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Why are debut novels failing to launch?

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Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#111

Post by RivieraKid »

japhib wrote: post #7

Seems like almost every creative industry (music, video games, art, writing) is having the same issue: Creation & publication tools are getting cheaper & easier to use, which means a lot more people can publish their creative ideas. With such a huge number of choices, discovery is now the issue. IMO discovery of what is truly high quality is still an unsolved problem. Seems like recommendation systems generally just…

Good discovery wouldn't solve this problem. One one hand, you have an ever-increasing pile of good content (all of the games, books, blogs, videos, podcasts, films that were created in the past) but people only have 24 hours per day to consume.

For example I've spent a huge amount of time playing a game that's over a decade old. And I'm reading a book that's from 1952.

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#112

Post by nottorp »

kredd wrote: post #42
CuriouslyC wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I encourage you to read some random publisher published books, that have been on the top of best seller lists. 50 shades of hot garbage comes to mind.

50 shades of hot garbage, unironically, is one of the books that brought smut back into the mainstream. As much as I have no interest in reading the series, have to give credits to the author for making something incredibly popular. We can hate it, but there are millions of people who read and write fanfic on a daily basis, and targeting that audience is respectable. But I agree, being on bestsellers list nowadays do…

50 shades is laser targeted. To the point that I tried reading it and abandoned it before 25% because the laser targeting is extremely precise and missed me :)

Just because it's not depressing oscar bait or space opera it doesn't mean it doesn't have some merits.

Although i find it hard to believe it was done as a "labour of love".

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#113

Post by nottorp »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #100
Animats wrote: post #66

Because Barnes and Noble has 14 checkout shelf positions devoted to Taylor Swift magazines. James Patterson (Enterprises) has about a quarter of the new novel space, and Tom Clancy (RIP) has maybe a tenth. It's all about the brand.

> James Patterson (Enterprises) has about a quarter of the new novel space, and Tom Clancy (RIP) has maybe a tenth. It's all about the brand. There's an obvious reason for that: far and away the primary determinant - often the sole determinant - of whether you will like a novel, is the author.

That's sad, because once an author achieves some notoriety, they are basically stuck into writing the same thing for the rest of their career, for fear that they will lose their existing audience.

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#114

Post by latentsea »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #44
boznz wrote: post #4

Spent several years writing and editing my first book before thinking the job was finished when I hit the publish now button. But it is literally only half the job done. The hell now is unless you get friends and family or an agency involved to push it and market it it will languish on the 500th page of any Amazon search forever. Oh and did I say that there are thousands of books a day released and there is nowhere y…

Your comment resonates and I liken it to promoting when starting a business, which I have just recently done again. Feels like there is a massive imbalance between quality outlets where eyeballs exist and the volume of people /content/businesses vying for attention at those outlets. And, the idea that we need to all become influencers of some scale and amass our own audiences to get the word out about something is no…

I guess we need to invent ads, so that we don't all have to become influencers?

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#116

Post by wslh »

I think the answer is very short: marketing beats quality. We are paying too much attention to the content itself but the root cause is the distribution. It is the same with startups.

This is already studied at nauseaum in search economics, long tails, the medium is the message, etc.

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#117

Post by _tom_ »

Wow, what a clueless article. Or maybe a deliberately biased article.

The majority of sales and debut authors are ebooks, and traditional publishers aren't involved. This has been true for years. Read publishing is pretty much pointless if you aren't a celebrity. Yes, there are a few that make it, but a handful, compared to the numbers that make something significant self publishing. And the trad publishing process is so slow. You can write and market several books in the time is takes to get one book to reads the old way.

If you aren't a celebrity, self publishing is the way to go.

Not that publishing an ebook is easy, but the process of much more controllable by you. And the payback is much higher.

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#118

Post by _tom_ »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #48
vundercind wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

… and lots of those are kinda bad . But it sells almost as well as a decent book, and you don’t have to spend as much promoting it, so it’s still what they want.

You’re a social influencer with a non-fiction book out? Let me just watch your clips for 15 minutes and you’ll deliver all of the information in your three hundred page book. There’s no substance in most of them.

But, boy are they fast to write!

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#119

Post by _tom_ »

surfingdino wrote: post #9

The market is dominated by large publishers. They do not need to compete, they have already won. At the same time, they don't want to loose the marketshare, which makes them less likely to bet on an unknown author.

The market is dominated by ebooks. Trad publishing gets a few home runs, but overall can't compete with the sheer volume of new independent books that come out each year.

Re: Why are debut novels failing to launch?

#120

Post by handfuloflight »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #44
boznz wrote: post #4

Spent several years writing and editing my first book before thinking the job was finished when I hit the publish now button. But it is literally only half the job done. The hell now is unless you get friends and family or an agency involved to push it and market it it will languish on the 500th page of any Amazon search forever. Oh and did I say that there are thousands of books a day released and there is nowhere y…

Your comment resonates and I liken it to promoting when starting a business, which I have just recently done again. Feels like there is a massive imbalance between quality outlets where eyeballs exist and the volume of people /content/businesses vying for attention at those outlets. And, the idea that we need to all become influencers of some scale and amass our own audiences to get the word out about something is no…

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