Aubrey Fox ( @aubreyfox ) just shared some thoughts about the link between the quality of content and sales - in the book world specifically. This got me thinking about it, too. Of course it hurts when something I write doesn't get widely read, voted on, and shared. And I can only imagine the anxiety that comes with putting an entire book out there and then watching the tumbleweeds roll by.
In the end we just have to learn not to take it personally, try again, and hope to do a little better the next time. As @cheah has pointed out, no one is obliged to read you.
There's also a strong streak of snobbishness in the book world. We look at bestselling authors like James Patterson and EL James and think, "Why them? My writing is so much better than that. So much more literary."
Well, that may be the case, but I think we miss something when we take this approach to judging the quality of content. At the very least, by dismissing "popular" works out of hand, we miss the opportunity of really understanding what makes them popular
Last year I read a book called The Bestseller Code. The authors of this book used a computer to analyze thousands of top selling books and look for the patterns that generated sales, and the algorithm was surprisingly good at guessing how well a sold without any information about the author or background. We may cringe at books like 50 Shades but it turns out the structure of its plot is pretty consistent with other best-selling books - including old bestselling books, which today we call classics.
What sells? A plot with a steady pulse of rises and falls in fortune. Relatable characters we can root for. And simple language. It turns out people are a lot more comfortable reading a casual-sounding style. Also, readers love contractions. Don't write "you are." Use "you're."
But really the plot is at the heart of it. Stories can came in all sorts of shapes, and some sell better than others. But if there's nothing at stake and nothing happens, all the pretty writin' in the world won't do you no good.
Vonnegut on the shapes of stories.
The folks at the Self Publishing Podcast had an episode where they spoke with Kindle bestseller Michael Anderle about a new program that analyzes books for authors and makes suggestions about how they can change their language to increase sales potential. One anecdote that stuck with me: It analyzed a book where alternating chapters were written from the point of view of the hero and the villain. The hero was very intelligent, and as a result his chapters were written in longer, more elaborate sentences. The villain's language was simple and crude. The software told him that he was making his villain too likable and the hero too remote, and predicted better sales if he switched around the voices.
I have mixed feelings about this. It's spooky how well software can predict our buying decisions. And I'll admit that the example from the Self Publishing Podcast raises my hackles a little bit. Are we so predisposed to dislike intelligent sounding people that we assume they have to be the bad guys?
On the other hand, it shows that regardless of marketing and prestige and reputation, bestselling books are likely to find their way to the top of the marketplace whatever we do. And maybe we shouldn't worry so much about it if we enjoy a book that seems "popular" or "trashy." These books are obviously serving a deep-seated psychological need for story that's hardwired into our brains.
I'd be curious to see if there's a similar analytical service for blog posts. Certainly the Steemit blockchain is full of valuable information that could be mined to show which subjects, lengths, and styles generate the most votes. The question is, if I had that information in my hands, would it really affect the way I wrote?
Here are some of my other book-related posts:
Untimely Book Reviews: Coot Club by Arthur Ransome (1934) - A Window Into UK Childhood Past
Shrinking Horizons in Hard Science Fiction - Review of The Three Body Problem and Aurora
Review of Crooked God Machine by Steemit's Autumn Christian
10 Unfinished Works by Terry Pratchett - Crushed!?!