The Growing Annoyance with Trope Marketing

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Today I wanted to talk about the growing push back against trope marketing within the book community and give my opinion as a book reviewer who is active on social media but also pays close attention to the marketing materials publishers provide. 

What started in indie romance has spread to traditionally published fantasy, contemporary, literary fiction, and memoir with varying results. Many traditionally published authors insist this is the only way to market online against growing reader pushback. Though I'd love to see the data to back that up and how well it's worked for debuts vs established authors. And then for those authors that we're saying it works for what did their promo looks like from their publishers.

All books have tropes and multiple ones besides the one or two people usually to highlight. But at the end of the day those should just be pieces of the story not the entire story. I find it very interesting that the conversation has shifted to "Artists feel embarrassed about your art!" when I haven't seen any readers saying that.  Readers do not have a problem with authors promoting their books. They want to hear about these upcoming books. Where the pushback is coming from with readers is that authors are failing to tell readers what their books are about. Those graphics with the arrows usually pull buzzwords, phrases, personality traits, and plot points. If you have no context it makes some of those things meaningless. 

Some of them are little sloppy looking to people who prefer clean graphics and don't want to have to follow 20 different arrows jutting out in multiple directions.  Many of them repeat the same point two to three times just worded differently. While still not giving enough information about what the book is actually about. 

Enemies to lovers is a popular trope that many books are using as a key selling point. But it's disappointing as reader when you go into a book expecting enemies to lovers but the love interests are just people who had one small misunderstanding and never spoke to each other after that. Readers don't like to be misled unless the book is a mystery with a really great payoff. 

I could easily say a book is enemies to lovers,  small town, Montana, cowboys and Black authored. Or I could say, "It's Burris Brothers vs Hawkins sisters in a battle at the local rodeo. Will Jack and Audrey let their growing attraction ruin the competition?" (BTW if that interests you then check out Kathy Douglass' In the Ring with the Maverick)

Trends are also unpredictable and what was trending in 2020 has changed in 2022. And maybe an upcoming book wasn't written to fit trends but without reading the book it's hard to tell when that's all that's being highlighted. So many readers have been burned by books that were marketed by tropes where the story was clearly built around the tropes rather than coming together organically. Too many bad reading experiences back to back can suck the joy out of reading. The price of books adds up and people don't want to feel like they're wasting their money and time. 

For some readers it takes more than a pretty cover and some buzzwords to peak their interest. We can always say just read the blurb but many times those blurbs are paragraphs upon paragraphs often spoiling events that don't happen in the book until after the 50% mark. Which makes some readers less inclined to read blurbs.

Segregation, racism, colorism,  and microaggressions are not key-selling points. I thought the point of these graphics were to get readers excited? I don't know one Black person who gets excited when they hear about those things. Yet that's what's being marketed to us as what we should focus on for many books. Not the amazing characters, unique concept, or strong plot. . Trivializing Black characters experiences by centering it around their trauma and relationship to white people is a huge turnoff for a lot of readers. The story inside the book could be a truly great story. That aspect could be a very small aspect, but bad first impressions are lasting impressions.

As someone who's worked in retail and sales before I can attest that it's hard to sell a product when there are so many different options. When people say it's overdone it's because they're constantly seeing the same type of posts with little variation to the point where it no longer stands out to them.. And as much as books are art they are also a product. The same way people discuss how an ad for any other product is good or bad is the same way they're talking about what they see online promoting books.

It's easy to just write the book off as not for that person, but the truth is it could be for that person but the way it's being presented to them doesn't appeal to them. There are some really great books out there but the way that they're being promoted don't always allow them to shine. And with thousands of books being published each year, discoverability is key. Much of the discourse just boils down to readers asking to explore other methods. 

The one size fits all approach does not work when it comes to books. Everyone does not have the same audience even if they're writing within the same genre or age category. Rather than chasing everyone a better approach would be for authors to discover their niche market.  As publishers continue to put the majority of the marketing work on authors (though for Black authors this is nothing new) it's best that people discover who their intended audience is. 

A Taste of Magic by J Elle

 Welcome Back, Booklovers! I'm back on my MG reading kick and I have a new one to introduce you to. A Taste of Magic by J Elle is out now. This is the first book is a new middle grade series about a city magic school. Keep reading to hear all about it.

Kyana lives in the Park Row neighborhood with her mother and grandmother. After turning 12 she discovers that she descends from a long line of Magicks and is actually a witch. And there are more witches and wizards all around her neighborhood! Her mother enrolls her into a magic school that hosts sessions in a room behind their regular hair salon. 

One thing I can say about all the Black girl magic school middle grade books releasing this year is that they're all very different and I appreciate the variety. While the spells are cool and cause some chaos I wanted more clarity about the inner workings of the magic system. There's so much room to tie in the beauty salon aspect more. And with Kyana being a potions witch I'm interested in seeing what she comes up with when she starts experimenting more in future books.

Where I think where this story truly shines is with the relationships Kyana has with her family, friends, and neighbors. Kyana lives in the hood where parts of the neighborhood are going through gentrification but at the same time lack of funding still affects her school including her new magic school which has less money compared to the other magic schools in the area. Themes of supporting your community are emphasized throughout the story. We're introduced to multiple characters of different economic standing and we see how that effects their day to day lives as well as attitudes.

The relationship Kyana has with her grandmother is not one I often see in books. Her grandmother or Memaw as she affectionately calls her, helps raise her and passes down family recipes and heirlooms. Memaw is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and J Elle takes care in her portrayal of how the family is dealing with it.

While the ending seemingly wraps up with a neat bow there's still much that can be explored. Overall the is was a pretty solid start and the fast pacing is sure to keep readers engaged. 

National Kiss and Makeup Day Recommendations

Welcome Back, Booklovers! It's National Kiss and Makeup Day and I wanted to share some second chance romance favorites.

A lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria

Hi Mich. It’s Gabe.

After burning out in her corporate marketing career, Michelle Amato has built a thriving freelance business as a graphic designer. So what if her love life is nonexistent? She’s perfectly fine being the black sheep of her marriage-obsessed Puerto Rican-Italian family. Besides, the only guy who ever made her want happily-ever-after disappeared thirteen years ago.

It’s been a long time.

Gabriel Aguilar left the Bronx at eighteen to escape his parents’ demanding expectations, but it also meant saying goodbye to Michelle, his best friend and longtime crush. Now, he’s the successful co-owner of LA’s hottest celebrity gym, with an investor who insists on opening a New York City location. It’s the last place Gabe wants to go, but when Michelle is unexpectedly brought on board to spearhead the new marketing campaign, everything Gabe’s been running from catches up with him.

I’ve missed you.

Michelle is torn between holding Gabe at arm’s length or picking up right where they left off—in her bed. As they work on the campaign, old feelings resurface, and their reunion takes a sexy turn. Facing mounting pressure from their families—who think they’re dating—and growing uncertainty about their futures, can they resolve their past mistakes, or is it only a matter of time before Gabe says adiós again?

Foolish Hearts by Synithia Williams

It’s been three years since Ashiya Waters walked away from Russell—and made the biggest mistake of her life. She knows she shouldn’t dwell on the past. Love isn't meant to last…and nobody taught her that better than her own family. But when her grandmother unexpectedly dies, leaving Ashiya in charge of a multimillion-dollar company, Russell is the only one who can help her…and things get complicated fast.

Russell Gilchrist would do anything to be named COO of Robidoux Holdings—with all of the power and money that comes along with it. He’s been desperate to solve the disappearance of his brother, Roderick, for years, and the Robidoux influence could finally turn this cold case hot—and give his family some much-needed closure. The job is his…if he helps Ashiya manage her new business. He’ll just do his work and get out—that’s the plan. But being so close to the woman who broke his heart is dangerous. Seeing her smile and feeling her touch makes him want to forget the past. But will this second chance at love burn them both?

First Love, Take Two by Sajni Patel

On the verge of realizing her dream of being a doctor, Preeti Patel should be ecstatic. But between the stress of her residency, trying to find a job, and managing her traditional, no-boundaries family, Preeti's anxiety is through the roof. Relationships and love aren't even an option. Fortunately, Preeti's finally found a new place to stay . . . only to discover that her new roommate is her ex.

Preeti never quite got over Daniel Thompson. Super-hot, plenty of swagger, amazing cook—the guy is practically perfect. And if it weren't for their families, there might have been a happily ever after. But it's hard to keep her sanity and libido in check when the man of her dreams is sleeping mere feet away. Can Preeti and Daniel find a way to stand up and fight for each other one last time . . . before they lose their second chance?

Playing with Temptation by Reese Ryan 

North Carolina pro footballer Nate Johnston built his reputation on talent, drive and good sportsmanship. But a devastating recent loss derails his team’s shot at winning the championship…and Nate’s career when a compromising video goes viral. In need of a miracle, the star wide receiver feels ambushed when his brother enlists media consultant Kendra Williams to do damage control. The reignited desire for the woman he once wanted to spend forever with can only cause Nate deeper heartache.

Walking away from the man she loved seven years ago is the biggest regret of Kendra’s life. Now her son needs a closer relationship with his father…and Kendra needs to win back Nate’s trust. After breaking his heart, repairing his career is the least she can do to help save his dream. Powerful passion still smolders between them, tempting the former lovers to move beyond their painful past. Will the emergence of a jealous ex with a vicious revenge scheme sabotage their second chance at a future and a family that’s almost within reach?

Babel by R F Kuang

Welcome Back, Booklovers! Babel is one of the most talked about books of the year and I was able to secure an arc from Harper Voyager in exchange for an honest review. It's not my usual type of story but literary stories often surprise me so I went in with an open mind. So keep reading if you're interested in how I felt about this book.

Babel truly could've been a great read but unfortunately R. F. Kuang spends almost 60% of the book following the same mundane formula to remind readers of the themes. She heavily relies on telling rather than showing and the plot suffers because of it.  

Was this book her dissertation? Because it certainly felt like that. Paragraphs upon paragraphs in every chapter are wasted on the most mundane parts of school life. I've never read a novel before that gave you the play by play of lectures. And it didn't even do so in a way that moved along the plot. To be honest it's hard to explain the plot because it never had a clear direction. 

These characters never felt like fleshed out characters and there were so many missed opportunities for this story to have impact through them. Robin Swift is taken away to England as a boy by a white man he discovers is his father, Professor Lovell. Robin soon becomes acustomed to the British way of life and begins studying classical languages before he eventually goes on to study at Oxford. Professor Lovell and Robin had an interesting dynamic however when she finally shifted her attention back to their relationship it was far too late. Robin meets a group of friends but rather than seeing their dynamic together the focus is more on what they're learning in classes and they never feel fleshed out beyond their one main trait. We're told they're becoming close as a group but never witnessing it despite enough page space.

Then there were the footnotes that made this story feel like a textbook. So many footnotes were essentially just so your aware this racist thing happened in history. Or a paragraph explaining who a historical figure was that was mentioned. Or a paragraph telling us that something a character doesn't know and will never find out.

She does hit two of my bookish pet peeves. The first one is using words that don't match the time period in a historical fiction is one of them. Several times when the story did manage to engage me I found myself being pulled out of the text because the dialogue sounded too modern or they used a word I definitely knew originated after 1828. For a book so heavily focused on language it's an unforgiveable offense. The second one is featuring non English language words and giving us the meaning     right after instead of having readers use their context clues to figure it out. The book literally would give out the textbook definition after mentioning a word. And if felt like unnecessary filler.  

This book did not need 500+ pages to tell us what we already known which is that the British Empire was/is racist, biracial people struggle finding where they fit into society with both their white and non white counterparts, racism plays a major role in academy, it's easy to become caught up in fitting into white society despite knowing it's racist because you just want a space to fit in. I get it. She really loves etymology and she really loves Oxford despite it's misgivings. But I needed her to actually explore the themes in a more interesting way.  If a book is going to have very little plot than the character work needs to be on point to give an emotional connection.

The fantasy aspect was mentioned but never really explored in a way that made this actually feel like a fantasy story. Somehow this book even manages to make secret societies and planning a revolution boring.

The audiobook at least makes the book more digestible and tolerable but great narration can't make up for it's misgivings. The actual focus on the story and plot came far too late for me to fully invest and feel satisfied by the outcome.

Interview with Kiara Valdez

Welcome Back, Booklovers! So I'm back with another interview! And this one is a continuation in my series where I give you a look at the people behind the books. Kiara is currently an editor at First Second Books, a graphic novel publisher. 

What drew you to a publishing career?  And what was your journey getting started like?

I've been wanting to go into publishing since I was about 16 years old. I have loved writing in any form (doing it myself, critiquing it, reading various genres) my whole life and at that age I had realized I wanted to be the support for people who were telling these stories I loved so much. That led me to working in various summer internships during college to get experience in the industry. For a long while I specifically wanted to be a manga editor, but a year before applying for the editorial assistant position at First Second I had an informational meeting with Calista Brill who gave me a copy of In Real Life (Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang) and broadened my whole trajectory from 'just manga' to 'comics' in general. And now I couldn't think of a more perfect job or industry for me than where I am right now. 

What’s a common misconception people have about writing graphic novels or comics? And what advice would you give an author who wants to write graphic novels or comics?

I think people see writing graphic novels as easy when it’s not. Writing a good graphic novel takes just as much writing skill as any other piece of literature, but it also takes much more patience (because of the extensive development and production schedule) and an immense amount of visual literacy. I have a lot of advice I'd give to authors who want to write comics but it all boils down to not underestimating the medium—read extensively and also stay incredibly humble because it’s the artist that does at least 2/3rds of the work and ego will always sour relationships. 

Are there any favorite books or series you worked on?

I wouldn’t say favorite because I don’t want to pick favorites between my children, but the book that has personally meant the most to me is Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega and Rose Bousamra. I’ve always wanted a graphic novel about a young Dominican girl who stops straightening her hair and learns to love her curls because it took me way too long to do so. I want kids out there who are taught that straightening their hair is the “proper way” to see that there are other options. So I reached out to Claribel and Rose hoping they could tell a story that fulfilled that need. And through Claribel’s heartfelt and deeply genuine writing, and Rose’s gorgeous and emotive art, Frizzy became exactly that—a lush story about hair, family, generational healing, and self-love. It follows our precious, smart, and inquisitive Marlene as she, with the help of her best friend and fantastic tia Ruby, learns to embrace her natural hair, stands up to bullies at school, and becomes the catalyst for her mother starting her own self-love journey.

What types of stories do you normally gravitate towards?

I’m often pulled in all sorts of directions as both an editor and a reader depending on the genre, but overall I love a character driven story that is grounded in our world (regardless if there is a bit of magic, creepiness, mystery, or etc involved). As an editor I am of course always looking for holes in my list and the industry—especially topics not explored enough by POC creators. And overall, I adore a happy ending. Even if there is struggle and angst and a lot to get through on a journey, I want to leave a story feeling like there is hope for a better tomorrow.

Is your approach to your own writing similar or different from your approach as an editor?

I would say they inform each other. I was very strategic about picking what I would like to debut with, and what I’d like to be my second graphic novel, etc because as an editor I know exactly what is working (and lacking) in this industry. Of course I am writing things I love because if I didn’t I couldn’t make it through the countless rounds of revisions and the next couple years until the book may be published. But I can prioritize some of my ideas over the others because I can step back, put on my editor hat, and objectively decide what the best move for my career would be. 

Though, it is often hard to decide if a certain book idea is something I want to tackle as a writer, or something I want to look to acquire as an editor. But I’ve been able to manage sorting what is what because the scope of what I want to write is ridiculously small. But as I always say: I am an editor first, and a writer second.

Are there any upcoming writing projects you would like to plug here? Or books you’ve already written?

Most of what I’ve written so far is IP for Scholastic and so I don't have any personal projects to plug yet…but I hope to be able to announce something soon. Please be on the lookout!👀

Besides increasing diversity and pay, what is one thing you would love to change about publishing?

We need better digital and administrative systems. I swear to god publishing practically functions like we are in the late 80’s. The only silver lining about the pandemic is that it forced publishing to come to the 21st century for some aspects and make them digital, so at least we’ve had some improvement. But there are still parts of integral systems that are not efficient and I’d just like those systems reassessed and made better. Fixing these systems would cause a domino effect that helps with staff burnout and all sorts of things related to author care.

How do you establish boundaries between work life and home life, especially now with working from home?

It’s been an uphill struggle, especially since it has become even easier to work longer hours since my work laptop is right next to my bed. Unfortunately, I somewhat hit a breaking point in my burnout where I sat myself down and said if I didn’t change my codependent relationship with work I was going to get to a point where I resented absolutely every part of it. 

So I have made it so I refuse, in any way or form, to think about work when I am not in “work hours”. During my off-hours the second a work thought comes into my brain I push it out and say “Monday Kiara will handle that” or “that’s a problem for future Kiara” with not one ounce of guilt. I’ve also learned to stop trying to get validation from work—I’ve been in this industry for more than 6 years now and every second I’ve been here I’ve done way too much work for one human being. I could leave tomorrow (I won’t) and I would be satisfied with how much I’ve proven myself. Every new year I give this industry is a gift they should be grateful for! I know it sounds quite conceited but I promise you, especially as a woman of color, this industry will take every chance to stab a knife in your side and make you feel worthless, and the only way to fight that is with revolutionary self-confidence and shamelessness. 

What are your favorite anime?

It’s truly so hard to pick because I’ve seen so many, but here are ten of my all-time favorites:

Haikyuu!! 

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Prince of Tennis (...hasn’t aged well, haha)

Classmates 

Given

xxxHolic (the best of Clamp’s work, yes, I’d fight you over this)

Wottakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku

Kids on the Slope

Lovely Complex

Natsume’s Book of Friends

 

When did your affinity to lilac begin?

The seed was implanted in my brain when I decided to get a lilac dress for my senior prom in high school! And then I decided to get a purple ombre in college...which then just became lilac hair from my scalp to my ends. And then purple clothing, etc. I swear in like 20 years I will be a “purple lady”. 

What are some of your hobbies outside of reading and writing?

Haha, wow you just disqualified my top two hobbies. Hmm, I wanted to get into learning the electric guitar that I got during this pandemic, but I haven’t touched it in a year. BUT I will get to it eventually, so that will be a new hobby. Aside from that I watch a ton of media including anime, fantasy shows, teen shows, and home decor videos on YouTube.