Signed by the Author

By Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor for Southern Writers Magazine

Books may not be judged by their cover but they are sold by them. With today’s talent in graphic art, marketing and the psychology of sales, the cover is extremely important to the success of a book. The font size of the author’s name as compared to the font size of the book title is a telltale sign of the author’s fame and following. Many books have far better covers than content. With competition for the readers becoming greater than ever, more sophisticated marketing techniques are needed. Here are some I have observed.   

On a trip to Orange Beach, AL I discovered in a gift shop Andy Andrews’ bestseller The Noticer displayed alongside a Points of Interest brochure. The brochure compiled points of interest in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores AL "that have special meaning for New York Times best-selling author Andy Andrews.” How brilliant! The connection with the book and the author are much stronger when you can see where the story took place. This was discussed in a Suite T posting Getting Closer to Elvis which discussed connecting the book with the place of interest. I would think this is a great marketing tool to have the book available at the point of interest.

On a recent return trip to the same gift shop I found the follow up to the first book displayed. The Noticer Returns was displayed with a sticker on it stating it was an autographed copy. If you know this author you know he has autographed most of the books found in the stores in this area. Autographed copies weren’t a new revelation but seeing the sticker was.    

Rick Bragg is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer and author of Southern Journal in the Southern Living Magazine. In Bragg’s April 2014 Southern Journal entry Saving Face he said of his book All Over But the Shoutin’, “It was a beautiful book - not the inside, I mean, but the outside. The cover, which had the feel of old parchment, showed a photograph of my young mother, taken about the time I was born in ’59.”

Rick went on to tell of siting in a hotel ballroom and signing copies. He said he was about two hundred copies into the signing when he noticed his mother’s photo had been defaced with Signed by Author stickers. They had been randomly placed and appeared to be pirate eye patches or Band-Aids on her cheek forehead or chin. There needs to be some consideration towards placement where it isn’t detrimental to the work put into the cover.

I find these ideas could be very beneficial for the sale of the book. I am sure there will be more to come. Should you find one that interest you please share it with us here at Southern Writers Magazine. We can pass it on. Someday you may want to use these methods to help the sale of your book. 

I Love To Bragg On This Author

by Sherry Perkins

I have lived in southwest Louisiana my whole life, except for the seven years I was in the army and lived other places. I have also been a life-long reader and if I was to guess how many books I’ve read it would probably number in the hundreds. Mind you, I’m not one of those who finish four or five books in a month, but I am an avid reader, always have been. No book has touched me personally like “All Over but the Shoutin’.” 

My uncle let my mama borrow it. She then passed it to me. When I next saw my uncle I said, “I can’t put that book down.” He replied of the author, another man named Rick whom he had met at a writing conference, “He’s as country as turnip greens.” The book is “All Over but the Shoutin’,” and the author is none other than the Pulitzer-prize winning Alabama writer Rick Bragg.

Although Rick Bragg was born 12 years before me, reading his life story was like reading my own. They were poor; we were poor. Although I don’t think my parents would agree, now that I’m 41, I know it.

He writes about witnessing a Southern Baptist baptism in a creek and the congregation on the banks singing “I’ll Fly Away.” I don’t know how many of those I’ve been to, and that song is burnt in my memory from my tiny country church. It’s my favorite hymnal.

He recounts his older brother Sam running away from his mama when she tried to whip him, and when she caught up to him, she gave him a whippin’ of a lifetime as he yelled for God! My brother Charlie did the same thing one time as my mama straddled him and whipped him good. Some would call it a beatin’, but it was just a good old-fashioned whippin’ he deserved.

He writes about collecting Coke bottles for change. We did that too. He writes about his dad being a drunk, and I remember mama telling the same of her dad. Although I loved my grandpa to death, like most of us, it’s hard for me to imagine he was a drinker in his younger years.

He talked of his mama taking in ironing and cleaning peoples’ houses. My grandma did that too. There are so many parallels to his upbringing in Alabama and mine is Louisiana that I laughed aloud and swallowed hard to prevent myself from crying, which didn’t work at times. They even got commodity cheese like we did.

If you are looking for a true southern story, I encourage you to read “All Over but the Shoutin’.” It will touch you, I promise. Then you will understand how a famous writer like Rick Bragg really is “as country as turnip greens” as my uncle put it. After I read the last word of the last page, I wanted more. Hands down, he is now my favorite author.

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Sherry Perkins is president of Bayou Writers’ Group of Lake Charles, Louisiana,  and has had several articles and photographs published. She resides in DeRidder, Louisiana, with her husband, step-daughter, two cats, a fish, and a ball python named Richard Pryor.  Visit Sherry at www.sherryperkins.blogspot.com