Nat Connors PRO
Nat is a romantic comedy writer, medical scientist and dance teacher, and creator of the Kindletrends newsletter for genre fiction authors.
Market Awareness
for Short Romance
Nat 'Nose' Connors
<nat@kindletrends.com>
Instalove University January 2024
Me (v. briefly)
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Small-town romantic comedy -
Short romance -
The Kindletrends newsletter
Market awareness
vs market research
For experienced authors
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Understand how popular story elements can fit with your brand
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Stay connected with your readers as they change
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Avoid feeling stale or creatively unchallenged
For new authors
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Discover core elements that resonate with readers over time
- Find your distinctive voice, and from it build your brand
Our sample newsletter
This is freely accessible and will stay online. Please feel free to bookmark it, explore the information and share what you find with me and other Instalove University participantsKindletrends
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Weekly and monthly information for your genre
- First month free
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Some free resources:
Listing all Kindle Store categories
Downloading the Top 100
Searching the Kindle Store
Follow along!
This is a web-based slide presentation. To go forward, press the space bar, use the arrow keys, or swipe if you're on a touchscreen.
A story element
is a shorthand for a 'package' of emotions and experiences
Isn't this just a trope?
...well, maybe
but maybe not
An example
In horror, 'vampires' might represent:
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Loss of humanity -
Damnation -
Tragedy
In romance, 'vampires' might represent:
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Eternal love -
Obsession -
Loss of innocence
Our goal
in one sentence
Understand the essential story elements in the market that are resonating with readers, and see how those elements are promised in a cover, detailed in a blurb, and then delivered in a story.
Our own style, our own stories
Think of our market in four parts
Four parts to our market
Content
Blurbs
Covers
Mechanics
Content
Blurbs
Covers
Mechanics
Four parts to our market
Keep in mind
Covers make a promise to the reader
That promise is developed in the blurb
Then delivered in the story itself
"Will she marry him?"
"Reader, I married him."
Four parts to our market
Content
Blurbs
Covers
Mechanics
Content
or, what's in a book
Content
- Emotional content as much as craft
- Identify key story elements/affecting scenes
- Read reviews
- Common features between books
The Top 100
- This isn't novel - but I think it's what you are looking for that matters
- For this exercise we're going to use the Top 100 in 2hr Romance
- But it'll work just as well (with some caveats) for other categories/genres
Tool #1:
Kindle Power Search
(I'll include all the links at the end so don't feel you need to copy them down)
Tool #2:
Also Boughts & Top 100s Downloader
Kindletrends 2hr Romance Newsletter
Choose a few relevant books
Work through each book
in turn
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Look for story elements, more than beats (although the two are not exclusive)
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Take notes - we're going to refer back to them when we compare books, and when we look at blurbs and covers
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Recurring elements are the most important
Next, read reviews
Note down the memorable story elements
What readers say is often less important than that they say it
Finally, compare your notes
Which elements are the same, and which are different?
How do similar or different elements affect the plot?
Which elements are consistently commented upon by readers?
Summary: Content
We can get a picture of how different writers interpret the same story elements
- and how these elements resonate with readers
Blurbs
or, what's on the buying page of a book
First
Start with the blurbs from the books we read for content
Start with the blurbs from the books we read for content
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What parts of the blurb relate to the content?
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Listing tropes is the most obvious feature
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But be alert for other signals: e.g. the voice of a specific character, or hints at plot beats
Examples (1)
Tropes
Plot beats
Examples (2)
Tropes
Character voice
Examples (3)
Tropes
Character voice
Plot beats
Then back to the notes on content
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Look for story elements, but also beats, scenes and character voices
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(Ideally) each sentence in the blurb is doing work
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Look at reviews again
Summary: Blurbs
Drawing relationships between blurbs and content
Content
Blurbs
Covers
or, what's on the front of a book
Covers make a specific set of promises to the reader
About content
About branding
We can see this clearly with a cover montage
Make notes about styles
Then look at the books you read
e.g: Medium shot, no faces shown Long shot, couple with faces shown Object relevant to story
People: how many? Shot choice: face, full/half, medium, long (whole body) Objects: what and why?
Dominant colours and shades Typography Other recurring visual elements (branding)
Our examples (1)
Our examples (2)
Our examples (3)
Summary: Covers
What does each element say about the content?
Eventually
Content
Blurbs
Covers
Market mechanics
or, everything else
Release frequency
Because of the length of titles, releases can be more frequent in short romance than in other genres
The Top 100 by age shows this pretty clearly
So
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A higher release frequency means that new story elements might crop up in the market more frequently
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Cassie Mint's (awesome) talk describes how short romance gives us a bit more leeway to try things, compared to novel-length romance.
Standalone vs series
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About 90% of the Top 100 are in series vs 10% standalones (although this doesn't count prequel/spin-off books)
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Many series are also collaborations between groups of authors
Pricing
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$2.99 is the most popular price in the 2hr Top 100 right now, but $0.99 is more popular in 2hr than in novel-length romance (a change from some years ago)
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If we dig into the $0.99 books, a lot of them seem to be first-in-series, or part of a serial which may be discounted for the holidays
Reminder: you can do this all yourself
The Also Boughts and Top 100s Downloader* Chrome extension downloads titles, prices and other basic data
*yeah, I know, it's a mouthful, I'm a writer not a marketer
Summary: Market mechanics
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Release frequency -
Series vs standalone -
Pricing
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You don't have to copy what others are doing in any of these factors
- But understanding them means you can make choices about where you fit in the market
Conclusions
(1) No binding rules
But market awareness helps you decide how your work fits into what readers are buying right now(2) Key factors
Content: Story elements, emotion Blurbs: Tropes, character voice, plot beats Covers: Story elements, branding (series & author) Market mechanics: Release frequency, series vs standalone, pricing
Content
Blurbs
Covers
(3) Tools
Kindle Power Search
https://kpowersearch.com/
Also Boughts and Top 100s Downloader
https://kindletrends.com/download-also-boughts-chrome-extension/
Bonus: List of all Kindle Store categories
https://kindletrends.com/categories/
Kindletrends
A weekly and monthly market research newsletter
Research done for you, in your inbox every week
Summaries
Interactive tools for research
Alerts about books
Cover montages
Blurb trends and details
Filter for specific elements
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Acknowledgements
Lana Love
Cassie Mint
Hope Ford
Frankie Love
Lizzie Dunlap from Pixie Covers
Elizabeth Brady
Thank you to all the authors and artists who helped with this talk
Hope and the Instalove University support team for giving me a chance to speak
All of you for your time and attention
Thank you for watching!
For more free resources, check out:
For the slides for this talk:
For the newsletter for this talk:
Market Awareness for Short Romance
By Nat Connors
Market Awareness for Short Romance
Getting your story in the hands of readers starts with your cover and your blurb, but many authors struggle with the challenge of making these fit reader expectations, while also communicating the unique elements of their story. In this workshop you’ll learn a simple set of techniques for aligning your story with your cover and your blurb, in the context of genre fiction. We'll learn how to identify the core features of a genre, work out which story elements resonate with readers, and see relationships between covers, blurbs and stories themselves. We’ll also do practical exercises drawn from different genres, and learn how to do ongoing research to keep up with changes in our market. Whether you’re an experienced author, or just beginning your writing journey, this workshop will help you evolve a branding strategy that suits your genre, your style, and your situation.
