Apparently with the growth of book clubs, publishers realized that book discussion questions could be a tool to help readers think and talk about a book. I think that if publishers think book discussion questions are a good idea, I should think about them. And I've not only thought about them, I've had them written for all three of my novels. Indeed, I posted questions for the brand new book yesterday, and if you click on the button above this entry, you can find them.
I had no idea whether the questions for the earlier novels were used or useful. No reader has ever written to say, "Boy, your discussion questions really enriched my experience of your book." But thanks to Blogspot, I can track page views, and I've been interested to see how many page views the discussion questions for Getting Oriented and The Girl in the Photo have accumulated. I would like to think that most of those visitors have read about the book, read the sample chapter, read the questions and bought the book and thereby had the complete experience. I would like to think that, but I know better.
Nevertheless, I believe discussion questions are a valuable adjunct to a book. They are not easy to write. I have not written mine because, I suspect, I am too close to the book. If you can write them, do so. If you cannot, find a careful, thoughtful reader who can. They are one more tool in your box, one more arrow in your quiver, one more . . . But you know what I mean.
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