How many Facebook groups are you in related to book recommendations?
I am in 7-8.
For the most part, it’s readers saying one of the following:
I just finished Book X, loved it, what should I read next?
I am in a reading slump, looking for a book that is X, Y or Z, what should I try?
I am part way through Book X, does it get better? Should I continue?
As I write this, the most highly-discussed book club books are The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (lots of recs for the audiobook), The Correspondent by Victoria Evans and Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. In the Historical Fiction groups, it’s all about The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.
The biggest mistake an author can make is to recommend their own book.
Book recommendations are a trust-based system, rooted in social exchange theory. While your book may indeed be exactly what they’re looking for, this is not where readers go to hear authors peddle their book. The self promotion grind is hard but this isn’t the place for it even if you’re being honest and upfront about the fact that you’re the author. It’s not that it’s wrong, it just psychologically will not work in your favor at scale.
Until The Spoon and the Sea takes off in these groups one day, I try to be like Ed Sheeran. He goes to busk with the people because he loves the craft. Above all else, he is a musician who loves music.
Writers, above all else, be readers. Join these groups to follow the zeitgeist and, most importantly, to recommend books you actually loved to read and help put them in the hands of people looking for it. Books and reading are a powerful form of goodwill that will come back, one day, in some way.
Want to show that you’re an author? First show that you’re a reader.