I read a book a couple of weeks ago. A great book. A book I absolutely loved. This book made it onto my Favourites list on Goodreads. The thing was, on the back cover of this book was a quote supplied by someone or other stating that this book could easily be the next Gone Girl.
Now this is a statement that is starting to get on my nerves. OK, it’s not just starting to, it does get on my nerves.
What does the statement mean?
- Does it mean it’s a mimic of the story and this author has done a bloody brilliant job of cloning it in tone and clever twist?
- Does it mean it could be the follow on novel to Gone Girl?
- Or does it mean it could be a brilliant selling novel, that could talked about by many in the way that Gone Girl was?
I’m betting it’s the third option. But if so, it could be the next Harry Potter, or the next Fifty Shades. Granted if we’re sticking to genre then you’re going to go with the Gone Girl analogy. But if you’re looking at hype and sales, then what about The Cuckooo’s Calling in 2013 when JK Rowling was identified as the author. I don’t think you could surpass that by much.
To be honest, and I’m probably going to be slated for this, but I didn’t like or even read much of Gone Girl. The chapters from the females point of view just irritated me. She was just so whiney. Maybe if I’d stuck with it, I’d have seen the reason for all the hype.
My point with this post though, is why would you want to be the next Gone Girl when you can be the next – *INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR OWN BOOK HERE!* –
See? Why are we constantly underselling ourselves? Or aspiring to be someone else? Even on the cover of our own work? Yes, have quotes from great authors on your covers saying how great it is, but comparisons? Do you really want to be someone else or do you want to be the best you that you can be?
mihrank says
lol – wow!!
Rebecca Bradley says
Yes.
cleopatralovesbooks says
This post says everything I want to say about the marketing of books – I don’t want to read another Gone Girl,despite enjoying it. In my mind this is what publishers think is easy marketing i.e. This book belongs in x genre but it is more likely to make me dismiss a book than read it now. Please market a book on its own merits not someone else’s.
Rebecca Bradley says
Exactly. As a writer, every agent is saying they want something new and fresh and don’t want copycats of anything, but as marketing goes, they use other books to pigeon-hole and promote new releases. It’s mind boggling.
MarinaSofia says
To be fair, I don’t think it’s the writers who want to be the next ‘Gone Girl’ or insert item of choice (other than in terms of sales), but the publishers. They have a tendency to flog a trend to death! And yes, I prefer something fresh, but lots of people do like to try something similar to something they’ve enjoyed before (that’s why those Amazon recommendations seem to work). As Cleo says, it’s lazy marketing – but I suppose it does work to a certain extent.
Rebecca Bradley says
When I first read your comment Marina at the beginning of the week, I thought, ah, good point about it not being the authors decision, but then it was pointed out to me on Twitter that they do have a say about what goes on the cover, so I think some authors see it as a compliment that they are being compared to something that was so phenomenally big and talked about. Which is the point of the post. I want writers to have more faith in themselves as themselves. Yes have the lovely comments from authors they admire on the back but not the comparisons.
Bearing in mind, in ten years time, I may have to stick to these very guns myself if I’m lucky…
But it is great for marketing with the buying readers. Especially those who loved Gone Girl and are looking to immersed the same way.
readingwritingandriesling says
So many books I pick up have the same quote on the blurb – a reference to the next Gone Girl or if you liked Gone Girl etc etc. – I haven’t read Gone Girl (maybe I should – does it just mean a twist you don’t see coming??) . Enough. A fresh description is needed.
Rebecca Bradley says
To be honest Carol, I don’t know what it means about the next Gone Girl, I didn’t read enough of it. I think it was very twisty and a big twist at the end you didn’t see coming. It may get on my nerves more because I haven’t read the book?
readingwritingandriesling says
I might have to read it to see what it is all about 🙂
Rebecca Bradley says
Let me know what you think if you do.
Claudia says
Agree. Don’t want my book to be the next Gone Girl. Like you, I thought it was hugely over-rated. I enjoyed the first section and after that, absurd twist after twist just got on my nerves. Obviously, it would be nice to achieve those kind of sales. But, dare I say it, I’d rather write something better! This kind of lazy marketing, as Marina says, must work, or they wouldn’t use it. But, as far as writers go, I’d encourage them not to try to be like someone else because that’s not good for either writers or readers.
Rebecca Bradley says
I think as writers we all initially aspire to be ourselves, but what do we do if we are compared to something that is seen as so great? Do we say no, I don’t want that on my book? I really hope I would. If it is that good then the author recommendations on the cover and back should be enough to push it. And the reviews that come in. We should all want to be the next thing of our own.
Annalisa Crawford says
Publishers tell us they want new, fresh, original stories, but successful books immediately spawn copycats – 50 Shades, Twilight etc. I was going to say the same as MarinaSofia – it’s probably not the authors who want to be compared to others but the lazy marketing department. They really should be encouraging new voices, and new stories!
Rebecca Bradley says
It’s funny isn’t it, agent’s want something new, marketing sell the same thing 🙂
thenovelprojectchronicles says
I admit that I enjoyed Gone Girl although (without giving anything away) the final third of it is just silly. I agree with Claudia and Marina that it’s lazy marketing but, at least on some level, it must work. I also think it makes many people fall prey to ‘writing’ the next big novel based on some kind of trend. I attended a writers workshop many moons ago where a member stated in no uncertain terms that she wanted to write the next Twilight and had no interest in learning any other aspects of the craft other than that which would lead here to writing the next best-selling YA novel. No matter how much the class coordinator (or the rest of the workshop) tried to convince her that she would be a better novelist if she a) read widely b) practiced other aspects of the craft. She just wouldn’t listen.
The point that she (I felt) was missing, was that she was basing her premise on what was currently trendy, which of course, by the time she wrote here novel would no longer be the trend du jour. But it’s the novels that surprise us – the ones that aren’t following trends as such – that are the ones that last. They become the next Gone Girl in the real sense that they are surprising and something new, rather than the latest in a trend. http://bit.ly/1BujlsX
Rebecca Bradley says
I just don’t understand writers like that one in your class. Writers should have their own idea’s just poking the insides of their heads screaming to get out, not the outside trying to figure what the best thing to write is. I imagine she is still trying to figure out how to write Twilight. …
And you’re right, it is the novels that surprise us that become big and we just can’t predict them.
D.A. Cairns says
Publishers love that stuff because they are looking at very specific markets. Many of the submissions I filled in recently for A Muddy Red River, asked me for other titles like mine, other novels like mine, and they insisted that ‘mine is unique’ was not a valid response. Marketing is everything in the digital age. Quality is not so important. If it won’t sell, who cares? That’s the attitude of most publishers, especially the big ones. Having said that Rebecca, I quite agree with the point you make.
Rebecca Bradley says
I’d hate to compare my own work myself. It’s like personally saying, Oh, I’m as good as XY and Z!
Alex J. Cavanaugh says
You’re right, I don’t want to be the next anything except me.
Rebecca Bradley says
And we want to be big and read and enjoyed by lots of readers right Alex! 🙂
Margot Kinberg says
I couldn’t possibly agree more, Rebecca! The only thing/book/author that writers should use as a measure is…themselves. I hope to someday be a better writer than I am now. And if what I write now is better than what I used to write, that’s excellent. If what I write in five years is better than what I write now, even better.
crimeworm says
I’m intrigued by which book you are referring to – so many I’ve read recently refer to “the next Gone Girl”! As you describe it as great, and your taste is so similar to mine (ie fabulous lol!), I’d love to know what it was. I seem to be alone, but I’m not keen on GoodReads, although possibly I just need to learn to use it properly – whatever it is, I’m not a fan. Any advice gratefully received!
Rebecca Bradley says
Ah, I can’t tell you that! Not now I’ve created a whole post and whole host of comments on it. (But you only have to look back at my Recently Read posts and you could probably figure it out. Sshh.)
Rebecca Bradley says
That’s a great point Margot about self improvement. I know as I continue to write, I improve and learn, but I can only ever be me.
Jacqui Murray says
Quite true, Rebecca. It’s that independent streak I so cherish in my characters. No pseudo-Jack Reachers in my books!
Rebecca Bradley says
Exactly. I love to read, but I certainly don’t bring into my work, the characters or plots of others work.
Alex says
I suspect that the truth of the matter is that it is the publishers who want to rake in the money from being behind the next Gone Girl, although like you the last thing I would want to do is come up with a book quite so irritating.
Rebecca Bradley says
Ha! See, I’m glad I didn’t read it. It’s splitting people. Though apparently the film is faring better than the book.
nancyrae4 says
Great post. You’ve reminded me of my goal. Writing the best novel I possibly can and describing my specific world and its fantastic people is my only desire. Writing as yourself, not someone else, matters. Otherwise, why bother?
Rebecca Bradley says
Exactly. There is only one person scribbling in that notebook or tapping at that keyboard and that is you/me. So why when it comes to selling it, should we rely on someone else’s good fortune to sell our books? And that’s a point, how does the author of Gone Girl feel about having her good work used this way??
diannegray says
I haven’t read Gone Girl, but I totally get what you mean. If I see an advert for a book and it says ‘The Next Harry Potter’ or ‘The Next Fifty Shades’ I lose interest immediately. I just want to read interesting stories on their own merit (and just be me with my stories) 😉
Rebecca Bradley says
That’s the thing, comparing books could split and divide. Especially with a book like Gone Girl. It was a book that was loved or hated. We don’t need comparisons to sell us books, we need great stories.
Gwen says
It always trips me up when I see a blub like that, except the book they’re mentioning is one I didn’t like at all. Instead of making me consider buying it, I usually put it back on the shelf. I mean, I know why they do it and it must work for them to continue doing it, but it personally bugs me.
Rebecca Bradley says
Same here Gwen. And with Gone Girl I think it divided people anyway so it’s a risky book to compare with anyway. Though I imagine sales say otherwise and that’s what they go from.
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