Book clubs by proxy

So let’s say you’re one of thousands of book clubs in the country and you have a particular book you want to discuss with your members. And you’d like to have the author along, but if you’re in Kalamazoo and the author’s in LA, travel can be a bit difficult. Which is why phone-in appearances have proved to be a growing trend that HarperCollins and S&S are happy to exploit:

The reason is simple: Book clubs are a growing force in the publishing industry, and publishers and authors view the call-ins as a way to show their appreciation, build loyalty and market their books.

“This is the next step in the evolution of the relationship between book clubs and publishers,” says Philip Patrick of Crown Publishing.

Says Chris Bohjalian, who has done more than 50 call-ins since his latest novel, Before You Know Kindness, was reissued as a paperback in the fall: “I don’t know if it’s measurable, but I do believe I sell more books by doing this.”

Since “trade paperback” has pretty much become synonymous with “book clubs” there’s no doubt at least in my mind that book sales can go up as a result.

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