Nora Ephron said “Writers are cannibals. They really are. They are predators, and if you are friends with them, and if you say anything funny at dinner, or if anything good happens to you, you are in big trouble.”
In a sense, we do devour everything we see and regurgitate it, as needed.
I’m more curious about a different kind of cannibalizing. In marketing, be use that term when introducing a new product or service.
Will the new product help us gain market share. . .or will it simply cut into our current sales?
I deal with this conundrum quite often, in my business.
Maryanne and I have been dominating the front page for months. The question I have for discussions is – By posting daily, do we cannibalize our own hits?
By year end, I will have published seven books through Doppler this year. I don’t think cannibalizing applies to Amazon in this instance. I know the publishing industry will normally publish only one title per year for authors. There are exceptions. But some authors have several pen names to get around this.
I think that having multiple titles out with Amazon actually adds to sales, given their “referral” program.
Does anyone have thought on any of this?
Jill
Comments
I don't think it's an issue.
While, yes, you probably ARE losing a few immediate hits on things with your current speed of posting, as things move down the page, you're also maintaining visibility *and* providing a wealth of different lures to potential readers. While any one day might not provide the lure needed, an effective lure CAN net you more than one hit overall as the reader checks out other works by you.
So, no: in the case of your own stories, I don't feel either of you have a lot to worry about. It doesn't so much hurt the hits overall as amortize them a bit, I don't think :)
I WOULD say that the potential damage to OTHER authors' page presence is more worth concern, since you're both regularly posting stand-alones or new pieces, and while older chapter of serials get recycled off quickly by new ones, completely different stories entirely don't do that. That means your presence is greater at a cost to other authors.
Having said that, I don't think THAT'S a big thing to worry about either. BCTS is doing relatively well right now in terms of new content being provided for the front page, which is great for readers in general but can be a bit of a pickle for authors on the whole since it means that things like the quick shortcut menu are much more of a revolving door of names than they once were. Even if the two of you weren't providing so much content, those names would rotate out and off at almost the same speed, give or take a couple hours, so overall I think the damage done in this case is minimal.
Heck, even if it weren't, it's not your fault all the rest of us are slower posters :D
*hugs*
I'm experimenting with new content delivery methods myself at the moment. For the foreseeable future most of what I write will be going to the BCTS Patreon, providing me with higher visibility to a smaller audience and (hopefully) helping the site to thrive. There are ways to obtain visibility outside the front page, if people want it badly enough.
More content to read, more stories to discover (even older ones I've missed,) and more authors to experience is always a good thing. It's the internet, and on the internet content is king (or queen.) You ain't hurtin' nobody, so don't worry about it.
Melanie E.
Good analysis
That said, if you are posting serial chapters, every other day up to once a week seems to be a good rhythm to maximize hits and kudos. Bigger chapters seem to benefit from the longer intervals.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
If only...
... I can resist the temptation to post faster.
That time over six years go, when I posted my one true multipart story here, I couldn't even hold it to one section a day. (One section = three or four parts then.) I'm refusing to post until I finish and revise; that's hard enough for me.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
Weekly postings...
I can certainly say that when I resist the urge (I absolutely get your frustration on holding those chapters back, Daphne!), that I wind up with better comments and more kudos than when I give in to my inner Devil and posted serial chapters too quickly.
Many readers have certain days/nights that they spend on BC reading chapters--and that may only be once a week. Posting more often trips them up.
Think of binge-watching on Netflix--yes, you immediately get to that next episode, but if you would normally rate or comment but just go right to the next one...you just might not think about that rating or comment on the one you just watched.
Whether I write chapters more or less at the frequency they're posted--or complete the series and then start posting--I try and discipline myself to holding it to roughly once a week. It just seems to work out better for the readers (if not for my inner Devil!).
HUGS!
S
You are providing an alternative
to the almost endless multi-part stories.
Yes, I'm as guilty as anyone here.
At the moment I really am not in the right frame of mind to read 50 chapters of anything. I have apile of dead tree books by the side of my bed that have only been paritally read. Often just the first chapter or two. Luckily most came from Charity Shops so I'm not that much out of pocket.
You solo stories provide a beginning, middle and end in one hit and for that, I thank you very much.
while I can't read multi-part stories, I just can't stop writing long pieces. Only yesterday morning, I sat down and started writing(into the computer). By lunchtime, I had nearly 5000 words and was close to part 3 of a tale that I thought would only be 1500 words or so. Verbal diarrhoea strikes again.
Even the 300 word pieces I create for my writing class each week often end up with 3000 words before I know it.
Most of this verbal garbage won't see the light of day (thankfully).
Please keep posting solo stories. We need more variety and these provide them in manageable chunks.
Samantha
I'm in Awe
I can't say it often enough.
I'm absolutely amazed by writers who can write serials on the fly.
When I write a story I start with a good deal of planning. Yet, I often rip up my outline once I get to know the characters a bit more.
Many times I will add or delete whole chapters or story arcs.
In one of my novels I added nearly fifteen chapters after I had written the "entire" story.
I change character names, revise tensions, move around timing of exposition, etc.
I don't know how you do it.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
How do I do it?
I don't know. My current story 'Sixty is not that old' came from a 10 minute exercise 'create a character'. I liked the character I created. Well, I didn't create a character as such but I wrote the first scene of the story. I thought that it had legs. It did. 80,000+ words later. I didn't plan the story out. All I knew was that she'd have to deal with her daughters and she'd get her man. The rest came from my imagination. Backstory for the characters was created on the fly.
I had to write a piece of another story so that it all fitted together.
That's how I write these tales of mine. I know that other writers do it differently. There is no perfect way to create a story.
You said that you did a lot of planning. Why not let your muse loose from time to time? It might work wonders.
I've never really got on with the story arc thing. To me, if it fits, it fits.
My current story was around 45K words after the first draft. Editing and filling in all the big holes can like you say add loads to a story.
As I said, writing is a mystery to me. I'm amazed that I can actually do it given the comments I used to get in English at school.
Samantha
PS. I'm in the middle of ending one of my serials (county sheriff) and it intersects with another story that went down well here. It is going to be fun trying to get everything right. You have to try everything once don't you?
I'm the same way...
For most things in my life, I plan them out meticulously. When it comes to writing, I can't do that! I just let my fingers go along with my very overactive imagination. Sure, I have to go back and clean up my ramblings a bit and fix some errors, but I don't really plan a thing. :)
HUGS!
S
Why Not Let My Muse Loose?
Years ago, when I first decided to write a novel, I purchased writing software for the project.
That software taught me the "rules" of writing. Some of those rules are:
1.) Use no more than 5 to 7% of the story setting up the real world from which the hero will depart. If you take longer the reader will sense that the story is dragging. Think of a movie that normally runs close to 120 minutes. If the plot hasn't moved to the new world within 7 to 8 minutes the audience starts getting fidgety.
2.) Once the hero goes into the new world, he is to be presented with three challenges to overcome. Three supposedly, is a magic number in writing. These are story arcs.
3.) The hero will have helpers to overcome his challenges. The helpers can be extremely important or very minor characters.
4.) A villain will stand in the hero's way.
5.) The villain will have helpers. Often these helpers (both the hero's and the villain's) will represent personality traits. Loyalty. Honesty. Fear.
6.) There will be tension between all the characters due to their conflicting interest.
7.) The hero will experience personal growth throughout the story.
8.) If the villains don't learn to change their ways, they need to be taught a lesson through just and fair penalties.
9.) There should be measured cause and effect throughout the story that allows the reader to guess what will happen next . . . and ultimately. What happens should be plausible within the world you have created.
10.) The reader wants to know if they're right. You should give them a reasonable chance to know what happened to story arcs and character's journeys.
11.) All of this will be held together with a general theme such as "Love Conquers All" or "Might Does Not Equal Right."
Given these rules I have in my head my muse is fettered.
I know that writing rules are nonsense. But I also know that there is an unwritten contract between the reader and the author. I ask the reader to send time reading what I wrote. In return, I will take the reader on a journey during which I will respect the reader's expectations.
With all those balls in the air, I just can't imagine spinning a tale that I couldn't revise as I go along to The End.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Rules are meant to be broken!
So, you're telling me, Jill, that you never exceeded the speed limit? That you never told a white lie--or maybe a bald-faced one?
I hear what you're saying--I do! I make my living making and enforcing the rules! That's why I spend my time writing without them!
Yes, when you publish something, you enter an implicit 'contract' with the reader. They 'pay'--at the very least with time, maybe even with money--but if you constrict yourself so much with the irons of 'magic numbers', then--well... Umm... Sorry... :)
Sure, you can't waste a reader's time--you have to move the story and make it engaging. Yes, you have to get to the point... Sometimes that takes more than 7% of the story. If you have some cred, then you can only hope that they will stay with you. Some won't. It's a major writer's peeve that some won't give the story a chance! I'm still not going to sacrifice a good story for a few impatient readers!
I love your stories, Jill--rules, or not. Somehow, I really don't think they would be any worse if you throw those rules away. Who knows, they might just turn into NYT bestsellers if you do! ;)
HUGS!
S
There's a lot to be said....
for coffee.... and personality? Though I'd probably be just as manic on my 'up cycle' without it. Still? Does anyone remember
?
Love, Andrea Lena
Jolt
Indeed I do. I haven't seen it a long time. "Twice the caffeine and real sugar." I just drank it for the taste. It didn't have any jolting effect on me.
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
As a reader
I have become quite selective
when authors post a stream of stuff at short intervals, many readers just don't have the time to invest in a single block to read even their favourite authors. Its a delicate balance, releasing enough that you maintain presence but not so much that it becomes a chore to keep up with, the more regular the posting the shorter it needs to be. For me, that means 1500/3000 words is the sweet spot for reading, 5000 words on a standalone short - anything over that in a single post is just too much time to invest. The long and short is that if you post daily and more than series/story I'm not likely to read more than one of them.
So yes, over exposure can be a distraction for readers and may just spread read counts rather than increase them.
Publishing on the 'public', sales stage is, well its different. New fiction releases will see most 'sales' in the first couple of weeks after release, after that it reduces to a trickle that may well continue for years as new readers discover the series/author. For example, one of my first Kindle releases, a short standalone called Unexpectedly Mary was released in 2013 on Kindle, it still gets one or two sales each month. Because big name authors writing and released by publishing houses get paid in a rather arcane way, spreading the releases of different formats, different market places can aid in the flow of revenue, some of my favourite writers have several titles queued for release which can be frustrating to say the least!
Marketing 'product' is changing, buyers now expect a quicker turnaround of new product, stuff that used to have a shelf life of many years now needs to turnover faster and to do that version/book 2 needs to be ready to fill the gap. First World commerce is powered not by the makers but by the consumers.
Look at it this way, the once a week TV series, lets say Kojak, if you missed an episode you will likely try to get to see it (recording, play again, Netflix or whatever) but the daily soap, well you miss a couple and you can still pick up the plot, you don't invest time in watching the missed episodes (never did understand why the TV companies often run the same episode twice in a day, why not yesterdays and today on a rolling basis so if you did miss one you could catch it the next day - if that's your thang).
Madeline Anafrid Bell