My Favorite Reads of 2014 #amreading

Each January, I look over my Goodreads list and pick out a few books that really stood out to me over the past year.  I read all genres, although obviously as a romance author, I tend to favor stories that involve a relationship between two characters, even if it isn't the central plot.  And while I've had a new release come out each year I've done this, including this summer's DIVINE FALL, I leave my own books out of the running, for obvious reasons!  Here's a look at a few of my favorite reads of 2014, along with links to my 2012 and 2013 lists.

Historical Fiction:  A tie-- River God, by Wilbur Smith and The Kitchen House, by Kathleen Grissom.

Historical Fiction and Historical Romance are genres I gravitate toward...I love immersing myself in the past as a dramatic story unfolds in a different time and place.  There were two books this year that I really enjoyed.  River God is an older book, published in 1995, set in an even older time--Ancient Egypt, circa 2,000 BC.  This is book #1 in Wilbur Smith's Ancient Egypt series, and I'm so glad a friend told me about it.  While I had my misgivings when I realized the entire story would be told in the first person Point of View by a eunuch slave, it worked really well, and the engaging narrator Taita was even able to bring the forbidden romance between Tanus and Lostris alive for me.  And Taita is a literary "Mary Sue", but the author knew what he was creating and he had fun with it.  This novel reminded me of some of my other favorite books--Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth, his Century Trilogy, or Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series--this was an epic tale full of drama, history, romance, war, medicine, affairs of state, adventure, crime and punishment, royalty, and slavery.

The other historical fiction novel I enjoyed, The Kitchen House, is set on a Virginia plantation in the late 1700s.  It's a compelling contrast between the life of the slaves and the life of the plantation owners, reminiscent, to me at least, of The Help.  Two narrators, an orphaned white girl brought to work as an indentured servant, and a half-black, half-white slave with ties to "the Big House" (ie, the plantation mansion), provide complementary looks at the struggles facing those with limited or no freedom during this time period.

Biography:  Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand

Nonfiction is rarely something I choose, but even before all the hype surrounding this book reached me, one of my friends recommended it to me.  I knew I had to read this incredible true story, and I began recommending it to others before I was even halfway through.  At this point, almost everyone has heard of Louis Zamperini, and either read the book or seen the movie.  I've done both, and I do think the movie did a good job within the obvious constraints of fitting an amazing, full life into a two-hour time-frame.  But I don't think the movie comes close to conveying the magnitude of the events--so I highly recommend reading the book if you haven't.

Literary Fiction/Suspense: two novels by Tawni O'Dell, Fragile Beasts and One of Us.

Back in the days when I belonged to one of those Book-of-the-Month clubs, I saw Back Roads described in the catalog.  I sent away for it, and I absolutely loved it--a tragic, dark, haunting, and yet somehow hopeful family drama set in the dreary, poverty-stricken landscape of a dying mining town.  I was hooked on the story, and the author.  I eagerly snapped up her next two books (Coal Run and Sister Mine) as they released over the years, but then I didn't see any new ones for a while--so imagine my happiness when I did a quick search on GR one night and discovered TWO new Tawni O'Dell novels waiting for me!  Each of her novels is a stand-alone, but they all share that rural, gritty setting of a Pennsylvania coal mining town with little left to offer the families who gave their lives to the mines that sustained them for generations.

Legal Thriller:  Defending Jacob, by William Landay

Another recommendation from a friend (everyone knows how much I like to read!).  Legal thrillers aren't my thing lately, but this one was an out-and-out page-turner that I literally could not put down.  I brought my Kindle to my son's baseball games so I could read a few pages between innings.  This one's about a lawyer defending his son against murder while not entirely convinced of his innocence.  The level of tension and uncertainty reminded me of Gone Girl.

Young Adult - Historical Fantasy: The Kingdom of Little Wounds, by Susann Cokal

This book was listed in a Jan. 2014 Boston Globe article of books not to miss.  Otherwise, it's unlikely I would have ever heard of it, and that would have been my loss.  The name intrigued me, as did the cover.  Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of contention over whether this is really a "Young Adult" book, but two of the main characters are indeed young women, living within the palace of a sort of "alternate reality" Scandinavian city in the 16th century.  Despite a few invented details, the history of the period itself is obviously meticulously researched, and young people were often thrust into unpleasant things at an early age in the 1500s.  Does that lead to some very graphic descriptions, disturbing scenes, and gruesome diseases and traditions?  Yes.  But that's what life was like then.  The prose is beautiful and the world-building top-notch.

Well, there you have it...my most memorable reads of 2014.  What were yours?  I'm always looking for my next great book!

Sharing Shelf Space with #GoneGirl and #CuckoosCalling

I had an amazing book signing this weekend during a vacation in Bethany Beach, Delaware.  We usually do an annual visit to the area, and this year, it occurred to me to check in with the beautiful local bookstore situated near the boardwalk.  About six weeks before the trip, I checked the store's website for contact info, and I found an extremely helpful page for requesting events.  I received a positive response to my inquiry, and we set up a time for a signing.

In this crowded marketplace, most authors need to be an active participant in their own promotion.  But again, this bookstore's website made it fairly easy--I found a sample press release and a link to a page with contact information for all local news resources.  Fantastic!  I was able to send out about twelve press releases in less than ten minutes.  A number of radio stations and local publications advertised my upcoming event, in addition to the bookstore's website and social media accounts.  Of course, I hit my own as well, announcing the signing on twitter and Facebook and requesting shares and RTs within the fabulously supportive network of authors at The Wild Rose Press. 

As a result, I actually had people waiting for me when I arrived, which was thrilling.  Equally thrilling was the beautiful display I'd seen the day before--a row of my books, complete with "Meet the Author" signage, in the front window...on the same shelf as Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, Robert Galbraith's (J.K. Rowling) Cuckoo's Calling, and The Black Country and The Yard by Alex Grecian.  I was so excited to see Gull Harbor and Silver Lake on such an impressive shelf!

There were also a few well-placed signs on the sidewalk, and I did my best to chat with people walking by.  After all, it was an early summer weekend at the beach, and my books are perfect beach reads!  Both are set during the summer months near the water, with a spooky haunting, a suspenseful mystery, and a steamy romance. 

I really enjoyed the signing, and I was so glad I took time away from my vacation to "work".  I do try to think outside the box when it comes to promotion, and this event came together beautifully.  From now on, if travel time will allow, I'll continue to reach out to bookstores located along my travel destinations...you never know how putting yourself out there might pay off!

How I Got Shelf Space for Silver Lake - Kathryn Knight

I'm thrilled to have received premium shelf space for the entire year at our local bookstore, despite the fact that Silver Lake is my debut novel, published with a small press with limited distribution of print books.  How did I do it?  My persona with the MBA in Marketing wants to say I used a combination of push and pull strategies.  But what it really came down to was hard work and luck.

My first inquiry at the independent bookstore in our town was received with only mild interest.  Local bookstores like to help local authors, but there are many local authors hoping to sell their work.  And since Silver Lake is a POD (print-on-demand) title, ordering copies requires either a leap of faith (no returns) or a consignment agreement (more paperwork).

Determined, I visited a few more bookstores in neighboring towns, dropping off postcards.  And I got lucky--one store was having a Halloween event, and felt my ghost story would be a perfect fit.  Would I be interested in doing a signing at the event?  You bet!  I immediately dropped off some advance copies of Silver Lake by request, and received my first consignment agreement.

Now I had a signing scheduled and I was in one bookstore.  I saw an opportunity to capitalize on these positive developments.  The local paper had agreed to do a story on my book when I first contacted them, so I followed up with the editor there.  I emphasized the Halloween/ghost story connection and politely asked if the article could make it into the paper in time for my book signing.  Another piece of luck fell into place: they said yes, they could do that.

I raced back to the bookstore in our town with something to offer: I was being featured in our local paper this week, and they would list my book signing events.  We quickly set one up--now I had 2 book signings in one weekend with a corresponding newspaper article on the front page of the Arts section.  It was a banner weekend!

So that was mostly a push strategy--hopefully I wasn't too pushy, but I was persistent.  Signings are a lot more difficult that I imagined, but with the help of the bookstore owner and the news article, I began getting Silver Lake into the hands of local readers.

Thankfully, readers liked it--so much so that several members of the town Women's Club nominated it as a 2013 selection for their Book Club.  A book for each month of the upcoming year is chosen in December, and Silver Lake was selected for January.  I was ecstatic!  Now I had a book club creating demand for my book, a pull strategy.  The bookstore owner requested more copies, which I delivered immediately.

Then she showed me the best part: all the town book club selections for 2013 stay up on the main shelf for the entire year, labeled with their club and month.  Silver Lake is up on a shelf beside titles such as Gone Girl, Body Surfing, Room and The 19th Wife.  My next-door neighbor up there is You Learn by Living, by Eleanor Roosevelt.  Nice company!

I wish I knew of a magic formula in this competitive market for those of us without well-known names and enormous advertising budgets.  For me, leg work and lucky timing were two big factors for getting up on the shelf.  But there is one thing that I think is probably the most important: coming out of your comfort zone.  Most authors, including myself, would prefer to write.  It's what we do.  Selling ourselves is hard.  We'd prefer people to just want to read our books--but they never will if they haven't heard of it! 

In terms of digital promotion, I asked my publisher if we could do a limited time Kindle & Nook sale at 99 cents.  It's currently ongoing, so I can't say for certain if a low sale price will generate a significant bump in sales.  But so far, Silver Lake's Amazon sales rank has improved during the sale, so that's encouraging.

So that's my story.  I'd love to hear yours--what has worked for you in terms of marketing?  Have you had any lucky breaks?  Forced yourself out of your comfort zone?  Has it paid off?