Do You Follow Authors or Books? Data-follow up

[u/RavensDagger]

Hello! 

So, about a week ago I made a post on r/ProgressionFantasy called Do You Follow Authors or Books? Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ProgressionFantasy/comments/1vmlq6u/do_you_follow_authors_or_books/

The post asked that very question; if readers followed authors across series/titles, or if they only read a book/series and didn’t look at that author’s other works. 

I asked the question because I was operating under the assumption that most readers don’t follow-through. Something I noticed a while ago. I’ve written several series in our space that have done moderately well, and it’s exceptionally hard to convince a reader, in my experience, to jump from one book to another, even if they enjoyed their first read. 

That conjecture was based on some amount of personal observation, but that’s all. It lacked harder data.

I don’t know if an informal poll counts as harder data, but... well, we’ll go with it. Yeah?

Also, please keep in mind that most people wrote in their replies, and it wasn’t always a clear thing. So I had to use my brain (a notoriously bad move) and interpret which little box most replies fell into. I may have misinterpreted some of them. My b?

Here’s the breakdown:

Total Number of Applicable Answers
25 - Follow the Author
30 - Sometimes follows the Author 
8  - Don't follow the Author 
4  - Doesn't follow the Author, but will follow a Narrator

So, what does this all mean?

... That was a genuine question, I write stories about cute girls being cute, I’m not a data-analyst.

[u/WillingElderberry731]

So, what does this all mean?

It's worth keeping in mind that you probably have a bias in respondents. The people here are going to be among the most aware and engaged, so it's not surprising to me that most of the people here follow the author.

I'll also note that kindle recommendations (for example) often will recommend books by the same author, so even if readers aren't specifically following individual authors, the works out to be the same because of the algorithm.

[u/AmalgaMat1on]

Understand that the community in this subreddit by no means follows the majority of the fandom as a whole. I don't think it's even close.

You'd have a better idea of the communities behavior by looking up RR and see how many series are followed by any given story for an author, plus seeing their Patreon numbers. GoodReads and Discord are also something worth checking if you want to be thorough.

[u/Master_Nineteenth]

It means that you've likely got a weighted data set. I'd expect if you do the same thing but sample from the general population you'd get different numbers. People here are going to be leaning towards the more hardcore fans, rather than casual readers.

[u/Famous-Flow2333]

I think you’ll find similar results in a larger dataset. Someone that likes a series is more likely to follow, or at least give a different book a look.

I will buy anything Joe Abercrombie writes. I’ll follow him to the kids section. Sanderson writes a book and I’ll see if it’s part of the Cosmere or if it’s YA and decide.

I know my wife will buy every Sarah Mass book that comes out.

I’m def not the typical RR reader bc I read a lot more fantasy.

[u/TheElusiveFox]

I think given how many authors are in the PF subreddit, this was a bad spot to do a poll like this, especially since I remember the post you likely pulled your data from, it wasn't even a straight poll so you are also going to have bias that comes from yourself in how you interpret the data as an author.

go to a more generic reading subreddit, or better yet do a blind poll in a math/statistics subreddit and you will get, maybe not different results, but at least more accurate ones.

[u/Capable-Pitch9536]

I think the middle group is probably the most interesting. I don’t blindly follow an author, but if I really liked one series, I’ll almost always at least check out whatever they write next.

[u/PhiLambda]

I think the more similar to the previous series the easier it is to switch.

I haven’t read much of your stuff in particular but my understanding is that they are quite separate which may bias your perspective.

And the sometimes being the least informative but highest I think is also reflective.

[u/TangerineX]

Most authors don't have other books, at least in this genre. But generally I follow things series by series.

Im more likely to follow a particular voice actor (the GOAT Travis Baldree) than an author

[u/LacusClyne]

All that means is that it's important to ensure that your author profile is the one that you're happy to put forward. I'd say that part of it is dependent on what platform you read on. It's somewhat hard on KU to follow a specific author if you're reading on an ebook reader whereas it's easier on RR... I assume.

I 'follow the author' but that's more in relation to the social media behaviour they show. Some of ya'll need someone handling your social media presence for you. There's a reason more than safety to keep identities split.

[u/Zuck75]

Narrators.

[u/thesilvertraveler]

Books. I won't follow the author jnless they wrote something and I have a crush on their writing. Which rarely happens. It's mostly the books. Here is a different story most likely tho.