Discover African Authors #FridayFiveChallenge Would you BUY or PASS? BAHO by Roland Rugero @Phonememedia

Today I’m looking at African Authors

This fun feature is a mini workshop. We look at book covers just from their thumbnail pictures at online selling book sites and make quick fire buying decisions. We look from a READER’S Point of View and this exercise is very EYE OPENING.

From the book cover we will browse the book description, price and some of the reviews BUT we only have 5 MINUTES.

WE PLAY POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Join in and see where it leads.

Grab a coffee and spend 5 Minutes on this exercise.

Every since I read about THE AFRICAN READING CHALLENGE I have been meaning to take a serious look into African authors, so this was my search term for this week’s #FridayFiveChallenge. When Amazon threw me thousands of African/ American authors I decided to search elsewhere first. I found this FANTASTIC article on the Literary Hub, 25 New Books By African Authors check it out if you fancy something different to read. It inspired me to choose the following book.

Baho by Roland Rugero is due to be published in English from March 15th 2016

Pre-order a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Book Description

When Nyamugari, an adolescent mute, attempts to ask a young woman in rural Burundi for directions to an appropriate place to relieve himself, his gestures are mistaken as premeditation for rape. To the young woman’s community, his fleeing confirms his guilt, setting off a chain reaction of pursuit, mob justice, and Nyamugari’s attempts at explanation. Young Burundian novelist Roland Rugero’s second novel Baho!, the first Burundian novel to ever be translated into English, explores the concepts of miscommunication and justice against the backdrop of war-torn Burundi’s beautiful green hillsides.

Price; This is going to be published only in paperback at first priced £11.49 or $16.00

Pages; 160

Would I BUY or PASS?…….PASS at that price, but lower it and I could be persuaded to support an African author.

Analysis

I love this book cover, the running man, the greens, it is a picture to look at and see more parts as if studying a picture in an art gallery. The book description is very intriguing. I’m interested in African authors and part of me wants to ethically support this author, while my Western marketing eyes feel the price is not competitive with saturated book markets. For 160 pages I’m looking at a half price at least.

In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions from small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?

AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?

My Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….

1) Go to any online book supplier,

2) Randomly choose a category,

3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,

4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,

5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,

6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?

(then write a little analysis about your decision)

Share your post, use #FridayFiveChallenge @rosieamber1 and I’ll help share all relevant posts.

Here are links to other bloggers taking part in today’s challenge.

Shelley looks at a war time love story March: A Love Story In A Time Of War by Geraldine Brooks

Cathy found a contemporary read, Imaginary Things by Andrea Lochen