I'm reading DEVIL MAY CARE by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Kenyon is a hugely popular author. New York Times best-seller, all that. And this isn't a bad book. The writing moves along, the characters are powerful and emotional, and there's sex. But so far, there's nothing really special about it. I don't know that I would buy it for BooksForABuck.com. (It's not bad enough that I'm stopping reading it, though). So, why the popularity? Why the huge number of 5 Star reviews at Amazon? (Please note: I'm using this book as a segue. I'm not saying that this particular book is bad, or even that it won't turn wonderful in the second half).

If I knew what made a book a bestseller, clearly that is something I would consider doing. One thing that seems possible to me, though, is that this book is pretty much in your face. Kenyon tells when she could show and uses simple language to do it. Maybe today's readers really don't want to be challenged. Maybe they want to sit down and fantasize about super-powered god/men with really good looks, a lot of anger some violence and blood, angst, and a lot of sex. That's what you get with Laurell K. Hamilton, another hugely popular author.

It's certainly true that some authors simply coast on popularity. Once an author develops a following, we readers keep buying them--even when we're disappointed--because we think maybe something good will happen. I've certainly got authors I read who have disappointed me for the past several books but I keep reading them because I loved their early stuff (Robert B. Parker is an example of this). Some writers get so big they know they can sell anything and simply refuse edits (as I hear Anne Rice does).

I'll continue reading, looking for that spark of fairy dust that turns an average book into something special. In the meantime, if anyone out there knows the secret, feel free to let me know.

I'm going to make the distinctly non-average DEADLY TRADE by Michael Paulson the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. Private Detective Deacon Bishop is back--in a case that starts out as a simple missing person but escalates into danger, murder and the mob. Paulson writes some of the best hardboiled mystery fiction out there and DEADLY TRADE is an example. We're still in our introductory month, which means DEADLY TRADE is still only $1 (regular price $3.99). Learn more, read the excerpt, or buy the eNovel here: www.booksforabuck.com/mystery/mys_07/deadly_trade.html . (Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Mobipocket, Palm DOC, and Microsoft Reader formats).

Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

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