RA Tips from Staff - Check the Back Cover!

Over the last month or so I have been talking with staff and others about ideas for regular posts on the blog. One suggestion which I found particularly appealing was for tips gleaned from the staff on providing readers' advisory service! What a great way to share some RA wealth and let others know how their co-workers work with customers! 

Starting today, April 15th, I will present RA Tips from Staff posts once a month, more if staff inundate me with tip suggestions. :-) Why I picked April 15th to begin this I don't know except that it is TAX Day! The forms have been submitted and everyone deserves to relax with something great to read! 

Ever been working with a customer, offering title suggestions, only to run out of ideas? Here is a readers' advisory tip from SCCCLD's own Sarah H (Technical Operations Dept) which might help:

"If you have exhausted the read-alikes for a popular author, turn to the back of the book. The authors that review their fellow authors may satisfy a reader's need."

Publishers pick those authors to provide quotes on purpose! Often they write in the same genre, on related topics or have a similar writing style. Those quotes can lead to other authors and titles the customer might want to consider, especially if they haven't read any of their books! 

Below are examples from some recently released books:

THE SELLOUT by Paul Beatty - a satirical novel about race, politics and popular culture in contemporary America

"The Sellout is brilliant. Amazing. Like demented angels wrote it." - Sarah Silverman [author of The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee]

"I am glad that I read this insane book alone, with no one watching, because I fell apart with envy, hysterics, and flat-out awe. Is there a more fiercely brilliant and scathingly hilarious American novelist than Paul Beatty?" - Ben Marcus [author of The Flame Alphabet]

"Paul Beatty has always been one of smartest, funniest, gutsiest writers in America, but The Sellout sets a new standard. It's a spectacular explosion of comic daring, cultural provocation, brilliant, hilarious prose, and genuine heart." - Sam Lipsyte [author of The Fun Parts: Stories]


PAST CRIMES by Glen Erik Hamilton - an action-packed, suspenseful debut 
introducing Van Shaw, a tough, morally ambiguous former criminal


“A home run off the first pitch - this guy has got what it takes.” — LEE CHILD, New York Times bestselling author of Personal

“A debut novel from a gifted writer with a sure hand. As much fun to read as Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.” — J.A. JANCE, New York Times bestselling author of Remains of Innocence

“Glen Erik Hamilton has crafted a compelling new hero in Van Shaw, an Army Ranger with a dark streak who operates in the spaces between shadow and light. PAST CRIMES is a zipline ride of a thriller, plummeting through the back alleys of Seattle where murder and intrigue reign supreme and the undead past lurks around the next wrong turn. Buckle in and hang on!” — GREGG HURWITZ, New York Times bestselling author of Don't Look Back

If you have a readers advisory tip to share, let me know so it can be featured in a future RA Tips from Staff post!