Stalked by Flames: Book 1 (Dragon's Breath Series) by Susan
Illene is the first book that we're going to tackle on Why This Book Sells.
It's
ranked #185 Paid in the Kindle store, and here are it's category rankings:
• #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction
& Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
• #1 in Books > Science Fiction
& Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
• #2 in Books > Literature &
Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Dark Fantasy
Whenever I personally try and understand what's selling in any
given genre/niche/market, almost the first thing I do is check the book's
rankings in the overall store and in its categories.
This book, I found after just a minute or two of glancing around
and thought it would make a nice first case study, and not for any particular
reason.
Also, it appears to be indie. We don't always have to
discuss indie pubbed books, but I think generally it's a good method to use.
But that's up for discussion, of course.
I'm going to focus my comments mostly on the blurb, because I
think it's a good blurb, without being perfect And that's illustrative in
its own right. As for the cover and title, I'll leave it to other
commenters to give some opinions.
The book is 3.99 and page count on Amazon lists it at 393 pages.
It's also enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program.
Blurb:
Bailey Monzac has just graduated
college and is heading to her parents’ ranch for the summer when dragons
invade. Like something out of her worst nightmare, the fire-breathing beasts
rain down chaos and devastation on unsuspecting human populations. One minute
Bailey’s planning her future; the next she’s merely trying to survive.
But it isn’t long before she discovers
she’s different from the people around her—the dragons’ destructive flames
don’t affect her. That gives her an edge, but it also means she’ll become a
target for powerful individuals seeking to use her to their advantage. Bailey
will have to distinguish between allies and enemies quickly as she gets drawn
into a war unlike anything the Earth has seen before.
Word count: 101,000
(approximate)
The blurb for Stalked by Flames is pretty fantastic.
I
think one of its main strengths has to be 1) the opening line and 2) how short
the blurb is.
This is a fairly long book (at over 100k words) and yet the
author was able to distill the entire plot down into two main paragraphs!
That's quite a feat in and of itself.
But merely having a short blurb isn't enough. It has to be
interesting.
So let's have a look at what works so well, and why it might be
leading to
such high sales numbers, allowing this author to reach the top of
the Amazon paid list.
The first sentence really nails things, imo.
Bailey Monzac has just graduated
college and is heading to her parents’ ranch for the summer when dragons
invade.
What's amazing here, is that we've
just achieved like half a dozen major goals with this one sentence.
We established who the protagonist is, that she's female, and that she's
young.
Remember, this isn't only about telling the story, it's also about
indicating to your intended audience that this book is for them.
By scrolling down to the categories that this book has been
allotted to (at the bottom of the page on Amazon's site), we can see this:
Look for Similar Items by Category
If you notice, one of the main categories of this book is new
adult and college (as well as fantasy, etc). So in telling us the
protagonist's age right away, those who are looking for books featuring younger
characters will instantly be interested in this one.
The next thing the opening line does is establish the action.
Dragons invade.
This is big.
It didn't spend three sentences telling us about
how Bailey was going home after college and didn't want to get home, or couldn't wait to get home, or anything
like that.
Instead, the blurb hits us instantly with the idea that dragons start
invading.
This immediately fills our minds with images of fire and
destruction.
In the second paragraph, the blurb smartly outlines what makes
Bailey's journey unique. She could have just been any person trying to
survive the dragons and their reign of terror. However, it once again
intrigues with the simply stated concept that the flames for some reason don't
affect her the way they do everyone and everything else.
And finally, although we know that a book of this length likely
has many complex twists and turns and more characters, it ends with this line:
Bailey will have to distinguish
between allies and enemies quickly as she gets drawn into a war unlike anything
the Earth has seen before.
My opinion on a big piece of why this book is selling?
It's got a clean, fast-paced blurb with great hooks, and it doesn't confuse
you with the twists and turns and multiple characters that the book surely contains.
It gives us just enough to gather our interest, but not enough to make us hesitate with our purchasing decision.
I'm sure there's a lot more to discuss, since it seems this
author has other books and has established a fan base.
But even with that
being said, a book doesn't sell unless it does things right.
This book does a lot right. I'd love to hear what you all
think in the comments. Feel free to discuss not just the book's blurb, but anything that you're interested in talking about with regards to the cover, title, first pages, branding, genre...questions or comments are all welcome.
Check out the newest post up for consideration now!
17 comments:
I think the fact that the cover is also a strong match for sword & sorcery books and the price point of $3.99 is in range for long fantasy help as well.
I'd love to hear from yourself and any others as to what elements in this cover tell the audience that this is for them.,,
I agree with your points, but I think it's extremely difficult to jump out of the gate in sword & sorcery with success. This is not the author's first book. In fact, she's had a previous successful series, and it's likely she had a readership in place who love her books. This book was bound to do well with that and the factors you mentioned. As a first book, even with all those great hits, I think the ranking wouldn't be this high.
It's got a good cover with the main character in a dynamic pose. There's no doubt about the genre, and in fact I think it echoes other urban fantasy covers.
The inclusion of dragons puts it in epic fantasy and sword and sorcery categories, when it's more of an urban fantasy, going by the blurb. It's a good length at a reasonable price. The author has a backlist, and the writing in the Look Inside is, IMO, very strong.
I agree with you about the first line of the blurb: it's concise and dramatic.
The book probably wouldn't have been this high--though it might have been.
But remember, we are trying to find what makes this book sell. Author's previous work is one reason.
It also means this author probably knows how to make a good cover and write a great blurb. Let's look and analyze to see what successful authors with big audiences are doing to continue building their brands.
I think the fact that it straddles a few genres without being confusing is a great asset and part of why its appealing to so wide an audience.
The cover is super strong, so it will gain a browser's attention immediately, even in thumbnail. Previous history as a seller, great freaking blurb...well, it's a no-brainer winner.
Now...if I could only do that with my blurbs....
Agreed. We want to learn how to make a no-brainer too!
But it isn't that easy, is it? Which is why we want to analyze as closely as we can exactly what elements work.
It's easy to say a cover works without really having to explain to ourselves WHY. Not just, oh, cool cover, but what makes it cool? What about the image? The font? The title?
How does it resemble other similar bestsellers in the genre, etc.
Thanks for the comment!
Well, basically someone fighting a fire-breathing dragon. That, to me, implies that it's a novel about fighting dragons not getting together with a shifter who can become a dragon. And I think the sword and/or dragon image is as much a marker of fantasy books as a spaceship is of science fiction.
Having said that, I'm a huge fantasy reader and I wouldn't pick up this book because the font in the title (curly and flames) tells me it's probably not my kind of fantasy (not sure why that puts me off) and the blurb would confirm that (I don't like fantasy set in modern times).
These are all good points. Which is great to remember.
Covers (and titles and branding in general) are as much about narrowing your audience as they are about widening and appealing.
The idea is to have a big enough audience in mind that you can afford to lose the people who wouldn't actually enjoy what you have on offer, without being reduced to selling very few copies...
Thanks for continuing the analysis! great points!
goddamn blogspot ate my comment. oh well will try to rewrite quickly.
me and my best friend agree, the cover and categorys are well done as far as targeting an audience. this is the kind of book i read but i didn't realize from the cover that its the sassy heroine type i like but that genre is saturated with erotica so this was a good angle that can pay off if she gets to the top of her categorys. looking at this author's other books and the publication dates she would have a big mailing list to hit the top of her subcategorys right out the gate, boom-a-boom boom! most her books arent in select, her readers on other stores have to buy this book from amazon and those readers will be very likely to read it all. i don't know if completition rates factor in ranking but we are sure it factors for amazon promotions.
ana n.
Sorry bout blogspot! Glad you rewrote your comments because there are some smart insights in what you wrote.
Interesting that the author seems to be trying out KU, probably because of the favorable new payouts for longer work. Maybe she'll go exclusive just for the first 90 days and then pull and go wide?
And yes, by taking a slightly new angle on things, you can stand out in a category if you do it the right way. Smart authors see opportunities where there may be an underserved market and jump on it!
The dragon and sword-wielding warrior say "epic fantasy" while the urban backdrop acts as a contrast and suggests genre-blending.
I also think that there is a big audience for "magical/paranormal elements in our reality" stories, which this book promises. Dragons wreaking havoc on Earth also taps into the readership that loves apocalyptic-type stuff.
It's not bad if you can land in two genres while still satisfying the readers of at least 1 of said genres fairly well.
Blending genres can be a tricky business, and sometimes I think you run the risk of losing both instead of gaining one.
But here, she clearly succeeded at catching the entire audience. Being in KU probably didn't hurt any, either!
Okay...as to details. I'm no longer a fantasy reader, but I used to be. I think that the first thing that stands out is that it looks custom, and that's a big selling point nowadays. It doesn't look pre-made from stock. It looks painted, dynamic, and descriptive of what's inside.
The blurb is excellent, but I can't figure out anything more to say on it than what you did. I wish i had the skill in blurbs. I'm hoping to learn by reading how others parse it.
Interesting in what you say about the custom look for the cover. I wonder what others have to say about that.
It does seem to go over well in fantasy.
Also, I love your attitude and willingness to participate! This is a place to learn and even ask questions, if something doesn't make sense.
Ask about it!
Going for a custom cover costs a lot more money than a stock photoshop cover.
An indie author must question whether it will be worth it & whether it's necessary for the story/genre. In this instance, Illene has built up a reasonable following, so it was likely she'd get her investment back. The story & genre might just have been do-able from stock - kick ass babes in leather and dragons are popular stock items. BUT: a dragon flaming a kick ass babe who is not affected and a modern urban backdrop...maybe more difficult to find/photoshop. I agree with Ann that this custom cover works very well at full size and thumbnail.
(From Illene's blog you can find that she also used the photoshoot as an opportunity for getting marketing images as well, which was sensible.)
Blurb was pitched very well.
Price point is the sweet spot for indies who have a following.
Post a Comment