Writers and publishers are trying out an updated method of building an audience for books long before they are published or even written.
They see crowdsourcing as a unique method of uncovering hidden talents and measuring fans’ reactions and feedback before they are even released.
Usually, the book is released first and then publishers work to build a fan base. Following the rest of the entertainment industry, where shows and movies are test marketed before they are released.
Many new companies have been established in recent years devoted to finding amateur writers that have written a piece worth publishing.
Medium, which speculates that breakthroughs often come from collaboration rather than a single mastermind.
Walter Isaacson, a best-selling …show more content…
Kickstarter writers raised $22 million to fund 6,000 works ranging from teenage novels to nonfiction books.
Swoon Reads, a young-adult branch of Macmillan Publishing, uses crowdsourcing to choose all its titles. Jean Feiwel, senior vice president of the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group came up with the idea in 2012.
Of the 237 manuscripts posted on Swoon Reads’s website, Ms. Feiwel has acquired six novels, ranging from contemporary realism to paranormal romance.
“The fans and the readers are more in touch with what can sell. They’re more at the pulse of these things than any of us can be.” said Jean Feiwel.
The publisher is hoping to discover a potential best seller among its digital slush pile, reflective of the tastes of the collective crowd and not just the editors.
“A Little Something Different” is a debut novel by Sandy Hall, a librarian in Morristown, New Jersey. Hers is the first to be published by Swoon Reads.
So far, about 9,000 online readers have assessed a sample of her story, and it obtained the highest possible rating of five heart, similar to Facebook “Likes”, from the site’s 10,000 registered …show more content…
Hall and her publishers will find out if the readers who championed the book online, will drive word-of-mouth recommendations that lead to print sales.
However, not everyone is so enthusiastic about using this new method. Avon Romance, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, created a website for ambitious novelists of romance to share their writings and garner criticism on their work. Every week, a handful of editors review the manuscripts with the most “loves” of the 500 that have been posted. So far, none have been chosen for publishing.
Erika Tsang, the editorial director or Avon, question whether fans will have greater success finding undiscovered gems and is a bit skeptical of the rating system. “Honestly, a lot of the time it’s writers’ relatives who are ‘loving’”, she said.
It is also unclear whether involving fans in the evaluation process is any more efficient than the industry’s traditional gatekeepers sorting through unsolicited manuscripts and submissions from agents. This article relates to the first two steps in the new product development process, idea generation through crowdsourcing, and idea screening.
The process begins with idea generation, coming from both internal and external
They see crowdsourcing as a unique method of uncovering hidden talents and measuring fans’ reactions and feedback before they are even released.
Usually, the book is released first and then publishers work to build a fan base. Following the rest of the entertainment industry, where shows and movies are test marketed before they are released.
Many new companies have been established in recent years devoted to finding amateur writers that have written a piece worth publishing.
Medium, which speculates that breakthroughs often come from collaboration rather than a single mastermind.
Walter Isaacson, a best-selling …show more content…
Kickstarter writers raised $22 million to fund 6,000 works ranging from teenage novels to nonfiction books.
Swoon Reads, a young-adult branch of Macmillan Publishing, uses crowdsourcing to choose all its titles. Jean Feiwel, senior vice president of the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group came up with the idea in 2012.
Of the 237 manuscripts posted on Swoon Reads’s website, Ms. Feiwel has acquired six novels, ranging from contemporary realism to paranormal romance.
“The fans and the readers are more in touch with what can sell. They’re more at the pulse of these things than any of us can be.” said Jean Feiwel.
The publisher is hoping to discover a potential best seller among its digital slush pile, reflective of the tastes of the collective crowd and not just the editors.
“A Little Something Different” is a debut novel by Sandy Hall, a librarian in Morristown, New Jersey. Hers is the first to be published by Swoon Reads.
So far, about 9,000 online readers have assessed a sample of her story, and it obtained the highest possible rating of five heart, similar to Facebook “Likes”, from the site’s 10,000 registered …show more content…
Hall and her publishers will find out if the readers who championed the book online, will drive word-of-mouth recommendations that lead to print sales.
However, not everyone is so enthusiastic about using this new method. Avon Romance, a division of HarperCollins Publishers, created a website for ambitious novelists of romance to share their writings and garner criticism on their work. Every week, a handful of editors review the manuscripts with the most “loves” of the 500 that have been posted. So far, none have been chosen for publishing.
Erika Tsang, the editorial director or Avon, question whether fans will have greater success finding undiscovered gems and is a bit skeptical of the rating system. “Honestly, a lot of the time it’s writers’ relatives who are ‘loving’”, she said.
It is also unclear whether involving fans in the evaluation process is any more efficient than the industry’s traditional gatekeepers sorting through unsolicited manuscripts and submissions from agents. This article relates to the first two steps in the new product development process, idea generation through crowdsourcing, and idea screening.
The process begins with idea generation, coming from both internal and external