HOW TO INSPIRE READER LOYALTY

by Korina Moss

A photo posted by Dana, a loyal reader of mine 

Reader loyalty. Every author hopes for it. Cozy mystery authors count on it for their careers. One way to foster loyal readership is through marketing, but that’s putting the cart before the horse. First, you must write a series that inspires reader loyalty. 

Cozy mysteries are intended to be a standalone series. Writing a standalone means you have to focus on writing the best self-contained story you can. But writing standalones within a series means you also have to consider the books you'll be writing next. Ultimately, you want a connection among your books and a progression of your characters. These two things will help to elevate your series and inspire reader loyalty. How to do this? Here are 5 things to keep in mind that may help:

1. Give your protagonist a character arc throughout the series. 

Cozy mysteries are comfort reads, so although we want to write a three-dimensional protagonist (which likely means she’ll have some flaws and challenges), you need to put a light touch on them. Your protagonist must be likable from the beginning, and therefore, her issues can’t be so heavy or need such redemption that the reader isn’t riding with her from the start. With this in mind, you can introduce an arc that gets resolved in book one and then a bigger arc that runs throughout the series, or you can introduce an arc and show your protagonist’s growth incrementally throughout each book. Either way, don’t hit the reader over the head with lessons learned. Character arcs should also apply to your core series characters (those who help your protagonist sleuth and show up in every book). Think about what changes they might go through within each book. What small differences will readers be able to see in your core characters between book 1 and your later books? 

2. Keep in mind the time between when the books take place. 

Does your first book take place in the spring and the second book take place the following fall? Then you need to keep in mind when you write that second book that 6 months have passed for your characters. If your protagonist has just moved into her new apartment in book 1, she’s not going to be unpacking boxes at the start of book 2 if it takes place 6 months later. (Unless she’s like me, lol.) If two characters start dating in book 1, then you have to consider that they’ve now spent six months dating at the start of book 2. If your sleuth and the detective have been awkwardly flirting in book 1, and in book 2, you have them acting exactly the same, you need to mention why their status has remained the same. Have they avoided each other since the last murder investigation? Only seen each other in passing? Are both horribly shy? There should be a reason why their relationship is in the same place. Things will have happened in those months between books that readers didn’t get to see. Make sure each book simply acknowledges that. 

3. Make some community characters recurring.

If you introduce characters who play an important role in your book and they’re part of the community, readers are going to want to see them again and know what they're up to now. It’s a great way to make the town feel alive and slowly grow it. However, not every character can be in every book. They still have to serve a purpose to the mystery. You don’t want too many names and characters for your readers to have to remember. But using these recurring secondary and tertiary characters not only adds color, they help to make your characters feel like they actually live off the page. 

4. Keep the relationships between characters growing and changing.

In real life, romantic relationships and friendships change and grow. Especially if your protagonist starts out in a new town (like Willa does in my Cheese Shop series), you’ll want to show the progression of her friendships and the romantic relationships from book to book. This will have to be done a bit more slowly than in real life, but there are always ways to show growth and for relationships to get tripped up. I age my characters, but not every series does. I understand why and it may not be important to readers to see them age. However, I think if my characters are going to grow and their lives are going to change, and I'm writing different seasons and holidays and shop anniversaries, then my characters should also get older. 

5. Ground your setting.

You want your reader to have a good image in their head of your setting. One way to do this is to have a strong handle yourself on what your town looks like, what’s there, and where the places are located. It will keep you from making mistakes and also allow you to paint a better picture of your setting for the reader. Make note of the shops or locations that play a role in your books. You’ll want to show many of them again in future books, even if it’s just a mention of walking past them. If your protagonist has 3 places she always goes to—for example, her home, the local café, and the shop she runs—you want to describe not only these three places, but where they exist within the town. It will give your reader some idea of the size of the town, if it’s walkable, if your protagonist lives in a rural location, etc. Your setting is like those recurring characters I mentioned earlier—your readers want to be reminded that those places still exist even if they don’t play a role in that particular book. 

Readers become loyal to a series when they love the characters, the town, and the cozy feel. They like to feel like they’re returning to “old friends” in a place they’d love to live (minus those pesky murders). You want to make these things as real as possible for them. A progressing arc of your protagonist and core characters and their relationships not only makes them more realistic, it also gives your readers something to be invested in and look forward to. Connecting the books with many of the same community characters and town businesses leads to a comforting familiarity for your readers. I hope these five tips will help your series become one readers will want to revisit again and again. 

Readers: What makes you return to a series and become a loyal reader? 

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series, which includes the winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, as well as two novels short-listed for Best Contemporary Novel. Listed as one of USA Today’s “Best Cozy Mystery Series,” her books have also been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, and Writer’s Digest. Korina is also a freelance developmental editor specializing in cozy mysteries. To learn more or subscribe to her free seasonal newsletter, visit her website korinamossauthor.com.

Early Results from a Free Book Promotion

Not quite a month ago my WWK blog Free or Not to Free—THAT is the question addressed my assumptions about what would happen when I offered the Kindle version of the first in my Seamus McCree series for five days for free. Here is a summary from that blog:

My hypothesis goes something like this: For every 1,000 downloads, say 10% read the book. Of those, say 10% become fans and read the entire series. At current pricing, it costs them $15 to buy the other four books. Under those assumptions, each 1,000 downloads will result in $150 of sales ($100 of royalties). Plus, I expect I’ll end up with more read Kindle Unlimited pages, and I hope the publicity will spur sales of other books in the series to people who have read and liked my novels but not been motivated to buy the next in the series.

To estimate the effect of the giveaway, it’s necessary to develop a baseline: what might have happened had I not offered the five days of free downloads. During the thirty days before the five free-promotion days, I had no promotions in effect and sold a walloping nine Kindle books. Kindle Unlimited reads during that period totaled a paltry 3,637 pages. Total earnings for those thirty days: $42.

Results of the promotion

The ad cost $150 and resulted in 5,961 downloads of Ant Farm. During the promotion, Ant Farm reached #1 bestseller for free Kindle ebooks in the Suspense and Private Investigator categories, and #22 overall.

Given the nearly 6,000 downloads, my hypothesis proposes I should gain long-term earnings of $600 from Kindle books sales. In addition, I expected to significantly increase the number of Kindle Unlimited Pages read. The chart below shows the results for the twenty-four days starting with the first day of the promotion (through June 10, 2018 – the day I wrote the first draft of this blog).

Book	Kindle Sold	Royalty	KU Pages Read	Estimated Total Revenue
Ant Farm	5	$14	24,782	$125
Bad Policy	31	65	18,446	148
Cabin Fever	21	59	12,937	117
Doubtful Relations	17	47	9,993	92
Empty Promises	13	36	9,549	79
Total	87	$221	75,707	$561

My expectation was and still is that the hoped-for $600 earnings from Kindle ebooks will occur over a long period (and therefore be difficult to measure precisely). However, I have already earned about a third of that amount.

I also theorize that “binge” readers of Kindle ebooks belong to Kindle Unlimited because it makes economic sense for them to pay $9.99/month rather than buy individual books. If that assumption is correct, KU pages read resulting from the ad will be front-loaded relative to purchased ebooks. The first twenty-four days of KU reads produced an estimated $340 (at $.0045/page). The rate of pages read quickly reached 2,500 a day, eventually increased to as many as 5,000 a day and has dropped off to 3,000 a day. I’ll be interested to see how long the tail of the distribution is. Also fascinating to me is that many KU readers don’t bother downloading free books; they prefer to read them through KU. That’s great for me because the nearly 25,000 pages of Ant Farm they have read generated over $100 of income for me.

The ROI on my $150 investment has already reached 350% —clearly a terrific investment. As a bonus, the number of Goodreads reviews and ratings has increased, pushing the series total to more than 200 ratings, averaging 4.33 stars. Amazon ratings have also ticked up a little (the series now has 148 reviews averaging 4.67 stars).

Considerations and Unknowables

A single ad. I decided to run only a single ad for this promotion besides announcing the free days in my newsletter. Had I purchased other ads, I would have generated more downloads at an increased cost. As the results for the month before the promotion illustrate, without promotion, sales of the series die. I chose to save those other advertising possibilities for future promotions. Their mailing lists will have considerable overlap with the one I chose, but each has unique subscribers, and periodic promotions will (a) reach new readers, and (b) remind others of the series. Time will tell.

Amazon-only ebook distribution. My overall sales strategy is predicated on granting Amazon exclusive rights to sell my electronic books. There is no way to measure what might have happened with a similar promotion had the electronic books been available on all platforms, but unavailable on KU. I have noted in earlier blogs that when my publisher used a wide distribution, non-Kindle ebooks ran about 25% of Kindle sales. My KU revenue runs 53% of ebook sales. That percentage will increase after this latest promotion. Single-sourcing electronic book sales with Amazon has been a good decision for me—so far.

Diminishing returns. This promotion was the first time Ant Farm was offered free, other than the free books provided at the book’s birth as a Kindle Scout selection three years ago. I plan to make Ant Farm free again in the future, and I’m anxious to learn how effective periodic promotions will be. As more people have the opportunity to download the book, returns should diminish. The 6,000 readers represent a small percentage of the potential market for the series making it uncertain how steeply the returns will diminish.

Uncontrollable. There are many things that can affect my results I cannot control for in this experiment. I didn’t check the moon phase, whether Mercury was in retrograde, or another astronomical phenomenon. I don’t know whether mid-May works better or worse for a free promotion than other times of the year. I have no ability to test whether changing the sales copy for the free promotion could have resulted in more downloads or sales. So many unknowns, so little certainty.

My experiments will continue.

* * *

James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree mystery series. Empty Promises, the fifth novel in the series—this one set in the deep woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula—is now available. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.

Maine Clambake Author Barbara Ross

The busy summer tourist season is winding down in Busman's Harbor, Maine, but Julia Snowden senses trouble simmering for the Snowden Family Clambake Company. Shifty David Thwing--the "Mussel King" of upscale seafood restaurants--is sniffing around town for a new location. But serving iffy clams turns out to be the least of his troubles. . .

When Thwing is found sleeping with the fishes beneath a local lobsterman's boat,

 the police quickly finger Julia's brother-in-law Sonny as the one who cooked up the crime.

Sure, everyone knows Sonny despised the Mussel King. . .but Julia believes he's innocent.

 Proving it won't be easy, though. It seems there's a lot more than murder on the menu, and Julia needs to act fast. . .

  Amazon Jacket Copy

Barbara Ross’s Musseled Out entertains, but her plot homes in on contemporary issues of drug smuggling and U.S. fishing and prescription drug policies. Until my sister, who has Rheumatoid Arthritis, went on Medicare, I was unaware of the drug issues facing the elderly. Medicare won’t pay for some effective and convenient drugs, which health insurance companies cover for younger people. Barbara’s plot touches this topic, striking a chord in me. Musseled Out is an entertaining read and a wonderful cozy mystery, but it is also much more.

Please welcome Barbara Ross back to WWK!                                                                                   E. B. Davis      

The plot follows the trials of Maine’s lobsterman. How do you know so much about their territorial rights, fighting amongst themselves, and the general industry? Are these commonplace in Maine?

Lobster wars (also called gear wars in their less nuclear state because the warring sides interfere with each others’ buoys, lines and traps) do happen in Maine, but they are rare. I first became aware of them when I read Linda Greenlaw’s book, The Lobster Chronicles: Life on a Very Small Island. She’s the real female fishing boat captain in The Perfect Storm, and she also wrote the bestseller The Hungry Ocean. She took time off from captaining to run a small lobster boat out of Isle le Haut, an island in Maine with a year-round population of seventy. During the year she covers in the book, there were territorial tensions and some lobstermen, including Linda, wanted a lobster war. But others were wary, because there’s always a quid pro quo. I also read The Lobster Gangs of Maine, which is a little dated, but is considered a seminal work of anthropology.

With seafood supply declining for various reasons, those who make a living from the sea must find alternate sources of income. Employing their boats and skills added to Maine’s proximity to Canada, introduces the smuggling solution, which isn’t new. Unlike past smuggled decadent substances, prescription drugs have become hot contraband in demand by the elderly. Have there been arrests in Maine due to the smuggling of prescription drugs disfavored by Medicare, commonly abused drugs, and foreign drugs, which are unapproved by the FDA?

Most of the drug smuggling in Maine of late has been prescription narcotics. There has been an epidemic of opiate addiction in Maine, just as in other parts of the country. And, the elderly and other people in lots of border states do travel to Canada to fill prescriptions. It’s a federal crime, but my understanding is federal agents look the other way if you bring in no more than three months supply for personal use. Maine passed a law specifically allowing its citizens to legally obtain prescriptions from Canada and three other countries by mail, but it was recently struck down in federal court. No matter what, bringing in larger quantities of prescription drugs, not intended specifically for you, is dangerous and illegal.

You’ve set the book in autumn, which seems fitting because there are many culminations that occur, a harvest of Julia’s year back home. Was this happenstance, or did you plan the two to coincide?

I always knew the first three books in the series would take place at the beginning of the clambake season (Clammed Up), at its peak (Boiled Over), and at the end (Musseled Out). During most of the time I was working on Musseled Out, I didn’t know if there would be more books, and also I’m not a huge fan of story arcs that go on and on forever, so I did tie up a bunch of plotlines. Happily, I can report that there will be three more books, at least. I’m working on the fourth one, Fogged Inn, right now.

All writers conjure unique names for reader identification. But really, Barb, David Thwing—the Mussel King? Is Thwing a real name?

It is. Unique names are one of the techniques I use to help busy readers keep characters straight. I had a guy who worked for me whose last name is Thill. I wanted something like that, but not that, so I did some research.

Your first book in the series, Clammed Up, epitomized your characters. The same holds true in this book. Sonny and Julia’s mom, Jacquie, aren’t forthcoming about accounting for their time. Is everyone in Maine, tight-lipped, self-contained, and singular?

I suppose Mainers, or Mainiacs, as they are also called, have as many personality types as anywhere else. But, there’s no question that keeping yourself to yourself, not butting in, living and letting live are all thought of as traits common in northern New Englanders. They’re not cold per se, they just don’t see the point in moaning about their problems or spending time in a lot of chit chat.

Sonny is one of my favorite characters because he is so stubborn. He frustrates Julia. But then, she is also stubborn. They share enough traits that they should get along. Do “likes” often butt heads?

Oh, how interesting. I see Sonny as conservative with a small “c,” interested in preserving what is. Julia, with her venture capital background, is more interested in shaking things up, changing things out. But you’re right, when they both dig in their heels, conflict is inevitable. The funny part is, the clambake requires both points of view. It needs to honor tradition, and give customers what they are looking for today. So Julia’s and Sonny’s views balance each other and work together to make the business successful. If only they could appreciate that.

Chris Durand, Julia’s boyfriend, doesn’t have as definitive a moral compass as Julia. But he has a good heart. Will this be enough to bridge their differences?    

Julia and Chris have a lot of gaps to fill. Gaps in education, earning potential, lifestyles. But by the same token, each appreciates the other’s qualities. (Contrast that with Sonny and Julia in the previous question.) I honestly don’t know what is going to happen.

I knew a Maine Coon Cat named Matt (Dillon), a big boy like most of the breed. Le Roi is a wonderful character and reminds me of Matt. Is he based on any Maine Coon in your life?

Le Roi is based on two cats I owned. Roo who was my family’s cat growing up, and Flash whom I adopted while I was in college in order to end a breakup/makeup cycle with a highly allergic boyfriend. Le Roi’s Maine Coon traits are grafted on, I’m afraid, but there are real cats at the heart of his character.

Do all sisters chafe?

Livvie and Julia do fine when they interact with each other as adults. Livvie’s the only one who calls Julia on her BS, and we all need someone in our lives who’s willing to do that. But when they fall back into viewing each other through the prism of the roles they had as kids, the obedient one, the rebel, etc., they get themselves into trouble.

Quentin, blue eyed, suntanned, smart, good values and gut-instincts, moneyed and forks it over in the Snowden’s favor—why doesn’t Julia take a shine to him?

Quentin’s enough older and so much wealthier than Julia that it’s hard to imagine a romantic relationship of anything near equals. It’s not out of the question. It’s just not the first place you’d go. Plus, Sonny muddied the waters at the beginning by telling Julia that Quentin is gay. Julia and Quentin are getting to be closer friends, and despite that fact that he feels free to give opinions about her work life and love life, he’s told her next to nothing about himself or his past relationships. So again, an unequal pairing, not conducive to romance. (Unless you’re into that sort of thing, which Julia clearly isn’t.)

Julia doesn’t seem like a procrastinator, but when it comes to decision-making, she doesn’t do well. Her decisions are made by default, hedging all the angles. Will she get better at decision-making or continue waffling?

Since I’m not a fan of dithering, I hope she gets her groove back. She does have a tendency to overthink, but it’s at its worst in Musseled, due to the enormous impact on her life of the decisions she has to make in the book.

In the end, Livvie must grapple with discord in her composed life when her husband, Sonny, and his family, make bad choices. Is this the first time Livvie has doubted Sonny?

Livvie and Sonny married so young, they’ve practically grown up together. They know each other so well, it’s hard for one of them to deceive the other. So when Livvie suspects Sonny is lying to her, and he persists in doing it even after she’s called him on it, it’s definitely a game-changer in their relationship.

Julia’s life seems to be coming together, but I wonder, can a former investment analyst find happiness waiting tables?

I wonder, too. Whatever she chooses, it’s not going to be easy.

What is next for Julia and her family? 

The next three books take us through Busman’s Harbor in the off season. It’s a very different place during the long Maine winter. Over the course of the books, we’ll get to know Julia’s friend Jamie Dawes better, find out how Julia’s mother’s family made and lost their fortune and learn something about Julia’s years away at boarding school. At least, that’s the plan. And of course, there will be bodies.

I’m a Pennsylvania gal and have to side with those who think Whoopie Pies are of Pennsylvania origin. No marshmallow fluff in the filling of our Whoopies! From what I gather, the Pennsylvania Amish took the confections to Maine. Although pumpkin Whoopie Pies with cream cheese filling sound good, do you contend that they are as good as chocolate?

I’m a Pennsylvania girl, too. Three years in Wallingford outside Philadelphia, followed by junior high and high school in Kingston, which is a suburb of Wilkes-Barre. So, I too, think Whoopie pies are recognizably Pennsylvania Dutch. But I don’t mouth that around in Maine where they are the official state snack. I went with pumpkin and cream cheese because Musseled Out is a fall book, but I would never denigrate the original.

What prompted you to write a blog about the myths publicists foist on writers? (which gave relief to bloggers like me!)

Oh my goodness, did that cause a fuss. (You can read the blog here at Maine Crime Writers, http://mainecrimewriters.com/barbs-posts/four-lies-book-publicists-will-tell-you.) I wrote it because I thought some of the advice aspiring and about-to-be published authors commonly get is terrible. Now that I have a little experience under my belt, I wanted to give my perspective. I’ve gotten very good help and advice on my journey, as well as very bad, and I wanted to pay it forward.

The Next Epic Thing

We often talk on this blog about TV shows adapted from books and what they can teach us about writing. And I couldn’t resist talking about the latest book-turned-sure-to-be-huge show.

This month, Starz debuted its answer to the Game of Thrones juggernaut over on HBO: Outlander. Based on the eight-book series by Diana Gabaldon, this show is supposed to be just as sprawlingly dramatic and addictive.

It’s a historical romance wrapped in time-travel in which Claire, a former WWII nurse, goes on a second honeymoon to Scotland in an effort to rebuild a marriage torn apart by war. But right in the middle of all that, she’s transported back in time from 1946 to 1743. There, she not only meets one of her husband’s direct descendants (and he happens to look a lot like him only with long hair and a telltale red coat), but she also ends up falling in with his descendant’s mortal enemies: rebel Scots. One of these Scots is Jamie Fraser, a man with whom she has an undeniable connection.

Cue a love triangle of epic proportions.

Interestingly (but not surprisingly), the original book, Outlander, debuted on Apple’s iBooks bestseller list this week, despite the fact that it was published first in 1991. A similar bump happened for George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice when Game of Thrones debuted on HBO a few years ago.

Honestly, I totally forced my husband to sign us up for Starz just so I could watch the show. I do own the first book—thanks to the suggestion of a few of my critique partners—but haven’t finished it. Still, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Now, a few episodes in, I can’t imagine I won’t both watch the show and read the books. Good for me, great for Gabaldon, great for Starz.

What do you think of this trend of taking book series with huge followings and turning them into expensive, beautiful TV shows? Good for the books? Bad for the books? Middle of the road?

Does Reading a Book Before Seeing the Movie Matter?

Last Saturday night, my husband and I had a date night. We’d had the babysitter lined up for weeks. And we had a plan, or so we thought.

Dinner. Grand Budapest Hotel. Home.

But, as it turns out, show times for the delightful film we’d planned on seeing didn’t jibe with our babysitter’s timeframe and I wasn’t about to shell out even more moolah to make her stay later.

So, we adjusted. And ended up seeing a huge blockbuster on opening weekend. Which is extremely rare for us, given we tend only to see a handful of movies per year and we usually stumble into the theater when they’re a hair’s breadth away from extinction-til-DVD.

The movie? Divergent.

As in the movie based on book one of a very popular series.

A series I haven’t read.

A series I’ve never been particularly interested in reading, to be honest.

I have plenty on my to-be-read list that I’d put ahead of something bleak and dystopian. Basically, I loved The Hunger Games, but after that I was kind of done thinking about different ways we’d live after the world was pretty much destroyed. Call me an optimist.

However, it ended up being our date night movie of choice because:

1. We were going to a theater with assigned seating and a minimum age of 18, and thus, didn’t have to deal with crowds. (Thank God for Alamo Drafthouse.)

2. The movie was already getting rave reviews by critics and just plain moviegoers alike.

3. Even if it sucked, I’d get to look at Theo James (aka the man who died in Lady Mary’s bed in the first season of Downton Abbey) for two hours, thus the scenery would be pretty. Yes, that’s him above.

So, we went.

And you know what? I really liked it. Great stakes, tension, etc. Though, pretty, pretty Theo James really was the highlight for moi.

That said, I was wondering if it would’ve been different if I’d read the books.

I often try to read the book before I see the movie version (e.g. Hunger Games, as mentioned above), because I want to support the authors and gain some perspective on what was really intended.

Though, I’ve noticed that sometimes this leaves me let down by the movie version. With The Hunger Games, I actually thought the first movie was really tough to follow if you hadn’t read the book. The second movie did much better with this, but I’m not sure if people who hadn’t read the book and saw the first movie would’ve come back to the second movie unless they were just there to ogle Jennifer Lawrence the same way I’d planned on ogling Theo James on Saturday night.

Other times, I’ve only found out the movie was a book after seeing the movie. Actually, this happens a lot. The Oscar darling of 2013, Silver Linings Playbook, is the prime example in my mind. Saw the movie and loved it, then found out it was a book and ordered it.

Would I have liked Silver Linings Playbook so much if I’d read the book first?

I’d like to think so, but it’s impossible to tell.

Do you find reading a book before seeing the film version affects your experience?