I loved Confess Fletch, too! I found it while channel surfing this summer and thought the same thing that you did - John Hamm as Fletch, made famous by the lovable Chevy Chase, heck yea! The movie was clever and funny - omg that scene with Hamm and the ex wife of his suspect when she goes on about “bespoke”. Too funny, and I thought the same thing that you did. Why had I not heard about his movie? Great piece and great lesson on audience for authors who want to learn more about marketing their books. It’s the basics, the fundamentals, of book marketing like “know your audience” that will make the difference in this age of seemingly limitless publishing ease and choices.
A lot of good insight in here except readers do want /need to know the book is like book x, y or z or if you loved X you will love this -in a study we did with over 150,000 readers it was proved that that's how they know if the book is for them. The idea of original is great and kudos for you for searching ti out but people don't want to take a chance on something they can't conceptualize - they need to be able to compare it to something else - I I could write pages on why and what else we learned - but like you - that's info is part of what I do for my clients:)
My argument against that is: it doesn’t hurt to compare titles, but it also isn’t necessarily selling new titles at a higher percentage. For every 150K readers you survey, there are 150K readers who aren’t influenced by “if you loved y, buy x.” That’s not to diminish your survey, but if that problem were solved, a lot more books would sell. Two things can be true at once: some readers remain traditional in what they want while others don’t. There is still an issue of discoverability in the industry which can’t solely be attributed to the discoverability of the books. The discoverability of consumers matters, and not all of them want a comp title. It’s not about people taking a chance. It’s about knowing an audience’s preferences in other sectors so you can give them what they want. There are casual readers who simply don’t care about the equation of “if you liked x, you’ll like y.” Publishing has been working with that model for a very long time and no disrespect, but it’s not as successful anymore in audience growth.
No disrespect but consumers might not want a comp title in theory but we have to identify the book for the reader and we have about 5 seconds to pull them in in our crowded environment. Sure in your long description pinpoint what is unique but first let the reader know if this is even close to what they love to read. Unlike the majority publishers who don't test their marketing for the average title, we do at our company and often do 3,4, 5 ads for a book before we find the one that hits and we that some version of comps is what gets the clicks by a huge majority. The majority of readers need signposts. I'm all for someone coming up with more effective signposts that are quick for a reader to understand but no one has yet:)
We can agree to disagree. I never wrote to not identify the book. I gave a hypothetical scenario where a reader could be discouraged from buying a book. That can’t be ignored. There is not one way to approach this and that’s why I write this newsletter. If I thought a singular, tested, approach worked--I’d spend my time doing other things. We don’t “have” to do things in publishing one way. Nor should we.
Another great post, thanks! Much of this sounds like it applies to nonfiction foremost. But fiction has the same issues. And without a good story none of it matters. When I write my fiction, I subconsciously have this ideal reader in my head, like I'm telling them the story directly (this reader is probably similar to me, to be honest). And I just hope those kinds of readers find my book because it sure is tough finding them no matter the publisher (luckily I have a new one). In any case, like some others are saying here, not enough big books seem to tell the reader what they're getting right from the cover and book description. It's all about what the reader gets out of it.
Thank you for reading it. Actually, I wrote it with fiction in mind because it is far more difficult to identify specific consumers for those books. While it’s true a good story matters, it’s also true that a book can have a terrific story and not sell well because publishers aren’t spending time discovering the audience for it. I’ve seen it happen countless times over the years. You can’t count on readers finding books--it needs to happen the opposite way: find the readers first.
I have to confess that i have no idea who janet mccurdy is but when i saw that cover and the title i stood there for a second and just felt like i wasn’t alone and that is why i wanted the book
I was nodding my way through this. People are hungry for stories (not necessarily in books format!) and the companies that deliver the right stories into the right hands will win. There's a reason why the games industry is so big and it's not for the body count and the CGI.
As someone who’s been a reader all my life, the very first thing that will make me out down a book is not being able to identify the story archetype immediately.
My tastes will change what archetype I want. But generally I read from a specific spectrum.
I have tried and put down a lot of hype books because they didn’t show the story archetype through the writing and weren’t particularly good.
For a lifelong reader like me, I need close third person or first person writing. Clear, preferably minimalist prose of high quality, a book cover clearly outlining the genre, and a blurb of what to expect on the book...somewhere.
Particularly good books are the highest caliber for me. Some are literary classics or modern classics and may rank 10/10. I’m one of those 3/5 is a good book types
Nope! Checked and never read one. There are readers who specifically like genre mashes, or tropes with twists. These are demographics I wish publishers would understand more
Lately I feel like the big move is trying to repeat what happened with bigolas dickolas, and that feels like a huge mistake? That was a lightning strike, a glorious moment
Most of the successes like Stephen King just have luck. You can’t manufacture something like that which relies so heavily on a multitude of socioeconomic and cultural factors to make happen.
Manga, if you know of it, is another saturated medium which has few standouts, but mostly in hero’s journey/shonen. Good ones get spread through word of mouth and recommended. People draw art based upon it. Then the publishers notice when they see love on twitter and capitalize on it.
Problem is readers vary widely with platforms. Tumblr is probably the most consistent one though
I was avidly reading this thinking, ok, this is amazing, what can I as an author do? And then I got to that exact question. One might say you knew your audience hehehe
I love all of this, and as an aside, I had Jeni’s for the first time EVER last year and now I am a convert and desperate for them to open a metro detroit location 😭😭😭
I loved Confess Fletch, too! I found it while channel surfing this summer and thought the same thing that you did - John Hamm as Fletch, made famous by the lovable Chevy Chase, heck yea! The movie was clever and funny - omg that scene with Hamm and the ex wife of his suspect when she goes on about “bespoke”. Too funny, and I thought the same thing that you did. Why had I not heard about his movie? Great piece and great lesson on audience for authors who want to learn more about marketing their books. It’s the basics, the fundamentals, of book marketing like “know your audience” that will make the difference in this age of seemingly limitless publishing ease and choices.
A lot of good insight in here except readers do want /need to know the book is like book x, y or z or if you loved X you will love this -in a study we did with over 150,000 readers it was proved that that's how they know if the book is for them. The idea of original is great and kudos for you for searching ti out but people don't want to take a chance on something they can't conceptualize - they need to be able to compare it to something else - I I could write pages on why and what else we learned - but like you - that's info is part of what I do for my clients:)
My argument against that is: it doesn’t hurt to compare titles, but it also isn’t necessarily selling new titles at a higher percentage. For every 150K readers you survey, there are 150K readers who aren’t influenced by “if you loved y, buy x.” That’s not to diminish your survey, but if that problem were solved, a lot more books would sell. Two things can be true at once: some readers remain traditional in what they want while others don’t. There is still an issue of discoverability in the industry which can’t solely be attributed to the discoverability of the books. The discoverability of consumers matters, and not all of them want a comp title. It’s not about people taking a chance. It’s about knowing an audience’s preferences in other sectors so you can give them what they want. There are casual readers who simply don’t care about the equation of “if you liked x, you’ll like y.” Publishing has been working with that model for a very long time and no disrespect, but it’s not as successful anymore in audience growth.
No disrespect but consumers might not want a comp title in theory but we have to identify the book for the reader and we have about 5 seconds to pull them in in our crowded environment. Sure in your long description pinpoint what is unique but first let the reader know if this is even close to what they love to read. Unlike the majority publishers who don't test their marketing for the average title, we do at our company and often do 3,4, 5 ads for a book before we find the one that hits and we that some version of comps is what gets the clicks by a huge majority. The majority of readers need signposts. I'm all for someone coming up with more effective signposts that are quick for a reader to understand but no one has yet:)
We can agree to disagree. I never wrote to not identify the book. I gave a hypothetical scenario where a reader could be discouraged from buying a book. That can’t be ignored. There is not one way to approach this and that’s why I write this newsletter. If I thought a singular, tested, approach worked--I’d spend my time doing other things. We don’t “have” to do things in publishing one way. Nor should we.
Another great post, thanks! Much of this sounds like it applies to nonfiction foremost. But fiction has the same issues. And without a good story none of it matters. When I write my fiction, I subconsciously have this ideal reader in my head, like I'm telling them the story directly (this reader is probably similar to me, to be honest). And I just hope those kinds of readers find my book because it sure is tough finding them no matter the publisher (luckily I have a new one). In any case, like some others are saying here, not enough big books seem to tell the reader what they're getting right from the cover and book description. It's all about what the reader gets out of it.
Thank you for reading it. Actually, I wrote it with fiction in mind because it is far more difficult to identify specific consumers for those books. While it’s true a good story matters, it’s also true that a book can have a terrific story and not sell well because publishers aren’t spending time discovering the audience for it. I’ve seen it happen countless times over the years. You can’t count on readers finding books--it needs to happen the opposite way: find the readers first.
I have to confess that i have no idea who janet mccurdy is but when i saw that cover and the title i stood there for a second and just felt like i wasn’t alone and that is why i wanted the book
I was nodding my way through this. People are hungry for stories (not necessarily in books format!) and the companies that deliver the right stories into the right hands will win. There's a reason why the games industry is so big and it's not for the body count and the CGI.
Exactly!
As someone who’s been a reader all my life, the very first thing that will make me out down a book is not being able to identify the story archetype immediately.
My tastes will change what archetype I want. But generally I read from a specific spectrum.
I have tried and put down a lot of hype books because they didn’t show the story archetype through the writing and weren’t particularly good.
For a lifelong reader like me, I need close third person or first person writing. Clear, preferably minimalist prose of high quality, a book cover clearly outlining the genre, and a blurb of what to expect on the book...somewhere.
If you ever attempted one of my books, I’m super sorry. I have way more fun mashing genres together.
Particularly good books are the highest caliber for me. Some are literary classics or modern classics and may rank 10/10. I’m one of those 3/5 is a good book types
Nope! Checked and never read one. There are readers who specifically like genre mashes, or tropes with twists. These are demographics I wish publishers would understand more
Lately I feel like the big move is trying to repeat what happened with bigolas dickolas, and that feels like a huge mistake? That was a lightning strike, a glorious moment
Most of the successes like Stephen King just have luck. You can’t manufacture something like that which relies so heavily on a multitude of socioeconomic and cultural factors to make happen.
Manga, if you know of it, is another saturated medium which has few standouts, but mostly in hero’s journey/shonen. Good ones get spread through word of mouth and recommended. People draw art based upon it. Then the publishers notice when they see love on twitter and capitalize on it.
Problem is readers vary widely with platforms. Tumblr is probably the most consistent one though
I was avidly reading this thinking, ok, this is amazing, what can I as an author do? And then I got to that exact question. One might say you knew your audience hehehe
I often feel like my ideal readers don’t even know my books exist... and this essay hints at why. Thanks for another great piece!
You’re very welcome & thanks for reading!
I love all of this, and as an aside, I had Jeni’s for the first time EVER last year and now I am a convert and desperate for them to open a metro detroit location 😭😭😭
I have to order from the website. The grocery stores where I live in NJ don't carry it!
I didn’t know that was a thing you could do?! Oh dear
Oh girl. Get yourself to their website.