The new book we'll be tackling is called FORCE: Alpha Badboy MMA Romance by Dani Wyatt and DD Wyatt, priced at 99 cents, and enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. Length is listed at 438 pages.The great thing about this book is that it's ranked #58 in the overall paid store, but it's the first breakout hit for this author (I believe the author names are both pseudonyms for the same person).
So we can truly discuss why this is the book that broke big and what is right about it!
I want to hear from you all in the comments section before I give any opinions (although you can bet I have plenty).
I look forward to analyzing this together!
BLURB:
There are forces for good. Forces for evil.
Then, there is Cameron ‘The Force’ Cobain. A tattooed MMA fighting machine with two felonies, a filthy mouth and one violent obsession.
He’s drop-your-panties, dead sexy with a body like a monolith and eyes the color of shattered blue ice.
Women throw themselves at him to experience his other force.
The one between his legs.
Raised in a world where you are either the victor or the vanquished, he was trained to be lethal. I know, because I was there.
Since the days of pig-tails and skinned knees, I’ve counted on him, loved him and hated him. Because some mistakes cannot be forgiven.
Now, he's gone. I'm alone. The wolves are coming and my own father is pointing them my way.
When Cameron comes back, he’s after more than blood. He’s after me.
Why? I’m not the platinum blond, ring card girl. I’m the good girl. The straight A, keep-your-head-down-so-no-one-will-notice-me girl.
I’ve felt his force and I’m being swept away. Can our two broken halves come together to make us whole? Or, will we find out, in some fights, no one wins.
This is a stand alone novel with a an ultra dominant alpha male, a HEA and content intended for mature readers.
20 comments:
This is a good example of leveraging ALL of the tools Amazon gives to us, smartly. The title is strong, and there are popular keywords in the subtitle (note, to be safe you should always put them on your cover). Also, a quick Google search shows this title was featured on numerous romance blogs to highlight a 99 cent sale in the last week. It's also LOOONG. Readers in this genre are often fed much shorter pieces for 99 cents, this is 438 pages. So that's going to make it stand out and feel like it absolutely cannot be passed up at that price point.
It is appears to have been LAUNCHED, you don't get 43 reviews in 3 days unless you worked your tail off to reach your readers and let them know you have a book. Well done Dani Wyatt!
"Also, a quick Google search shows this title was featured on numerous romance blogs to highlight a 99 cent sale in the last week."
So glad you mentioned this point! After posting this, I looked at what date the book came out on and was shocked to see it's only been a few days. That's not a long time to make an organic climb up the charts.
And yet none of this authors other books are ranked anywhere close to the top 1000 (let alone top 100).
"It is appears to have been LAUNCHED, you don't get 43 reviews in 3 days unless you worked your tail off to reach your readers and let them know you have a book."
Yup, they launched it well. But let's not forget that without everything working (cover, blurb, genre, writing) you will find it almost impossible to do a strong launch, even if you work your tail off.
I should have known you'd come busting in with some top notch analysis EAW!!
Thanks!
I have high hopes for this blog, it's how I often study the market. I do this exercise all the time. The important thing is to make sure people understand that isn't any room for jealousy. ;) That's always the hardest thing when you talk about or dissect successful programs. It's often "unfair" but only because someone else got there first.
Yes, this is how I do it as well. This methodology of actually picking apart WHAT WORKS in successful books has made me a lot of money in the last four plus years of doing this.
But I won't spoon feed it to people, because that doesn't help anyone grow. You won't get good at this business unless you can learn to think it through on your own. And obviously you do that, EAW.
Thanks for contributing to this blog in a meaningful way, and hopefully more to come!
Good luck on the blog, sounds like a good concept
Gorvnice and EAW. Thank you for your insights. Everything you mentions is spot on. I also think the story is designed to push all the popular buttons. Alpha bad boy and innocent girl in danger. Having a great premise for a story, and capturing that in the blurb is probably the most important. Adding that to the fact that it is long. A stand alone with a HEA. It did such a good selling job that I went and got a copy.
LOL, Gary, that's the ultimate compliment right there. That you went and bought a copy. Yep, this author knows all the hot buttons to hit in the blurb and title and cover. Interested to hear as more people continue to discuss...
Thanks for contributing!
Thanks Floyd
I am really enthusiastic about this blog, great entries so far. I am already learning a ton!
Great to hear, Brian.
"Women throw themselves at him to experience his other force.
The one between his legs."
This part of the blurb made me laugh out loud. I think the promise of humour, or at least sheer unadulterated shamelessness, goes a long way to enhance this book's appeal.
I like the MMA angle, which doesn't seem to be overdone in romance. It's one of the reasons the book is currently in 13 categories, which can't hurt.
That line really does stick out...errr stand out...ummm...whatever.
No, it's both a laugh out loud kind of line, but also one that definitely gets the reader's attention and also lets the audience know that this book has SEX.
And sex does sell, especially in romance!
Also, so often you see people writing these kind of flat, emotionless blurbs with nothing to make them pop.
Keeping the voice intact in some way can really make all the difference.
My comments:
Cover is a shirtless, muscular, tattooed guy. Hitting genre conventions. One word, catchy title. FORCE. It tells you something about the vibe of the book. MMA tells you it will be gritty, with lots of fighting if you like your bad boys rough. And the 'alpha male' included in the subtitle is a very common romance keyword.
All of these things give the potential reader a very quick snapshot.
It's like when you see those trailers for horror movies and they all basically resemble Paranormal Activity. But you know what you're going to get, so they all sort of have to resemble Paranormal Activity.
There's a large audience for that type of horror movie, and if you make that kind of film, you have to hit all the right notes and indicate to your audience that this will provide that specific type of experience.
FORCE does just that.
It shows in every detail that it's going to hit every single expected note of the 'bad boy' 'alpha male' romance niche--and that's a good thing.
To the tune of hundreds and hundreds of books every day...
The author made a promise with the cover and then delivered on that promise in the first couple lines of the blurb.
The cover says: "Tattooed alpha male bad boy inside."
The blurb says: "Yep, he's a one man fighting machine with a rap sheet and a filthy mouth."
As the blurb continues, the author continues to promise almost all of the popular alpha male tropes of the day and because she (he?) already made good on one promise, it's easy to trust that the others will also be fulfilled.
So glad your comment came through, R.M.!
You said: "she (he?)"
Lol. Too funny. And very possible...
I'm not even usually one to read this genre but I downloaded it as soon as I read the blurb. To me the blurb is the really strong point here. Also, the whole "I'm just a regular girl" trope. Readers like to put themselves in the shoes of the protagonist. Its why I think Twilight was so successful. I read those books as if I was Bella. This is the same way. Its the ultimate fantasy of the good girl winning and having the hot alpha come after her. Pretty much the stuff of my youthful day dreams.
Add a great cover and a short but FORCEful title. (Haha. I'm so funny) And you've got a winner.
PS. I LOVE the premise of this blog and its not bookmarked.
Just a point I haven't seen brought up yet, the whole thing is very male focused (as in focused on the male mc, not aimed at a male audience). Obviously there is the guy on the cover, and the keywords indicate who he is (if you just the took the cover and title (with the keywords) you'd have no idea about the heroine but would have a strong idea of what the hero's like). But also the heroine's perspective aspect of the blurb (which in my experience is very common in this specific subgenre and not elsewhere), in a more common romance blurb it'd be third person and you'd get a perspective of both characters, whereas here it's her perspective on him, which indicates that he's the audience's focus.
I read a twitter thread a while ago (that I sadly don't have a link to) where some romance writers were talking about a lot of readers being hero focused. That is to say that the hero sells the book to them much more than the heroine does. I think this book is very clearly aiming for that audience, and it's something that might get overlooked if you don't know the genre. I don't think it's enough to get the book to sell on it's own, but with the strong overall marketing (cover/blurb etc.) it's probably helping it get up so high. (Which shows the advantage of really knowing your genre, I'm not sure someone who hasn't studied the genre (either through reading as a fan or as a prospective writer) would've picked up on that).
Also, love the concept of this blog, it's really great to have somewhere to look at huge sellers in a positivity capacity (rather than the "why is this rubbish selling"/"they're selling because they cheat" attitude that shows up sometimes).
Wow that book has it all.
Every piece of the pie to satisfy the erotic romance reader is present and ever step of the release program ticked off the list: hot alpha male bad boy who is sex on legs, great title, hot male torso with tats, hyper-masculine hero, sweet good girl heroine who wants to be debauched, and danger, secrets and a HEA which means all the things that would make a woman run from a man are redeemed in true love. Great blurb, cover, and obviously keywords and categories as well as a clear promotional push before release and a 99c price point.
Bravo!
I'm going to study this book and its release and social media before my next book is even written. :)
Sela
Alex - interesting comment about the hero selling the book here. I hadn't picked up on that, but I'm not that familiar with this genre. When I re-read the blurb after reading your comment, it's written first person POV, which lends itself even more to those readers who want to be the heroine as they read the book. Which also echoes Alison's comments...
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