An Exercise in Reader Hunting

By Gamal Hennessy

At this point in my independent publishing career, I feel my ability to write is stronger than my ability to market. While this combination gives me the right skill set to be a starving artist, I’d like to find ways to increase my ability to reach my target audience and not die of hunger. I’m planning a major overhaul of my commercial strategy in January and increased exposure is a fundamental part of the program. As part of my long term plan, I just completed a small scale experiment to increase my pool of potential readers. I’d like to share it with you. Please feel free to use it or ignore it at your leisure.

The Goal

There is a school of thought in independent publishing (and sales in general) that people will buy books from authors they already know and like (See Write, Publish, Repeat). Not many people are familiar with my work right now, so my goal was to increase my exposure for a short period of time and get my writing into the hands of potential readers. Because this was a marketing exercise and not a sales exercise, I didn’t expect to generate any revenue. At the same time, I didn’t want to spend a ton of money either.

The Method

• I hired a marketing group on Fiverr.com that specializes in e-book marketing. They charged me $45 for what amounted to a mini blog tour.  
• I took my last novel (A Taste of Honey) and made it exclusive on Amazon’s KDP to set up a two day free offer that would take place a couple days before Halloween.
• I announced my free offer a week in advance on social media along with a free piece of horror flash fiction to get people’s attention.
• On the day of my free promo, I sent an email blast out to my mailing list of about 13,000 names.

The Results

• The marketing company produced 5-7 announcements and reviews for my book just before the free period. The announcements appeared on Examiner.com, Top Books Worth Reading and other blog sites.
• A handful of verified purchasers picked up the book before the free period and left reviews.
• There were more than 900 downloads of the book during the two day period, with a huge push in the first 16 hours and then a steady decline afterwards.
• A Taste of Honey broke into the top ten spy novels list on Amazon during the first day of the free period.
• Sales for the most part remained flat outside of a predictable dead cat bounce.

The Lesson

If my goal was to make a lot of money in a short period of time, then the experiment was a failure. I spent forty five dollars and didn’t make anything back. If my goal was to connect with more potential readers, then things didn’t turn out too bad. Nine hundred potential readers is a decent bite at the apple. In my experience, nine out of ten people who enjoy adult crime fiction liked my writing. Not everyone who downloaded my free book will read it, but even if only ten of those nine hundred people decide to read my book, maybe nine of them will like it too. When my next nine novels come out over the next five years, each one of those potential readers will be more prone to buy them because I’ll be an author they already like.

Some writers will mock me for losing 1,000 potential sales, or continuing to use KDP long after Amazon scuttled the algorithms that used to guarantee sales. Other writers might reject my use of a marketing company, comment that the process perverts the purity of the blog tour concept or otherwise smacks of dishonesty. Some people will be offended just for the sake of being offended. My goal isn’t to change those opinions. Every writer is entitled to their own perspective. My perspective is finding more people who might enjoy my work.

I plan to include this tactic in the overall strategy for releasing my next novel. Have you done something similar? What worked for you? What do you wish you could do over? Any comments are welcomed, even if I don’t answer them all.

Have fun.
Gamal

Just How Long is a "Novel" and How Much Should it Cost?

My article last week talked about word count as a tool of measuring progress before a story is released (see Why Word Count?).  I got quite a bit of feedback on that subject, but many of the responses focused on the relationship of word count to the price of a book after it is released. This raises an interesting question; what is the relationship between a story’s length and its cost? I have my own ideas on the subject, but as always, I'm interested in what you think as well.

The Length of a Story

The rise of independent publishing and e-books has given writers the ability to release work of any size no matter how large or small. By separating the story from a dead tree we can publish anything from a haiku to War and Peace. This has resulted in ambiguity about what is and isn't a “novel”. There are several definitions of story size, but my company works with the general idea that:

• A short story is 10,000 words or less
• A novella is between 10,000 and 50,000 words
• A novel is 50,000 words or more

There may be other narrative forms smaller or larger than these three, but I write in this range so that's what I'll discuss. The rest of this essay will have the same logic even if you consider it for works outside these three sizes.

The Price of a Story

Prior to e-book publishing, there wasn't a big market for individual retail sales of smaller works. The price per copy of a short story wasn't an issue because most of them weren't available for sale on their own. Now short stories and novella sales are common place. But how much should they cost?

I've heard from several authors and readers who reject the idea that one author's short story could cost the same as another author's novel. I've heard some author's advocate higher prices across the board to increase the perception of self-published work in general. I've experimented with different price points since 2012, but I plan to adopt the following price model as of February 2014:

• Short stories will be priced at $.99
• Novellas will be priced at $2.99
• Novels will be priced at $4.99 for the electronic version and $5.99 for the paperback

The release of my next novel A Taste of Honey will have a direct relationship to the price. The novel will initially be sold in parts as three e-book novellas (See One Novel, Four Books). The first novella will be free to increase interest and, the other two will be released at $2.99 each. The full novel will be available for $4.99 with a bonus short story. With this kind of release pattern readers can try the novel for free, buy the episodic versions if they want to read the story early or they can wait and save $1. I get multiple releases and potentially multiple revenue streams. Everybody wins.

The Connection between Length and Cost ?

The one troubling idea I've encountered in this discussion is that the longer work should cost more by default.  I understand that a reader might not want to pay $4.99 for a 5,000 words story, but length has little connection to quality. O'Henry, Nin and Poe produced literary classics that were less than 10,000 words. I wrote a 120,000 word abomination that shouldn't even be released. The idea of charging $5.99 for it is sinful. Readers want good stories (See Great Expectations) not necessarily long stories.

But charging based on objective quality is impossible. If the writer is also the publisher who sets the price, their inherent bias, positive or negative, will unduly alter the price. I don't think any author throws out a book that they believe is bad, but every book that comes out isn't good. Even "good" books aren't agreed upon by everyone. Quality itself is a subjective concept in reading, so it can't be used by itself to set price.

I've said before the right price of a book is the price that readers are willing to pay (See Selling Books Like a Drug Dealer). What do you think? Do books of a certain size need to have a specific price for you to buy them? Does the popularity of the writer or the genre play a role? Leave a comment and let me know.

Have fun.
Gamal

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Early Warning Systems: Should Novels Come with Explicit Content Labels?

Recent events concerning the Great Erotica Purge of 2013 and subsequent discussions online have raised various issues for publishers. Independent publishers are even more sensitive to these developments because their books seem to be under more scrutiny. Other creative mediums have faced similar issues and have responded in different ways over the years, but one of the major responses has been the idea of informed notice. Is this response applicable to publishing? What are the benefits and drawbacks of this kind of warning? I'll take a look at this idea and the way that it applies to my own books.

Ratings, Labels and Codes

It's not hard to find examples of entertainment regulation in American media. The film industry has the MPAA that assigns ratings based on content determined to be adult (i.e sexual). Television has a similar system, so do graphic novels and video games. Music doesn't have a rating system, but it does have the explicit content stickers for albums with "objectionable" lyrics. In addition, certain songs are recorded twice; once in its original form and once in a sanitized "radio friendly" version. Novels and theater seems to be the only form of mass entertainment that doesn't have some kind of early warning system. I can't speak to the theatrical experience, but that kind of system could have a definite impact on the selling and reading of books.

Acceptance and Rejection

There are two potential benefits to placing explicit content labels on books:

• Informed readers: potential customers will have a better idea of what they are getting. Readers who are more sensitive to sexual content (because the vast majority of backlash in any media with regards to content involves sex (See Erotica as a Literary Pariah) can avoid titles without the need to interpret the cover or book blurb.
• Increasing cross genre pollination: while some readers avoid stories with sexual content, others specifically seek that material out. Stories with this kind of content that don't fit into the erotica genre can have an easier time finding readers and sales if readers know that in their historical fiction or space opera they might also find erotic themes. Mainstream readers can dabble in other styles and authors can add erotic concepts to their stories without the need to categorize themselves or their work as erotic if they don't want to.

There are four potential drawbacks to book labeling:

• Lack of surprise: if a reader knows that sexual content is inevitable, then surprise is replaced by anticipation. Subconsciously, they could be looking for the characters or situations that will lead to the sex scene instead of experiencing the story organically. There might not be an inherent problem with this. Anticipation can keep a reader turning pages and pull them more into a story. But if you want the element of surprise, the warning label takes that away.
• Summary rejection: some readers will refuse to read a book if they know there is sexual content up front. The context, treatment and craft of the writer isn't considered.  A reader who might otherwise be willing to accept and enjoy a well written scene that evolves naturally may never experience the story because of a prejudicial judgment based on the warning label.
• Ease of purge: Online distributors recently removed huge portions of their self-published catalog because of complaints revolving around sexual content. The purge appears to be over as books are being restored, but some of those books will never go back up. If there is going to be another purge or ban, an explicit content label could be a bull’s-eye painted on your book cover, regardless of the type of content in your story.
• Creative retreat: some authors might be willing to insert sexual themes in their non-erotic work if they can be placed quietly inside the rest of the narrative. If there was some kind of obligation to announce sexual content up front, some authors might alter their stories or change their writing style completely to avoid the scrutiny that might come with that disclosure. The label would have a chilling effect on the craft.

Self-Imposed Systems

After weighing the pros and cons, I've decided to try and put warning labels on my next novel, A Taste of Honey. Because the book is about criminal espionage, it might not be immediately clear that the book has sexual content (although some people will probably disagree with me). The way I see it, there is a benefit to attracting readers who like shows like Scandal. I also prefer to warn off people who are looking for a more traditional spy novel. There is still a chance that my book will be rejected out of hand by readers, but I'd rather have them not read it based on their own choice, rather than feeling like I tricked them.

What do you think? Are you willing to put a warning label on your book? Would you avoid a book with a warning label or would that make you more interested in the story. Please let me know with a comment.

Have fun
Gamal

What Makes Readers Buy Your Book?

Independent publishers are constantly looking for ways to sell more books. But in our never-ending quest to sell, we might be missing an important part of the equation; buyer behavior. Without a buyer, selling can't happen so if we don't sell in a way that fits the way buyers buy, we might be shooting in the dark.

Market Evolution
In the past, people roamed book stores or read bestseller lists to find books. The arbiters of taste were few and selection was based largely on the inventory of our local bookstore. Amazon, Nook and their contemporaries have changed the game. That means we need to change our methods.

A Case Study in Book Buying
I will readily admit that I don't have a qualitative flowchart model on the modern consumer book buying process. If I did have one, I'm probably not smart enough to understand it. I do know how I buy books. I'm going to bet that my process is similar enough to other regular readers. We all have the enviable problem of too many books to read, not enough time to read them and everyone clamoring for our limited attention. Based on that, I'm going to extrapolate my experience as typical enough for this exercise. Please let me know if I'm way off the mark.

Disclaimer
Please keep in mind that I'm not suggesting that my process is better than anyone else or should be the standard in the way books are selected. This is simply a description of my personal method. My prejudices and biases are cooked into this, so it may not match your preferences at all.

How I Choose a Book
Based on my own observation,  I currently have a four step process for buying a book. I'll refer to these steps as notice, choice, testing and purchase.

Notice
I don't buy books that I never see or hear about, so a book has to cross my radar and get noticed before I can consider it. As a reader and writer, there are several ways that I might notice a book. These are generally in order of influence:

• Suggestions from Amazon based on my previous purchases
• Titles on specific subjects that I search for on Amazon
• Browsing physical bookstores
• News articles about books that pop up in my research
• Recommendations from my favorite authors that I'm friends with on FB
• Suggestions from Good Reads

What doesn't work: There are many books that I notice and then reject because of the way I found out about them. I generally don't consider books:

• on general bestseller lists, 
• random social media messages that say "please check out my book",  
• book review websites, 
• book press releases 
• social media comments that are simply thinly veiled attempts to add links for the author's book.
• book ads in newspapers, trains or on websites

Choice
After a book gets my attention, there are several factors that will influence whether I will give it a try. Sometimes this choice is subconscious and amorphous, but the selection factors include:

• Seeing the name of an author that I have read and enjoyed before
• An interesting cover design
• The book blurb
• The format the book is available in (paperback, e-book, audio book)
• The average rating for the book (if applicable)

Things that don't work: In general, there are several factors that I know are supposed to influence my choice but don't. These include:

• Any reference to other books the author wrote
• Any reference to the author being a "bestseller"
• Other readers specific reviews online
• Excerpts of critical reviews on the back cover
• Generic elements of cover design (i.e. the ubiquitous male shadow running away from the White House or the Capitol Building for thrillers)
• Cliche elements in the book blurb (I read a lot of spy fiction, but I instantly stop reading the blurb when I find out the protagonist is "a burned out cop on the edge", "a maverick FBI/ CIA agent" or "the special forces soldier who answers only to the president")

Testing
Once I weed out all the possible books I see, I get a sample of the book to see if the elements hinted in the blurb and the cover are actually in the book. Amazon's "try a sample" is a fantastic tool for this, but a couple times per year I'll grab a stack of books in B&N and peruse them for content. I read the first chapter and determine if the book needs to be acquired.

What doesn't work: Unless it's one of my favorite authors (See Bloody Inspiration 4: My Top Five Thriller Authors) with a strong blurb, I don't buy books without a sample. So when publishers don't make it available, I assume they don't want me to buy it.

Purchase
The decision to purchase is based on my level of excitement during the test. 

• Low excitement after testing means the book gets dropped. 
• A moderate level of interest means the book will get put on the Amazon/ Good Reads wish list where it might be read later or not at all. 
• A high level of interest means an immediate or impeding purchase and insertion of the book into my audio, e-book or print book cue. 

At that point the author has succeeded in making money off me. Whether I read more of their work later is based on my reaction to this book and the next thing they decide to write about.

What doesn't work: When a book feels like it's priced too high for my level of excitement, I have aborted purchases. I can buy a book on a whim for $5.99 or less. A price point of $9.99 is about as high as I will go for an e-book. Anything beyond that kills my interest. Also, limiting the format is another reason I'll drop a book. I rarely buy physical books anymore. My first preference is audio, then e-book, then paper. If the publisher insists on limiting my choices, I'll probably choose not to buy.

What I Plan to Change
After taking a long look at my own buying preferences, there are several things I plan to change in my marketing of A Taste of Honey. I had a process that I used for Smooth Operator (See Marketing the Independent Novel) that I'll modify as follows:

• Offer the book on multiple platforms to increase potential notice
• Increased target ads to improve notice potential
• Increased advanced book reviews to increase positive choosing
• Offer the first quarter of my novel for free to encourage testing
• Competitive pricing to increase potential purchase
• Elimination of Twitter feed purchases on launch day
• Elimination of book press releases on launch day

My hope is by focusing on how I actually buy books, I will increase my chances of selling books.

What Do You Think?
Am I missing something in my thought process?  Do you buy books in ways that I don't take into account? Do you sell books in a method that I don't mention? If you're willing to share your secret sauce, please leave a comment below.

Have fun.
Gamal

One Novel, Four Books: The Case for Episodic Novels

Question: How does the independent publisher maximize their writing output and maintain fresh exposure in the market?

Answer: You have two choices. You can quit your day job and spend every minute writing or you can release episodic novels.

According to several independent publishers that I've listened to over the past few weeks, releasing a novel in parts might be the best option. While there is some logic to this method, there are some potential drawbacks too. I'd like to explore the idea here to give you something to think about for your own books. Hopefully writing this out will also help me wrap my head around the idea too.

What is an Episodic Novel?

Let's say you wrote an amazing novel of about 75,000 words. In a standard novel, you release the whole thing at once. The story succeeds or fails in the market and you move on to the next project. This method has worked for books since Gutenberg launched his printing press start up and is a completely viable method today.

But the same story could also be an episodic novel. You could take the 75,000 story and break it into several smaller segments. It could be three sequential 25,000 word novellas corresponding to the beginning, middle and end of the story (See Build a Better Novel: The Narrative Framework). In extreme cases, you could have one release for each chapter, breaking your 75,000 word book into 20 or more short story releases. The final configuration is up to you and the appetite of your readers.

While it might sound strange, episodic story telling is standard in certain types of media. Television and comics are just two media models based on a story that develops over several episodes and then sold as a collection when the story is done. Movies also had this format in the past, where a hero would jump from one ten minute cliffhanger to the next. Many independent publishers are also starting to embrace this method, creating different positive and negative results. 

The Benefits of the Episodic Novel

• You increase the size of your catalog without having to write any faster.
• You create multiple points of entry in the market for potential readers to find you.
• You create anticipation among your established readers as they anticipate each new release.
• You can generate several revenue streams for the same story.
• You constantly have new product in the market which raises your chances for sales.
• Each shorter story can be priced lower than a full novel

The Downside of Episodic Novels

• The cost of producing each novel increases, since you need to pay for marketing (See Marketing the Independent Novel) and cover design (See Judging a Book by its Cover) for several releases instead of just one. 
• Your potential audience may shrink with each subsequent release if the narrative doesn't maintain the momentum to keep people coming back. 
• Your writing style might not be conducive to natural breaks needed in episodic writing
• Your readers might balk at having to pay several times to get one story.

My Approach to Episodic Novels

My writing style lends itself to episodic writing. Working for companies like Marvel, and organizing my stories into a detailed plot structure (See Building a Better Novel: Plot Construction) works to my advantage here. I write so that each chapter and each act is a story in and of itself. It's connected to the larger narrative, but I try to make them able to stand on their own. 

Based on that, I've decided to try the episodic approach with my next novel, A Taste of Honey (See Taste of Honey Beta Request) with the following plan:

• Have the novel edited as one unit to keep some of the costs fixed (See How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book)
• Separate the novel into three different books, making it clear in the subtitle that the books are related
• Release the first book for free to attract new readers in February (See Selling Books like a Drug Dealer)
• Release the next two books one month apart (in March and April), focusing my marketing budget on one book at a time
• Release the entire story in print and e-book as a full novel, one month after the third book comes out. As an extra incentive, the full novel will be cheaper than buying all three books and will include an extra bonus short story.

Feedback
So what do you think as a writer? Does it make sense for you to release a standard novel or an episodic one?

What do you think as a reader? Do you want standard novels, or would you prefer smaller, cheaper releases over time?

Have fun. 
Gamal

P.S. If you'd like to get updates on the business, craft and lifestyle of independent publishing, please sign up for the Independent Publisher newsletter here!

Marketing the Independent Novel: Lighting a Spark or Spitting in the Wind?

Marketing is one of the necessary evils of independent publishing. As a writer, I'd prefer to simply spend my days reading, writing, drinking, loving and sleeping. But if I don't tell people about my book, how can I get them to read it, even if it's free? At the same time, if I just run around begging people to buy my book, the only thing I'll accomplish is pissing people off.

I don't have a marketing background, but I am willing to share the marketing I did for Smooth Operator and what I've learned in the process. Hopefully this information will help you reach Fifty Shades sales numbers, even though I'm really far from that right now.

Please note that these tactics came from three books on the subject of independent marketing as well as my own meandering experience in my previous jobs; (Sell Your Book Like Wildfire, Crush It With Kindle and Secret Amazon Hacks)

The Five Principles of Independent Book Marketing
Based on what I've read, people buy books based on five factors. In general:

1. They buy from authors they know and like
2. They buy books they've heard about (often several times)
3. They buy books that offer to do something for them
4. They buy books that other people buy
5. They buy books that are easy to buy

I tried to use these concepts to shape my marketing efforts. I broke the process down into five phases to maintain my sanity; social, preparation, announcement, pre-launch, launch and post launch.

Social is where I interact with the potential audience without talking about my book. The goal here is to establish yourself create rapport. I post essays about the business and craft of writing (like this one), book reviews and news articles about subjects related to my books. Hopefully this makes more people familiar with my name without a constant hard sell. At the same time, I've tried to create and increase friend’s lists on various sites and a mailing list that can be used to both keep in touch and spread the word about the book when the time comes. I did this stage for about nine months before the book launch.

In the Preparation phase, I try to set up the framework for the book marketing just prior to release. I found and sent ARC copies, determined the book's Amazon categories, and wrote the cover copy. I did all this about a month before the book launch.

The Announcement phase is two weeks before launch. This is when the cover image (See Judging a Book by its Cover) and promotion copy is posted (See the Smooth Operator Promo Post), the press release is written and mercenary mailing lists are recruited. The goal here is to let people know about the book, without pushing them to buy it. I imagine it works the same way as a movie trailer or a commercial for a new show.

In the Pre-Launch phase, I offer readers something in addition to the new book. I try to add incentives to the process, in the same way other companies offer extra features or gifts for people who buy first or take some other action. Since I didn't have money for an elaborate gift, I offered a prequel story called A Special Request to Smooth Operator to anyone willing to write a review.

When I was ready for the Launch phase, I created launch post on my blog (, sent out a blast on my email list and a social media blast to about 300,000 people (I didn't take bots, duplicates or dead profiles because I have no way to weed that out) during the five day promotional period that comes with Amazon's KDP program. My goal was to get as many downloads as possible in an attempt to raise my ranking on Amazon's sales list.

In the Post Launch phase, I try and let people know how other readers reacted to the book. Reviews from critics, sales figures and list announcements are all used to show that the book has merit in the marketplace. I also purchased three days of ad time on Facebook ads to target about 2.8 million readers in the US, UK, Canada and Mexico. I wanted to try this to see if FB advertising was more effective than a social media blast so I can compare the two methods for my next book.

The Results
Here is what all this marketing did for Smooth Operator during the first two weeks of release:

The Good News

• There were 900 downloads in the US and more than 300 internationally. And 200 actual sales
• Smooth Operator was reached #1 on the espionage new release list and #5 on the crime anthology list
• The book got seven independent reviews with an average rating of 4.6 stars (See What the Critics are Saying about Smooth Operator)
• Amazon used Smooth Operator as its featured new espionage release email early last week

The Bad News

• The sales of Smooth Operator dropped 95% after the promotional period was over
• Smooth Operator dropped off the espionage chart after the promo period and slipped down to #55 in the crime anthology list
• The overall response rate from all marketing efforts came in at about .003%, or three downloads for every 1,000 people targeted.

Lessons Learned
The obvious takeaway from this exercise is that I am not a marketing genius. There are probably several steps I could have taken to improve my sales. I’m just not sure what those steps are at this point. Maybe I needed to reach three million people instead of three hundred thousand. Maybe I needed a Champion to lead people to Smooth Operator (See Champions, Tastemakers and True Fans). Maybe I shouldn't have squandered the Launch by offering the book for free. Maybe the long tail hasn't kicked in yet and I need to give it more time. I have seven novels planned after Smooth Operator. When it's time to market the new novel in January, I'll try to learn from this experience and create a better result.

What marketing tactics did you use? Were your results better, worse or the same? Leave a comment and let me know.

Have fun.
Gamal

The Future of Independent Publishing

What will the world of independent publishing look like in 2018?

Fellow author Emily McDaid asked me to look into my crystal ball and come up with an answer to this complex question.

Writers love to speculate, so instead of one answer, I came up with eleven.

If you want a look at the future, click here.

Have fun.

Gamal

Beta Testing: On Using and Being a Beta Reader

A few months back, I suggested that independent publishers could improve the quality of their books by using a quality control process that was similar to systems used by the major publishing houses. Now that my company is preparing to release its first full length book, I decided to take my own advice and recruit a team to help me. This is the story of my first use of beta readers and what I learned from them.

Beta readers have always been common in publishing for both new and established authors. Stephen King uses them, Anais Nin used them. Shakespeare probably had a few beta readers testing his stuff out. I see it as part taste test, part marketing focus group and part reality check. While every publisher does it differently, I decided my beta test would combine different types of people. I thought that would give me the most honest assessment of the manuscript. 

The Test Group for Smooth Operator

• The group consisted of seven adults; four women and three men.
• Half the group I knew personally, the other half I only knew from linked in and good reads.
• A few were older than me, the rest were younger.
• Some expressed an avid interest in crime thrillers, some didn't read very much in the genre.
• About half the group consisted of writers or editors themselves, the other half were purely readers.

I gave everyone about a month to read the book (about 75,000 words) and asked five focused questions about their opinions. I gave them the option to write more, but I felt the questions would be a good guide for feedback. None of the beta readers were paid.

1) On a scale of 1-5, I would rate this book a: ___

2) Would you be satisfied with this book if you paid $3.99 for it? ____

3) Would you read the sequel to this book? ____

4) Would you recommend this book to a friend or enemy? ___

5) If there is any author that this book reminds you of, please name that author (none is a completely acceptable answer) ____

The Results

• Half the group (4 people) read the book and completed the survey. The rest didn't have a chance to read or finish it.
• The response was positive across the board in terms of the overall quality of the prose with one minor exception, namely
• There was a split of opinion concerning the introduction. This is worth mentioning for two reasons. First, I tried to do something different by breaking the fourth wall to generate more interest. One reader liked it, the other disliked it and the last two didn’t bring it up at all. The second reason why that is worth mentioning is based on my reaction to the split. Stephen King's opinion in his book On Writing when it comes to differing views between beta readers is that "the tie goes to the writer." so I decided to leave the intro the way it is and see what happens when the book is released.

Finally, one beta reader went so far as to take me out for drinks so we could discuss his thoughts and feelings on Smooth Operator in depth. This is the best kind of beta reader. A writer loves nothing more than to spend hours discussing his work over whiskey.

The Takeaway

I learned three things from my beta test.

1. More readers are better because you can't count on 100% participation.
2. A beta test can be a confidence booster and a chance to expose your work to the light of day without a huge amount of risk.
3. The actual makeup of the group is no indication of who will actually respond.

Turning the Tables 

I mentioned earlier that some of my beta readers are also writers. One of them is also working on a novel now and asked me for a reciprocal beta read of her book. I never beta read before, but it felt inappropriate to turn her down after she just agreed to do me the same favor.

I decided the best way to help my fellow author was to deconstruct her novel and analyze the elements in the same way a critic reviews a book or movie. I analyzed the structural elements of the plot, the characterization of the main characters and the relationship between character and plot. I even looked at the composition of chapters and the relationships among the characters and how that impacted the plot. For each comment I made, I gave her an example or a reference book that might help improve the narrative. I wasn't able to get through the whole novel with this method, but she seemed very happy with the three pages of notes I delivered on the book, so I think I did OK.

I have come to the conclusion that beta testing is an important element of the publishing process. Not only can it improve your book, it can improve your connection with your writing community and can even lead to a good night of drinking. Quality control doesn't get much better than that.

Have fun.
G

On Champions, Tastemakers and True Fans (The Options of Modern Marketing)

“The way I see it, in this multi-channel, micro market, infinite sub culture world that we live in, everybody is fighting for a chance to tell their story, no matter how stupid that story might be.” 

Gamal Hennessy: Afraid of the Dark 

Last week I wrote a piece on the quality of indie books vs. traditionally published books. Much of the feedback that I got about that post focused on marketing more than editing or cover design. More than a few readers held the opinion that a poorly produced book with strong marketing will be much more successful than a book that is well produced with no marketing behind it.

While I might agree with this concept, it’s not directly applicable to my situation (or to the situation of most independent publishers). I don’t have the time or the resources to launch a major ad campaign and book tour, so what are the alternatives? At this point, I’ve identified three viable options: true fans, tastemakers and champions.

True Fans is a concept developed by Kevin Kelly. Basically, a true fan is someone who will buy anything and everything you produce. As an independent publisher, I take the concept one step further. To me, a true fan is someone who will buy all your work, review it online and enthusiastically tell their friends about you. They might not be influential individually, but they love you and they are the core of any viral, word of mouth message.

Tastemakers are the people we rely on to connect us to new information. When we’re talking about books, we are talking about those people who we trust to tell us what we should be reading because they know books and because they know what we like. Malcolm Gladwell refers to this group as Mavens in his book the Tipping Point. Traditionally, influential book critics and best seller lists were the main arbiters of taste. Now, there are more tastemaker opportunities created by social media and niche markets. Anyone from a book club organizer to a blogger to a group moderator on Good Reads can be a tastemaker and they can have a wider reach than a true fan, even if their passion for any particular author might not run as deep.

Champions are highly influential individuals who make it their mission to get exposure for your book. It could be the literary agent who believes you are the next J.K. Rowling. It could be the small book store owner who pushes your book to everyone who walks through her door. Oprah is probably the ultimate example of a book champion. When she puts her sticker on your book, a million people will buy it without having any idea what it’s about. Champions often have a financial stake in your success, but that investment is often powerful motivation for them to help you.

I know that these concepts are amorphous and interrelated. I understand that defining a true fan, getting the attention of a tastemaker or finding a champion is about as easy as finding a veggie burger in a steakhouse. But I don’t think the process of reaching these people is mysterious. It boils down to perfecting my craft as a writer, producing the best product possible, engaging with my potential audience on a personal level and having more than a little luck. The tools are out there. It is up to me as an independent publisher to make the most of them.

What do you think? Are these options really viable or am I missing something? Is there another alternative that I’ve overlooked? I don’t pretend to have all the answers. If you have the keys to success, please share them. I am more than willing to steal (or at least borrow) them from you.

Have fun.

Gamal