Episode 8: Authors – They’re Just Like Us! They Even Use Pinterest! Plus Interview with Mur Lafferty

Episode notes

This week, Brea and Mallory help you support the authors you love, interview author and podcaster Mur Lafferty and reveal that Mallory is a mole person. You can participate in online discussion using the hashtag #AuthorLove on Instagram and Twitter!

Goodreads Group

Mur Lafferty-
http://murverse.com/
Ditch Diggers
https://twitter.com/mightymur
Should Be Writing Writers Workshop

Litsy

Brea’s Apple Corer

Books Mentioned –

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

Down Among The Sticks And Bones by Seanan McGuire

Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

What Are You Reading?

Brea is reading My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix, a book that takes place in 1988 and is about close female friendships.. when one girl might be possessed by the devil. It’s filled with fun 80s music references and is really scary. Mallory loved this book and both hosts agree that it’s sleep-with-the-lights-on level of terrifying.

Mallory is reading a – surprise! – weird fiction book called Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash about a guy who is a college wrestler and the goal of winning the wrestling championship takes over his life to the point of slight insanity. Also, the book cover has a cool picture of a lynx on it that looks like Mallory’s kitten Sailor, and she got a good Instagram photo of both of them together.

Listener Feedback

Mallory and Brea read some fan emails. Shannon wrote in to let them know that Reading Glasses has got her back into reading, especially being able to use the Overdrive app to get audiobooks and ebooks on her phone. This makes Mallory and Brea’s hearts swell up. A listener named Ariana wrote in the Facebook group that she discovered a tip to moving with books. She’s a knitter and packed the boxes half books, half yarn, to make them light and easy to carry. Mallory loves this tip, except that she’s crappy at knitting.

Main Topic

This week, we’re talking about authors and the fans that love them. You find a new author that you adore.. What’s the best way to support them? Where do you follow them online? We see people asking authors these questions all the time – so we’re here to help!

Brea’s book fact for Mallory this week is who is the most prolific author ever? Mallory guesses first God.. then Eckhart Tolle. But the answer is L. Ron Hubbard, who published 1,084 books. Mallory’s mind is blown.

The first way to support your favourite author is pre-ordering! If you love an author and know they’ve got a book out, pre-order it at your local bookstore, at Barnes and Noble, on Amazon, wherever you buy books, you can probably pre-order. Ask for it at your local library! Where you pre-order a new book doesn’t usually matter – it’ll support the author and show the publisher that there’s interest in their writing!
All sales from pre-orders go into the first week of sales that book is released so it is more likely to make best sellers lists if it has a lot of pre-orders. This is huge for an author!

With all the social media out there, Brea finds pre-ordering or even just asking the library to order it, will help her not to forget about it! Her TBR list is too long for me to remember it all.
Also, she asked the librarian friend of the show, Brazos Price, about asking your library to buy a book and he said, they will usually buy it if you ask. That’s one more book for your favorite author! For the LA Public Library, you can just do it online through Overdrive. Search for the book and scroll down and recommend it!

What if you’re not going to buy it or you already own it? New hardcovers can be expensive. If you get book another way – you got it at the library, you got it used, you borrowed it from a friend, you found it in the hollow of a tree, the best thing to do is talk about it! Review it on Amazon if you bought it from Amazon, talk about it on social media, or recommend it to people! Word of mouth sells books!

And don’t forget about Goodreads! Brea checks it for reviews. And rate it at the library online! Brea takes that into account for what book she’s going to read next. Also there are social media sites just for books, like Litsy, that you can review books on.

Caveat to this – author etiquette! Don’t EVER tag an author in a bad review of their work. Ever. If you do this, you’re a trash baby, no question.

Speaking of social media, where can you find authors? Besides at the bar, most authors now have some sort of social media presence, even if they don’t run their own account. Social media feeds are a great way to find out about new works coming out, signings you can go to, and other cool news. Look your author up on Twitter! Sometimes authors make their other social media feeds public and that’s a fun way to follow them. A lot of authors are fascinating people. Check for them on Instagram or Snapchat or Pinterest or whatever social media platform you love. Brea’s mind is blown to discover that author’s use Pinterest. Erin Morgenstern and Lindy West have great Instagram feeds, Roxane Gay has a great snapchat, and there are so many authors on Twitter like Daniel Jose Older, Jessica Valenti, Kevin Hearne, Charlie Jane Anders, Celeste Ng. See if your favorite comic artists have an Instagram!

If you like their writing, see if they have a blog! Just literally google author name plus blog. Kameron Hurley has an AMAZING blog! Chuck Wendig and John Scalzi have notoriously awesome blogs.

And if you love an author and their writing is important, send them an email! Mallory and Brea remind you that you can emotionally support your favorite authors, too. Look on their website for a contact form or email address. Authors love hearing from fans. Mallory got an email from a lady who loves my writing and it made her cry. In a good way. Don’t be creepy or weird, though! Some weird or creepy things not to bother to ask: bra size, phone number (because you really think you guys can be friends…), answers that are immediately available with one google search.

Interview with Mur Lafferty

Mur Lafferty is the author winning award of the sci-fi thriller Six Wakes, and her writing podcast with author Matt Wallace, Ditch Diggers, is also award nominated. Mur is currently listening to Seanan McGuire’s Every Heart A Doorway, a book Mallory also loved. As a sci fi author, Mur loves e-reading. She reads on a Kindle Paperwhite or her iPad, but she loves the Paperwhite because nothing else can distract her from reading. Brea also reads on a Paperwhite!
If there was some book technology that Mur could wish into existence, it would be a more satisfactory system to know where you are in an ebook in relation to the end. Mur tells fans that the best way to support her and other authors are pre-orders, because they tell the publishers how many people are looking forward to a book, which is what publishers care about. Books that Mur likes to gift the most are books she listened to on audio and wants to support, so she’ll buy a hard copy to give as a gift.
Mur’s podcast, Ditch Diggers, which she does with author Matt Wallace, is about the business of writing and definitely worth checking out for writers. She also has a solo podcast called I Should Be Writing, which is also helpful for writers. Mur has written the I Should Be Writing book, which will be out in August, and is available for pre-order (hint hint).

Reader Problem

Mallory and Brea solve a reader problem from a fan.

Hello ladies, I have a book problem.
I normally love to read. No sci-fi book is safe from me. However, over break, I have to read two books for class and I’m having trouble even just picking them up to start. They are supposed to be excellent (according to everyone else) but every time I try to sit down with one I end up picking up my phone or rereading something I’ve already read. There just isn’t enough to keep me interested. There is a essay assigned along with them and we will be tested in the first week of school so there’s no hope of simply turning to sparknotes as an easy out.
Do you have any advice on how I can make myself read? How do you pay attention when a book gets boring?
I love your podcast and all your book related enthusiasm. You bring joy to my life every time a new episode comes out.
Sincerely,
Mack

Mallory’s advice – Normally I’d just say dump that book. But if you need to read something for work or school, break it into chunks. Even if you have to do just a page at a time. Set rewards for yourself, whether it’s a snack or reading a book you actually like. If you are focused on just one chapter or just one page, it seems less overwhelming and might help take some of the despair away! Also, see if it’s in a different medium! Doing it on audio while you work out might help!

Brea’s advice – I have a graduate degree in American Studies because…why? Who knows. I love debt. And I had to read a lot of boring ass books. I did exactly what Mallory said – I would read 50 pages and take a break. Walks I found were especially helpful because then I got to move around. I snacked on garlic stuffed olives too which kept me awake. Also — snack alert — apples are supposed to be just as good as caffeine for keeping you awake through those boring books. So I got this apple corer thing and went to town. I still snack on apples when I’m sleepy.

Mallory reveals that she is allergic to raw apples – and all other raw stone fruit – and is basically a mole person. This is the most Mallory/Brea advice ever given – read more and eat some snacks.

Book Connection

This episode’s book connection – a way to connect with other readers online – is using the hashtag #AuthorLove and Instagram or Tweet a picture of you with your favorite author if you’ve got it! If not, just Tweet us your favorite author. Iff they’ve got a Twitter, tag them in it!

If you liked the show, please rate and review us on iTunes! It’s really great for us and helps us reach more readers! You can email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com, find us on Twitter at readingGpodcast, on Instagram at readingglassespodcast, and you can always follow along on our bookish adventures using the general hashtag #readingglasses. Thanks for reading!