At Inker’s Con one of the talks I did was on Author Success Metrics. When we finished our great conversation, I had an author walk up to me and say this particular slide was the highlight of their conference. So as I was thinking about what to post about the event, I wanted to post this.
In this talk, we cover a few of the success metric grids that we use in Market Better-Faster and this is always one of the favorites. We do it at the end, and I almost always include a picture of Liz Lemon (from 30Rock) yelling that she is the decider when someone gives her a bunch of power in one episode. She gets a little drunk on the power.
In the episode, everything is going off the rails, and no one likes the decisions she’s made, but she makes them because she has a particular agenda she wants to see happen (of course, it’s about a boy). And every time she gets pushback on her decision, she yells, “I AM THE DECIDER” to end the conversation. Because Jack had given her the power to decide.
Even though her decisions weren’t working.
So that’s the “frame of reference” I was using when I made this graphic about whether or not each one of us should be “the Decider” about things in our business. Especially about covers, blurbs, marketing, etc. Because making marketing decisions requires certain skills (which we covered also in the Ads for Intuitive Authors presentation/and now, class), and because not everyone has those skills or abilities, it’s important to ask whether or not you are the best decision-maker in packaging choices. (And for some of us, this “am I the Decider” question goes farther back, into other choices in our platform. But not for everyone.)
Also, I always caveat this with, “if the goal is money” because if the goal isn’t money, then there’s no reason not to be the decider in all your choices. If the goal isn’t money, then your own instinct is likely going to fulfill the goal better than someone else’s.
So here’s the grid.
Signaling, when it comes to covers and blurbs especially is about “does the audience know what’s inside?” Have you used the right turning signals to make them “turn right here if you want X”? That’s the question signaling needs to answer.
Some of us cannot tell the difference between whether or not a cover “signals” the right readers. And when we can’t, we have to be a bit cautious about trusting a cover artist alone to tell us that unless you are giving them complete freedom. Most cover artists would tell you, their most difficult choices are doing things the author asked for that they know aren’t going to work for the genre. You’re paying them to make you happy, so they want you to be happy. But sometimes you’re asking for things that don’t signal the readers correctly.
When that happens, the cover gets made by the cover artist, sure, but does it signal the readers? That’s a different question.
If you can’t tell whether or not a cover is doing its job to signal readers, then I would at least like to see you get the perspective of someone who can tell. Not that they have to be in charge of your covers. But that you will at least consult with someone who can tell. (Another author, a marketing coach, a cover designer who would tell you if you’re making decisions that will impact the signals.)
Not knowing your genre can cause “decider” problems as well, of course, because if you’re usually reading romance and you’re trying to write thriller (but don’t know/read thriller), you may not be able to choose your own cover. (Again, unless you would buy thrillers off the bookshelves.)
If you need to be right all the time (and, again, your goal is money-first), I would also get perspective. This type of attitude and/or personality usually projects an attitude that doesn’t encourage honest feedback. So. Care there is important.
(I always caveat, at this point in the slide, that also, if you tend towards Trailblazing, where you’re not going to be following market norms anyway, and “blazing that trail” is more important than money, you have to follow your own instinct.)
The same goes for a high level of emotional attachment. If the goal is money, but you’re highly invested in getting a cover that signals the wrong readers, it’s not worth the money to buy that cover because the cover won’t do its job for you. And I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true. 🙂 If the goal is money, the tactics have to change.
And the last one on this slide is “how clear is the market for your books?” The more clear the market, the better off you are being a decider because you know the target market. (Even if you don’t know you know it.) But the more mash-y the genre, the more important to get perspective because you have to know who will be the most pleased with the book, out of the readers who will look at the cover. That’s the cover’s job. The blurb’s job.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to get quite so into this so let me close with this:
The whole reason the slide gets made is because we see patterns in coaching. In Market Better-Faster, the entire goal was to try to give some insight into what we see in terms of who tends to be better at what parts of marketing and why you might want to consider doing or not doing certain things. (We only have a finite amount of time.) If it costs you time and money to do something, we want to help you do it as well as possible. (This is also why we talk to Intuitive authors about ads. Personality changes things.)
Please do ask questions below as you have them. My goal over the next few months is to hone in on some of these questions that get asked, and some of the mythology that’s floating around in the author world about who should be doing what. Sometimes, you are not the best decider for things that have to do with products you’re selling. And sometimes, when you aren’t, but you feel like you have to be, it can cause more stress than it’s worth to try to do it yourself.
The bottom line is always: get support. This job is pain. And it’s a lot. Support is necessary. Ask questions if you have them.
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