v-s.net v0.6

Wednesday, 1:12 pm in Urban Nordica

Yesterday I typed up this whole big post about the Bookhabit Competition. It was all about advertising and popularity and genre and objective versus subjective critique (“this is good” versus “I like it”).

It’s all kinda pointless now because the dynamics of the competition have changed so much in the last 24 hours. It’s nail-bitingly crazy. Chainbreaker has been sitting in the number one spot for about 12 hours now and randomredux and I are pretty much running around throwing our little arms up in the air making squeeing noises. Because, like, OMG! Number one! Imma gonna go track down every one of you who voted for us and… uh… give you all a great big hug! Because you guys rule, seriously.

It brings a tear to this author’s eye.

Seriously, though, this whole experience has gotten me thinking back again to that whole popularity versus quality chestnut. You know, like with Harry Potter or the daily top favs on dA. Something invariably gets popular and then all the critics come out of the woodwork whining about how, “That’s not art!” or whatever as if something like that actually matters when it comes to what people like or not. Popular culture, welcome to it and all that. I guess it’s kinda niggling on me a bit because while I think (hope) that Chainbreaker is an enjoyable (and marketable) book, I’m in no way under the impression that it’s Literature. When I write all I really want to do is entertain people, not fill their heads with MY THOUGHTS ON YAOI SOCIETY. I write stories with punching and explosions and swearing and blood and hot boys regarding each other soulfully, because that’s the sort of thing I enjoy reading. And even after all this time, the person I write for is still primarily me.

When we entered this whole Bookhabit thing, our initial plans were – quite explicitly – to attempt to rely on our existing fanbase (friendbase?) in order to get through the first two rounds. I’m totally unapologetic about this, and the deeply cynical part of me is convinced that this is exactly the sort of behaviour Bookhabit was looking for. Because I really don’t think this contest is about the authors per se; it’s about Bookhabit outsourcing its marketing in the form of a competition. I mean, that’s what I’d do if I were in their position and had an extra $5,000 lying around that I thought I could easily recoup by taking 60% of author profits.

Is this unfair to the other authors in the comp? Well, yeah, of course it is. People entered hoping to get chosen on merit and instead they’re essentially getting steamrolled by a couple of authors who can pull in a big pool of friends and family. Do I feel guilty about that? Not at all, because randomredux and I have worked hard to build up the networks that we’re currently cashing in on. Not just the promo stuff we’ve been doing for Urban Nordica itself – which has been a not-insubstantial effort on and off over the last three years – but the general friend- and fanbases we’ve accrued. There’s nothing particularly special about what we’ve done; nothing that other content producers can’t replicate.

Note that I’m not even talking quality of product, here. Quality of product is only a fraction of the story; what people like us really need in this fancy twenty-first century world is quality of fans. And that’s how we’ve been marketing Chainbreaker. If you look at the success stories to come out of the long tail – and believe me, I do – it seems almost obvious that what you need to focus on is the fen, not the money. You don’t make money in the long tail; at least, not enough to justify the effort you need to put in to get it.¹

I think a lot of long tail producers don’t really get this; they sort of assume that because they’ve got a “quality product” (and, let’s face it, who doesn’t think their own product is quality) people are just going to magically flock to their Lulu store to buy it. Um. No. The people who make it out of the tail do it because they worked their way out. Okay, so maybe one in a blue moon someone’s press release makes it seem like they got magically picked out of the hat but come on, that person is not you. It’s like waiting to win lotto to become a millionaire; truth is, most millionaires got that way through hard work (and most lotto winners blow their money after the first 18 months).

This is the stuff I’ve gotta think about now. Every author knows finding an agent and a publisher is hard work but, I dunno, I reckon this stuff – this engaging-with-the-fanbase thing – is way harder.

Two years ago, I wrote a book. That was the easy part.

1. That being said… ^

• Tags » bookhabit, chainbreaker, the long tail, urban nordica