The last quarter of the year is when the biggest and buzziest books tend to come out. Well, not all of them, but the highest percentage at once for sure.
There are plenty of lists of buzzy, upcoming books but today I want to focus on one writer who covers them regularly AND talk about using both the upcoming buzzy books and backlist options to help you help your readers.
Let's begin with that writer. Liberty Hardy over at Book Riot is the lead writer who covers upcoming titles. Click here to read all of her articles in reverse chronological order.
Specifically, her latest is 30 of the Buzziest Best Fall Books for 2022.
First step, use the information in this list to prepare your backlist titles by these authors for promotion. Celeste Ng has a new book coming, for example. Awesome. Make sure her older titles are available, in good shape, and front and center for people to read. Do this for every author you can on this list.
However, don't forget this second step, use Hardy's backlist lists of upcoming titles as their own RA suggestion tool, especially those from the last 3 years or so. Those books were buzzy previously, and you probably own them. Most importantly, there is a good chance hat they are on the shelf right now, waiting to be enjoyed by someone new. BY now, you and your readers have probably forgotten about them. But guess what? The secret you know, and your patrons don't....they are still a great read, one that is sitting right there waiting to be checked out immediately, one that may be just as good [if not beter] than the upcoming title they are hotly anticipating.
For example, using that link to all of Hardy's articles, I found this awesome list, "10 January Releases to Put on Hold At The Library Right Now" from November 2018. Those are January 2019 titles. I have a read a few and they are great suggestions for a wide range of readers. A few click and you look like a genius. hat's what the best resources do for us as we work with reader-- make us look indispensable.
You can make a display titled, "Buzzy Books Now and Then" or something similar that makes it clear that you have current and backlist Buzzy titles. This is especially handy to advertise the books on Hardy's current list, titles that are not out yet. You can let people know they are coming with a sign [if physical display] or a link to the list [if virtual display], and then encourage all interested readers to place holds. This display then becomes both your center to gather holds AND a read while you wait display, all win one easy to navigate location.
Add an interactive element if you are adventurous. Ask people to contribute the books they are most excited to read. Don't give them more than that. Simply just put up a board with the question, "What book are you most excited about right now?" [Or if virtual, us it to start a book chat or convo on line.] No clarifications. Just the first thing that pops into their head. You will see a range of answers, including titles new and old.
The results will help you to see what your patrons are actually reading and loving or hotly anticipating. This gives you way more usable reader data than looking at checkout records which only tell you what they brought home, not if they enjoyed it or not. This will be invaluable for you as you craft your collections going forward.
And the best thing about today's post-- this is a display you can put up anytime and at a moments notice. Use this link to Hardy's articles to pull up options to fill this type of display ANYTIME. Trust me, when you have a display of books that someone, anyone, deemed "Buzz Worthy," patrons will gravitate to it. Most readers do not care who is suggesting they take a chance on a book, just that someone felt it was worth seeking out. With so many choices, we have to help them narrow it all down. When we say "Buzzy," readers are more willing to give a book the benefit of the doubt because the category does not guarantee it will be "good," just that people are talking about it. And for a lot of our readers, that is all the convincing they need to give it a try.
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