How to Write a Book Proposal: Part III: Marketing and Publicity

October 09, 2017 by Brooke Carey in Books, Publishing, How-to

Since I posted the first two installments of my "How to Write a Book Proposal" series, I've received great feedback from writers, agents, and editors, all of whom have told me how valuable they find the information. Well, I'm glad. Mission accomplished! If you haven't read those posts yet and are in the process of putting together a book proposal (or are in the process of thinking about putting together a book proposal), you can access the first one, which is about how to write the "Competing Works" (aka "Comps") section here, and the second one, on how to approach the "Who Is this Book For?" section here.

I haven't added to the series in a long while, but a couple of weeks ago, I attended a networking event where I ran into an agent with whom I've been friendly for several years. She told me how much she appreciates the series and has found it useful when discussing the proposal process with new clients. She asked if I would please write more and, because flattery works on me every time, I told her I was happy to oblige. I asked her what subject she wanted me to write about, and she said "the marketing section." Alright, here goes.

Probably the biggest mistake an aspiring author can make is assuming that their only job is to write a good book. That's only step one. Then you have to market it. Marketing and publicity have always been integral to a book's success, but, increasingly, publishers are depending on authors to do most of the grunt work. "Well, that's annoying!" you're probably thinking. I agree. It sucks. It would be great if writers could just write and have their work recognized on its own. But that's not how the world works, and if you want to be successful as an author, you need to understand this reality.

There are several reasons why authors are being tasked with more promotional responsibility, and, despite popular opinion, it's not because publishers are lazy and are trying to foist their responsibilities onto their authors so they can kick up their heels and drink martinis all day. It's because their efforts are becoming less and less effective and authors have become the best promoters for their books.

In the past few decades, several shifts have occurred that have made it more difficult for publishers to get attention for their books. There are fewer book review sections in newspapers and fewer bookstores in which readers can peruse and discover new books. Plus, there is increasing competition from outside the book industry to reach audiences. Up until relatively recently, books (and newspapers and magazines) were the only portable form of entertainment, but now that you can watch TV, listen to music, play games, check email, call your mom, shop for shoes--ALL THE THINGS--anywhere you go, books, which require effort and concentration, have a tough time competing. At the same time, audiences have become fragmented, with people seeking news, information, and entertainment from places designed specifically for their needs and interests. You don't need the New York Times to tell you which books are worth reading. You can find out from your favorite blog or on social media. It's a paradox really: there are more places to promote books than ever before, but their reach is relatively small and specific compared to the major media outlets of yore. Thus, the formula for a successful promotional campaign has become more complicated.

Publishers--even the major ones--no longer have the power they once had to "make" a bestseller because audiences aren't listening to them nearly as much as they once did. Yes, they still have a lot of clout and resources, and the editor of the New York Times Book Review is still going to take their calls (or respond to their emails), but even a few major publicity hits is not enough to guarantee readers are paying attention. When it comes to first-time authors especially, publishers are tasked with creating an audience out of people who have plenty of other things they can choose to spend their time and money on. And that's really friggin' hard.

Enter the marketing section. The goal of this part of the book proposal is to convince the publisher that your book can be promoted in a way that will encourage people to buy it. All too often, authors neglect this section thinking it secondary to conveying what the book is about. But because publishers struggle to promote all of their books (not just yours, remember), they are looking for authors who can help them out and who understand that a successful marketing campaign is more sophisticated than simply "pitch the book to national media." Authors who understand how promotion works and are capable of doing some of the legwork on their own have a huge advantage over those who don't. There are two reasons for this: 1) publishers can use all the help they can get in publicizing books, and 2) readers trust authors more than publishers.

The internet and social media have made it possible for audiences to interact directly with the creators of the content they consume, and so they no longer need a gatekeeper to help them gain access. They don't need NPR or the New York Times to tell them when their favorite writer has a new book out; they follow that writer on social media or join their mailing list so they get updates directly.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule, but, generally speaking, the more direct a connection you have to your target audience, the more likely your book will sell. And the more likely your book will sell, the more likely a publisher will want to publish it. Conveying this is the point of the marketing section.

The biggest mistake authors make with the marketing section is to list a bunch of generic venues in which their book could potentially be marketed: NPR, the Today Show, the New York Times, etc. etc. It is quite possible any of these places would promote your book, but it's also possible that they'd promote literally any other book, and pointing this out fails to distinguish your book in any useful way. The publisher doesn't need to be told to pitch your book to NPR. They know.

The other problem with doing this is that these places are extremely competitive, and they typically only cover certain types of books. For example, if you're writing a book about how to organize your closets, then the Today Show may very well be interested in having you on because they could create a fun interactive segment around it that their audience will love. But if you're writing a memoir about your life-changing trip to Transylvania, well, then, the Today Show is not the right platform. It's great to aim high, but being strategic with your marketing section indicates that you understand the market for a book like yours and have given thought to how it might be received. Publishers want to work with savvy authors.

Don't be afraid of the niche market. Your potential reader is already seeking out information about their interests from places that cater to those particular interests, so meet them where they are. What blogs cover the subject you're writing about? What venues host events with authors like you? What podcasts have done segments on subjects similar to yours? The Today Show might not be interested in your Transylvania memoir, but a podcast that focuses on European travel or a blog dedicated to travel memoirs certainly might. And the people who listen to that podcast or read that blog have, by virtue of seeking out this content, expressed interest in your book before they even know it exists. The publisher may or may not know these places, but by proving that you do, you're demonstrating you know what your readers want.

Like I said, publishers are relying on you to do most of the work to promote your book, so it's still not enough to give them a list of helpful suggestions. They'll happily send a galley and a pitch letter to that European travel podcast, but what if Stephen, the creator of that podcast, is getting galleys of every European travel memoir out there and can only have one guest on his weekly show? Who is he going to choose? He may indeed choose you. Perhaps he's really interested in Dracula and has never interviewed anyone about Romania on his show before, so the opportunity excites him and will be fun for his audience. But neither you nor the publisher can control for this outcome.

There is a way to increase your chances instead of relying on blind luck: know Stephen. If you get a Facebook party invite from someone you don't know, you will not be attending their DJ set at the hot new night club downtown, even if they happen to be the best DJ on the planet. But if your best friend, DJ Kelv$n, invites you, you will definitely be down to go watch him spin some sick tracks on Saturday night because you know him, want to support him, regardless of how much you like (or dislike) his work. The same is true of book publishing and pretty much every marketing endeavor on the planet: people prioritize people they know. Period. This goes for Stephen and the people who listen to Stephen's podcast, too. If he knows you and likes you, Stephen would probably love to help you promote your book. And Stephen's listener will be more apt to buy your book if Stephen recommends it on his podcast because he trusts Stephen's opinion.

I'm not suggesting you call up every podcast host and try to be their buddy (though it definitely doesn't hurt to network with people who are interested in your subject area). I'm making the point that you want to emphasize your strongest connections when putting together your marketing plan. Do you know someone who works at the New York Times and is in a position to cover your book? Great, mention that. Have you been a guest on Stephen's European Travels podcast before and think it likely he'd have you on again? Perfect. Write that down. Is your best friend the editor of that travel memoir blog? Nice! Your connections need not be the biggest wigs at the most famous publications; they must simply be real (none of this "my-ex-boyfriends-mom-once-met-Katie-Couric-at-a-cocktail-party" crap) and relevant (that's cool that your brother-in-law is a producer at ESPN, but he's not going to feature your Transylvania memoir on Sports Center).

What's even better than knowing people who can market your book? Being able to market your book yourself. This is the holy grail every publisher is looking for: an author with a built-in platform and audience who can promote his or her book directly to interested readers. An author who runs a popular travel blog will have a better chance of getting her travel memoir published than one who doesn't (especially given that memoirs are notoriously difficult to publish). By way of example, in the past few years, some of the most popular cookbooks on the market have not been by Food Network stars but by bloggers who gained a dedicated following on their own by posting recipes and cooking tips on their websites. It's quite possible you've never heard of Angela Liddon or Dana Shultz or their vegan cooking sites Oh She Glows or The Minimalist Baker, respectively, but both women have published bestselling cookbooks whose sales were driven primarily through direct promotion on their websites and within the vegan cooking community of which they were already a part.

Your following doesn't have to be a blog. It could be a podcast or YouTube channel, or perhaps you contribute regularly to another platform (like a website or magazine) that is already established. It could also be a robust speaking schedule or email newsletter (both of which are highly popular among business authors). It just has to be a venue through which you can communicate directly with your target audience--whomever they are.

A word on social media: while social media is an important marketing tool, having a lot of followers is not enough. It's much more important that your audience is engaged rather than large, so if you have 100,000 Twitter followers, but no one likes or re-tweets your posts, then those followers are not going to buy your book. Similarly, if you have 20,000 Instagram followers, and your posts average 15,000 likes, then that's a sign you have a highly engaged audience and will cause a publisher to take notice. That being said, social media has proved to be a finicky sales tool (perhaps because users browse through dozens of posts at a time and therefore have divided attention spans), so a robust social media presence may not suffice in enticing a publisher. If you've been thinking of hiring someone to boost your followers, save your money. Publishers can tell when your audience has not been grown organically.

Contrary to popular belief, publishing people love numbers. How much traffic does your blog get each month? How many people subscribe to your newsletter? How many people attend the events at which you've been invited to speak? What's the readership of the website you contribute to? Obviously, the larger these numbers are, the better.

I suspect a good portion of you are reading this and thinking "Well, crap. I don't have any of that!" If this is the case, you might still be able to find a publisher depending on how unique your subject matter is and/or if you have a certain expertise that is rare. For example, if you are a professor of European history at an Ivy League school and are the world's foremost expert on Vlad the Impaler, a publisher can use that credential as a hook to attract publicity for your Transylvania memoir. Or if you've won a prestigious award in your field and are writing a book about that field, this will indicate to publishers that you have respect among your colleagues, who are all potential readers. If there is interest in the subject matter and no one is better suited than you to write the book, then an audience will exist that the publisher can target.

If you lack this type of credential, then it is going to be very difficult for you to land a publishing deal with a traditional house. If you're not interested in self-publishing, then my biggest piece of advice is to spend some time building your platform so you can flesh out your marketing plan before writing a proposal. Some authors get grandiose ideas about how they'll build their platform after they get a book deal, and spend most of the marketing section in their proposal detailing all of these ideas. ("I plan to start a promotional hashtag campaign on Instagram!" "I will reach out to other famous authors to see if they'll mention my book on their website!" "I will hire a professional web designer to help me start a website and blog!") But publishers are interested in concrete things that either have happened or are likely to happen in the near future. How do they know your Instagram campaign will be a success if you've never run one before? I realize you want to appear energetic and eager, but so does every author. Focus on being realistic and specific so the publisher can tell you know what's up.

The way you go about building your platform is up to you. My advice is to go about it in a way that feels natural. If you hate Twitter, don't force yourself to use it. If the idea of blogging several times a week gives you agita, start a podcast or YouTube channel or pitch an idea to an established site. If you're writing fiction, submit short stories to literary journals. There are countless ways to get your idea out there. It requires effort, and nothing is guaranteed, but if you want to be a published author, the investment will be worth it.

In summary: when putting together the marketing and publicity section of your proposal, do your homework so you can be as specific as possible and emphasize all the ways you can connect directly with your reader. If you do so effectively, you'll convince the publisher that you're worth taking a chance on, and will be well on your way to a great book deal.

Milo Can You Go?: Editing Across the Aisle

January 09, 2017 by Brooke Carey in Books, Editing, Publishing

Last week, news broke that controversial internet commentator and Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos had received a $250,000 advance from Simon & Schuster for his forthcoming book Dangerous. The deal sparked outrage among readers and those within the publishing community who accused S&S of pedaling the views of a hatemonger and attempting to profit by selling books to bigots. Several urged the publisher to withdraw the contract; others threatened a boycott. The Chicago Review of Books announced it would not review any S&S books for all of 2017.

These reactions inspired a number of interesting conversations about the role publishers should play in public discourse. Is S&S doing a public good or spreading hate by providing a platform for this inflammatory figure? As a for-profit business, do they have a moral obligation to uphold when deciding what to publish? If so, who decides what those morals should be?

While as an avid reader, liberal, and member of the publishing community, I could discuss these issues all day, they also made me reflect on something much more personal, something that doesn’t make headlines but still has the ability to influence the messages authors—particularly controversial ones—convey to their readers. Namely, how do you edit a manuscript when you fundamentally disagree with its author?

My first job in publishing was in the editorial department at Sentinel, an imprint of Penguin Group (now Penguin Random House) that specializes in publishing books with a conservative agenda. It was not the dream job I’d hoped for as a recent college grad with starry-eyed notions about editing the next great American novel. But it was the end of 2007, I knew no one in New York City, and I desperately wanted to be an editor at one of the major publishing houses.

During my interview for the position, my would-be boss (one of the few actual Republicans in publishing) asked me how I would tolerate working with people who might disagree with me politically. “Let’s say you have to talk to Ann Coulter on the phone? How would you handle the conversation?” (Sentinel did not publish Ann Coulter at the time; she was just using her as an example.)

“It’s my job as an editor to help people convey their arguments in the best way possible,” I said. “It’s not my job to have a political debate with them.”

It was the right answer. I got the job and for the next five-and-a-half years, I worked very closely with dozens of authors whose politics did not sit well with me at all. Before long, I was acquiring and editing manuscripts of my own and becoming more directly involved in the publication of the books I was working on. I never once got into a political debate with an author, and while some of them may have figured out my leanings over time, they never mentioned it and (at least to my knowledge) our difference of opinion never once interfered with my professional relationships. In fact, one author told me, essentially, that he felt comfortable with any changes I made to his manuscript because “it’s your job to make my book better, not worse.” Music to an editor’s ears!

That, of course, didn’t mean that the process wasn’t challenging. I am not the most active or outspoken person when it comes to politics, but I do have strong convictions about certain issues and there were times when I had to set them aside in order to look at a project more objectively. This naturally came into play when deciding what to acquire—how does one determine what sells to a particular audience when she is not part of that audience?—but, this is part of any publisher’s job.

No, the real challenge came during the editorial process itself. How do I help an author make sense of an argument that I don’t actually think makes sense? How do I push an author to support and defend her opinions without compromising her right to communicate those opinions freely and openly?

Obviously, as an editor at a large publishing house, I was responsible for making sure that anything we published was written to the highest standard possible. The books I was working on weren’t Shakespeare—they didn’t need to be—but they needed to be well-written and they needed to be factually correct. One time an author wrote that Al Gore had won the Nobel Peace Prize for his film An Inconvenient Truth; when I pointed out that one does not win Nobel Prizes for making movies, he changed the wording, and that was the end of the conversation.

Other times, the process was not so straightforward. On one occasion, I was editing a passage in which the author was discussing the importance of the Golden Rule—treating other people the way you want to be treated. It was all fairly innocuous until he started using the Golden Rule as an argument against gay marriage. I don’t recall the exact reasoning he used, but to me—a staunch supporter of gay rights—the entire argument didn’t make sense. Isn’t denying others the right to marry a prime example of not treating others the way you want to be treated? How was I going to retain the message the author was trying to convey to his audience (an audience I knew would agree with him regardless) while upholding my own standards of editorial quality

All in all, the argument took up no more than a few paragraphs of text, but I spent the better part of an hour (if not longer) editing it. It was clear to me that the author felt this argument was important, so while I could have made a case for picking another example that was, perhaps, more relevant to the subject at hand, I instead constructed a new argument that I felt was more appropriate in the context of the book as a whole. As a liberal, I still wasn’t satisfied by the logic, but as an editor, I was confident I had done my job in helping my author articulate what he was trying to say.

I know there are people—perhaps even some in publishing—who feel that one’s personal moral code should outweigh her professional demands and ambitions. According to those people, I should have refused to work with authors whose opinions I felt were dangerous to society. The books will get published without me, after all, so why compromise my integrity?

But I have always believed that, as an editor, I am responsible for upholding another moral code. No one forced me to take a job at a conservative imprint; just like no one forced Kim Davis to take a job as a county clerk in Kentucky. And if I, as a progressive, expect people like Davis to do their jobs despite their personal or religious beliefs, then how can I not hold myself to the same standard? Yes, Davis is a government employee who was denying citizens something they were entitled to under the law, while I was working for a for-profit company and merely debating semantics with myself. But one could make the case that Davis took her job before gay marriage was legal, whereas I took my job knowing what my responsibilities would be.

As I said in that first job interview, it is not my job as an editor to argue with people; it’s my job to help them make their books as good as possible. No one forces me to do that; I choose to and I’m proud of it. I became an editor because I believe passionately in the power of the written word and the right of the freedom of expression. In the age of social media, fake news, and filter bubbles, it’s easy for us to tune out anyone we don’t agree with politically—or engage them in endless rounds of “here’s why you’re wrong” that end up making everyone feel more entrenched in their beliefs than ever before. But the experience of forcing myself to step inside the mind of someone else, to try and understand why people I disagree with feel the way they do, is an inherently empathetic one, one that acknowledges the rights of each of us to hold opinions, that made me appreciate the importance of free and open discourse—of the right to disagree that we so often take advantage of in America.

I eventually left Sentinel because I knew I ultimately wasn’t cut out to edit conservative political books for the rest of my career. Now, as an independent writer and editor, I have more freedom to work on books that I truly believe in. And, while I probably won’t opt to edit any Breitbart contributors anytime soon, I firmly believe that my experience working at Sentinel has not only made be a better editor but a better citizen as well.

This post was originally published at www.GothamGhostwriters.com

My 2015 Reading List

January 24, 2016 by Brooke Carey in Books

I realize that most "Let's Reflect on Last Year" post are supposed to come much earlier than twenty-four days into the new year, but, what can I say?

Nothing. I honestly have nothing to say. Actually, I have one thing to say: it's my blog and I can do what I want, damnit!

There, now that that is over...

In 2015, I kept a list of all of the books I read. This is, perhaps surprisingly, the first time I've ever done so, but I decided it was a worthwhile use of (very little of) my time for a few reasons: 1) I constantly forget what books I've read, including ones I've read recently, 2) I was curious about how many books I actually read in a given year. (The average American reads something like seven; I knew I read more than that. But HOW MANY MORE?) 3) My boyfriend has been keeping track of his for a while and I thought it would be fun to see which one of us was the more avid reader. (We both work in publishing, so this is our idea of heated competition).

Here's my list. In no particular order.

Fiction

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (Book Five of the Song of Ice and Fire series)
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (Book One in the Neapolitan Novels series)
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (Book Two in the Neapolitan Novels series)
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante (Book Three in the Neapolitan Novels series)
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Book One of the Southern Reach trilogy)
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (Book One of the His Dark Materials trilogy)
The Rocks by Peter Nichols
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (Book One of the Harry Potter series)
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
Daredevils by Shawn Vestal
Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (Book One of the All Souls trilogy)
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (Book Two of the All Souls trilogy)

Non-fiction

The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal
Bettyville by George Hodgman
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Complications by Atul Gawande
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Great Beanie Baby Bubble by Zac Bissonnette
Smashed by Koren Zalickas
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam
Works Well with Others by Ross McCammon
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast
The Boys in the Boat by Dan Brown
Stir by Jessica Fechtor
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
Naked by David Sedaris
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan
Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
Originals by Adam Grant
The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt

That's forty-one books total. I'd hoped to make it to fifty, but I guess I can try again this year. I only counted books that I read for fun (meaning I didn't count manuscripts I had to read for work) and that I read all the way through (if I started but didn't finish, it didn't make the list). I also didn't count a book that I read twice within the same year (see below), though I did count books that I had read during a previous year but re-read in 2015 (e.g. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The Golden Compass).

Among these, my favorite book this year was, by far, Kitchens of the Great Midwest. This is a debut novel that my boyfriend actually recommended to me. He and I don't always enjoy the same things, but I trusted him on this one--and I was right. In fact, I loved this book so much that I read it twice--once in January and once over the Summer after I recommended it to my book club and decided to refresh myself on the finer plot points. I rarely, if ever, re-read books. And I never (before now) have re-read a book within only a few months of reading it the first time. But it was that good. The novel follows the story of a young woman named Eva who, in her early 20s, becomes a world-famous chef. It's an nontraditional narrative in that only one chapter is actually told from the perspective of the main character. The rest are told from the point of view of other characters, each of whom shares some connection to Eva. I couldn't get over (especially when reading it for the second time) how well written this book is. In fact, it's so well written you don't even pay attention to how good the writing is. Highly recommended.

In 2015, I also discovered the fabulous Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante. If you follow the literary scene at all, you're no doubt familiar with these books because the fourth and final book in the series, The Story of the Lost Child (which I happen to be reading at the moment), came out this year and created quite a stir. Ferrante, an Italian author who writes under a pen name and whose real identity remains a mystery, has been around for years, but, for most people, this series of four novels has been their first introduction. The series follows the lives of two women, Elena, the narrator, and Lila, her oldest and closest friend. But these ain't your typical books about female friendship. Elena and Lila's relationship is nothing if not complicated, and the book reads like a series of diary entries rather than a traditional novel with a beginning, middle, and end. If you need a lot of plot to stay engaged, this book is not for you. But if, like me, you prefer honest portrayals of rich characters whose actions reflect those of real people facing real situations, then these are a must read.

On the non-fiction side, my favorite book of the year was probably Brain on Fire, with Modern Romance being a close runner-up. I was actually a few years late to the party on Brain on Fire, which was originally published in 2012, but it lived up to the hype. The author recounts the harrowing story of the mysterious infection that caused her to become psychotic for a month. If it hadn't been for the tireless work of her doctors, she could have died. Luckily, that didn't happen, and in telling her story, she was able to raise awareness of the extremely rare condition that afflicted her so that other people, and their families, might be able to benefit.

Modern Romance is very different. I have to admit, I was a little skeptical about this one. I like Aziz Ansari well enough, but did I really care about what he had to say about dating and romance in the digital age? Plus, a few years ago, I edited a book on this subject and felt he couldn't tell me anything I didn't already know. Well, he didn't really tell me anything I didn't know, but that wasn't really the point. The point was to force all of us to consider how we interact with one another, secure attachments, and achieve intimacy in a world where there's seemingly no privacy but it's somehow more difficult to get close to someone than ever before. Plus, Ansari actually references the book I edited, Love in the Time of Algorithms (retitled as A Million First Dates in paperback) by Dan Slater. Fun fact, after Slater's book came out, Ansari actually referred to it in an interview. So Slater, being a resourceful author, reached out to him. At some point, the two actually met up in New York and chatted about the dating scene. I wasn't invited, but I still think that's pretty cool.

Biggest disappointments? Honestly, I wasn't a fan of The Girl on the Train, but, then again, I'm not a big fan of thrillers in general. I always find that they end the same way, with the killer confessing in some completely unrealistic way. Spoiler alert: this happens in The Girl on the Train. Of course, I also read The Silence of the Lambs this year and LOVED IT! Though, to be fair, this isn't really a mystery since the reader knows who the guilty party is. The best thing about this book though was that the characters--all of the characters--were believable, meaning they did things that made sense given who they were and the situations in which they found themselves (i.e. they didn't just disclose all of their secrets the moment someone confronted them).

Another disappointment? I might be forced out of publishing for saying this, but I was underwhelmed by All the Light We Cannot See. I know that people love this book, and I know it won the Pulitzer, but, after reading all 544 pages, I didn't know what to make of it. I don't mean that it was confusing--it wasn't. I just mean that I couldn't understand what larger story or what universal truth the author was trying to communicate. That being said, the writing was beautiful. Totally beautiful.

Finally, I didn't add this to the list, but I know you're curious so I'll tell you: yes, I did buy an adult coloring book this year. And, no, I don't color in it nearly as much as I assumed I would when I bought it. Yes, I do think coloring is fun, but, in general, I'd rather be reading.

What was your favorite book of 2015? What do you hope to read in 2016? Any books you're anticipating? Any books you've been meaning to read for years and have resolved to finally finish (or at least start) this year?