Discoverability and Trustability
This post by James Scott Bell at Kill Zone Blog strikes me as handling the topic of discoverability in a more sensible way than usual: Staying Afloat in the Roiling Sea of Books.
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Industry observer Mike Shatzkin added this [says Bell]:
I had reason to learn recently that Ingram has 16 million individual titles loaded in their Lightning Source database ready to be delivered as a bound book to you within 24 hours, if not sooner. So every book coming into the world today is competing against 16 million other books that you might buy. …
Of discoverability, agent Rachelle Gardner recently observed:
How can any single book stand out in that large of a field? It’s very difficult. The problem is known as discoverability and it means the odds are stacked against us when we want to bring readers’ attention to our books.
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And here I do want to pause and add, as I’m pretty sure I have before: I completely agree that discoverability is a big thing. But I don’t think it’s nearly as much of a problem that there are so many books available as everyone else seems to believe. I don’t know, maybe I’m missing something. However, saying that there are 4 million books published per year, or 16 million books available titles in the Lightning Source database, or 50 million books available on Amazon — none of that is in any way relevant to how many titles are visible.
When a new book by Stephen King hits the shelves, everyone knows about it. This book is highly visible. When a new book by Naomi Kritzer comes out, some people are aware of it. This book is somewhat visible. When an excruciatingly terrible new book by some self-published author is published on Amazon, no one knows about it. This book is invisible. We see lots of posts that assert, for example, that “We live in a world full of terrible e-book titles that ruin ebook discovery and make it difficult to find a good book” and this is simply not the case because no one ever sees those terrible books.
Amazon does not put them in front of readers. These books do not come up in search results unless you very specifically search for the title and author, and sometimes not even then. (I have sometimes tried to find a book after being given the title and author’s name, and the book is unfindable unless you search for some variant of title and author, but does not pop up if you search for the full title plus author name. I don’t know why, but suspect something is screwed up in the metadata.) These books cannot hamper the discoverability of good books because they are invisible to readers. It doesn’t matter how many there are.
It’s not that discoverability isn’t THE issue; of course it is. But that’s not because of competition from other books, especially not competition from terrible books. The problem purely involves getting your book in front of readers who would like it, period. Nor are you exactly competing with all the other good books out there. If a reader likes cozy mysteries and does not like taut political thrillers, then the authors of cozy mysteries are not competing with the authors of taut political thrillers. AND the authors of cozy mysteries are not exactly in competition with each other, either. You can tell this has to be true because the odds are so high that if those authors read a new cozy mystery by a new author and love it, they will say so, to each other and to their readers, because authors don’t keep that sort of thing secret. The reason authors don’t try to prevent readers from discovering other authors is because competition isn’t actually very important when it comes to discoverability.
What is the key? Well, getting your book in front of readers who would like it. Readers who read a lot. If someone reads five books per year, then they aren’t going to read your book; they’re going to read Stephen King’s latest and whatever the hot thing is in fantasy and so on. You aren’t competing for their attention because you aren’t going to get it, so there’s no point. You want your book in front of the readers who read 100 or more books per year … alas, not me anymore … and who like your genre and tone. If you can get your book in front of those readers, then your readership is likely to grow over time until you’re doing okay as an author.
Toward the end of this post, Bell offers this list:
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A) Write the very best books (plural) you can, at least one per year.
B) Keep learning and growing in the craft.
C) Decide what kind of writer you want to be. If self-publishing is on your mind, consider:
Can you be sufficiently productive?Do you have the discipline to learn basic business practices?Are you willing to invest between $500 and $2,000 for cover design, editing, and proofreading for each book?***
Let me pause here.
What, you may wonder, does Bell thinks are basic business practices? Other than keeping reasonable track of expenses versus income, which is probably the most basic business practice ever. On clicking through, I found that is actually a link to a book of his: How to Make a Living as a Writer. Here is the table of contents. Here’s a screenshot:
Hmm. I think … Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 look potentially useful. And perhaps Chapters 17, 22. and possibly 24.
Well, that was a digression. Back to the other half of Bell’s list from the linked post:
D) If traditional publishing is your goal, ask:
Am I patient enough to wait up to 18 months for my book to come out?Will my agent fight for more author-friendly non-compete and reversion-of-rights clauses?Am I ready with a plan should my publisher drop me?***
And this is where I said to myself, “You know, this looks right to me.” Including the last item: Am I ready with a plan should my publisher drop me, because I think that’s pretty likely and I think you should have a plan for that. I also think this should be the same plan for item four, not included in Bell’s list, but I think it should be:
4. Am I ready with a plan should I get fed up with traditional publishing OR write a book my agent can’t place with a traditional publisher OR feel I have gained enough of a readership to transition to self-publishing?
Because I think you should have that kind of plan, because — this is admittedly based on my own experience — but I think most authors who begin with traditional publishing are pretty likely to want or need to move toward self-publishing at some point. These days, various hybrid options are appearing and those options do expand the possibilities for authors who want to move toward self-publishing, or who decide they need to do so.
Then Bell says something even more important:
As I argued a couple of years ago, we need to get out of “discoverability thinking” and into “trustability thinking.”
You should be thinking that each new offering is an opportunity to prove to readers that you deliver the goods. As you do this, time after time, trust in you grows. Consumers buy more from businesses they trust. Readers are consumers and you are a business.
I don’t think I agree, exactly. I think discoverability is essential, absolutely essential. But I do think that trustability is also essential, and this is the first time I can remember seeing anybody mention this. I haven’t thought about it that way myself. From the post linked just above:
Trustability does not mean you don’t market what you publish. It does mean, however, that you have realistic expectations and are patient, knowing that it is going to take you a number of years and consistent production to establish a significant upward trajectory––if your readers trust you. … Make it easy for a happy reader to sign up for your email list. You need to build an email list because that’s how you directly communicate with those who are putting their trust in you. And through it all, continue to do the following: Keep up a flow of production, keep growing as a writer, keep learning about business.
I think that note about patience is important. And the idea about consistency, too. Basically, I just think this idea of trustability is important. But I think it goes along with discoverability. They’re both key for authors. That’s what I think.
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