Joe Konrath - Whiskey Sour review - Kalbzayn's Writing World

Wednesday, May 3. 2006

Joe Konrath - Whiskey Sour review

I enjoy reading J.A. Konrath's blog. There seems to be a fair amount of good advice and there is almost always a ton of comments from the other readers.

I decided to read his book Whiskey Sour so I headed to the library and picked up a copy.

The book is set in Chicago and mentions some areas that I actually know. For a couple of clients that I work for, I take 90 to 53 up north past Paletine Rd. which is a route they drive in the book at one point. Good old local flavor.

From the back flap, I learned the Konrath is a teacher at the College of DuPage which is where I received my A.S. degree from. More local flavor.

The book is short (65,000 words according to Amazon) and reads very quickly. Throughout much of the book, I loved Konrath's writing style.

I don't read very many mysteries so I don't have a very good way of comparing it to other mysteries, but I enjoyed the characters and the story. The bad guy is very bad and Konrath describes his bad acts very graphically. The cop is flawed and funny.

There were a few things that I didn't like. During much of the actual investigation and interviews, the pace goes way to quickly. A lot of the interviews are just lists of answers in paragraph format. There's no real interaction being the cop and the other characters in a couple of those scenes. The only reason this bothered me is that the book was so short anyway, it seemed like it would be an easy place to add some bulk to the book.

There were a couple points about 3/4 of the way through the book where I thought he got a little too cute with his humor. He does a good job with humor most of the time, but there was a spot where it just seemed like every couple lines was a punchline.

Overall I am really impressed with his writing style. I kept turning pages telling myself I would just read one more chapter. And with two more books in the pipeline, his publisher must be impressed by his style, too. I'll be waiting for them to come out in paperpack.

Konrath might be about to have the busiest summer in history. He's scheduled to visit 500 bookstores this summer. That sounds crazy to me but we all need a hobby. Odd are he'll be visiting a bookstore near you soon. I would imagine he'll have more information about where he'll be and when on his website.

Posted by Mike Miller in Reviews at 08:26 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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Wow! 500 bookstores in one summer?!?! Assuming his summer is three months long, that's like 6 a day? Seems like a bit of an exxageration!

#1 Leopold (Link) on 2006-05-03 11:59 (Reply)

Rather than making things up, I sent him an email asking him to clarify.

He said:
"I'll be dropping in 8 bookstores a day for sixty days, so I don't have any set schedule yet. Because these won't be official signings with advertising, and I'll only be in each store for about a half an hour, it'll be pretty tough to pinpoint exact times for 500 stores."

Thank goodness he teaches English instead of Math, but that should get him pretty close to 500 stores. In Chicago and the suburbs it shouldn't be too hard to visit 8 stores in one day. I can think of about 8 big chain bookstores within a half hour of my house and I live way out in the far west suburbs. That doesn't include anything smaller then a Barnes & Noble or Borders.

#2 kalbzayn (Link) on 2006-05-03 15:59 (Reply)

Well, always the skeptic, I'd say the logistics of that are pretty impossible. There's no way there's 500 bookstores in the chicago area. Not that I know the city and burbs at all, but maybe there's 200. then the logistics of 8 bookstores a day. At a half an hour? Are they prepared for him? Who made 500 appointments? What about going from one bookstore to the next? That takes time - particularly once he's got all of them lined up. What if one show goes over time (half an hour isn't long.) Just the logistics of Finding and BOOKING 500 stores seems insane to me. I'm curious what he's doing if there's no official signings with advertising. Does he just stand up in the middle of the room and read?

Anyway, it still seems unlikely to me. But hey, I really wish him luck. Even if he's only actually doing 200 bookstores, that seems like an insane amount to me. If he's got that many on his list more power to him. I'll be itnerested to hear how it goes. I'm lucky to be reading in 2 bookstores this summer.

#3 Leopold (Link) on 2006-05-03 20:20 (Reply)

I'm not sure if many of them will be "official" visits. There will probably be a lot of times where he just goes in and introduces himself to staff and then chats up people at the coffee shop and mystery sections. There will probably be very few tables set up and autographs signed.

He's really big on self promotion. He'll probably spend a lot of his time getting the staff to know him with the hopes that maybe some of them will put his book in a more prominent display in the store.

Just a guess. If I find out he's coming to one of my locals, I'll have to try and stop over and chat him up a little bit. Maybe it can be my first interview.

#4 kalbzayn (Link) on 2006-05-03 20:25 (Reply)

Hmm, that's interesting. Think it would be hard, without advance warning, to just go in and chat people up - but that's me. Yeah, self-promo works well. I'm a bit wary of it, though, since it puts promotion before the work, which is pretty much the way the industry works nowadays. It's a necessary evil, I guess.

Promoting a good book is fine, but I wish the reason people bought books had more to do with the quality of the book than hte marketing - but I think anybody who tries to sell books will let you know that it's the marketing that really matters. Sounds like he's got a lot of good ideas though.

#5 Leopold (Link) on 2006-05-03 21:34 (Reply)

His site is pretty interesting. Especially the discussions that get started over how much marketing the writer should be doing.

I will say that somebody that has two books published and a third on the way is probably somebody worth paying attention to when he gives advice. I don't know if I'd do everything exactly the way he does, but I definitely listen to what he says.

#6 kalbzayn (Link) on 2006-05-03 21:39 (Reply)

Leo,
You mention that you wish people bought books based on quality not marketing. How are people going to know there's a product there at all, good or bad, without marketing. We can't really just rely on reviews because they're really just another form of marketing.

I would have never heard of your book without your website. I would have never heard of his book without his website. That's marketing. Maybe not as agressive as some avenues, but it still is marketing. Any time a book is mentioned somewhere marketing is at work.

I think it would be awkward to talk to strangers in a book store in the hopes that they'll buy my book, but I bet it would probably be affective. At work a couple days ago a co-worker walked by and saw my copy of Whiskey Sour on my desk. We started talking about it and he happens to be a mystery fan. There's a good chance he'll go buy the book. If he was buying coffee at a bookstore and met the author himself, I bet he'd be even more inclined. I hope if I ever get published I have the cajones to do something very out of character for me like what he is doing.

#7 kalbzayn on 2006-05-03 21:47 (Reply)

I didn't say I wish there was NO marketing. I said I wish the reasons people bought books (or published books) had more to do with quality than promotion. Unfortunately, promotion is the reason most books get published and bought. Because of that, books that 'sell' are valued far beyond what books are actually worth reading. It's skewed, demeans the art form and works AGAINST publishing good books. It's like if we judged the quality of cinema based solely on the 'blockbusters', or food on McDonalds.

Also, no offense, but I hate being called Leo. Thanks.

#8 Leopold (Link) on 2006-05-03 22:10 (Reply)

Thanks for the kind words and the review!

Last summer, I visited 106 bookstores on the West Coast in 11 days. So 505 in two months is doable, especially sicne I'll be driving cross country rather than flying, which really took up a lot of time.

Eight stores a day for two months is the pace I need to keep to hit 500. On good days, in populated areas, I can do 15. On slower days, around 5. Some will be scheduled signings, which will take up more time.

#9 JA Konrath (Link) on 2006-05-04 11:12 (Reply)

Self-promotion isn't a strong suit of mine. I'd be interested to hear more about this - what you do in each store - what if nobody is there. In terms of the time put in (cost, etc...) what is the return that comes out, in terms of book sales, etc? Just curious.

Good luck!

#9.1 Leopold (Link) on 2006-05-04 14:28 (Reply)

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