Only if you can find it…
Simple answer, no. A book doesn’t change the world, the people who read it change the world. Kind of like that gun reference. In the same way though, the availability of the book is a big factor in who is holding that book. Gutenberg proved that a very long time ago with a book that still helps a lot of people change the world. My book is less important but I hope it helps someone.
So when I was publishing my book there were so many questions that I needed to think about in terms of getting it into people’s hands. Does that specific book catch the eye when it is on the shelf? Is it easy enough to read? Does it hold your attention, keep your interest, challenge you? Do you want to read more? And even more basic-is the book in your local library, neighbourhood store or on the platform you normally use? Can you get the book you want read?
In order to help my book be available I have put in an application to the Winnipeg Public Library, a school library as well as Hull’s bookstore. They are currently reviewing it and will let me know. The best way to get a book into either a library or a bookstore is to get lots of people to request it. So if you know someone who might like to read my book or anything else specific that isn’t listed than please request it, fill out the little form and ask. Encourage your friends to as well. So now I wait. Maybe I should read someone else’s books for a bit.
At the beginning of summer I was looking to boost my summer reading pile. Looking forward to lazy afternoons and early unrushed mornings. I ordered six books off of Thriftbooks.com. I had a specific list of authors and books I wanted so I started looking locally. I looked on the Winnipeg Public Library and couldn’t find these specific books, there were others in the series or by the same authors but not the first book in six series. I looked online at local stores websites but only found one or two. Again more from those authors and even more in those series. Big named e-books didn’t have all of them either. So I ordered all of the books I wanted from one place -Thriftbooks.com and paid almost the same amount in shipping as I did for the books. They arrived in only a couple weeks.
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1. Piers Anthony – On a Pale Horse
This one because a few months ago my husband tried to find every book in the series Incantations of Morality. All the rest were found at used book stores around Winnipeg except this one. I read this book when I was in high school but I might still give it another read. I haven’t decided yet.
2. Cornelia Funk – InkHeart
I need my daughter to read this one. She has her own writings and drawings and I think she would love this concept. It really intrigued me when I read it shortly after it first came out. Unfortunately/fortunately when I started talking it up and showed her the book she said, “Yeah I have that one on my shelf, I just haven’t got to it yet.” So I got an extra copy now. Books seldom go to waste, they make very good birthday gifts too.
3. Mary Doria Russell – The Sparrow
This was a completely blind purchase. When I put several hashtags in for my book including Christian and science fiction, this was one of the books that came up as comparable (or Comp Title). This was a strange and difficult journey. Worth it in so many ways and yet I was disappointed by the ending. It went in a way that I couldn’t follow. I wrote more about this book in a previous newsletter (Be careful little Eyes).
4. Ted Dekker – Black
Again a blind purchase because it was also in the Comp Title list but I do not feel like this is what I am writing at all. I was curious about what other Christian Science fiction writers had done and this is certainly that and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the Circle series in the future (they are available locally). It taught me what my book is not.
5. Mercedes Lackey – Arrows of the Queen
I had heard the name in mid-grade fantasy listings and found a audiobook preview. I listened while crocheting and very much wanted to finish the story. I found the writing style to be a similar story telling style to my own. I should not have been surprised that the story was not finished at the end of the first book as it is the first in a very long series spanning several decades of writing. Way to reel me in.
6. Martha Wells – The Cloud Roads – Volume 1 of the Books of the Raksura
Her name came up in every search I did for comp titles, and was that search engine correct! I found a sample, the first couple chapters and began reading. I devoured it, read 69 pages with only getting up to pee and grab sustenance once that whole time. When the actual book arrived it was the first I continued to read. I read all through the night and finished it in a couple of days. The characters, the world, even the style of writing – all comparable to Rocky Rulers. Then a few weeks later one of my adult kids decided to stock up on their own reading list – The MurderBot Diaries. She bought the series having no idea that I had already read a book by the same author so she is now intrigued to try something new.
And isn’t that the entire point of comparable titles. Its not to find an exact copy in another format of the story you just read. It is to make the next book approachable, relatable and just different enough to make you reach and challenge you in a new direction. Reading one more book gives you one more perspective and all of this leads to you, the reader, making little changes to your thoughts, actions, words and therefore, changing the world. For you and hopefully others but only if you can find the book you are going to read.