Review: Whiskey Sour

Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Have you read Whiskey Sour yet? I grabbed a copy recently and pulled it up on Kindle. I know JA Konrath, Joe, through his blog where he advocates for new authors and disrupting the publishing industry and wanted to read his books. Turns out, he's a damn good writer. Maybe not Hemingway-esque or Dickensian, but definitely a fun read. And if that's your bag of tea, reading books because they make you smile, then you need to download this book and read it too.
I've studied Joe's blog because of the Newbie's Guide to Publishing. I have to be careful though because he's been at this for twenty years, as a teacher and a writer. I've been writing for twenty years, but I mostly put my stuff in a drawer until I too began using Amazon to publish my books.
I wanted to use Whiskey Sour as a kind of litmus test. Joe has sold a million books on Amazon (he has almost 70+ works published) and he's been at it since the cultural shift in 2008 moved a lot of folks onto the ereader bandwagon. Was he a good writer who got lucky? Was he a great writer who toiled away in mid list obscurity, slowly building a fan base and catalog of books? Could I learn something from him that would accelerate my publishing learning curve?
Turns out, yeah on all three counts.
But before I hijack this review to try and get you to read my books, let me tell you I don't have any crime thriller titles published yet. This is kinda about Joe, his blog and the one book I've read so far.
And I'm telling you to go buy it. It's the price of a cup of coffee and will take you a good afternoon to read. It's funny. It's fast. And you will enjoy it if you like lady cops with a fashion sense.
I've always wondered about reviews though: I've read about a dozen since I started publishing, and some are intricate affairs that dissect plot, and some are just solid recommendations. You can pretty much dismiss the one star reviews, since we all know who writes those.
But do you really read reviews before deciding to try a book?
I would think the description would be the number one thing people use to make that decision.
Me? It's what I use, along with recommendations by people. If Kevin Hearne says check out a book, I'm on it. If Tim Ferris recommends a book, I'm looking into it. And if I can try a new author for a buck, and I like 'em, I'm going to keep looking for their stuff and buy it.
A good story can acquire me as a customer for a dollar and keep me through the life of the author's series to earn money that way. My lifetime value to someone like Jim Butcher is every book he's written. Same with Stephen King. And now Joe.
See, I liked his blog and the million or so word's he's written and offered up for free. I liked it when he offered me Whiskey Sour for a buck. And I liked that story enough to care about the characters and go buy another book for $3.99. When I buy all of his books, my reader value to him will end up being around $40-$80. (avg $2 per book), and as long as Joe keeps putting stuff out there, I'll read him.
So when he preaches about how ebooks changed the industry, the man ain't lying. The thing is, he tells a good story to back it up. Cause if his work had been no fun, no fast and no bueno I wouldn't have plopped down my money for the next one.
If you're a reader, pick up some Konrath. You'll enjoy it.
If you're a writer, pick up some Konrath to learn how to do it. Emulate. And proliferate.
(Read and read some more, write and write some more.)


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