Buying books?

I had a discussion with my daughter at Christmas time. One of her friends was very, very into the Twilight series but was not buying the latest book until after payday. My daughter, a single, twenty-something, with a good job, was worried about her friend. Could she really be this poor? I worried that I hadn't presented the basics of the economy and budgets, but my daughter actually works in the accounting department of a rather large company. She must be going to hear about this stuff soon.
On the other hand, maybe not. There seems to be a disconnect with so many people about this recession. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that retail sales in April declined for the second month in a row. The Dow took a tumble on the news. Frankly, Wall Street may have been surprised by the figures, but I wasn't. I knew I hadn't been shopping in April, nor were a lot of my acquaintance. We were hiding out at home, trying to figure out how to pay our taxes.
Be that as it may, sales at bookstores rose last month even if only by .3%. I'm pretty sure that resale of books--at garage sales, Craig's list and e-bay is probably pretty good too. Too bad the stock market doesn't take note of those outlets.
I hear Star Trek did pretty well last weekend at the box office too. So although other news reports are blaring about vacations canceled and a travel industry in trouble, we all need to have someplace to escape to.
So here's the question: Are you buying books? Waiting for payday? Going to the library?
And while you're at it--what makes you buy a book? Reviews? Ads in your favorite magazine? Tell all!

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series.

Promotion

There's been a lot of talk about promotion -- and it's key to keeping your name out there. But how do you find the readers? Are you just promoting to other writers, who are also promoting?

There are tons of social networks now -- MySpace, Facebook, GoodReads, Shelfari, Twitter and many blogs. How do I get readers to check me out on MY blog, MY page on the social networks? Do I buy ads in traditional magazines, on websites, put up banners on sites and networks? Do I attend conventions?

I think each author has to sit down and think about what areas work for him or her. Most publishers have a presence on the major social networks, have an area for their authors to run blogs, send books and promo to conventions, buy ads, etc.

In a recession, we all have to think about the dollars we allot to our promotion, but another very important resource is to allocate our time properly. Can you be on every social network, update your page(s), write blogs, design ads, banners and plan for a trip across country to a convention?

I think it's essential for authors to participate in blogs like Make Mine Mystery because we support one another, have a variety of blog topics that will bring readers to the site and maybe discover another writer than the one they dropped in to read!

I also think you must think about your budgets -- of money and time. You can't burn out either! If you spend all your money on ads, do you have the funds to go to the convention you really want to attend? If you spend all your time updating social network pages, when do you write?

READERS: How do you find writers? Do you go to social networks, troll thru blogosphers, read ads, attend conventions? Or do you have a different strategy?

AUTHORS: How do you find readers? Same as the readers find writers, or something different?

Let's connect and still have money to buy books, time to write books, and time to enjoy life!