A study identifies Lee Child has having the strongest reader loyalty of any bestselling author. For instance, 41% of John Grisham fans say they plan to buy his next novel, but 70% of Child fans want the next Jack Reacher novel.

I’m one of those Lee Child fans. However, were Robert Parker still alive, I’m guessing he would top the list, at least with the Spenser books. A Jack Reacher book is a Must Have. A Spenser book was a Must Have NOW.

There are two important elements: the author, and the subject. You need to like the author’s writing style. But also, you need to like the subject. For that reason, a continuing series helps. If you like the character, you want to keep reading about him/her. Lee Child writes ONLY about Jack Reacher. A Cross novel from James Patterson may be a Must Have (it is with me), but not necessarily the novels from his many other series.

Who are your Must Have Next Book authors? Or is there a particular character you follow (like Spenser, but not Jesse Stone or Sunny Randall)?

Ann Kiemel Anderson succumbed to cancer on Saturday, March 1, 2014.

In the early 1980s, just after college, I devoured a number of Ann Kiemel’s books. They were basically just free-verse tales of interactions with people. Ann greatly inspired me. She didn’t give readers admonitions to go change our world, but glimpses of a person actually doing it.

I’m an ordinary girl in a big world,
but I’m going to change it–
God and I
and love.

Back in 2006, I wrote a blog post titled “Ann Kiemel, Wherefore Hast Thou Been?” It became by far the most-commented blog post I’ve ever written–85 comments. Turns out many lives, like mine, were impacted by her simple stories. People shared their testimonies of Ann’s influence on their lives.

Ann found the post through a niece, and she twice added her own comments. She mentioned her desire to return to writing, and she soon started a blog in which she continued sharing her free verse stories. A couple years later, two of Ann’s early books that meant so much to me were republished: “I Love the Word Impossible” and “I’m Out to Change My World.” They now inhabit my Nook. Both are timeless.

Ann experienced some real difficulties later in life, with lots of discouragement. I hope that my blog post, and the overwhelming outpouring of support in the comments, perhaps spurred her on.

In one of her comments on my blog, Ann wrote, “today, i still believe utterly in sharing Jesus with my neighborhood. i speak the name of Jesus every day to someone.”

Another of Ann’s early books was titled, “I’m Running to Win.” You did, Ann, you did.