Use some psychology and some technology to sell more books
Do you dream about creating a group of Superfans who will buy every book you write?
Yes? Well, then, do you make it easy for readers to become your Superfans?
Welcome Back!
I periodically guest post on other authors’ blogs. I recently created today’s post to share on Anne R. Allen’s blog. I’m sharing here in case you aren’t a follower of Anne’s. BTW, if you aren’t following Anne’s site, you should be! Her site can be found here. She shares a lot of quality information that is perfect for beginner to intermediate authors.
For today’s post, I want you to keep the idea of “Superfans” in your mind as we work through this post. To create these Superfans, we need to make sure that we don’t do anything to frustrate our readers. In fact, our job is to make purchasing/following/subscribing as easy as possible.
In order to do that, we will talk about three simple steps:
Create content in a reader-friendly formatUse simple psychology to help guide readersHarness what we know about e-reader technology to make it easier for readers to find us — and buy more of our books
The Science of Writing for Readers
I’m a science grad who became a science prof – so when someone from the publishing industry (in 1995) suggested that textbooks would be converted to electronic format, I jumped for joy!! After decades of lugging around massive science reference texts, the idea of tucking a computer disk into my bag was pretty exciting!
Because the first Kindle wasn’t released until 2007, the idea of reading electronic textbooks was still over a decade away at that point. At the time, though, fresh out of university and thinking I knew everything, I was excited, but my fellow profs – who turned out to be smarter than I was – expressed concern about the differences in reading style. Honestly, back then, know-it-all me thought they were over-reacting.
Over the years since, I’ve done quite a bit of research into the differences between how people read via a paper source, like a paperback book, versus how people read via an electronic source, like a Kindle or e-reader. I’ve created a 20-minute video that explains some of the various theories. I would encourage you to take a few moments and watch here.
To sum up, people don’t actually read material presented electronically. Instead, they scan.
People “read” in a non-linear, non-continuous fashion. They will allow their eyes to take breaks between paragraphs. They will make use of headlines, graphics, bold text, italic text or lists to guide the movement of their eyes.
Another key finding from the existing research is that the more a person reads on electronic sources, the more they exhibit this scanning type of “reading.” This finding implies that scanning behaviour, or non-linear reading, is more pronounced amongst younger readers than older readers.
Why does the way people read matter? I would say it affects various ways you communicate with your readers.
What part of your writing life does this science affect?
The following list of places where “The Science of Writing for Readers” applies offers some suggestions:
Blog postsWebsite contentAmazon book descriptionsLayout of promo newsletters and promo websitesSocial media tactics
Looking at the list above, how does “The Science of Writing for Readers” change how you would create content for these locations? How would you format your blog posts? How would you lay out Amazon book descriptions differently given this information?
Psychology – Loaves of Bread And Jars of Jam
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Think back to the last time you were at the grocery store to buy a loaf of bread. Did you study the choices available or did you grab your usual brand and walk away? If you were thinking about trying something new and your local grocery store is like mine, you were likely confronted by many different choices.
Did you choose white, brown or multigrain bread? Did you choose a wheat bread or an alternative-grain bread? Organic ingredients or non-organic, seeds & nuts or not. Did you just stand there staring at the shelves, swamped by the number of choices? Did you give up and buy your usual kind of bread? Or, overwhelmed by choice, did you just skip the purchase altogether and stop at your favourite coffee shop for a bagel or blueberry muffin?
Numerous psychology studies have been done around the concept of choice – or having too many choices. My favorite study concerns the display and sale of jars of jam. Perhaps because I’m fond of jam!
The “Jars of Jam” study involved creating two different types of displays of jam in grocery stores. One display had many different flavors of jam, number of jars, size and shape of jars and varying prices. The second display typically had 2 flavors of jam and one size of jars, all at the same price. This experiment was carried out in different types of stores and in different locations within the store.
The second display (the simpler display) always sold many more jars of jam than the first.
Some feel this result is counter-intuitive. Wouldn’t people appreciate having more choices? Or are they, in fact, overwhelmed by too many choices with the result that they don’t make any purchase? The research indicates that they are, and that the sale is lost.
What’s the connection between the bread, jam jars, and turning readers into Superfans?
Look at the menu-line of your website. Do you provide numerous alternatives for a reader to choose from? Or do you use the menu structure to nudge people in the direction you want them to go?
For authors, the “Jars of Jam” theory applies in two critical places:
Website design – especially with respect to the menu-line and buy linksPromotional platforms and & newsletters – think BookBub
Which one below would you think is better for readers to find information?
Example #1
Example #2
If you answered example 2 you would be correct!
Why does BookBub sell so many books?
BookBub is one of the most successful promotional newsletters. Do you think the psychology behind the “Jars of Jam” correlates with the limited number of suggested books in each newsletter?
How to create more effective sales links in the back matter of books.
Depending on what study you read, somewhere around 80% of worldwide book sales are electronic. There are variations from country to country, and genre to genre but let’s generalize and assume the majority of your book sales will be digital, not paper.
What this means is that a large number of readers will read your book on a Kindle or a Kobo or some other type of e-reader. In my experience, many authors are purists. They would prefer to read paperback books and are not as familiar with the e-reader technology.
How much do you know about the capabilities of e-readers?
As someone who has carpal tunnel, I love my Kindle e-reader! By the end of the day, my hands don’t have the strength to hold a paperback book open; however, I love to read.
When I get to the end of a book I can peruse the hyperlinks an author has left for me. Do I want to join their mailing list? Do I want to buy the next book in the series? Do I want to follow them on Facebook? So many choices…
Too many choices? And as we’ll find out, maybe the wrong format!
Several years ago, my family was camping in the mountains. I had my trusty Kindle and was happily reading in my camp chair. I got to the end of the book and found the page that said:
Please join my mailing list here, join my street team on Facebook here, and be sure to check out the rest of my books here.
Since up in the mountains I didn’t have any WiFi to link to my Kindle, I couldn’t click on any of the links. I picked up my phone and tried to use Google to search for what the author might be referring to with her “here” embedded links. I couldn’t find a mailing list link on her website, I couldn’t find the street team on Facebook and I couldn’t remember my Amazon password so that I could shop on my phone.
Feeling somewhat frustrated that I couldn’t decode all the “here” links, I moved on to the next book on my Kindle — even though I had enjoyed the first book and wanted to read more by the same author.
With the immediacy of today’s society, we expect to be able to search and find – or in hyperlinked text, click-and-buy or click-and-find.
When I got back to civilization, I did a bit of research and found that without WiFi millions of simple Kindle and other e-reader devices have no way of connecting to the internet. And yes, you read that number correctly. There are an estimated 70 million Kindle readers out in the world, not to mention other brand-name e-readers. The vast majority of e-readers cannot access a cell signal, so without WiFi, they are just glow-in-the-dark digital books.
My example was from when I was camping in the mountains, but our readers read our books at the beach, in parks, in cars, in trains and so on. Many of these examples have no available WiFi.
Were you aware that readers can’t click or tap on links in an e-book without WiFi? What does the back matter look like in your e-books? Do you have a series of hyperlinks for your readers to click on?
Instead of offering our readers a series of embedded links to click on at the end of our stories we should use our words to direct readers to where they need to go – just like we do at the end of our paperback books. You can find great examples of this in paperback books published in the ’90s – before the birth of the Kindle. Scour your bookshelves for some older books and flip to the back!
Just like the jars-of-jam study, don’t provide too many choices and overwhelm readers, but find a logical place to send them to do what you want them to do. Send them to a retailer to buy some books; send them to your website to join your mailing list; send them to your front-line social media site. Brainstorm where you want them to go to begin their road to becoming your Superfans.
Most readers are pretty good at buying books. They just need you to make it as easy as possible for them – they will love you for it!
I hope I have given you a few things to think about and I hope you will take a few moments over the next weeks or months and give some thought how you will foster your group of “Superfans.” How will you make it easier to buy your books, find your website and join your mailing list, follow you on social media? Your career depends on it!
Did you get some ideas about building a Superfan base?
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