Monday, August 10, 2015

The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3)

Today we're examining The Lost Destroyer (Lost Starship Series Book 3) by Vaughn Heppner.  Priced at 5.99 and enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program, this book is currently ranked #333 in the paid Kindle store.

I realize that this author has a lot of books, so it would be easy to just say that his audience size and previous successes (this being the third in this particular series) is why his book is selling.

But that would be a bit too easy.

When we try and analyze markets, we want to learn from people who are doing it well.  People who know how to sell books.

If all you ever do is say, "well that guy's got an audience, no wonder his book sells," then you're doing it wrong.

Very wrong.

What does each and every book in his collection have on its side?  What does this PARTICULAR book do well?  Are there other trends or factors to consider?

The fact of the matter is that most books high up in the store will be authored by folks who have been writing and selling for awhile.  That's because it takes time to get good at this job.  So you can't just consistently write off their successes with individual books as being due to audience size.

I see folks do this with Patterson a lot.  "Oh, Patterson just markets.  I'd be James Patterson too if I had his marketing."

That's circular, facile logic.

In order to do what Patterson does, you need to think like him.  You need to be able to reverse-engineer his success, working backwards to a starting point.

Otherwise, you're essentially making excuses for someone else's hard work and success, diminishing their achievements and making yourself less likely to learn valuable lessons.

So let's hear some good analysis of The Lost Destroyer beyond, "oh, this dude is already a huge author with a big fanbase to launch his books."

BLURB
A silver pyramid in space ten thousand years old… 
The secrets of the mysterious New Men… 
A war like no other… 

Starship Victory—Earth’s ancient, alien spacecraft—has won a smashing victory against the New Men, driving them from “C” Quadrant. On their way home, Captain Maddox and his crew run into a vast machine trapped inside an ion storm. Maddox doesn’t know it yet, but the meeting isn’t an accident. There’s a traitor aboard ship, implementing a secret plan, threatening to destroy everything Star Watch has achieved against the New Men. 

Now begins a deadly race as Captain Maddox, the crew and Galyan are pitted against the masters of a centuries-old conspiracy. Human existence lies in the balance. 

THE LOST DESTROYER is the third book in the LOST STARSHIP SERIES.

6 comments:

Lou Cadle said...

These last two blurbs have

1) a lot of white space and
2) a Hollywood-trailer sound to my ear. I can just hear some deep-voiced fellow saying the openings.

I'm not sure if that's sufficient to sell a book, and the first book had more of a traditional prose style and sells well, but I did notice this.

AB said...

1) 3rd book in a bestselling series in a popular genre (this cannot be overlooked as the main factor, sorry)
2) Clear cover branding that fits the genre and the series
3) Catchy blurb


I do think that studying books 3+ in a series is less useful in some ways, because I've found that unless you really screw up, by then you have your audience hooked and people will pretty much buy the next book once invested. So for people who are looking at how to gain traction and sales, studying first book or two is probably more useful.

GP said...

I agree that you can't just say that he has a big audience. But what I think is missing is that he really knows how to tell a great story that his readers want to read. So if you are analyzing his brand, his audience knows that they will consistently get a great story and they eagerly buy his books.

It's not just about audience. It's also about product. People miss this with Patterson too. Patterson has a great product. He knows what his readers want and consistently gives it to them. Heppner is the same. He knows what his readers want and gives it to them over and over. E.L. James, same thing. In fact E.L. James is a great example because so many people cut up her writing, but millions of people love her stories. She knows something all those who cut her up don't. She knows what her readers want.

I think the real thing people should analyze is the story. Cover and blurb are important, but they're not the secret sauce. A great cover and blurb can get things moving, but without the great story you won't get the stickiness that Heppner gets. You'll get a quick boost and then fall off the 30 day cliff.

Mark Henwick said...

I agree with the trend here. Once you're at book 3 and beyond, it's mainly about investment in the characters and/or series arc.

I also think, in today's market with the *average* reader's attention span shortening, that a series does better overall if each book follows hard on the heels of the last. I'm in awe of the number of words Heppner's put out - book 1 Aug 2014, already on book 3 with each ~400 pages. And I do wish there were word counts instead of Amazon's dumb estimates or page counts based on books with unknown font size.

The blurb here is simple - set scene and mention invested character (Maddox) with problem (traitor) and then stakes (life as we know it). Good, competent stuff.

The cover is generic, but that's not a criticism. Big ships in space. What else would you want to know? Font is clear and SF-ish. Not a lot of clutter. Job done.



Gary Snodgrass said...

I think one of the reasons this series does so well can be found in the line - "Starship Victory—Earth’s ancient, alien spacecraft—has won a smashing victory against the New Men, driving them from “C” Quadrant.

The books end while the series arc continues. This is different than those books ending on cliff hangers.

Rabia said...

Without knowing anything else about this series other than what's in this post, the phrases that caught my eye were "silver pyramid in space ten thousand years ago" and "Earth's ancient, alien spacecraft". There are a lot of people who like the idea of aliens visiting Earth in ancient times and leaving behind interesting technology. A Stargate fan (and I expect there are many of those!) might be piqued by these hints and try the book/series.