AdaptWrite

Author Presence on WattPad – A Quick Kindle Case Study

AdaptWrite — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 07:05:50 +0000

Earlier this month, Margaret Atwood took to The Guardian to sing the praises of WattPad – a social story sharing site that boasts more than 8 million unique monthly visitors. Since its launch in 2006, there have been more than 5 million stories published on WattPad, although as Atwood admits, the platform is perhaps most strongly associated with ‘romance, vampires and werewolves’ (James’ pre-Fifty Shades ‘Master of the Universe’ can still be found on the site).

Atwood has a collection of poems on the website and her usage of WattPad inspired us to take a look at other authors that have embraced the social story site. We examined the top 10 hot new releases for Kindle, looking at the official (if there is one) and unofficial author presence on WattPad.

Karin Slaughter

Karin Slaughter’s Criminal is currently the hottest new release on Kindle, so we were interested to see if she has a WattPad presence. Slaughter isn’t listed as an author on WattPad, but three samples from KissCut are available on WattPad. It’s not clear if they’re legally allowed to be on WattPad, but the three stories have amassed more than 1,000 views.

Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner holds the title of second hottest Kindle release, with her book The Next Best Thing. The author has no presence on WattPad, with no stories or author profile.

Deborah Harkness

Shadow of Night is the third hottest release on Kindle, but like Weiner, Deborah Harkness doesn’t have a profile on WattPad. Interestingly, there is a Shadow of Night story on the site, but it is a 26 page ‘vampire love story’.

Dean Koontz

Koontz occupies three spots in the Kindle Hot New Releases top 10 and his popularity is reflected on WattPad. There are seven Koontz stories available on the site, including Your Heart Belongs to Me, which has more than 10,000+ views. Again, we’re not sure of the legality of the story on the site, which is why we aren’t linking to it. Although Koontz is a popular author (in terms of story reads) on WattPad, he doesn’t have an official presence on there.

Elin Hilderbrand

The fifth hottest new release for Kindle is Hilderbrand’s Summerland, but unlike Koontz it’s hard to find any buzz about Hilderbrand on WattPad. However, this could simply be because some content performs better (or is shared more) when compared to others on the site.

Janet Evanovich

While there are only three stories of Evanovich’s featured on WattPad (including one reader asking for a copy of one of her books), she’s definitely a popular author on WattPad. Several authors and readers list her as their favourite writer, suggesting Evanovich has a growing fanbase on the site.

James Patterson

A quick search for James Patterson on WattPad reveals that something very special is happening over on the site. Rather than just sharing samples, readers are writing their own versions of Patterson’s Maximum Ride series. However, while the author has a thriving online community on WattPad, as far as we can see there is no official author presence.

Karen Thomas Walker
Finally, Karen Thomas Walker’s The Age of Miracles is the 10th hottest release on Kindle and our final author. Unlike the likes of Koontz and Patterson, Karen Walker Thomas doesn’t have any recognisable presence on WattPad.

So, what does this tell us about the story sharing site? Certainly not that Atwood’s praise of WattPad is unfounded. For certain authors, there’s a buzzing community on WattPad that can be tapped into – for others, more work might need to be done to develop a recognisable presence. While there’s some legally questionable content shared on the site, searches for authors such as James Patterson indicate that the power of these budding authors can definitely be harnessed. After all, remember that Fifty Shades of Grey began as Twilight fan-fiction.

Pro Tip: Track Offline Book Campaigns Using Online Methods

AdaptWrite — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 21:50:11 +0000

Sometimes, it’s easy to take for granted the effect of offline marketing and methods. Take for example Vanity Fair’s recent faux pas with TechCrunch, when the Condé Nast publisher tried to fax (yes, you read that right) the tech news site a Microsoft related story. Cue a hunt around TechCrunch for a fax and an article calling out Vanity Fair’s delivery methods.

However, at the end of the TechCrunch article about the incident, writer Colleen Taylor admits she still hasn’t seen the Microsoft story pitched by Vanity Fair.

So, the lesson here? TechCrunch missed out on a story (although they did get a funny new one), because they weren’t prepared for a particular mode of offline communication.

When it comes to analysing online data, you can’t pretend offline marketing isn’t there. You have to be able to cope with it and, even better, track your offline campaigns using online methods.

Take for example newspaper campaigns; if you advertise a book in a newspaper, be sure to attach a unique URL to the campaign, that redirects to the website’s normal URL with an added campaign parameter. Why? Well, along the way, you might find that The Times‘ readers are more likely to purchase online, whereas Daily Mail readers express greater purchasing intent – meaning they gravitate towards a section of the site indicating which bookstores in their area stock the title.

Similarly, publishers regularly list an author’s website on the back of a book, but when is this website viewed? Is it part of the purchase path, or do the majority of readers access the site after reading the book? A simple test with a unique URL (redirecting to the author’s website) and a 4Q survey with one question – ‘Have you read a book by this author before?’ – would answer this and transform the way publishers treat dustjacket marketing. Just think; if most users access the site pre-purchase, you can optimise the landing page for that. Alternatively, if readers access the URL post-purchase, then here’s a great way to sell-on other books by the author.

Image by NS Newsflash

Facebook’s new Built-In Follow Action Could Improve GoodReads

AdaptWrite — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 06:56:41 +0000

Last week, Facebook announced that developers can now utilise a built in follow action through the API. Similar to the subscribe feature, this new follow action means users can follow others in apps, without having to add them as a friend.

When the followed user then publishes content through the application, it will feature in their followers’ newsfeed. This content doesn’t have to be hand-crafted by the user (such as a wall post); the follow option allows followers to see actions automatically published by the app in their newsfeed. Of course, all users can control who sees their content through Facebook’s privacy settings.

So, how does this affect GoodReads? Well, the book community already has a follow feature, but it only allows you to follow a reader’s reviews. So, if you opt to follow someone (currently) in GoodReads, you’ll only receive updates when they publish a review. However, with the new built-in follow, if you opt to subscribe/follow a specific reader you can potentially learn more about:

What books they want to read

What they’re reading

And of its integrated through Open Graph, the reader’s favourite quotes, genres and quizzes

This could potentially mean that if you follow notable book critic or reviewer on GoodReads, you’ll have an unparalleled insight into what they’re reading, enjoying and quoting, direct to your newsfeed. However, it’s unfortunately not known whether GoodReads will make use of this new feature.

Kobo’s Digital Presence [Infographic]

AdaptWrite — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 06:19:59 +0000

Since its launch in 2010, Kobo has become a key player in the ereader market. In the UK, the company has a strong presence in WHSmith stores and in Canada (home of Kobo), the ereader has a 36% marketshare. With this in mind, we’ve taken a look at Kobo’s varied digital presence and produced the following infographic, listing information about the company’s presence on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as app stores like Apple’s iTunes & Google Play. Without further ado, here’s our infographic:

Embed Infographic

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How to Calculate your Competitor’s Engagement Rates on Facebook

AdaptWrite — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:31:34 +0000

One of the biggest problems marketers working with social media face is quantifying success and benchmarking competitors. It’s no different for book publishers or authors; you want to easily understand your progress, so you an evaluate whether it’s the correct digital stream for your book.

Well, taking a cue from Avinash Kaushik, we’re going to show you how to easily benchmark your competitor’s engagement rates on Facebook – and your own. Here’s how:

Applause, Amplification and Conversation

The three steps to engagement success on any social network are applause, amplification and conversation. In terms of Facebook engagement, here’s a definition of each one:

Applause
The amount of likes an object (a status update/photo/video/link) receives on Facebook.

Amplification
The amount of times the object is shared.

Conversation
The amount of comments received per object.

Why are these metrics important? Well , in terms of Facebook, ‘applause’ and ‘conversation’ will influence your Facebook Edgerank, so your updates are more likely to appear more regularly in user’s newsfeeds and ‘amplification’ means your content is being shared by users, improving your visibility. The obvious importance of all three metrics is that, the higher they are, the more engaging your page is. Provided you craft relevant content, high applause, amplification and conversation rates will mean that you’re getting the most out of social media.

So, if you head over to a Facebook page – in this example, we’ll use Kindle’s page – you can see that it’s very easy to calculate all three engagement metrics. Here’s a sample post:

As you can see, 65 have applauded it, 2 have amplified it and 15 have engaged in a conversation about it. However, these raw numbers aren’t of huge interest to us. In order to make sense of the numbers, we need another piece of data to compare them with, which will allow us to normalise each metric. In this case, we’ll treat the amplified, applause and conversation numbers as conversions – our ‘impressions’ will be the total amount of users that have liked the page.

So:

65 Applause / 2,007,277 fans = 0.003% Applause rate

2 Amplifications / 2,007,277 page likes = 0.00009% Amplification rate

15 Conversations / 2,007,277 page likes = 0.0007% Conversation rate

You can then run this for each page, as well as your own, and see how you compare.

Boost your Content’s Virality: Include Share Options in Book Extracts

AdaptWrite — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:20:06 +0000

One of the common ways of boosting interest for forthcoming books is releasing extracts from future titles. This tried-and-tested marketing method has inevitably made its way online, but in some instances, hasn’t really been adapted for the online age. Book extracts can be a great word of mouth marketing tool and by making a few simple changes, publishers can ensure readers are easily able to socially share forthcoming titles they’re excited about. Here’s just a few ideas on how you an improve virality when it comes to sharing book extracts:

Simple Share Buttons

Instead of just posting a PDF, why not include the book extract in a simple wrapper that includes popular Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest buttons. If these buttons simply overlayed the PDF (without becoming obtrusive), readers would be able to easily share the title on their favourite social networks.

Social Readers

If you prefer a solution that’s more integrated with Facebook, you could opt for a social reader. The Guardian’s social reader has proved a hit with readers and you could easily offer a one-stop social reader for all book extracts. As users browse, they would frictionlessly share the extracts they’re reading on Facebook, meaning their friends will also quickly become aware of your books.

On-Site Open Graph Integration

If you want to enjoy all the best features of open graph, without being tied to a Facebook canvas, you could always include frictionless sharing on your website. Users could connect to your website through Facebook and then frictionlessly share your extracts on the social network – all while remaining on your website.

Image from spoongraphics.co.uk

The Online Influencers Behind Fifty Shades of Grey’s Success [Report]

AdaptWrite — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 07:24:28 +0000

With the news that Fifty Shades of Grey is on course to sell 1 million copies by the end of 2012, we’re pleased to publish details of the key online influencers behind the novel’s incredible viral growth.

We’ve traced the history of Fifty Shades, looking at the bloggers and websites that voraciously consumed Snowqueen Icedragon’s (James’ online pen-name) Master of the Universe (the original title of Fifty Shades) back when it was freshly published fanfiction. These websites and bloggers are directly responsible for Fifty Shades growth from fanfic to bestseller, and authors and publishers could learn a lot from them:

Rhi_Inspire

Rhi_Inspire has consistently covered Fifty Shades of Grey and regularly published articles on the stories. Blogs like Rhi_Inspire’s are a perfect example of why it’s so important to regular share with your readers – Not only has the blogger created a ton of excellent art related to Fifty Shades, they’ve also taken the time to make others aware of the novels.
Sample Post: Because I Can…

PopCultureJunkie.net

While seen by some as latecomers to Master of the Universe (back in September 2010 they were “only 30 chapters in”), PopCultureJunkie.net were one of the first sites to really begin promoting EL James’ works. The site launched a fan-fiction book club in tribute to Fifty Shades and even featured a video interview with James.
50 Shades Archive

Twilight, Travel and Treats

Fifty Shades organically grew from a thriving Twilight community and the majority of James’ most fervent early supporters were fans of the film. Blogs such as Twilight, Travel and Treats quickly began creating special Fifty Shades sections on their websites, illustrating just how important James’ work is to the Twilight community
Fifty Shades Section

MelbieToast

Social media also played a huge part in Fifty Shades‘ growth and tweeters like MelbieToast have generated amazing multimedia themed around James’ works. A quick look at MelbieToast’s TwitPic shows the passion and talent of James’ fans.
MelbieToast Twitpic

YouTube

One of the main platforms Master of the Universe really capitalised on was YouTube. Several Fifty Shades themed videos have been posted on YouTube, but some of the earliest tribute films originated from sites such as The Twilight Saga.
Fifty Shades by Biel

Twilighted.net

No article about Fifty Shades‘ influencers could be complete with mentioning Twilighted.net. This Twilight fan-fiction website features hundreds of stories inspired by Meyer’s characters and themes, but it was James’ Master of the Universe that really stood out. Given the current trend of releasing titles similar to Fifty Shades, it’d be interesting to know if any other notable Twilighted authors have been approached by publishers.
Master of the Universe by SnowQueens Icedragon

So, what can you learn from these enthusiastic readers? Well, for a start, you should always tap into thriving online communities. James’ novels have been backed by a fantastic group of fans that have created videos, forum threads and even fully-fledged websites dedicated to the cause. If you need more ideas on how you can promote books online, be sure to contact us.

Penguin, Please Publish an Enhanced Gravity’s Rainbow eBook

AdaptWrite — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 07:04:28 +0000

Penguin has recently announced that they will be publishing Thomas Pynchon’s back-catalogue in ebook format. After overcoming the difficulty of recreating Pynchon’s unique page layouts in ebook form, Penguin will soon be publishing V, The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity’s Rainbow and other Pynchon novels in ebook format.

As anyone whose read Gravity’s Rainbow will confirm; it’s a pretty tough read. With more than 400 characters, several locations, a typically postmodern narrative and several overarching themes, Gravity’s Rainbow is an immersive and challenging read.

Considering this, alongside ‘basic’ ebook editions of Pynchon’s novels, we think there’s a strong argument for an enhanced edition of Gravity’s Rainbow. While we’re of course not talking about a bells and whistles edition with author interviews (good luck getting one of those from Pynchon), a compendium containing ‘artefacts’ relating to the novel would be fantastic.

As Gravity’s Rainbow contains so many references; ranging from technical drawings to Jung, allowing readers to explore these aspects while (or after) reading the novel would definitely enhance the reading experience.
If done correctly, Penguin could interlace the novel’s referential nature with their own back catalogue, allowing readers to purchase books by theorists and authors referenced in Thomas Pynchon. I must restate ‘if done correctly’, as there would quite rightly be uproar if Penguin interrupted Pynchon’s narrative with selling points. As a Pynchon fan, I would hate for the narrative (or indeed any text) to be rudely interrupted, but I would love to explore other books mentioned or related to the novel.

Another feature would be to make use of the book’s historical and geographical contexts. Gravity’s Rainbow is set along a strict timeline, so listing the crossover between Pynchon’s universe and real events would hugely help contextualise the book. Similarly, an interactive map detailing the travels of Tyrone Slothrop would help readers understand just where each part of the novel takes place.

Of course, one of the major arguments against enhanced ebooks is that they take away from the story with unnecessary peripheral features. However, done correctly for a frankly huge book like Gravity’s Rainbow, an enhanced ebook could improve the reader’s understanding of the novel, without sending them to Wikipedia.

Encourage GoodReads Reviews Direct from your Website

AdaptWrite — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:47:59 +0000

Last week we covered how you could target users that have rated books on GoodReads through the Facebook Ads API. Today, we’ll be looking at how you can encourage GoodReads reviews direct from your website.

Here’s an example: Perhaps you have a mailing list that targets readers. As this list is opt-in, you can pretty much be sure that it’s made up of people who enjoy your books. Using the GoodReads API, you could direct these users to a section of your website where they’re able to easily write a review of your work. This will then be posted to GoodReads, without them ever having to leave your website.

This means that at high retention areas – for example parts of your website that typically attract more returning than new visitors – you can target users who are predisposed to reviewing your work. Even if your readers aren’t Goodreads users, they can easily sign up to the website through Facebook and seamlessly post through your website.

Here’s an added viral bonus: In order to write a review of your work on GoodReads, readers must mark your book as ‘read’; an action which will then be automatically posted to Facebook, increasing your book’s virality.

While integrating the GoodReads API is quite technical, it could encourage a social loop of engaged readers publishing reviews, which then attracts potential readers (through Facebook) to your book. Some of these users could then go on to write a review, thus starting the social loop all over again.

Find Reviewers for your Book with our Free Twitter Tool

AdaptWrite — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:24:22 +0000

One of the most important aspects of any book promotion plan is finding reviewers. However, unless you’re a big publishing house, it can be incredibly difficult to attract reviewers..

Trawling Google for potential reviewers can be frustrating, as you won’t easily find blogs that are kept up to date. Mining reviewer directories can also be a time-consuming process, as you first have to find websites that are kept updated and then consider whether the site’s reviews are relevant to your publication.

Well, we’ve developed a free method that solves these problems and helps you find reviewers. Here’s what it will do:

Find reviewers that have up to date websites/blogs/GoodReads pages
Find reviewers that have reviewed books similar to yours
Find reviewers that have a social media presence
Automatically find reviewers for you; no need to trawl Google only to find old, irrelevant websites – everything is delivered to you.

Sounds good right? Here’s what you’ll need to make it work.

An RSS reader, like Google Reader
A list of books/authors similar to yours

Our method queries Twitter to find users that have tweeted reviews that mention books/authors similar to yours. Here’s how to build your query:

http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=this%20is%20a%20query

So, you append your query to the following URL: http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=

And if you need to insert a space, you use the ‘%20′ symbol. So if you wanted to look for tweets about Virginia Woolf, you’d type: virginia%20woolf. If you need help turning your query into something accepted by Twitter, just type your search term (‘book reviews’) into this free URL service and hit Encode. Next, copy the result from the Encoded box and add it to the search.twitter.com URL.

With your list of similar books/authors (if you’re not sure, you can just use authors/books that have influenced you), you can build a query for each one:

So, if you wanted to find Twitter users tweeting about Kurt Vonnegut reviews, here’s what you’d search for:

http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=kurt%20vonnegut%20review

Or if you wanted to find reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey:

http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=fifty%20shades%20of%20grey%20review

If you click on these URLs, you can see they lead to RSS feeds (they’re unreadable in their current form). Once you’ve created your custom Twitter search query, you need to subscribe to it in an RSS Reader. To do this, take the URL you’ve built and subscribe to it in an RSS reader:

You’ll then receive all updates for this query in your RSS reader. You’ll be able to view the entire tweet in your reader:

So you can easily extract the tweeting user or the URL they’re referring to. All results for your search will be stored by your reader, meaning you can follow-up at any time. This method of finding reviewers means you’ll have access to fresh, regularly updated websites.

You can also run a reviewer’s Twitter username through Klout for an understanding of their reach. Heck, you could even run these tweets through a free sentiment analysis engine and only contact the reviewers that loved books similar to yours.

In order to get the most from this search tool we recommend you build queries for at least 5+ similar books/authors. If you choose very obscure authors you may find it difficult to find reviewers, so do keep it broad.

As you’ll be keeping track of each potential reviewer with your RSS reader, you can also begin to understand just how close your similar authors/books are. For example, you may find that reviewers who rate Philip Roth highly also recommend your work, in which case you may want to find more Roth-friendly reviewers.

And that’s it! We’d love to know how you get on with this Twitter method for finding reviewers, so if you’ve utilised it, let us know.

Note: Sociable.co has a great article on Twitter and RSS feeds.