What are the first things to attract about a book? It has to be title, cover then the blurb but as soon as you open that first page it is the author's voice. It is of course the narrative for the book, the storytelling but I feel so much of the author's personality comes through in their 'author voice.'
What is the magic formula? I don't think there's an answer to that. I think it's something akin to how we choose friends, just that connection that comes from a gut reaction. Perhaps something to do with the flow of the words, the humour, the likeness to real life or maybe just something that resonates with your own life, you feel some kind of affinity with that particular author, that 'voice' speaks to you. I'm always drawn to a conversational tone, also something that makes me laugh. What I don't like is a flat monotone, like a boring lecture.
I have got to know so many wonderful indie authors through social media and I think the beauty of this that you don't get with a traditionally published, well known author is the friendship that develops between us all, the support for each other as we each try to promote our books and build our own brand, and the diversity into genres we might not have read had we not seen the author's name on an almost daily basis and come to know and chat to them online, another aspect of hearing their voice.
If the author's voice doesn't lift off the page and come to life it's like being stuck with the boring person at a party whom you can't get away from. The advantage of a book though is that you can close it and leave it on the shelf.
