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Sunday, July 25, 2021


Reading Habits


By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin


Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are creatures of habit. It is certainly true in my life in publishing. Since a small child, I have loved reading books. Yes I have a reading habit and I encourage every writer to read in many different areas and styles of books.
 
In my case, most of what I read is nonfiction. It seems natural because I've written over 60 nonfiction books. I listen to audiobook—all nonfiction.  I do most of my reading in a comfortable leather chair in my office. I have a once-a-year indulgence (which I wrote about several years ago) reading the current Daniel Silva book. The latest book, The Cellist launched last week and is the 21 Gabriel Allon book. In early May, I ordered my signed copy (still available as of this writing follow the link)  because I receive his email newsletter and knew it was available. The signed copy costs exactly the same as the regular book but includes a page called a tip-in. On a Facebook Live, I heard Silva say it took him several days to sign all these pages and return them to his publisher for the printing process. 
 
Each of these sales are pre-sales and count toward the sales of the first week of release. Daniel Silva made several television appearances like on The Today Show plus a Facebook Live interviewThe Cellist will be the #1 fiction book on the New York Times bestseller list this week.
 
In my office bookshelf, I have a number of signed Daniel Silva books but only one of them was actually signed with my name on it: The Rembrandt Affair. For the release of that book, I lived in Scottsdale, Arizona and attended a signing at the Poisionous Pen Bookstore and Daniel Silva spoke and signed books. Before the pandemic, he regularly traveled to various key cities when his book releases. Hopefully this pattern will return in future years but this year he handled the release with virtual events and still landed on the bestseller list (which shows his strong fan base—including me). 
 
From listening to different author interviews, I learned Silva's parents were schoolteachers and reading has always been a part of his life and habits as well. He loves The Great Gatsby and said that 1984 by George Orwell was his favorite novel.  I enjoyed the Facebook Live interview and learning his writing routine on a legal pad with a pencil on his office floor. Plus he is already working on the next novel with about 65 pages in the works on that book.
 
I'm currently reading The Cellist. I love the storytelling and find it a page turner (hard to stop reading). I often do this sort of reading in the evenings. What are your reading habits? Do you have a particular type of book you read? Where do you read? Let me know in the comments below.

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3 Comment:

At 5:24 AM, Blogger Rebecca Velez Left a note...

I follow my mom's habit of reading in the afternoon, often right after lunch. When my children were small, we read books and then they napped. I read in an oversized chair in my bedroom, mostly fiction since I'm a historical fiction writer, but also biographies and memoirs. I often add Christian non-fiction--devotional or self help--to my nightly Bible reading.

 
At 1:16 PM, Blogger marcia moston Left a note...

In the daytime I read nonfiction life stories--partly for the story and lots for the art and craft. At night I love to get into bed with murder and mystery :)

 
At 6:48 AM, Blogger Terry Whalin Left a note...

Rebecca and Marcia,

Thank you for telling me about your reading habits. Each of us have a different pattern but the important thing is to continue reading, growing and learning.

Terrty

 

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