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Why "The Fault In Our Stars" Is A Success

Magik

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I stumbled across a post by John Green, the guy who wrote The Fault In Our Stars. Most of you know what book I'm talking about. It's been #1 for months and the movie grossed almost 50 million opening weekend (on like a 5 or 10 million budget).

Here, John Green talks about why he thinks the book was a success: John Green Tumblr

One thing that stood out to me is how unorthodox he and his editor were. One thing he did was sign the entire first printing. Think about how long that must have taken. It certainly has given me some ideas.

Another thing: this is his fourth book. He's been at it for 10 years. No overnight success folks, just hard work. He's also built a youtube platform of over 1 million subscribers. Anyway, this is a valuable read. While some of us were scratching our heads in another thread about 50 Shades, wondering how it took off, I'd say with this book there are some big takeaways outside of luck.
 
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COSenior

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Interesting article, but I'd sure hope to be making a living at this in fewer than ten years! YouTube...check. Sign the entire first printing...check (all 5 of them, lol). I think there's also a certain amount of buying that goes on to see what all the hype is about, and he didn't even mention that. With most of his YouTube followers buying in the first month, that's a serious number of people giving him positive reviews, which translates to 'wow, this book must be good - I've gotta see what they all see in it'. Just like a lot of us did with 50 Shades.

Now I've gotta go see what all the hype is about - I haven't even seen the movie.
 
R

redshep

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50 shades wasn't luck either. Every bestseller serves a market. And John Green, Nicholas Sparks, Stephenie Meyer, Suzanne Collins, etc. have a huge market: middle-aged women who buy young adult entertainment. Technically, 50 shades is YA for everyone except young adults. Right now, writing for mature 12-17 year-olds attracts the huge demo of 30-50 year-old women. I think it says a lot about our culture, literacy, what we value, but that's a different thread in a different forum.
 
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Magik

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Interesting article, but I'd sure hope to be making a living at this in fewer than ten years! YouTube...check. Sign the entire first printing...check (all 5 of them, lol). I think there's also a certain amount of buying that goes on to see what all the hype is about, and he didn't even mention that. With most of his YouTube followers buying in the first month, that's a serious number of people giving him positive reviews, which translates to 'wow, this book must be good - I've gotta see what they all see in it'. Just like a lot of us did with 50 Shades.

Now I've gotta go see what all the hype is about - I haven't even seen the movie.

He was making a living before, but he entered the Fastlane in a big way with this one. YA novels are all the rage right now for some reason, especially the ones that can combine another genre with it (Hunger Games). His YouTube following has a lot to do with it, plus when he signed the entire first printing (150K copies if I remember correctly), the first printing sold out fast.

One thing worth noting is there has yet to be a self-published book take off like this, and I'm not sure it's possible without a machine behind you. It takes a staff to execute a bestseller at this level.
 

gregarious18

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He was making a living before, but he entered the Fastlane in a big way with this one. YA novels are all the rage right now for some reason, especially the ones that can combine another genre with it (Hunger Games). His YouTube following has a lot to do with it, plus when he signed the entire first printing (150K copies if I remember correctly), the first printing sold out fast.

One thing worth noting is there has yet to be a self-published book take off like this, and I'm not sure it's possible without a machine behind you. It takes a staff to execute a bestseller at this level.

50 shades was fan fiction. Amanda Hocking's books (Trylle series. . .I think). Hugh Howey's Wool.

It seems easier at that level to get traditional help because of the book store distribution, handling foreign rights, and etc. More importantly, if the advance is a 1 mil or more plus royalties. . .might be a cool trade-off. I would trade my first series with traditional pubs to strengthen my brand: WORLDWIDE.

When you say take off, do you mean press and prestige?
 

Mattie

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50 Shades was controversial as well as just the hype. What I noticed is people love freaky, weird, real, and controversial without all the sugar coating. They like raw! What everyone is thinking, but won't say because they're to worried about what people think.
 
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Magik

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When you say take off, do you mean press and prestige?

I mean in terms of sales, like sell in excess of 5 million copies off a single book. There are self-pubbers who have sold millions of fiction books, but for a single book to blow up like that takes a marketing machine behind it, as well as expert editing, two things most self-pubbers don't have access to.
 

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