Author Recommendations As An Invaluable RA Tool

To end the week I wanted to remind you of one of my favorite tools for matching readers with a good book and it is so easy because you don't do any of the work, all you do is guide them to a resource they will love-- the books their favorite authors love.

I do this all of the time, yet I often forget to remind you about it here on the blog because it is so second nature to me. However, the other day I was reminded of how invaluable this resource is when one of my favorite authors [Sarah Gailey] was gushing the praises of another one of my favorite authors [Grady Hendrix] on Twitter.

You can click here to read the full thread as to why they love all of his books [and inhaled them all in a few days]. You do not need a Twitter log-in the see the thread.

As a reader who loves the work of both of these authors, it gave me great joy to see Gailey appreciating and enthusiastically recommending Hendrix. And, it reminded me that these recommendations often work. Gailey writes alternative history, SF and Hendrix horror, and yet while they could seem very different, I like both so why wouldn't others? The one thing that unites their work is that they use thought-provoking humor and original and interesting frames. But that is not something you can articulate easily, especially if you, the library worker, hasn't read both writers yourself.

No worries though, the authors will do the work for you.

If a reader has a favorite author and is looking for a new read, let that favorite author do the suggesting. I have found that just about every time, the patron likes the suggestion too, even if it seems a little bit of a stretch recommendation. Once, I even had a patron love a suggestion that I showed them that their favorite author had made of a title, a title that only a year before I had also suggested to the same patron, but at the time, that same patron turned their nose up at my suggestion. Yup, it happened.

That is also a good point. This strategy of letting a favorite author suggest titles to your patrons is an especially good tactic with the difficult to serve patrons because while they might hate everything you give them, they are hard pressed to hate what their favorite author told them to read. I have seen it work even with the most hard to please patrons.

But where do you find these recommendations? Well the easiest place is Fantastic Fiction, a resource that compiles these recs, blurbs, and statements at the end of every author's entry. Stephen King is one of the most prolific at this. Click here and scroll to the bottom of his entry to see.

What I love about King's recs is that one, they are all spontaneous and honest. He will not provide solicited blurbs. And two, he reads so widely that his recs introduce his fans to so many different types of books.

Other places you can go to find these recommendations is the author's webpage, their social media, or search for author interviews with Google [or sometimes they have them listed on their websites]. Often authors are asked to recommend their favorite books in interviews, and their answers change over time, so check multiple interviews.

Once our patrons have broadened their horizons by trying a book they never would have given a shot except that a favorite author liked it, our job gets much easier. These patrons are more willing to try something new because they have done it once and liked it. Also as I mentioned already, an author rec may send them further afield from their usual choices. And once they have tried something really different that opens a whole new line of possible suggestions.

My recommendation is try this with yourself first. Use my suggested resources and find a book that one of your favorite authors enjoyed, a title you wouldn't have tried on your own without that recommendation. Then see if you like it too.