Mathiya Adams

The Hotdog Detective Mysteries

Archives for August 2019

Tracking Performance

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I track the sales of all my books on as many distribution channels as I can. This allows me to achieve several objectives.

First, I can see if I am reaching a larger number of readers over time. While I don’t have a specific target figure for how many readers I want to get during a given time period, I do want to see the number of new readers go up over time.

The second objective I can evaluate is whether I am retaining readership as my series continues. I don’t just track the total sales, but the sales ratio of each consecutive book. (Note that this analysis only applies to a book series.)

In the example below, Book 1 is offered for free. I expect a large number of downloads, and while I hope that 15000 readers actually read the first book in the series, I have no way of knowing this. What I can measure is the number and ratio of readers who go on to buy Book 2. In this example, that 375 fans who liked Book 1 enough to purchase Book 2. This now becomes a metric I can manage through campaigns, pricing, promotions, etc.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine if the percentage shown (2.5%) is an average number, higher or lower than average, since I don’t know of too many authors who actually track this number. However, the editors at Misque Press have given me access to the sales figures for one of the leading series it publishes, The Unfinished Song series by Tara Maya. The ratio of Book 2 in that series to the first book in the series is almost 6%, meaning that more than one reader out of twenty who downloads Book 1 goes on to buy book 2.

This shows that after the second book in the series, my results are not that different than those for a successful series like The Unfinished Song. These statistics showed me that I have to find ways to get more people who download Avid Angler to move on to the second book in the series, Busty Ballbreaker, from one out of 40 readers to one out of 20.

Of course, that is easier said than done. Some ideas include:

  • Make sure that there is a download link to the next book in the series in each book
  • Use pricing as a way of encouraging purchase of the subsequent story in the series
  • Increase advertising of the second book in the series

If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear from you. If you offer me a suggestion of how to accomplish a higher purchase rate, let me know what book in the series you’d like and I will send you a link to get that book for free.

Managing Characters

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I discovered, as I was reviewing plot scenes in my mind and preparing to start writing, that I need to do more to develop my secondary characters. Then I realized that my goal was a lot more complicated than I first assumed. First of all, how do I even determine who is a secondary character?

Managing characters is a major task when you write a series of novels that cover more than two or three books and span several years of plot time. I spend much of my writing time working on keeping track of my characters. Simply writing them into a story isn’t enough. I need to be able to keep track of them. More importantly, I need to understand who they really are.

The main tool I use to manage characters is Scrivener. Early in my writing career I used to use note cards – 5×8 for characters, 3.5 for plot events. But over time, I have converted everything to Scrivener. Scrivener allows me to create an alpha-sorted document, which contains all the critical information associated with that character.

In my Scrivener file for the Hot Dog Detective series,  I have several folders with character files in them (each character in my stories gets his/her own file page).

There is major folder called Characters (a default folder in Scrivener) that has all the characters in the series. A smaller folder has the main characters of the series. This  includes MacFarland, Pierson, Rufus, and most of the individuals who have frequent contact with those three characters.

Then there are a series of folders for each novel I write that has the characters unique to that specific story. Eventually these will be merged into the main Character folder, but I usually keep the book folders active for a while in case I have to refer back to an earlier novel.

Finally there are a collection of folders for each of the trilogy stories. I keep the characters that are unique to each trilogy in each of those folders.

The information on each character file is essentially the same, though the amount of information recorded varies depending on how important the character is to the story.

  • Character name
  • Letters to identify the story in which the character appears
  • A picture of the character (usually only for important characters that I describe in any detail)
  • Background information about the character (spouse, children, parents, date of birth, date married, etc.)
  • Short description of the character’s role in the story
  • In some cases, a table that contains a timeline of the character’s life
  • Scene descriptions in which the character appears in the story
  • Sometimes pictures of the characters home, vehicle, or other props associated with the character – usually these are weapons the character might have used

Here is an example of a very minor character’s file:

Benson, Stu
CC
The man who “bought” Loreena
Rapes her, but when she fights back, he kills her
CC53 – Chamberlain says he was arrested.

The file for a major character can be several hundreds of words long.

The issue I am currently facing is whether I want to include more detailed descriptions of the motivations and psychology of certain characters. Yes, I already do this for my main characters. But do I want to do it for secondary characters?

So this is the question I propose: Just how much information about a character should a writer have? And what other tools do writers use to help define the content and limits of this information?

Getting a New Door

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I am supposed to have a man come out today to measure the door to my apartment. I need to replace my door, which is a large patio door, with something that is more energy efficient…and which works. What does this have to do with writing? Nothing! It’s just another excuse to procrastinate!

On the other hand, I have to sit here and wait for the man to show up so it is a good reason to just sit in front of my computer and work on my story. I am getting into the section of the Blake-Snyder beat structure where all the bad guys close in and tension builds. It should be fun to write this section, but as usual I focus on the darker side of the universe. I need to make sure that the action makes sense and all the plot elements flow smoothly.

It’s all work…and it’s all fun. I love being a writer!

It’s a lot more fun than getting a new door, that’s for sure.

Incremental Progress

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I’ve checked my sales on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Draft2Digital, and Kobo, and while I cannot say for certain that my sales have increased incrementally in a positive direction, I am feeling encouraged. However, I know enough about statistics and psychology to know that random changes in data can be very misleading and people naturally search for confirmation of their biases. It will take several months before I can say for certain that my approach is working the way I intended.

However, as I was doing this, I discovered that there are several channels on which my books are not completely listed. I need to get this corrected fairly quickly. The one thing that I find most discouraging is to learn that something I want is not available on the channel I use (this might have more to do with discovering that the first two seasons of Outlander are available on Hulu, which I subscribe to, but the last two seasons of the show are only available on Starz, which I don’t subscribe to — mainly because I am cheap, and I don’t sell enough books to afford another premium cable channel).

Back to my main point…

I contacted my editor and discovered, to my horror, that she is on vacation! How dare she?! After I calmed down, I realized that this is one of the prices I pay for going with a small publishing house. While I do have direct access to the editor, I also have to live with the shortcomings of a small and privately run press. Fortunately, however, she did tell me that she would get right to work on my concerns…as soon as I had The Vacillating Vigilante available for her review.

Damn, foiled again!

Twitter Wars

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I am starting (re-starting?) my attempts to publicize my books on Twitter. My publisher tells me this isn’t the best way to build readership, but it is one that I can easily implement. I am trying to send tweets out on my account for all the channels I distribute my books. This will be a major departure from prior twitter campaigns, since those were all focused on the Amazon US channel. This attempt will be to push my books through Amazon US, Canada, UK, and Australia. In addition, I will push Barnes & Nobel, iTunes, Draft2Digital, Smashwords, and Kobo (if I can figure out how to do that).

I haven’t noticed that the first three days of my new campaign have affected sales. My sales are all in the doldrums.  I can’t tell if this is just a seasonal slump, which my editor says happens during the summer.

I also don’t have a very large twitter following — only about 3000 people. That’s not enough to actually push the kind of exposure I really need, but I will keep working on building up my followership. When it gets to be more than 10,000, perhaps my twitter campaigns will work.

Perhaps.

 

Getting Along Is Not Always Easy

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I’ve got my coffee, I checked for ants in the kitchen (there weren’t any), and I checked to see how the Dodgers did last night against the Yankees (you can  the girl out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take the Brooklyn out of the girl).

They didn’t do so good. Da bums!

I am working on book 22 of the Hot Dog Detective series, the Vacillating Vigilante. My progress has been slow, but I don’t know if that’s due to the heat, the fact that my door is broken and I can’t close it, or that I am just stuck in the doldrums. I suspect that it’s a lack of will – it takes a certain amount of willpower to persevere and keep writing 1000 to 2000 words every day. But that’s what writing takes – perseverance.

I do have a more serious fear, though. I suspect that my story doesn’t hold together as tightly as I would like. I need to review it, make sure that all my characters are following their story lines properly. But some of them are getting impatient. They know the alphabet as well as I do, and they may suspect that their existence will someday soon come to an end.

Yes, I am blaming my characters for my lack of drive. It’s all their fault that I’m not reaching my daily word target. I realize that some of you might find my behavior indicative of supreme cowardice. After all, how can any of my characters defend themselves in this blog? Ha! They can’t! But I know them, each and every one of them, and I am sure they are all plotting right this minute how they’re going to take control of the story and finish it on their own terms.

But even if they do that, maybe we all will end up winners. They will control their own destiny…and I will have Book 22 completed and available to the fans of The Hot Dog Detective series.