Lefty and Tigger, Two of the Hero Pet Winners in Win or Lose
Amy Shojai is a nationally known authority on pet care and behavior, a certified animal behavior consultant, and the author of more than thirty-five nonfiction pet books. She’s now writing what she’s dubbed Thrillers with Bite, a series of pet-centric novels. Learn more about Amy and her books at her website or blog.
Name That Pet Contests Connect with Readers
Thank you, Lois, for allowing me to share a favorite part of my September Day & Shadow Thriller Series. The Name That Pet contest for each book now has rabid fans (pun intended), including my most recent book, Win or Lose.
My publishing career grew from prescriptive pet nonfiction (I’m a certified animal behavior consultant). While plotting my first novel, I drew from personal experience to create a dog trainer character, along with the service dog she trained. Shadow, the service dog, has his own viewpoint chapters (no, he doesn’t talk). The dog and cat behavior aspect adds a new dimension to the narrative my readers adore. Although I often place pet characters at risk, I don’t kill my animal heroes in the stories. No, it’s only the people who become victims, and usually the bad guys get what’s coming to them—with the cats and dogs lending a paw.
As a new fiction author, I wondered how to start building an audience from scratch. Could I engage my nonfiction audience while growing a fiction readership? With the first book, Lost and Found, I announced a “Name That Pet” contest, and invited potential readers to nominate their own pets to star as characters in the book.
The contest struck a chord. I’d already written the story and planned to simply swap out the winners’ names with placeholder. Instead of a handful of suggestions, that first contest garnered more than 85 name suggestions. Based on cat and dog submissions and descriptions, I created a poll with my top 15-20 choices, and again invited readers to vote. More than 800 votes decided the dog and cat names in the book. Each of the winners received an autographed print copy of the book, with their names listed in the back.
After that, readers clamored to nominate their pets for future stories. Whoa! I didn’t even know I’d launched a series. For Book 2, Hide and Seek, I received 55 name suggestions, with 4100 votes for the winners. I had so many hotly contested nominations and doubled the initial number of pet characters. That meant writing new mini stories to incorporate these hero pets into the narrative, along with the individual pets’ descriptions and unique foibles. For instance, the Golden retriever Trixie in real life stole laundry from the neighbors. She became the therapy dog in the story’s Alzheimer’s unit and her thievery added to the plot.
The Name That Pet contest for Show and Tell, the third book, nearly became unmanageable. The contest resulted in 46 dog names and 81 cat names, with a total of 16,930 votes. I included six pets in the narrative and ended up writing a “bonus chapter” to also include runner up pets. All the winners shared about the books, so the contest helps promote the stories. It goes well beyond that, though.
The contest for the fourth book in the series, Fight or Flight, touched my heart. My dog had inspired the main dog character, and readers learned Magic had passed. That’s why it took me so long to write the next story. They voted to include his name…and legacy…in the story and future books. The contest connects me to readers in a way I never anticipated. We share our joys and sorrows (and stories) about our common love of furry wonders.
The contest for Hit and Run, Book 5, resulted in 158 cat names, 172 dog names, and 43,300 votes with a total of six “hero pets” added to the plot. My most recent thriller, Win or Lose, resulted in 104 cat name nominations, 150 dog name suggestions, and many thousands of votes. When the winning dog, a three-legged Great Pyrenees named Lefty won, I cried. My own three-legged dog had recently passed from cancer, and readers knew it and (I think) voted accordingly. Lefty is a medical alert dog in the story, while tabby cat Tigger thwarts an assassin.
I’ve created a beautiful monster. I love the eagerness of readers to become involved in the stories. And I love learning about them. I wouldn’t trade that connection for anything.
A September Day & Shadow Series, Book 6
September Day can't shake her mounting wedding-planning angst. Too overwhelmed to pick up a dropped-off shelter dog she once trained, she finally leaves the house to check in on a missing vet clinic employee. But when she gets there, she's terrified to find the girl's brother hanging on the edge of death and the poor young woman abducted.
Discovering the hound got dumped by the same vicious criminal, September and Shadow race out of town on a dangerous rescue mission. But when a body surfaces and the kidnapper seizes more victims, September fears she may be too late to prevent further bloodshed.
With the clock ticking against them, can September and Shadow deliver justice?
Buy Links
