Friday, July 6, 2012

Catfish Marketing Campaign, Day 6 Book Groups


How have you contacted book groups and have you had success? I’d love some suggestions on ways to find and contact book groups because I think they are an excellent way to promote your books.

I’ve put together a list of ten questions for my novel Stealing Mercy, but they can easily be rewritten and applied to any novel, which I’ve done for my novel A Ghost of a Second Chance—to prove my point.

Book Group Discussions for Stealing Mercy

1.      What do you think the title Stealing Mercy means? Who do you think is trying to Steal Mercy?
2.      What significant role does family history play in this story?
3.      What are some of the prejudices Mercy and Bette both face? How do they overcome them?
4.      The Lucky Island Brothel takes on a life of its own in the novel, becoming much more than just a place of business. What do you think it represents for the town? For Mercy?
5.      There’s more than one reference to fairy tales in the novel. Is Mercy a believer in fairy tales? What are your thoughts on fairy tales?
6.      One of the prevailing themes in Stealing Mercy is friendship. How do Mercy’s friendships change throughout the course of the novel? How do her friendships change her? How about Bette? Is there a correlation?
7.      At the beginning of each chapter there is a recipe. What significance do the recipes have? What role does food play in the story?
8.      What do you think of Mercy’s and Trent’s relationship and how it evolves over the course of the novel?
9.      Mercy takes enormous risks throughout the novel. Why do you think she’s willing to put herself in peril?
10.  Mercy and Trent have a complicated relationship from the start—what do you think is the strongest force pulling them together? Do you think their relationship would have worked had they met in another place and time?

Book Group Discussions for A Ghost of a Second Chance

1.      What do you think the title A Ghost of a Second Chance means? Who do you think needs a second chance? Madeleine and Sid? Laine and Ian?
2.      What significant role does family history play in this story?
3.      What are some of the prejudices Madeleine and Laine both face? How do they overcome them?
4.      The cottage takes on a life of its own in the novel, becoming much more than just a home. What do you think it represents for the town? For Laine?
5.      Do you believe in ghosts? What are your thoughts on life and love after death?
6.      One of the prevailing themes in A Ghost of a Second Chance is family relationships. How do Laine’s  relationships change throughout the course of the novel? How do her  relationships change her?
7.     What do you think of Laine’s and Ian’s marriage and how it evolves over the course of the novel?
8.      Laine takes enormous emotional risks. Why do you think she does this and does it take courage or stupidity?
9.  Laine and Ian  have a complicated relationship from the start—what do you think is the strongest force pulling them together? Is it more than a share history?

10. Do you think their relationship would have worked had they met in another place and time?

Please share your experiences with meeting with book clubs.

2 comments:

  1. Good idea to contact book clubs and you've got great questions to facilitate discussions. Love your poss and I'm now following your blog!

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  2. I like your ten questions a lot, mainly because they're different from the usual ones we see. Thank you for sharing them. I may "borrow" a few!
    I wish I had some book group insights to share with you, but I haven't contacted any. That's on my list of future marketing efforts.
    BTW, I found you through LinkedIn's "New Authors Need Marketing Ideas - Got a blog/site post it here" group.

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