Adaptation Author Blog, commentary on writing, marketing and the "business" of writing in today's publishing world by SR Staley
Adaptation, a blog about the business of book publishing
About Sam Staley
Sam "SR" Staley is an author and public policy analyst currently teaching at Florida State University. He is a proflic writer, with articles and commentary appearing in many leading professional and popular publications, including the Washington Post and New York Times. The title of this blog implicitly recognizes the role technology has played in reshaping the publishing landscape, and reflects the perspective Sam believes all authors need to embrace to be successful in today's market.
Why Sci Fi Films Don't Measure Up to the Classic Sci Fi Books
I have a few thoughts on why contemporary science fiction films like Star Trek: Into Darkness don't measure up to the class works by greats such as Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert and Robert Heinlein.
I've discussed this elsewhere, but I think great books grapple with important social issues. Science fiction has an illustrious history of taking on big ideas and making them come alive with captivating characters, action oriented plots, and direct challenges to contemporary values and culture. Many of the recent movies don't, and this is what I discuss in greater detail in this blog post over at The Beacon.
"Renegade" book trailer called "captivating"
The book trailer for Renegade was published on youtube on Thursday, June 13th, and it's getting rave reviews so far. Viewers have called "captivating," "very powerful," "as fast paced as the book," "action packed," and "inspiring."
I'll have more to say on this later, but I think one of the reasons viewers have responded so positively is because the trailer fits the medium—video (and film) is visual. This trailer is stylistically much closer to a movie trailer in that it attempts to communicate visually and sensually to draw in the viewer.
Whether the trailer generates book sales is another story. Stay posted.
Putting the "Great" in the Great Gatsby
I recently was reminded how much movie actors can change characters and meanings in books while watching the 2013 film version of The Great Gatsby. In the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, Jay Gatsby is a lovelorn, romantic who devotes his entire life and being to finding and winning over Daisy. Daisy is married to a well-heeled American aristocrat Tom Buchanan, and Gatsby sets out to match his wealth dollar for dollar as a way of proving his worth.
In the book, I found Gatsby to be aloof and distant, an enigma with remarkably little dimension. In fact, I found most of the characters in the book flat with little arc to their characters. I found the story a fairly existential experience, with none of the characters really breaking through, or even testing, their own personal limits. Of course, as a writer of books with strong characters and plots that require heroic acts, I guess I should not have been surprised at this reaction.
But, that's probably why I found the film version more satisfying even though this version was remarkably faithful to the book. Leonardo DiCaprio (as well as Carey Mulligan, both under the direction of Buz Luhrmann) takes minimalist material and adds dimension and layers to Gatsby's character. In fact, as I've written elsewhere, I think DiCaprio's interpretation of the Gatsby humanizes him in an unusual way by giving him heroic characteristics befitting of Fitzgerald's romantic inclinations. It's an excellent case of where an arc is given to a character because DiCaprio gives Gatsby emotions and reactions that are difficult, if not impossible, to replicate effectively with the written word. Fortunately, Fitzgerald's minimalist text and story gives DiCaprio (and Luhrman) space to interpret the character. As a result, Gatsby, in my opinion, has more dimension in the film than in the book, and the result is a story more appropriate for the big screen.
This is an interesting case where the movie version interprets the text in way that is both different and interesting, without sacrificing the fundamentals of the original novel.
Book Signing: June 22nd!
Come see and talk to SR Staley as he signs copies of his novels The Pirate of Panther Bay, A Warrior's Soul and Renegade at Tropical Smoothie Cafe' in Centerville, Ohio on Saturday, June 22nd, from noon to 2 pm. The store is located at 6241 Far Hills Avenue in the Washington Square Shopping Center (behind Dorothy Lane Market).
He will be appearing with science fiction author C.L. Gregoire who will be signing copies of his novel Death Spiral.
Does the New York Times boost book sales?
In an earlier post, I discussed a recent article I had written that appeared in on-line forum Room for Debate published by the New York Times. My article focused on the role bystanders have in intervening when they witness violent crimes, and how that intervention is important in maintaining a free and civil society. These are central themes in my bullying novels for middle graders, A Warrior's Soul and Renegade.
Like most
authors, I am experimenting with different strategies for raising my visibility
among key audiences. I am appearing at the Downtown Marketplace in
On some metrics, this was a very successful marketing event. Visits to my website (www.srstaley.com) tripled, helped in large part to the inclusion of a direct link in my tagline. Traffic stayed well above typical levels for several days. Higher traffic to my web site also likely drove a new tripling of traffic to my self defense blog since I linked used my home page to link to articles for background.
So, did I experience a bump in book sales when the Times article appeared? Or, more directly, was I able to monetize this raised international awareness and exposure?
The short answer is no.
It's a little tricky tracking my impact but amazon.com provides a useful barometer. From the basic metrics tracked by amazon, print sales have done virtually nothing since the article appeared on April 22nd. Digital sales seemed to have increased slightly as my author ranking began to spike somewhat more frequently around the third and fourth weeks of April. But my rankings have spiked more frequently since the beginning of the year, and these spikes seem to center more around personal appearances than general publicity. Thus, the more frequent spikes are just as likely a product of ongoing marketing efforts that build on and link individual events rather than one specific event.
I also have not added many twitter followers since the article appeared even though my twitter handle (@SamRStaley) was included in my tag line. Visits to my self-defense blog tripled on the day the article appeared, but quickly fell to their normal levels. More interestingly, visits to my blog increased by nearly 10 times in the day or two following a posting on Facebook by a follower with a high profile in the martial arts community weeks in advance of the New York Times article. In fact, his cross post generated nearly three times the traffic to my blog than the Times article (and most of this traffic was the result of my own marketing of the link though facebook).
Of course, the article I wrote was not directly tied to my books. They were listed in the tag line (with links), not embedded in the narrative. And the article was not in the book review section of the Times. All those factors would mitigate against its effectiveness in monetizing this exposure.
Lesson learned: A one time event is unlikely to boost your sales unless it is directly tied to selling books. The value of the New York Times article was in raising general awareness of my work and in validating my expertise, not selling books in the short term.
The key to monetizing this marketing benefit is the consistent, steady application of a marketing plan that focuses on building my marketing platform over the long haul.
"Land Without Mirrors" engages, challenges readers
My review of Land Without Mirrors by Marina Brown has appeared on the Tallahassee Democrat's blog and in its print edition (May 5, 2013). Brown's book is a captivating and engaging read written in a classic literary style. She has drawn rich, complex characters woven within an intricate plot of love, romance, intrigue, betrayal and revenge. Set in the 1930s Caribbean, Brown's tale follows the fall from innocence among three teens on a leper colony off the coast of Trinidad in the 1930s. I write:
"About fifty pages into reading Land Without Mirrors this book began screaming “Book Club!” Complex characters, layered story lines, timeliness, ethical dilemmas, romance, intrigue, betrayal permeate this story told in a classic literary style. Marina Brown has woven a historical tale with a controversial contemporary twist that will keep readers engaged and intrigued."
Anatomy of a successful New York Times pitch
The New York Times has a great on-line forum called Room for Debate. The concept centers on posing a timely question and then asking experts or others with unique insight to comment. I've participated in a number of these in the past, primarily as an expert on transportation policy, but my most recent experience has a few marketing lessons for those attempting to raise public awareness about their books and the pitfalls of working with news media.
Here's a step-by-step description and analysis of how the forum published on 22 April 2013 came about from the perspective of the person that originally pitched the idea and participated as a contributor.
- I was discussing the problem of violence with Ruth Krug, founder of Reclaiming Lost Voices, an organization (that I support professionally) created to give voice to survivors of violence. We were discussing the Steubenville, Ohio rape trial and the subsequent convictions of the rapists. One of the issues we discussed was the number of people that were bystanders and chose to do nothing while the dignity of the victim was thrashed and assaulted and thrashed over and over again through digital media, public humiliation, and the trial.
- This conversation prompted me to write a blog post on my self-defense blog (www.defensivewarrior.com) discussing the importance of martial arts as social defense because self-defense skills empower individuals and hold the potential to turn bystanders into proactive disruptors of violent crimes and defenders of those under assault. Neither one of us had seen any on-line or print discussion of this issue.
- Several friends and colleagues responded to the post, sharing my post on their facebook pages, and commenting on this statement from the blog: "But another, perhaps even more important goal [of self-defense training], is to create a social environment in which attacks on other human beings won't happen at all." This response confirmed my hunch in #1 that this was a newsworthy issue that many people wanted to discuss.
- I sent a personal email pitch to an editor at The New York Times (who I had worked with previously) suggesting a debate question on the responsibility bystanders have to step in when they are witnessing a crime. Even though we had worked together on public policy, I knew she had a much wider responsibility at the Times. I noted specifically it the email the lack of public attention to this issue and the number of people that responded to my blog post. In short, I made sure my pitch would address her interests and needs as an editorial page editor. I also included a possible question and 2-3 potential contributors. (This makes their work a lot easier, even if the editors don't use your suggestions.)
- The editor to whom I pitched the question like the idea, and brought it up at an editorial board meeting. The editors decided to run with it.
- Three days after the pitch, a second editor (but one I had worked with in the past) contacted me, formally solicited my participation, and asked for suggestions for other contributors. (For the record, I suggested three other contributors, including Ruth Krug, the only other suggestion they picked up.) I was excited; it looked like we were good to go.
- I finalized and submitted my contribution on Friday, April 12th. (Note: My deadline was Monday, but since I was traveling that weekend and the next week, I submitted my contribution early.)
- Based on previous experience, I expected the forum to go live on Tuesday, April 14th or Wednesday, April 15th. Indeed, I even alerted a few key people to it's potential publication later that week.
- On Sunday, April 21st, the Boston Marathon bombings happened, fundamentally changing the news environment, and throwing the entire debate question/forum into jeopardy. The New York Times was re-prioritizing their editorial content in the wake of the bombings, and my original pitch of bystanders jumping in to intervene in a violent crime was not quite on point.
- Nevertheless, the question and content already submitted gave the Times some material, so the editors reshaped the forum question to focus on the everyday heroes that rose up to save countless lives and take care of the injured; real hope in the midst of tragedy rather than cajoling those who stand by and let tragedy happen.
- The actual forum question evolved to become "The Bystanders Who Could be Heroes".
- This resulted in a significant expansion of contributors since the Times now needed other writers to focus on the everyday hero part of the forum, and less on the responsibilities of those who witness crimes to step up and intervene.
- Fortunately, Ruth's contribution was compelling, timely and relevant, even with the shift in focus. Her article was placed prominently as the second article in what became a field of seven articles and eight authors.
- My contribution ended up shuffling down to the sixth in the line up. (In fact, I think my contribution remained as a courtesy by the editorial staff since I was the one who pitched the question and helped tee up a few contributions.)
- One way to measure impact is by looking at the comments left by readers. As of May 4, 2013, the first article in the forum had 46 comments. The second article (Ruth's) had 9 comments. The third article had 33 comments; the fourth article had 4 comments; the fifth article had 6 comments; the sixth article (mine) had 4 comments, and the seventh article had 6 comments.
Having been around the media block for a while, I am sure my article would have had more visibility and more impact if it had appeared as one of four rather than one of seven. The truth is, however, given how dramatically the media environment changed in such a short period of time, I'm lucky my article appeared at all. In fact, the other contributions were more more on point than mine given the way the question changed to fit the news of the day.
Of course, a little perspective is in order: Appearing on the New York Times is an earned media coup. Rather than lament what could have been, I know need to leverage what I have (which is substantial) in other marketing venues. Having an article on this issue in the Times further establishes my credibility as an author and expert, and this will have long run payoffs.
More on this in a future blog post.
Review of The Mother Teresa of Tallahassee's autobiography
My review of Rev. Bernyce Clausell's autobiography No Time to Die appears in the Tallahassee Democrat's TLH Magazine on 7 April 2013. Clausell is called the "Mother Teresa of Tallahassee" for good reason. I write in part,
"But Clausell’s story is so much more than an autobiography; it’s a ground-level window into nearly a century of turbulence, tragedy and triumph. While Clausell’s mark has been indelibly engraved into Tallahassee’s contemporary history, her journey from her birth in Thomson, Georgia, to the Florida panhandle, where she raised her family and built a community, reveals a cultural tapestry that would justify this book as required reading in every middle school in the country."
Marketing the author, not the book
When I began writing fiction, I was reluctant to focus my marketing efforts on me (the author). I didn't think I had the marketing cache' to sell my book, The Pirate of Panther Bay. Pirates were cool, but I didn't see myself as a personality that could make my book successful. Believe me, this wasn't because I couldn't talk about the subject; I teach for a leaving, so I am quite comfortable filling space with my voice, even on subjects I don't know much about!
Instead, I focused my marketing efforts on the content. I had, and still have, really cool, interesting content: a girl pirate captain who was an ex-slave, fast paced high-seas action, high-stakes plot points; romance, and realism. The problem was at the time that I didn't have a marketing platform. I didn't have access to the pirate blogs or communities. I didn't have a marketing footprint in the genre or in schools where I saw a natural market. The Pirate of Panther Bay was my first novel. So, I focused on the cool characters.
I'm beginning to change my tune, in part because of the insights provided by Sam Henrie, CEO of my publisher. In Wheatmark's Marketing Letter (March 2013), Sam talks about the "Secrets of Sharks," a riff on the TV show Shark Tank where venture capitalists seek out and fund new projects. As Sam explains:
"The sharks bet on people over ideas. They consistently pass on product and service ideas they love and believe in because they don't believe in the business owner's passion or ability to market and sell—or sometimes simply because they don't like them. Readers are the same: you'll have to sell them on the author before you can sell them on the book."
I think Sam is right on the money. Readers need to connect to the author before they buy the book. The same is true for book buyers at bricks and mortar book stores, and librarians, and teachers.
I've seen this in operation over the past year where I have been coordinated a book sales booth each Saturday for the Tallahassee Writer's Association at Downtown Marketplace. The authors that sell the most titles, in every case, are the ones that are volunteering in the booth. They are there to connect with potential readers. Many of the titles that are sold without the author in the booth are purchased by readers who know or are familiar with the authors. This is true even though the volunteers are actively selling all the books in the booth, and many of those books have great content. In fact, for the fall 2012 period, one author accounted for 20% of the sales, and that author was the one who consistently manned the booth throughout the fall. The correlation is remarkable.
Notably, the class adoptions for my books have all come from personal relationships I have built with teachers, not anonymous marketing materials such as flyers or advertisements.
Thus, my marketing platform ultimately has to be about me, the author. The very personal relationships I build with readers will ultimately determine my success. I'll have more to say on this soon in the context of my books on bullying and self-defense, A Warrior's Soul and the award-winning Renegade.
For book sales: The sum is greater than the parts
So, here's the question for the hour: Do I really need to publish 10 books to be successful? Yes! No! Maybe! Confused? Most authors are, or shouldn't be surprised.
Of course, success depends in part on how you define your goals. If your goal is to put your story on paper so that friends and family can read it, then publishing one book is a success. And, for the record, achieving that goal is a significant success.
If your goal is to be commercially successful, then your going to have to do a lot more work. And multiple books help. In fact, I believe multiple books will be essential for most authors if this is a goal. You may not need ten, but you will need more than one. (I've discussed this before here.)
The reality is that more books beget more success. Many of the most commercially successful writers have written a lot of books. Usually, it's not just one or two or three. They've written five, ten or more. The first couple of books may have been commercial successes, but that might mean the book covers it's publication costs even though the earnings to the author might not cover even a modest vacation.
But, if your goal is to earn enough money to support yourself as a full-time writer, ten or more books is not that far off. In fact, it may be a necessary condition. I think sci-fi writer Doug Dandridge is a useful case study here. Doug quite his regular job to devote himself to full time writing in 2013. But, Doug couldn't do this with just a couple of books out. In fact, Doug now has 14 books out and available through amazon.com.
But, Doug's success isn't based on a "shot gun" approach to writing and publishing. He's focused on a particular genre and writes books that appeal to similar audiences. In fact, Doug's income does not depend on one book. Or two books. His income is generated from a portfolio of books that creates synergy with his intended readers. While at any given time one book may be selling hundreds of copies (or even dozens), his financial success depends on having a wide range of products that appeal to an increasingly broad reader base in his genre. His satisfied customers can continue to buy other books, leveraging the sales of one book into two or three. Check out some of Doug's insights into his sales numbers for various books here, here, and here.
I also believe an important part of Doug's success is that these books are in press. His readers and fans don't have to wait to buy another book.
This also explains why publishers like series, and often try to sign talented authors to multi-book deals. The sum is greater than the parts in books sales and marketing.
So, for authors interested in making money, more is indeed better.
