What Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writers about Success

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference and Outliers: The Story of Success, among other books, was recently interviewed in Costco Magazine.

Having just re-read The Tipping Point and Outliers for the third time, I was thrilled to see that Gladwell has a new book out. It's called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. Wow, sounds great! Especially knowing how Gladwell takes a subject and analyzes it inside and out, writing about it in a way that makes me think of new things in new ways.

But what I really appreciated about the Costco article is how Gladwell seems to epitomize what to me is the ideal attitude for a writer's success and productivity.

What does Malcolm Gladwell know?

He knows his audience.

"I write for people who are curious and who don't mind having their beliefs challenged. If you think going to a library is an exciting event, you will probably enjoy my books."

He knows how to write what he loves.

"People sense that I'm doing things out of pure enjoyment. I'm not pandering to an audience or following a formula. I'm just writing about cool stuff that interests me, and people respond to that."

Despite his astounding success, he knows there is so much more to learn.

"The more I write these books, the less convinced I am of my own inherent wisdom. I've convinced myself that I'm pretty bad at making sense of the world and need a lot of help."

He knows that money and acclaim isn't what it's all about. He never set out to write a bestseller.

"I never had any great desire to be well-known or to sell a lot of books. I've only ever wanted to do my own thing. and all of this happened just as an accident."

He knows where he came from, who he is, and it is all just fine with him.

"Canada is a deeply unpretentious place. You can't grow up in Canada and have all kinds of airs."

Regardless of where any of us are in our writing journeys, I'd say we can all learn a lot about success from Malcolm Gladwell.

Zoology is a Limited Demographic

Write what you want but realize that if you write a book that has a very limited demographic-- a zoology textbook, for example-- that you're not going to get many Kindle sales. In fact, publishers determine how best to market your book based on the demographic.

And thus ends the shortest post of the month, because I am all alphabetized out. I can hardly believe it's the last post. It's been really fun to write 30 posts about The Making and Selling of Books.

Congratulations to all the A to Z-ers! I have the Linky List on my sidebar and plan to continue my blog visits following down the list. I've found some amazing new bloggers this month. This has been a fantastic Challenge this year. I have loved participating and being part of the hosting team.

And don't forget May 7, when we can all write a post reflecting about our experiences with the Challenge.

Pricing Ebooks

WiDo Publishing began in 2007 as a print publisher, later releasing titles as ebooks as well. They price new releases at $3.99, and $2.99 for older titles to stimulate interest and attract new buyers. Recently they experimented to find that magic number for bringing in the greatest number of ebook sales

As I mentioned in my previous post, $2.99 is the lowest Kindle price to get the 70% royalty rate from Amazon. WiDo tried .99 for two books: Ghost Waves by W. Everett Prusso and my novel Uncut Diamonds, both released 2009 in print, 2010 as ebooks. Results were interesting.

The drop in price made very little difference in sales. Both authors had only one book on Kindle. Neither of the books had significant sales, although mine were higher probably because I had developed an online presence and the other author had not.

My sales went up a bit with the .99 change but then held steady. They weren't enough to make a difference in profit so WiDo put it back to 2.99 and sales continued at the pre-.99 rate. It may go back to .99 for a time with the release of House of Diamonds, as a promotional price.

The cut didn't affect Ghost Waves sales. Although the hardcover print book did alright for $19.95, it hasn't done well as an ebook regardless of price.

WiDo's top selling ebook is In the Mirror: A Memoir of Shattered Secrets by Ann Carbine Best. It came out in May and there are no plans to drop the price to $2.99 as it continues to sell steadily at $3.99. Not by huge numbers, but consistently, and more every month.

Another new release is Cloak by James Gough, a YA fantasy to be released in hardcover November 15 as a special gift edition for $25.95. It is currently available as an ebook for $4.99, the highest WiDo has priced a new ebook release. The somewhat higher price hasn't seemed to affect ebook sales for Cloak, at least not its first month. People who wanted it bought it.  

I'm using WiDo's examples because as a publisher, they're dealing with a variety of authors, titles and genres. So price variations can show interesting trends. And what it has shown in WiDo's case is that if people want a book, the price of a few dollars isn't going to matter. And if they don't want it, the .99 tag won't convince them to buy it. Maybe a few, but not in high enough numbers to overcome that price's  weak profit margins.

It comes down to that age-old question forever baffling writers and publishers. What does the public want to read? What inspires people to pay for a book? Simple answer: If it's what they want, they'll make the effort. They'll look for it in a library or bookstore or on their ereader. Book sales come from writing and publishing what people want to read. Give customers what they want and sales will come, whether the book goes for .99 or 9.99.

Are there any ebooks that should be priced at .99? Books that would sell significantly better at the rock bottom price? Consider this. When paperback novels first came out they were cheap, they were exciting and their enticing covers and fast plots appealed to pulp fiction readers. The .99 ebook is like the new old-time paperback pulp fiction novel. 

There's a large population of ebook buyers looking for the .99 fast read. It has to have an enticing cover and a fast-moving, action-oriented plot, preferably with a healthy dose of sex. Very much like the hugely popular paperback novels of the 1940s. If this is what  you write, and you can do it well, and you churn them out pretty fast, then you could sell a lot of .99 ebooks. Because you will be giving this audience exactly what they want at the price they're looking for.

Reasons for Rejection of a Partial

Since my current contest theme is writing and submitting, I thought I'd do a post on some of the most common reasons your partial might be rejected by an agent or editor. Or what to watch out for when polishing up your manuscript for submission.

Although I generally prefer to focus on the positive in this blog, (unlike WiDo's crabby managing editor Kristine Princevalle), I'll take a page from her book and tell you what doesn't work.


Not a clear demographic. Like this: Opens with an adult main character, brings in an adolescent dealing with YA issues, switches back to adult themes like infertility, while inserting a side story about ice cream.  Who will read this? Who is the demographic?

Weak voice. This will kill a ms. fast. A weak voice is the sign of a weak writer. How to strengthen your voice? Read lots. Write lots. And work outside your creative writing, like journaling, letter-writing, blogging to help strengthen and define your voice.

Boring. This has more to do with writing style and craft than it does subject matter and plot line. Again, I'll borrow from Kristine Princevalle. Here's a brief example she used in a post. Being a huge fan of Agatha Christie, I love this. A brilliant writer can write on a completely mundane topic and make it fascinating; a poor writer can write on a completely fascinating topic and make it mundane.

Makes no sense. Clear, concise writing is valuable and sought after. The meaning must be clear to the reader. The narrative must flow seamlessly from one scene to another, without jarring juxtaposition of words and phrases, or distracting sidelines that have nothing to do with anything. Nothing must interfere with the reader's enjoyment of the story.

Point of view switches. Frequent POV lapses, or even worse-- POV that's all over the place-- are the sign of an amateurish, inexperienced writer. If this shows up in your partial, there won't be a request for a full.

Telling, telling, telling. We've heard this a million times-- show don't tell. It's fairly simple. Telling means author tells the reader what happened or what the MC is thinking or feeling. Showing means you write a scene, with dialogue, action and stuff. If you're getting rejected a lot, try an experiment. Go through your ms. and leave only the dialogue. See what's left of 50,000 words. That might give you a clue.

Too many characters. Introduce your characters judiciously, letting the reader get to know them gradually. Don't throw everyone into the first chapter.

Poorly edited. Anything that looks like too much work for the editor will get rejected.

Preaching and Politics. Characters can be diverse and have opinions, but if the author goes overboard making the reader feel preached to, the love affair is over. People read fiction for entertainment and enjoyment, not to be a captive audience for the writer's soapbox.

These are a few of the most common reasons for rejection. There's a million more. Just a few things to think about as you polish your submissions for this week's Lettuce Write contest. Remember, you have until August 21 to submit, so get writing and good luck to all!

Here's what makes it all worthwhile....

So I wake up this morning and see this on my sidebar-- BOOK REVIEW-- UNCUT DIAMONDS. Barbara Scully, my 100th follower who won a copy of my novel, has read and reviewed it and liked it! Not only that but in a comment on one of my previous blog posts, she said that her mom read and loved it as well.

Please go to Barbara's lovely blog, From My Kitchen Table, and tell her thank you from me! (After reading the review of course, lol!)

I'm pretty sure neither of my two books currently out will ever make a bestseller list. (Although Farm Girl was the best selling title for several months in the local Red Cloud, NE book store. Does that count?) I'm pretty sure that I won't be making mortgage payments from my royalty checks. But what matters to me more than money is to hear from a reader like Barbara who says it's the kind of book she can wrap herself in and "I just love the main character Marcie McGill."

This kind of response makes it all worthwhile to me-- all the writing, revising, editing and rewriting, until finally miracle of miracles, I hold a book in my hands that scares me to death. What if people don't like it? What if they don't get it? What if, like one publisher who rejected it said, they think "the Seventies are boring. No one wants to read about them."

And who knew that my demographic would be Irish women lol? Or as Barbara herself said when she chose this as her prize, "I'm a child of the Seventies who loved the Osmonds, so of course Uncut Diamonds is my choice!"

Thanks, Barbara! You made my day!

The wrong demographic

I love this blogging thing but I'm pretty sure I'm not reaching my demographic here. Many of the blogs I follow are YA or romance authors, many are under 30, seeking an agent, deep into the process of writing & revising fiction.

This provides a wonderful writing support group and community, but as my marketing director said to me today: "What are you doing to reach your demographic?"

Me: Uhh, nothing? Presentations? I've done a few of those.

Her: Do you even know who your demographic is?

Me: Uhh, yeah, I think so.

Her: How old are you again?

Me: Do you like my hair this color? (No, just kidding, I really did stop and think about what she was saying.)

Her: You are my toughest case. You aren't even trying, are you?

Me: I blog a lot. I have 157 followers. I'm exploring the opportunities on social media.

Her: But what good does it do if it's not your demographic? Is your demographic 20-something YA authors working on their first novel, who like to blog about nothing, regardless of how interesting or funny it is?

Me: (In defense of all you awesomesauce writer/bloggers who are of a certain age and write a certain genre) But it's fun!

Her: Well, fun schmun. You won't be selling any of your books this way.

And then she proceeded to tell me about the book Crush It, and how hard someone has to work to realize their dreams. That it's not just fun, but you have to stay focused and energized in the right direction.

So I ordered the book with the Amazon coupon I won from Christine Danek's contest. Soon it will arrive in my mailbox, then I'll read it and learn how to crush it! Crush what? I'm not sure. But it sounds interesting.