Hype It Up!

Hype: you can't escape from it!

Hype. It's something writers want, because it makes their book visible. Buyable. It makes a novel a talking point both among readers and writers. Even if people haven't read a hyped book, they've probably heard of it.

How do you get it? Usually it's the publisher who creates hype, by making a book their lead title and selling it hard-core to booksellers and foreign editors, by purchasing stand-alone showcase space in Borders and Barnes & Noble, by sending out tons of advance reading copies. Sometimes you can create hype yourself if you have a large enough audience, and/or enough blog friends willing to showcase you.

Why do you get it? Well, publishers usually try to hype a book for which they paid a lot of money. That's one reason, aside from getting to roll in piles of twenties, that writers are so excited by large advances--because it means the publisher is going to heavily promote the novel instead of letting it languish in the crowded new-release sea.

If the author can do this, his/her book will get hyped!

So hype is a good thing. Usually. In my mind, the problem arises when a book is hyped to the point that it can't live up to expectations. I've read several books recently that were super-hyped, but when I finished Page The Last, I was disappointed. And if I'd read the book without hearing all the hype, without all the glowing comments from bestselling authors and popular bloggers making it out to be the best book since [insert groundbreaking, fast-paced earth-shattering title that changed your life here], I would have enjoyed it more.

It's all about expectations, and whether they're fulfilled. Like with movies: when I watch a rom-com that got middling reviews I lower my expectations, and am pleasantly entertained. Here, the lack of hype lets me enjoy the movie for what it is. On the other hand, sometimes I watch a much-lauded Oscar-winner and come away scratching my head, confused why people thought it was anything but rubbish, and disgusted with the waste of my time. My expectations didn't match the reality.

Same with some (over)hyped books. And when I'm disappointed with a book, I won't read the author's next effort, so that hype has lost that author a reader, probably permanently. So sometimes, hype can hurt a book.

Then again, even if the book doesn't fulfill expectations, is hype ever really bad? After all, what if the only reason I even opened the book's cover was because of that hype? And even if half the people who read the book come away disappointed, the number of people who wind up loving the book is still probably way more than it would have been without the hype.

I'm writing this post because I'm sort of annoyed that a certain book was hyped so much when I sort of hate it, but I don't want to get all negative here. So I'll just mention a couple of books that, for me, more than lived up to their hype: The Duff by Kody Keplinger, and Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I loved them, and thought the hype surrounding each was well deserved.

And here's a book that, in my opinion, was under-hyped: Grey by Jon Armstrong.

Awesome and overlooked!

Your turn: what's a book that you thought lived up to it's hype? Have any suggestions for under-hyped and excellent novels?
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