and share the URL [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GXRD9B7] with others.

THE SURVEY WILL BE OPEN UNTIL MAY 14.

Historical Fiction Survey Results

I blogged here in October 2013 about the Historical Novel Society conducting a survey of readers' reading habits, purchasing/borrowing habits, interest in history and historical periods and reasons behind them, and the types of writing and writing skills of authors.

A few days ago, surveyor M.K. Tod emailed me these results of the analyses of the survey.

Do read the survey in-depth. I found it fascinating. Here are some of the highlights.

The survey reached 2,440 participants (83% female, 17% male) and was conducted between October 16 and November 11, 2013.

The largest participating group was in the 50-59 age range, followed by the 40-49 range.

The number of U.S. participants dominated the chart followed by the ones from the U.K. and Ireland.

The majority of the participants were readers followed by some authors and some bloggers.

Majority of the participants were avid readers, reading more than 30 books a year.

Showing Amazon's grip on the book retail business, people overwhelmingly bought books there.

Print books still dominated the number of books sold, but people tended to mostly buy a mix of print and electronic books.

In choosing a book, the following were important, in decreasing order of importance: subject matter, author, and trusted recommendation. Publisher was the least important of all the factors.

In terms of pricing, people chose the following: eBooks: $2–$6, print $6–$11, and hardcover $16–$20. These prices are below industry standard. The key takeaway from this is that people think eBooks should be much cheaper than print books. The premium put on production and distribution of books as a large part of the pricing of a book, meant that people expected the eBooks to be discounted.

In answer to why do you read historical fiction, people chose: to bring the past to life, because it's a great story, and to understand and learn without reading non-fiction.

People chose the following for the question within historical fiction, what type of story appeals to you?: fictional characters within a backdrop of great historical events, followed closely by, adventure, romance, life of a single historical figure. The least popular were inspirational and thriller.

Popular historical periods: 13th–16th centuries, 18th century, and 19th century. The least popular was prehistory.

Europe and Britain dominated the popular historical geographies category by far, followed by the U.S. The least popular was Latin America.

When reading a historical fiction novel, the following were most important parts: superb writing and feeling immersed in time and place. The least important was dysfunctional families.

Where do you find recommendations chart was broken down equally between: friends, favorite websites or blogs, online retailers especially Amazon, social media, and browsing the bookstore. The least looked for were publishers' websites.

People overwhelmingly didn't belong to book clubs but did discuss their books over social media.

The most popular looked for information from blogs are reviews, new release information, and author interviews.

BTW, as one of the survey participants, my blog is listed on Tod's blog.

Historical Fiction Survey

If you're a fan of historical fiction, like I am, then I'd like you to consider spending five minutes of your time on THIS SURVEY by the Historical Novel Society.

The survey attempts to collect data on readers' reading habits, purchasing/borrowing habits, interest in history and historical periods and reasons behind them, and types of writing and writing skills of authors. You can then choose to have the results of the survey inboxed to you. If you're a blogger, they will highlight your blog if you give them your address.

Promotion Tips by Amish Tripathi, a Million-Books-Sold-Million-Dollar-Advance Author

Wellness guru Deepak Chopra says, "Amish's mythical imagination mines the past and taps into the possibilities of the future. His book series, archetypal and stirring, unfolds the deepest recesses of the soul as well as our collective consciousness."

Last week, I attended a conversation with India-based author Amish Tripathi (writing as, Amish). His Shiva Trilogy is a mythological fantasy continuity series that falls between young-adult and adult books and became a blockbuster hit in India due to his marketing chutzpah. He's known as India's literary pop star.

With a million and a half copies of the self-pubbed trilogy in print and his fame outstripping him week after week, Amish was recently given a $1 million advance (for South Asian rights only) by Westland Books of India for his next series.

Amish has achieved cult status now with fans sporting Shiva Tattoos, as reported by the Deccan Chronicle of India, and wearing embroidered shirts of his book covers.

The Wall Street Journal recently featured an interview with Amish wherein he talked about his rocky road to publishing fame. He was rejected more than twenty times when he shopped his first book around, so he decided to self-publish it.

In the conversation I attended last week, he said that he quickly realized that no bookseller was willing to sell the self-pubbed book of a debut author. "How will a reader then buy my book if he doesn't even know it exists?" asked Amish. "It's a fallacy that a good book sells itself. While good marketing cannot sell a bad book, it can drive business for a good one. So write a very good book first, and market it like mad."

Amish came up with the idea of creating a free sampler: He bound the first chapter of his book in the same cover as the book and handed stacks out to booksellers to give away at the cashier counters two weeks before the release day. The book started pre-selling itself and created such a buzz that by the release week, the presales and sales put him on multiples bestseller lists. This was the first time in the history of the Indian publishing industry that such a phenomenon had occurred.

His book was then acquired by Westland Books, who published all three books in the series.

(Amish said that he wasn't willing to give away free copies of his first book, however, not even in the first few weeks, because he says when the whole thing is given away for free, it lessens its value.)

Amish used the cash he was raking in to make professional movie-grade book videos. Take a look at his book trailers. He had them shown at top movie theaters all over India in a publicity blitz, as well as released on YouTube. This was the first time, this had been attempted in India. And it proved to be extremely popular. His sales went through the roof.

Then he went a step further for his third book. He hired top recording artists to create a CD of ten original songs depicting themes and scenes from the book. He sold those CDs in advance of the release date of the book, and they flew off the shelves, adding to the waiting frenzy for the third book.

All three of his books are optioned for movies, and the first one is in pre-production. In addition to self-promotion savvy, he also has a sound head on his shoulders for the business side of things with contracts and such. He has portioned his rights out very carefully, leaving most of them in his hands to bargain with.

His writing style and presentation of the story appeals to the young and the old, male and female. He took Indian mythological tales and his personal philosophical beliefs and fashioned storylines to convey them in his trio of books. His books have a devoted female following, because it is rare for a male writer to write such strong female protagonists in addition to male ones. He believes that "stronger women make for a better family." (He claims this is how the original myths were, with powerful female leads, but in the middle of the last millennium, they changed as society changed into a patriarchal system.)

He wrote articles and gave talks to kids as well as to adults on the background behind his books. He said he did this to encourage coffee house discussions of the themes and motivations and conclusions of the books.

He has made a deliberate study of the brand he wants to convey. He told us that he chose only his first name as his pen name, because in India, his last name immediately puts him in a social class, which might mean fewer sales outside his social class. I noticed very similar answers to the questions from yesterday's conversation and the Wall Street Journal interview, which shows he has studied the most commonly asked questions and decided beforehand how he's going to answer those.

He very personable during his author appearances. He comes across as very intelligent, well-researched, knowledgeable without being pedantic, at ease, courteous, very honest, and witty. As with everything about him, I do believe that he gave considerable thought to this aspect of his brand, too.

You can reach the author at his page on Facebook or via his active Twitter feed. You can buy his books in the U.S., new or used on Amazon.

His advice to aspiring writers: "Write first with absolute commitment, with absolute love of the loneliness of writing. Don't write for the reader or the market. Write for yourself and for the story you're telling."

Bookish Gratitude List

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving, Janga asked on her blog, Just Janga: "What bookly things are on your gratitude list?"

1. My dearest friends who're also authors and whose books I adore: Amanda McCabe, Anna Campbell, Diane Gaston, Christine Wells, and Candice Hern. In fact, I started out as their fans before we became friends.

2. One word decriptor of Laura Kinsale, the author and the person: Amazing!

3. Debut authors who I met at the start of their first books: Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan, Maggie Robinson, Sara Lindsey, and Vanessa Kelly. Thanks go to Avon FanLit and the Eloisa James / Julia Quinn bulletin board for the introduction to these fabulous writers who're also fabulous people.

4. Authors new to me whose entire backlists I've now glommed: C.S. Harris, Deborah Crombie, Deborah Smith, Jodi Thomas, Kris Kennedy, Madeline Huntr, Julia Latham, Michelle Willingham, C.J. Lyons, Jo Goodman, Susan Wiggs, and Julie James.

5. Folks who educate me daily: Jane and Robin of Dear Author, Smart Bitch Sarah, Sarah Frantz and Eric Selinger of scholarly persuasions, Maili, Angela James of Carina Press, Dominique Raccah, Sarah Tanner, Sarah Weinman, Melissa Klug, Bethanne Patrick, and Jackie Barbosa.

6. Romancelandia on Twitter for making it possible for me to have intelligent conversations during my solitary days.

7. PJ for her voice of reason, voice of affection, and reviewing voice, not to mention uncommon talent for chocolate-making. Janga for her encyclopedic knowledge.

8. Thanks for my daily source of laughs: Anna Campbell, Teresa Medeiros, Connie Brockway, Christina Dodd, Eloisa James, Keri Stevens, rantyeditor, Esi Sogah, Dave Barry, and Dee Tenorio.

9. The Angles, Saxons, Jutes, British Celts, Normans, Vikings, Scots, Irish, Welsh, and the vast British Commonwealth for the Queen's English. Without this rich assimilating language, what on earth would I have ever said?

10. Amanda McCabe for being an all-round good egg, the best friend a person could have.

What's on your bookly gratitude list?

Highlights of the Conference

I wait all year for the RWA National Conference and it's over in a flash. Every year, without fail, I laugh, I cry, I talk myself hoarse, and I come away awed and inspired by the generosity and kindness of the professionals in the romance industry.

The theme to this year's conference, on my own terms: Love is power. Laughter is strength. Put it all together to gain individual and collective knowledge.

2009 HIGHLIGHTS

• My conference was made by dear, dear friend and mentor Amanda McCabe—wonderful writer, funny, hard-working, stylish, meticulous, and above all, very thoughtful. (Ms. Wee and I adore her to pieces!)
  
• Touring DC's monuments with Anna Campbell and Christine Wells
  
• Rooming and chatting after 'lights out' with Amanda McCabe and Andrea Pickens
  
• Meeting both the Smart Bitches in person together
  
• Watching Pam Rosenthal and Joanna Bourne win their RITAs
  
• Congratulating Louisa Cornell on her Royal Ascot and Daphne wins. (Somebody buy her already, for the love of God.)
  
• Being the always marvelous Diane Gaston's date for the Harlequin Party (didn't crash it, nope, nope)
  
• Attending the six-figures workshop and seeing how much Helen Breitwieser and Kristin Nelson adore their 2009 debut authors, Tessa Dare and Courtney Milan, respectively
  
• Being impressed by the posh and bright person that Joanne Grant is
  
• Falling in love with Sherry Thomas, and wisely running away before gushing it all in front of her
  
• Catching up with Deb Marlowe—always cheers me up
  
• Michelle Buonfiglio bowing to my bag
  
• Pitching at a shout at the Harlequin Party and getting a request. In fact, all of my pitches happened at parties and I got requests on all. Perhaps that should be my modus operandi at future conferences
  
• Hugging Romance Novel TV reviewer PJ
  
• Having the fabulous Mary Jo Putney and Victoria Alexander recognize me and say how pleased they're to see me, and having the incomparable Anne Gracie asking various people where she could meet me and being thrilled once she did
  
• Meeting fellow Twitterers in person: Sarah Wendell, Angela James, Jane Litte, Sarah Frantz, Malle Vallik, Kassia Krozser, Dominique Raccah, Don Linn, Pam Spengler-Jaffee, and Barbara Vey
  
• Hugging PJ
  
• Chatting with and raving about Kim Castillo, who's not merely an author's best friend, but a powerhouse in your corner
  
• Watching La Nora kick up her heels at the Harlequin Party. Also seeing Jo Beverley, Stephanie Laurens, Katherine Smith, Jacquie d'Alessandro, Olivia Gates (bellydancing), and Julie Cohen (ooh, can she dance!) let their hair down. (Noticeably missing: Julia Quinn!)
  
• Tearing up over and over during Eloisa James's speech. I've known her through her message board for years, and know of all the individual incidents that have charted her life, but hearing it all put together and realizing her courage and conviction through it all was simply WOW. (I'm even more in love her if that were possible!)
  
• Hand-delivering a note to Julia Quinn from a fan (De Paul professor Eric Selinger's young daughter) and seeing how pleased she was to receive it
  
• "May I take a picture of you?" I asked over and over again. "Of course" and "Sure" said the writers, dropping everything they were doing to pose with smiles at the ready. Graciousness personified.
  
• Meeting the oldest debut author at 76, Pearl Wolf, and buying her book at the Literacy Signing
  
• Watching how fast the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance is gaining in popularity and membership. (Kudos, Sarah Frantz!)
  
• Hugging PJ
  
• Eloisa James Julia Quinn Tea, Beau Monde Soirée, Banditas Bash, Smart Bitches Bootleg, Samhain Extravaganza, and the crown jewel, the Harlequin Party
  
• Anne Stuart as the emcee of the RITA/GH ceremony was the right blend of humor and speechifying. Her various guises were absolutely hilarious
  
• A thumb-drive with conference handouts and Harlequin art
  
• Meeting new-to-me authors
  
• Thriving in the constant hubbub of like-minded individuals
  
• Adult conversations (didn't have to be X-rated for enjoyment)
  
• Not dozing off in the 8:30am workshops
  
• Two boxes of books (oh, yeah!)
  
• Free eBooks by Books on Board
  
• T-Shirt by Quartet Press
  
• Being only a few blocks away from Obama, breathing the very air he was breathing
  
• Meeting up with my cousin for dinner the night before I left DC as the perfect coda to a near perfect conference

2009 BESTS

• Bookmark — Tessa Dare
  
• Excerpt booklet — Tessa Dare & Courtney Milan
  
• Postcard — Sara Lindsey
  
• Pin & Pen — International Association for the Study of Popular Romance
  
• Swag — Harlequin's 60th anniversary cover art goodies
  
• Cookies — Tim Tams by Anna Campbell
  
• Chocolates — Handcrafted by PJ
  
• Snack Goodies — Home-baked by Kim Castillo at the Eloisa James Julia Quinn Tea
  
• Party Outfit — Amanda McCabe at the Beau Monde Soirée
  
• Wardrobe — Every single outfit by Michelle Willingham
  
• Shoes — Silver nothings by Diane Gaston at the Harlequin Party
  
• Purse — Julie Cohen's Mills & Boon book cover from the 1960s
  
• Drink — Lemon drop with lime by Christine Wells
  
• News — Kathryn Caskie's engagement

(Photographs in the next post.)

Where Is My Time Going?

Every once in a while, I take a break from being completely-connected, hyper "on" the Internet and find it a blessed relief.

Well, not for the first day. That day is riddled with anxiety. I'm sure I'm the missing the new cool thing. I'm sure if I don't trash-talk with friends on Twitter, they'll forget about me, or worse, think I'm not savvy enough to hang out with. And let's face it, I miss those friends like crazy and wonder what/how they're doing. I take the edge of that first day by reading and keeping up with my other job, aka hoome, hearth & family.

Then the next day, I find myself diving into my research books. Anything to keep thinking about the Internet. The second day has circular thoughts of, "I'm so far behind, I'll never catch up."

By the third day, the relief of not having to stay up-to-date with everything has kicked in. And, most importantly, the story percolating in my head from the two days of reading is now in the active mode of "what-ifs". I'm feeling good.

The upshot of such a detox is I go through my Twitter followers and my Google Reader and cull what I'm reading. I slowly let the Internet back in. Life stays manageable for a while.

Then the creep starts. Someone will mention a piece somewhere. I'll read it, find it interesting, and add that blog to my Reader or that person to my Followers. And it goes on. Soon, I'm spending more and more time attempting to keep abreast.

The reset follows when I go cold turkey without the Internet. And thus, the cycle continues. Today, is my cull day.

Romanistas, am I the only one here with Internet mood swings, or do you find yourself in the same rocky, leaking boat?