step 1: make a book. step 2: sell the book. step 3: realize you got the target demographics wrong. step 4: make a video about a failed book you made. step 5: profit.
@Oskar winters True. The brief two paragraphs I read weren't....great. Would've rather seen him try and try s'more refining it until he could've gotten *actually* published.
Sure, I guess... Did a whole bunch of middle school girls start watching the channel by any chance? Okay, while this video is an interesting look into self publishing, it's still not a good place to advertise the book. Here's hoping enough Dads and Uncles with middle school girls to buy gifts for are watching... Otherwise, maybe a couple hundred to an "influencer" who does cater to middle school girls might be a good idea.
It's like his short film about the making of his short film ... only a few people can get away with it, because only a few people can do it wrong enough the first time to do it right enough the second time - it's an incredible "the making of", much better than "the disaster artist" which was itself pretty good.
@@Vaaaaadim EXACTLY! That's how he should have done it the first time. He could've put up a video with the title "writing a book is harder than I thought" or something that would attract people's attention.
Hearing about a miserable failure is more interesting than just hearing a pitch + it gives him a kind of underdog appeal; you want to buy the book out of pity for him. Worked for me, I went from considering buying the book to actually buying it :p.
I'm trying to not be rude but "It's a coming-of-age story about family, high school sweethearts, and growing up in the year 1940" has so little information. It's hard to see what would the hook is? Maybe some of Neva's aspirations? Maybe where in the US this took place? Aside from some good cover art, there's no personality. A good hook is short, but still tells you something about the character/s. I get wanting to not spoil too much, but there's just not enough info there to interest me. I might go back and watch the video (honestly never saw it on my feed) but why is there so little information about this on the actual amazon listing?
@@stanstanstan i think even the target audience would want something more to go on than "a coming-of-age story about family, high school sweethearts, and growing up in the year 1940", surely.
This post reminds me of the phrase "judging a book by it's cover". If the premise of a story isn't enough to draw you in as a reader/viewer/listener, then you're likely not the intended audience for that story. If I describe Star Wars as "A young man learns he has special powers and becomes instrumental in a rebellion", that's pretty much the same amount of non-information as Neva's Story, but look at how much money that franchise makes. It's also the exact same description as Eragon, The Matrix, Dune, Animorphs, and an awful lot of YA novels. To be blunt, you're allowed to personally want more details on a story before getting invested in it, but don't go calling authors out for not giving precise summaries. It's not like that would have made this book perform wildly better.
@@Ryu_Himora i don't really understand your point? yeah, if star wars was marketed with such a bare bones premise and 0 other information then it probably wouldn't have sold as well. it's a good thing they didn't just market it as "a young man learns he has special powers and becomes instrumental in a rebellion" and focused on what made it unique and interesting instead. austin probably should've done the same. i do not understand what point you're making.
i respect this dude a lot, half of his videos are about all the L’s he’s taken, it takes a big man to have that kind of self reflection and drive to keep going
I feel we’re glossing over the fact that you finished your grandma’s story - one that she had specifically wanted you to one day write. That’s awesome, I’m sure she’d be proud (or maybe she is proud right now, depending on how things work). From that perspective, doesn’t really matter how many you sold.
@@DOSeater respect, yes! Consume something I don't particulary enjoy just to fulfill an artists dream of "being famous doing what he/she loves", not so much! I love his comedy on that particular sketch, he could totally explore that while trying to send his message through those artistic (and very successful) means! Thats ultimately the point, I think. Go Austin!
It's honestly at least his sixth. There was the video about his failed movie, his failed workshop that nobody came to, the terrible book that he wrote as a teenager, the one about his involvement in a panned Lonelygirl15 spinoff, and the one about Hollywood execs contacting him and about how it all fell through. Guess Austin just has a knack for this.
This guy's workshop failed He embraced it His first movie failed He embraced it His first book failed He embraced it He wrote another book It failed ...God ..he is such an inspiration
A few thousand isn't that much for him. Trust me, content creators make much more than you think, it's crazy. A youtuber of his size wouldn't really mind a loss of a few thousand. Especially if he planned it out. What you said is true though. What I like about his channel is his honesty.
So the guy is writing a book of someone else. And he isn't even a girl like the person in the book. And he nags about money. If you don't have the spirit and the will, don't start to do it in the first place. And you can't fake this spirit and will artificially.
After seeing how many drafts and correction this book went through, I'm amazed that younger me thought it was a good idea to write and publish each chapter of a story one at a time on Wattpad without even having planned the next chapters
“A lady in ____ finds the sweetness of the first love while dealing with the reality of the beginnings of World War II” could be more appealing to young readers.
From an accountant who's spent 10+ years auditing publishers and now self-publishes: honestly, where you went wrong was starting with trying to predict total lifetime sales of your book, instead of focusing on your breakeven point. Even pros at traditional publishing houses get their estimates wrong ALL THE TIME (they'll have fancy spreadsheets and stuff but it all really comes down to wild guesses). ~$5k is fairly middle of the road as far as self-publishing costs go (the typical range is anywhere between $0 to $10k) but if you had created a title P&L to begin with, then monitored how each additional investment you made changed the breakeven point, that would have helped you reduce the size of your loss. Another thing is the pricing - $12.99 for a paperback and $4.99 for an ebook of a NOVELLA?! Not my genre or niche, so I'm not sure whether this is on par for this particular kind of book, but it seems high to me (especially for a first title by a new author). Combine that with your cover (does not match the style of the other covers in your categories, which is...not a good thing), your title (super generic - who is Neva and why should we care?) and your blurb (it's all about you and your grandmother, with some very generic stuff - instead of clearly telling someone what kind of story they're in for), I very much doubt the $150 you spent on Amazon ads were effective at all. Readers being targeted by Amazon ads or just coming across your book who don't know anything about you are unlikely to go for it. HOWEVER! Based on your current Amazon Best Seller Rank, you're selling about 9 ebooks per day and 19 paperbacks per day right now (maybe this video gave you a boost!) so that's a good place to be in. That boost won't last forever, so you have a narrow opportunity to fix things. The good news is that your cover and your blurb each matter as much as the contents of your book. Which means 2 out of the 3 factors that drive book sales can STILL be fixed! In order of least expensive to most expensive: 1. Write a better blurb. (FREE) Delete the current blurb. The acknowledgements/dedication section is the place to put all the sentimental stuff about why you wrote the book and what it means to you, etc - and yours is already super extensive. The blurb is your sales copy, and it should tell people why your book is awesome and they should buy it. At minimum, they need to know: what kind of story they're in for; who the protagonist is; and what problem/s the protagonist is trying to overcome. 2. Move the dedications/acknowledgements/foreword (why is there a foreword in a fiction NOVELLA?!) sections - move all that stuff to the back of the book! (FREE) Right now, when a potential buyer clicks on "LOOK INSIDE" (assuming they were even compelled to click on the product page in the first place), the first thing they see is a 2 page foreword about your grandmother, how this book is a book she never finished writing and that you also have questions about...and they haven't even read ANY of the story. All they want at this point is to take a look at the first few pages, and they have to scroll. (they're probably not going to spend the time scrolling. Most likely they're going to click off and look for a different book) 3. Change the title to something more compelling (FREE). If you're not sure what would be more compelling, come up with 2-3 candidates then do some testing on them with some Facebook ads. ($) 4. Change the cover ($$-$$$) I know you like the current cover. I know you have already gone through several revisions of it. But your book is listed in "Teen & Young Adult Fiction about Girls & Women", "Teen & Young Adult Girls & Women Fiction" and "Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks" and its cover doesn't match ANY of the top sellers in those categories. The majority of covers in the first two categories are photo-realistic posed shots of the protagonist in question wearing cool clothes or text only titles with close ups of objects; the majority of covers in the romance category feature the love interest revealing a variable amount of bare chest and/or tattoos and smouldering their best Blue Steel at the camera. Get a cover that stylistically fits in with the other covers in the categories you're targeting. If I were you, I would do ALL of the above, because if you've written a good book that people enjoy, you should be able to recoup your investment in the long run if you fix these things now. At an initial investment of $5,103,24, you only need to sell ~1,050 copies at a $4.89 royalty to go from a financial disaster to breakeven. Let's up that to around 1,200 copies to factor in spending some additional money to fix your cover. 1,200 copies is absolutely doable in self-publishing if you have written the right book for the right audience.
I think he should tag it as period drama/comong of age/romance, I think that will result in a better fitting cover than teen girl in stylish clothes or woman getting her blouse torn off
@@thepinkestpigglet7529 Yep, I am actually not sure if Austin's picked the right Amazon categories for this book. I've only read the preview chapter, and it really doesn't vibe with the rest of the books in those categories.
@@swilson5320 Aww...thanks for that! I've been putting out a lot of videos on the business side of self-publishing on my channel, so it's really gratifying to know that you find it helpful!
I'm probably somewhat within the target demographic of the book (young woman that reads a lot of YA, though I personally dislike YA romance). I watched and liked your original video about this project and loved the idea of finishing your grandma's book. I'm a big fan of your content. I also know exactly why I didn't read the book and never expected it to sell. I could tell as soon as I clicked on the Amazon page. I think I also know why my demographic didn't read the book. I don't think you touched upon any of those reasons in your video. Even if your audience was mostly teenage girls, I doubt you'd sell more than five hundred copies. Gonna put on my tough-love critic hat on and suggest a few reasons why: - It's low concept, or at least appears that way. The Amazon page has almost nothing to recommend the book or distinguish it from every other book of its kind. Coming-of-age is just not an interesting descriptor. Most every middle-grade and YA book is some sort of coming-of-age. I'm sure the description "It's a coming-of-age story about family, high school sweethearts, and growing up in the year 1940" fits the book, but it also fits five hundred other books. I'm sure the book has more going for it than just that, but the Amazon page wouldn't indicate it. Young girl in historical period is not enough. Regardless of the target demographic, there's countless books with that specific setting and character age that also have attention-grabbing premises (read the Amazon page for the Book Thief). I don't even know what country your book is set in. Who is Neva? Why should I care about her? I'm not going to pay 5 dollars for a Kindle book that I know nothing about. You also listed that it's a romance, and yet there's no information whatsoever on that. If it's a romance, commit to that and market it as such. Who are the people in the romance? Why should we care about them and hope that their romance is a success? Here's the tricky part. Explain that all as concisely as possible. - The Amazon page description doesn't readily indicate a genre - it either doesn't have a genre, or isn't marketed according to its genre. Low concept books need a genre. I don't personally understand YA Amish Romances. They're all exactly the same (and all equally dull), but they all fit into a wildly popular genre and so are eagerly consumed. Or maybe it does fit into a genre - YA Historical Romance. If so, no aspect of it is marketed or described like a YA Historical Romance. You'd also need to give out ARCs to Goodreads reviewers that really appreciate that genre, to generate interest. Your platform is not good for marketing books - you're not a booktuber, after all. But you do have connections. You could reach out to Booktubers and ask them to promote your book. Either way, you need to tap into the reading community. This here is not a reading community. - If it does fit into the genre of YA Historical Romance, then it's too short and the cover's entirely wrong for the genre (though the artwork is lovely, it doesn't look like a book cover). If it was marketed towards middle-school age girls (in which case the genre would be middle-grade, not YA), then the protagonist would have had to been around 12 and wouldn't be romantically involved in any serious way. Middle-grade novels don't feature high school girl protagonists. Even if middle-schoolers will sometimes read YA books they don't fall into that target demographic. You have to a) conform to genre conventions in cover and marketing as well as b) stand out in the genre, especially with an engaging premise. The first part comes before the second. - Your marketing has been really timid. I get it. You don't want to humiliate yourself with yet another potentially-questionable project. But if you don't even seem to like the book or think it's worth reading, why would I? - Maybe the average book consumer cares who wrote the book. I don't. I really enjoy Austin McConnell's content, but I would only buy Austin McConnell's book if it grabbed my attention and held it. Ultimately, there was nothing to sell it (not characters, premise, genre, or even prose) besides the fact that you wrote it. Let's take the hat off now. I'm really glad you wrote it (hope it gave you some closure after your loss) and I'm sure it's wonderful - I just have no way of really knowing it's wonderful. You're good at taking creative risks. Try seeing what happens if you complete revamp the marketing and Amazon page of this book (and, if possible, make your collaborations and send out book copies to Goodreads reviewers). If your beta readers were worth their salt, I suspect the actual novel is good. All you need now is to market it the way it deserves. It's difficult and it's daunting, but hey - at the very least, you could make a fascinating video about it. Just know whether you choose to spend more time on this project or move on to a fresh venture, we're all excited to see what you create next.
As someone who aspires to be an author as well this is a humbling and transparent video. What I appreciate is you don't sugarcoat your failures and you understand and learned from them. I love that you are showing your mistakes as other people can take them as lessons to get better themselves. Thank you for this
Me and my good friend have always bonded over literary mediums and writing together, we decided spur of the moment to make a mini book club between the two of us, right as Neva’s Story dropped. We read through it and discussed it weekly, such a good story you’ve put together, your grandmother would be proud.
I see what you're doing, Austin. Hitting us with that reverse psychology. I bet a lot of people are going to buy the book due to this video (including me).
@@rinylvinyl Right, this was 25 years ago, I really do need to do something with it. It’s really just a boring collectors book on American Military History. Would really only appeal to a small demographic. I’m focused on trying to write a book and a movie script and those alone are difficult. If I was more dedicated it would be done already. I’m just open to a lot of discouragement.
Re losing money on publication: It's really a memorial to your Grandmother and a gift for your Mother. You could just as well make the e-book version free, or at least on Kindle Unlimited. I had a similar situation: my wife's Chinese Poetry group wanted to publish a volume, and I warned her about "vanity presses" being a scam. She understood that it wasn't going to be marketed or sold by anyone, but she wanted to buy a bunch of copies to help finance the print run for the benefit of others in her group that could not afford to. This isn't a common print-on-demand book, but a beautifully made, high-quality volume. And I have about a dozen left after giving out a bunch.
Man, you are SO LUCKY to have that bit of creativity from your grandma. My great grandpa was a treasure hunter and a rock hound, and he had hand drawn maps of the mojave that were fucking thrown away by another relative after my great grandpa died. the only reason given was "they weren't worth anything." Some relatives are just vultures, waiting for the richest old person in the family tree to die so they can swoop in and pick the bones clean. Totally not bitter that LITERAL TREASURE MAPS are gone forever. At least i have one thing though, which is an awesome portrait my great grandpa drew of my great grandma on one of his air force manuals during WWII, and i have some of his minerals. You are lucky if you leave anything behind after you die that anyone finds value in
I almost wish Austin had published it with a different title and different cover art. As a teenage girl (pretty close to the target audience) the name and picture don't draw me in at all. The bit about it being his grandma's story does though, so maybe that should've been included. That part seems too cool to not put front and center anyway. Gotta admire the effort that went into it though!
If I saw this at a bookstore I might have had picked it up and read the description. But the description doesn't make it sound interesting. I think that was it's biggest flaw.
As an aspiring author, this is the kind of video I needed to see. I don’t know if I’ll go the self-publishing route, but it’s nice to get a look at what it entails.
Austin earns a lot of money because of yt and he can afford to just lose a few thousand which would be a lot for an average joe like yourself. Yeah, probably a good lesson.
And definitely try to market your book so you can get some professional reviews of it out ahead of or at release day. The higher profile the reviewing source, the better.
Daniel Greene and Lindsey Ellis are both UA-camrs who recently published their first books in the last few months. They both talk about their experiences and what they've learned.
I think it's very sweet that you turned your grandma's story into a real book, and the fact that you basically did it to make your mom's wish come true. that's amazing, Austin
as an english major currently taking a seminar in coming of age modern american fiction (yes this is an amazing coincidence) the one thing i really wish you had done differently was the title. i’ll be honest, i didn’t buy or read the book, but the title is probably part of the reason why. i’ll point to two novellas i read in class the past two weeks for this aforementioned seminar. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, and “We the Animals” by Justin Torres. these titles tell me what i’m reading in one way or another. theyre wildly different from each other but theyre both evocative in some distinct way. and they mean so much more after the story is over. an amateur mistake that i make often in my writing is letting the title be an afterthought. maybe your title came from your grandmother’s original vision which is great. and i haven’t read the book so maybe the title says more with the added context of the story, but titles in principle should say something ABOUT the story because people read titles before they even read the synopsis. the idea was there and i definitely admire you for the risk. i was one of the people who watched the original announcement videos when they came out, so i guess this is a peek into what kept me from even checking out the amazon page. i admit it is literally judging a book by its cover, but i’m just gonna be honest here.
what i love about you is that you are honest about making a crap ton of mistakes, and are able to effectively reflect on those mistakes and share it with others. You are wildly different from other content creators because you aren't shy about being human and making mistakes. This might sound odd, but you are the most real and human content creator on youtube.
You were definitely missing professional reviews as well. You have the connections to reach out and get your works reviewed in other publications, I have to assume. I was looking forward to writing a Wikipedia article on Neva's Story, but there was nothing to work with. No reviews anywhere to serve as reliable secondary sources for building an article.
@@thairinkhudr4259 Get reviews, I assume you mean? There's organizations and other avenues to try and get newspaper and other reviews of your book. Though it's definitely harder to do so if you're self-published. Cultivating relationships with publishing people and literature journalists would be helpful.
I am looking forward to reading Neva’s Story while taking a 7-hour flight to visit my mother. I haven’t seen her in three years. That first hug will be special because our moms are special.
@@lvbboi9 tbf, content creators still do make a shit ton of money. A few thousand isn't too much for a channel of his size. I find it hilarious though, that his audience is comprised of young adults to middle aged males bur his book caters towards teenage girls. As he states in the video, it ain't his brightest moment.
I'm sorry your book failed, but you have to admit, that "Neva's story" doesn't inspire a lot of interest in the actual... You know, story. At least you could have given the accompanying videos a catchier title, but I appreciate how you did things and your honesty!
Yeah, that’s really what kinda stood out to me watching this video about the development. The full title is “Neva’s Story: A Coming-of-Age Romance in 1940s America.” It sounds very clinical and uninteresting as a result. Needed a more attention-grabbing title.
@@jackdaone6469 I personally think just calling it "Neva" would have been more captivating, as it won't give away what it's about from a first glance at the front. But then, it's his mom and grandma's story, not his, so I doubt changing the title would be something that would be considered.
Titles aren't nearly as important as you think. Unless a book's title is literally unprintable or egregiously misleading, it will never be a roadblock to selling it. Like, think of the dumbest, most unsellable title you can imagine that's fit to print, and I can probably find you a comparable book that was on the bestseller list at some point (I won't actually bother doing that fyi, so don't waste your time, but you can play the game yourself if you want)
@@z-beeblebrox An example for a good, catchy title: Dostoyevski "Crime and Punishment". Boom, it's "in your face". You want to read what it's all about! ... Tell me that titles arent "as important as you think"... They a r e. The title and the cover art are one of the things you see first if you're looking though the book shelves...
I published my own book, doing my own marketing, no beta readers or anything. I paid 5k for marketing and print versions to sell. Total, I made 6k. I call that a good wash as that's my hobby. But hiring all those people for a 20k story? That's ludicrous!!! My stories go up to 80k words. You should have spent that money on your own development as a writer...which is weird...because you write out your transcripts for your videos, right?
I love Brandon Sanderson, particularly his Stormlight Archive works. Shallan and Adolin are life lol. But since each book comes out once in every few years, I've been resisting the urge to read Rhythm of War for quite a while now, so please no spoilers =D
Probably because he's also on youtube, giving lectures to help writers. It makes sense to include him if his writing advice helped in the writing or publishing process.
One of the reasons I like Austin's channel is that he fails quite a bit and keeps at it. It's a reminder that failure is ok and getting help is too 😉. Perseverance wins in the end.
Probably because that audience consisted of young adults to middle aged men, and he tried to sell them a book meant for young girls. Idk what he thought was gonna happen.
Austin, I am _thrilled_ to know I am not the only one with results like this. I self-published a novel and a sequel novella a decade ago and, after similar collaborative and financial investments, I sold about 30 copies. And my book and sequel were about a young woman, giving me the same genre conflicts. However, since I didn't have any 1 mullion-plus subscribers, I guess I'm ahead of your pace! 😉
Ouch. - You spent 5x more than the average self-published author - Middle-grade does better in traditional publishing - You didn't market to middle-grade sources at all (like teachers/parents/librarians) - Your cover, although very beautiful, is not on market and does not pop - You wrote a book you weren't passionate about - You wrote too it too short - You priced it too high Hi, Austin. I love your channel, and I commend you for fulfilling your nana and mother's dream, that's really lovely (I hope my kids grow up to be like you one day). Self-publishing is definitely a different game than traditional and, based on the sources you gave, I think you needed a lot more research into the business side of things. I will say, A LOT of people make the same mistakes you did on their first try, so you're not alone. I hope your video will serve as a great warning to help other authors from diving too deep, too fast. Because this wasn't about money, just writing a beautiful story, I think you achieved your goal regardless. Writing a book that's meaningful to you doesn't always have to be about turning a profit. It can be about the journey and the satisfaction you feel at the end. I'm sure your mom and nana would be proud of you (I would be if my son had done this). Good on you and good luck with your future projects.
Ah, good question. I got that because: 1. It wasn't his idea 2. He said he struggled because he was a different demographic than the protagonist 3. He had difficulty getting it to 20,000 words 4. He spent so much on developmental edits and re-edits I have no doubt he was passionate about the project (based on all the work he put into it), just not the story. As a viewer who's followed his channel for a REALLY long time, I'm going to put my armchair psychologist goggles on for a minute and say I also think his struggle with wanting to be an author but not having a "good idea" stems from the paralysis of needing said idea to be "the big idea" or "the perfect idea". (I only say that in the hopes he reads this and breaks past that fear) Letting go is something a lot of successful authors have to do. Most of the time their favourite books are not the ones they're remembered for (Harlan Ellison is a good example of this). It's never EVER the idea, it's the execution. Anyways, thanks for letting me ramble haha. I'm just glad to be getting new content from Austin, he never disappoints.
Yeah, back when you were marketing it, I was thinking “wrong demo” the whole time. But as someone who starts and stops a lot of similar projects myself, I was rooting for you, and still am. Perhaps it’s not too late to go back to the traditional publishing house route?
Another thing that comes to mind is that maybe people would be more interested if the book were something more related to the channel, and sounded more like Austin. Like many, I got here via the Useless Information vids but stayed for the extremely relatable personal stories of creative endeavors. I used to make comics and video games - and the readers of my comics weren't interested in my games, and the few people who played my games cared about comics even less.
@@Po4to Honestly the best way to make it work would be to either focus on one, or have them connected, but separate. Like, both in the same universe, but each one is their own story within it; that way, if either is interested, they may be inclined to either play the game or read the comic.
5:00 and that was your mistake, assuming a majority of your audience is interested in anything other than your UA-cam content. Even content creators that have merch stores have like less than 10% of their audience ACTUALLY buy anything.
I would have been too afraid of failing to get as far as to show my first draft to anyone in the world... Your tenacity and work ethic is very admirable.
Obvious reasons that come to mind: - Coming-of-age stories with your chosen target demographic are run-of-the-mill and the market is saturated. - Your name isn't well-known in the publishing world - UA-cam subscribers does not in any way translate to a desire for people to consume or purchase other works by you - You immediately jumped into corporate book-writing, which turns it into a work designed by committee. - Self-Publishing leads to lack of advertising. in light of that, I'd expect maybe 1000 copies or so. I mean I watch your videos from time to time but I doubt I'd buy a book you wrote unless it had a LOT going for it. **Post-Reveal**: Oh dear. That was even fewer copies than I expected.
Even if this were in my middle school bookshelf I see no reason why I'd pick it up. All I can find plot wise is a coming-of-age romance in the 1940s. Which would probably not interest most middle schoolers. It's genre-savvy which many middle schoolers aren't, and it's in the 1940s which if you're a middle schooler is also not very interesting. How about summarizing what happens in the first chapter or the overarching theme or plot so I can see if this is something I'd want to read about.
Let's take a minute of an appreciation for Squarespace, for helping you recover your loss. Thanks for making the video on this experience. We're looking forward to another one.
Dude I almost started crying a minute in. At first I was stunned at you had blown past the fact that your mother had passed. Then you pulled out that old short story written by the grandmother and immediately just that sense of interconnectedness hit. Like I can only imagine the emotion for your, someone whom actually had memories of the two.
Its amazing that you put in so much effort into making something like this. This project was a huge undertaking, the amount of time and effort you put into it should definitely be celebrated. That said, I can honestly say, I'm Neva gonna read it.
@@TheShadesOfBlack TBf your response doesn't make much sense because that's like saying you can't call a movie bad just because you've never mad one. Whether the og is right or wrong, your own logic is flawed.
Jesus Christ this man can't catch a break . At this point he can create a separate playlist for all the rough things he has gone through during these past few years..
What I took from this was to get a publisher. Why? Because it's okay to ask for help, and sometimes the help comes from people who ask questions I don't know to ask. For instance: I know who my target audience is, do I know where they'll come from? My hook sounds great to me, but does it generate interest in potential readers? Where the heck do I market this thing?
Austin then: "My grandma started writing a book about high school in her time, sweethearts and growing up in the 1940s. I finished it." Austin now: "My new book was a financial disaster. What happened?" *BRUH*
One of my favourite books, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (funny title, but great book lol) was written this way as well. The writer wrote most of it but passed before she could finish and her granddaughter finished writing it.
This was obviously a terrible idea, I'm a 32 year old man and every work in the sentence "Coming of age tale about a young girl in her jr year of high school in the 1940s" makes me want to the read book less than the word that came before it.
You’re right in saying that you should’ve built up more hype for your book. When I saw your video in my feed I thought, huh, Austin wrote a random short story, I’m not interested in random short stories. When this video came out, I had genuinely forgotten you wrote something and was surprised you put so much effort into it. Your last video’s title read “two week passion project of unknown genre and unknown premise from unknown grandma”. The title Nova’s Story certainly isn’t doing you any favours. From the title and cover art itself I have no incentive to buy the book other than your name attached to it. Once again I don’t know what the story is about other than the age and setting, and honestly most internet users like myself don’t care enough to do further research. Edit: just looked at the Amazon book description. WHY ISNT THERE A DESCRIPTION? There’s nothing about the actual story. The words “coming of age” isn’t an adequate description, it’s just a genre. The rest of all of it is about you. You’re really leaning on the UA-cam brand here, so much so that you didn’t bother marketing the actual writing at all. Austin, I liked this video, and I hope your book does well. But I do not have the disposable income to buy a book that seems extremely unconfident in its actual contents. This looks (at a glance) like some of the low quality merch people are expected to buy to support their favourite UA-camr and never use. I know from this video that this isn’t the case, but it’s no surprise this book didn’t do well on release
Yeah... Honestly, the title _"Neva's Story"_ feels like a generic children's book slapped together in hopes of getting a quick buck (I know it sounds harsh, but hey, I must be honest about this). And overall, it seems like that the presentation could be much better. I mean, (in the cover art) how does a girl shopping for clothes have any value, significance, or *relevance* to the overall story? Is that her favorite hobby? I know I'm not getting this book either, and I'm not exactly a part of its target audience (after all, I am a teenage *boy* who's fascinated by different topics, primarily historical _nonfiction,_ sciences, etc.). Overall, I wholeheartedly agree with your ending statements--but I'd only wish him well until he corrects those additional issues, including the ones you've presented quite well.
I'm not exactly the target audience either because I'm 29, but I am female, do love books in this genre and pretty much exclusively read historical fiction. I agree with everything that was said in both Olivia and SuperSonic's comments
It doesn't really matter who his target audience is... it's the fact that he just didn't market and put very little thought into it that ultimately doomed the book. I think he just approached the project wrong and it didn't come up to him to think of this stuff.
Something I noticed was that the title and cover art really weren't that interesting. I'd suggest a more intriguing title that sounds a little more poetic, and have "Neva's story" be the subtitle. something like "when the trees swayed with my heart: Neva's story" except better because you are the author and you know the story and themes much better than I do. (note: this is obviously my own personal observations, and I'm probably alone in most parts) The cover art just wasn't that eye-catching. Now that I know more about I definitely might check out the audio book. Excellent video, as always. Very informative on what it takes to actually write a book.
yeah. the title was especially poor. The cover-art was very evocative of ladybird books 40-50 years ago. Which is probably not what it was meant to be.
Thank you for being so transparent in this video. I've self-published a picture book. Did hype, farmer's markets, deals with local animal shelters (it's a rescue pup book) even got on the front page of the local paper, and only sold a little over 200 as well. I was very dejected about it, but seeing your similar experience at least lets me know I'm not alone. And you are right: it is fun to try stuff. Best of luck recouping your investment.
You might've gotten screwed by the algo on those videos too, I literally never had them pop up on my recommended and I try and watch all your new stuff.
There's a fundamental problem with the book's description. You have more words describing yourself there than the book. It doesn't make me want to read it because I have no idea what it's about. Let me put it simply, being a girl in the 1940s isn't a story. It's a setting and a character. So what actually happens in the story?? What conflict does the main character face and what characters are important to the plot?? The only reason I would read this book is due to your channel and you in particular, not because the book sounds entertaining.
I distinctly remember watching that video, looking at the view count, and feeling bad. While this isn't a surprise, I think you deserved a lot better than 200 something copies for what it's worth.
Haha I'm one of those people who had no idea you even wrote a book. Somehow I missed it! I picked up a copy though. Definitely interested in giving it a shot. I always love how you just roll with the punches. Can't wait to see what you do next!
Damn. I remember seeing the announcement video on my feed, thinking "sure doesn't look like my thing but best of luck to him" and scrolling on. Sorry it went so poorly man. It may not be my thing, but you deserved more than a couple hundred sales.
As someone currently dealing with their own creative endeavour failures in a different market, this video hits me deep. It's not a book I would consider buying under normal circumstances, but god damn, I think its so important to support these kind of things. I purchased it as an audio book and going to listen to it while I'm working. Never stop trying new things, Austin. We appreciate it all.
I'm glad to have purchased and listened to the audiobook back in July. I listened to it with my family on a car ride and we genuinely enjoyed it, mostly because of the story of how and why you wrote it. It's not my normal cup of tea but I am glad to have been one of the few people to experience it.
@Cade Lobo I kind of inferred that by the links to his UA-cam channel, referencing him last, and the statement that some where indirect - assuming direct help was listed first.
I can't speak for anyone but myself, but your two previous videos about the book never appeared in my feed. Every other video from last year did, but I never knew those two existed. I clicked on this video thinking "why didn't he make a video to promote this?"
05:44 "I am a man of few abilities." Maaan! That landed deeply at home. However, respect to you on how calmly you accept this and the fact that does not determine the effort you put to accomplish the things you run after.
Okay, I'm in the middle of rewriting my fourth book and it's nice to know that it will take a few drafts until things actually feel like they're going somewhere. Just because it was a "financial disaster" doesn't mean it wasn't worthwhile.
Your mom and your grandmother would be very proud of you Austin! Both for completing the work, finding the resources you need to finish the things you knew you couldn't do on your own, and for learning and growing as a person. Financial success isn't the only measure of success, and I think you should be proud of yourself as well :)
Austin: "Here's the people I took advice from, go follow them for more information!" Also Austin: "My book's sales are an absolute trainwreck, the reviews are average, and the videos about it were failures too"
step 1: make a book.
step 2: sell the book.
step 3: realize you got the target demographics wrong.
step 4: make a video about a failed book you made.
step 5: profit.
Yeah I can imagine the 26 year old male stans buying this book right now
@@vinslungur honestly im vaguely interested now
🧠
@@pathlastname9278 Me too, but not enough to buy it , let alone read it.
@Oskar winters True. The brief two paragraphs I read weren't....great. Would've rather seen him try and try s'more refining it until he could've gotten *actually* published.
This is probably the best ad the book could've had.
Honestly this video made me want to read it more then the previous ones
Considering it's been up for just hours and already has twice the viewership of the book's sneak peek video...
exactly. a change of the approach can do wonders ;D
Sure, I guess... Did a whole bunch of middle school girls start watching the channel by any chance?
Okay, while this video is an interesting look into self publishing, it's still not a good place to advertise the book. Here's hoping enough Dads and Uncles with middle school girls to buy gifts for are watching... Otherwise, maybe a couple hundred to an "influencer" who does cater to middle school girls might be a good idea.
Yeah ive never been guilted by proxy into buying a book before
Austin: I made a book.
Everyone: ...
Austin: No one bought my book.
Everyone: TELL US MORE
Way I see it... the process is more interesting than the result :P
It's like his short film about the making of his short film ... only a few people can get away with it, because only a few people can do it wrong enough the first time to do it right enough the second time - it's an incredible "the making of", much better than "the disaster artist" which was itself pretty good.
SO TRUE
@@Vaaaaadim EXACTLY! That's how he should have done it the first time. He could've put up a video with the title "writing a book is harder than I thought" or something that would attract people's attention.
Hearing about a miserable failure is more interesting than just hearing a pitch + it gives him a kind of underdog appeal; you want to buy the book out of pity for him. Worked for me, I went from considering buying the book to actually buying it :p.
I don't follow this dude. But he always pop-ups in my feed every few years with a failed project. Good for him.
For some reason I found this comment to be very funny.
LOOO
LOL
I'm trying to not be rude but "It's a coming-of-age story about family, high school sweethearts, and growing up in the year 1940" has so little information. It's hard to see what would the hook is? Maybe some of Neva's aspirations? Maybe where in the US this took place? Aside from some good cover art, there's no personality. A good hook is short, but still tells you something about the character/s. I get wanting to not spoil too much, but there's just not enough info there to interest me. I might go back and watch the video (honestly never saw it on my feed) but why is there so little information about this on the actual amazon listing?
Yeah it sounds incredibly boring but I'm definitely not the target audience so I think this criticism is invalid.
@@stanstanstan i think even the target audience would want something more to go on than "a coming-of-age story about family, high school sweethearts, and growing up in the year 1940", surely.
I agree, the character doesn't sound proactive, nor motivated by anything, as far as the description goes.
This post reminds me of the phrase "judging a book by it's cover".
If the premise of a story isn't enough to draw you in as a reader/viewer/listener, then you're likely not the intended audience for that story. If I describe Star Wars as "A young man learns he has special powers and becomes instrumental in a rebellion", that's pretty much the same amount of non-information as Neva's Story, but look at how much money that franchise makes. It's also the exact same description as Eragon, The Matrix, Dune, Animorphs, and an awful lot of YA novels.
To be blunt, you're allowed to personally want more details on a story before getting invested in it, but don't go calling authors out for not giving precise summaries. It's not like that would have made this book perform wildly better.
@@Ryu_Himora i don't really understand your point? yeah, if star wars was marketed with such a bare bones premise and 0 other information then it probably wouldn't have sold as well. it's a good thing they didn't just market it as "a young man learns he has special powers and becomes instrumental in a rebellion" and focused on what made it unique and interesting instead. austin probably should've done the same. i do not understand what point you're making.
i respect this dude a lot, half of his videos are about all the L’s he’s taken, it takes a big man to have that kind of self reflection and drive to keep going
I agree. I have so much respect for him!
Facts, takes a lot to keep putting yourself out there
i just want this guy to just win at something besides youtube
L?
@@thairinkhudr4259 loss
I feel we’re glossing over the fact that you finished your grandma’s story - one that she had specifically wanted you to one day write. That’s awesome, I’m sure she’d be proud (or maybe she is proud right now, depending on how things work). From that perspective, doesn’t really matter how many you sold.
i dont believe the grandma had explicitly wanted him to finish it, his mother did. However, thats still just as cool.
Had she? I think McConnell said she never imagined it'd be finished, and that she just talked about it from time to time.
This man can’t catch a single break with his creative endeavors outside of this channel
Then why not keep doing what works? WE WANT PARACHUTE PART 2.
@@pig0r how to survive a bear attack was pretty much the sequel
@@pig0r I guess that's not what he wants to do. Gotta respect that.
living life, experiencing it all one step at a time.
wish i had his willingness to try new things out :(
@@DOSeater respect, yes! Consume something I don't particulary enjoy just to fulfill an artists dream of "being famous doing what he/she loves", not so much! I love his comedy on that particular sketch, he could totally explore that while trying to send his message through those artistic (and very successful) means! Thats ultimately the point, I think.
Go Austin!
This dude has an amazing way to even capitalise on his failures. It's the second time I'm seeing him do it. Gotta give it to him.
Or maybe he likes being pathetic
for real, I guess he's smart in this regard 😅
It's honestly at least his sixth. There was the video about his failed movie, his failed workshop that nobody came to, the terrible book that he wrote as a teenager, the one about his involvement in a panned Lonelygirl15 spinoff, and the one about Hollywood execs contacting him and about how it all fell through. Guess Austin just has a knack for this.
This guy's workshop failed
He embraced it
His first movie failed
He embraced it
His first book failed
He embraced it
He wrote another book
It failed ...God ..he is such an inspiration
He makes the best behind the scenes videos though
I think his BBU is a success so far his Spider Queen book seems to have sold well, and he raised 50k to make the Atlas movie so
Another long awaited installment in the "I did a thing" series
*"I did a thing...It failed"
Conveniently also the name of an awesome UA-cam channel.
@@mattneff No, I did a thing, I learned a thing or two afterwards, so when it's time for my next book, I'm better prepared....
@@zorinzorinzorin5243 too underrated
It's what he does best :)
I love how this guy's career is basically "I made this and it didn't work or it flat out sucked"
A few thousand isn't that much for him. Trust me, content creators make much more than you think, it's crazy. A youtuber of his size wouldn't really mind a loss of a few thousand. Especially if he planned it out. What you said is true though. What I like about his channel is his honesty.
Just as God intended. To fail and to learn from it
@@French_Canadian_Pea_Soup No no, you got it wrong. He intended to annihilate us with fire falling from the sky.
So the guy is writing a book of someone else. And he isn't even a girl like the person in the book. And he nags about money. If you don't have the spirit and the will, don't start to do it in the first place. And you can't fake this spirit and will artificially.
@@dragonmartijn, did you... did you even watch the video? I can't imagine how anyone could misinterpret Austin's intentions any more than you have.
I remember thinking "oh this looks interesting!"
And then I promptly forgot the book existed
Yeah that's pretty much what I did.
same
yup me too
That was me. I was genuinely curious.
After seeing how many drafts and correction this book went through, I'm amazed that younger me thought it was a good idea to write and publish each chapter of a story one at a time on Wattpad without even having planned the next chapters
God bless the confidence of youth.
“A lady in ____ finds the sweetness of the first love while dealing with the reality of the beginnings of World War II” could be more appealing to young readers.
From an accountant who's spent 10+ years auditing publishers and now self-publishes: honestly, where you went wrong was starting with trying to predict total lifetime sales of your book, instead of focusing on your breakeven point. Even pros at traditional publishing houses get their estimates wrong ALL THE TIME (they'll have fancy spreadsheets and stuff but it all really comes down to wild guesses).
~$5k is fairly middle of the road as far as self-publishing costs go (the typical range is anywhere between $0 to $10k) but if you had created a title P&L to begin with, then monitored how each additional investment you made changed the breakeven point, that would have helped you reduce the size of your loss.
Another thing is the pricing - $12.99 for a paperback and $4.99 for an ebook of a NOVELLA?! Not my genre or niche, so I'm not sure whether this is on par for this particular kind of book, but it seems high to me (especially for a first title by a new author).
Combine that with your cover (does not match the style of the other covers in your categories, which is...not a good thing), your title (super generic - who is Neva and why should we care?) and your blurb (it's all about you and your grandmother, with some very generic stuff - instead of clearly telling someone what kind of story they're in for), I very much doubt the $150 you spent on Amazon ads were effective at all. Readers being targeted by Amazon ads or just coming across your book who don't know anything about you are unlikely to go for it.
HOWEVER!
Based on your current Amazon Best Seller Rank, you're selling about 9 ebooks per day and 19 paperbacks per day right now (maybe this video gave you a boost!) so that's a good place to be in. That boost won't last forever, so you have a narrow opportunity to fix things.
The good news is that your cover and your blurb each matter as much as the contents of your book. Which means 2 out of the 3 factors that drive book sales can STILL be fixed!
In order of least expensive to most expensive:
1. Write a better blurb. (FREE)
Delete the current blurb. The acknowledgements/dedication section is the place to put all the sentimental stuff about why you wrote the book and what it means to you, etc - and yours is already super extensive. The blurb is your sales copy, and it should tell people why your book is awesome and they should buy it. At minimum, they need to know: what kind of story they're in for; who the protagonist is; and what problem/s the protagonist is trying to overcome.
2. Move the dedications/acknowledgements/foreword (why is there a foreword in a fiction NOVELLA?!) sections - move all that stuff to the back of the book! (FREE)
Right now, when a potential buyer clicks on "LOOK INSIDE" (assuming they were even compelled to click on the product page in the first place), the first thing they see is a 2 page foreword about your grandmother, how this book is a book she never finished writing and that you also have questions about...and they haven't even read ANY of the story. All they want at this point is to take a look at the first few pages, and they have to scroll.
(they're probably not going to spend the time scrolling. Most likely they're going to click off and look for a different book)
3. Change the title to something more compelling (FREE). If you're not sure what would be more compelling, come up with 2-3 candidates then do some testing on them with some Facebook ads. ($)
4. Change the cover ($$-$$$)
I know you like the current cover. I know you have already gone through several revisions of it. But your book is listed in "Teen & Young Adult Fiction about Girls & Women", "Teen & Young Adult Girls & Women Fiction" and "Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance eBooks" and its cover doesn't match ANY of the top sellers in those categories. The majority of covers in the first two categories are photo-realistic posed shots of the protagonist in question wearing cool clothes or text only titles with close ups of objects; the majority of covers in the romance category feature the love interest revealing a variable amount of bare chest and/or tattoos and smouldering their best Blue Steel at the camera.
Get a cover that stylistically fits in with the other covers in the categories you're targeting.
If I were you, I would do ALL of the above, because if you've written a good book that people enjoy, you should be able to recoup your investment in the long run if you fix these things now.
At an initial investment of $5,103,24, you only need to sell ~1,050 copies at a $4.89 royalty to go from a financial disaster to breakeven. Let's up that to around 1,200 copies to factor in spending some additional money to fix your cover.
1,200 copies is absolutely doable in self-publishing if you have written the right book for the right audience.
Great advice here!!
I screen shot Thai just because it seems so useful lol
I think he should tag it as period drama/comong of age/romance, I think that will result in a better fitting cover than teen girl in stylish clothes or woman getting her blouse torn off
@@thepinkestpigglet7529 Yep, I am actually not sure if Austin's picked the right Amazon categories for this book. I've only read the preview chapter, and it really doesn't vibe with the rest of the books in those categories.
@@swilson5320 Aww...thanks for that! I've been putting out a lot of videos on the business side of self-publishing on my channel, so it's really gratifying to know that you find it helpful!
I'm probably somewhat within the target demographic of the book (young woman that reads a lot of YA, though I personally dislike YA romance). I watched and liked your original video about this project and loved the idea of finishing your grandma's book. I'm a big fan of your content. I also know exactly why I didn't read the book and never expected it to sell. I could tell as soon as I clicked on the Amazon page. I think I also know why my demographic didn't read the book. I don't think you touched upon any of those reasons in your video. Even if your audience was mostly teenage girls, I doubt you'd sell more than five hundred copies.
Gonna put on my tough-love critic hat on and suggest a few reasons why:
- It's low concept, or at least appears that way. The Amazon page has almost nothing to recommend the book or distinguish it from every other book of its kind. Coming-of-age is just not an interesting descriptor. Most every middle-grade and YA book is some sort of coming-of-age. I'm sure the description "It's a coming-of-age story about family, high school sweethearts, and growing up in the year 1940" fits the book, but it also fits five hundred other books. I'm sure the book has more going for it than just that, but the Amazon page wouldn't indicate it. Young girl in historical period is not enough. Regardless of the target demographic, there's countless books with that specific setting and character age that also have attention-grabbing premises (read the Amazon page for the Book Thief). I don't even know what country your book is set in. Who is Neva? Why should I care about her? I'm not going to pay 5 dollars for a Kindle book that I know nothing about. You also listed that it's a romance, and yet there's no information whatsoever on that. If it's a romance, commit to that and market it as such. Who are the people in the romance? Why should we care about them and hope that their romance is a success? Here's the tricky part. Explain that all as concisely as possible.
- The Amazon page description doesn't readily indicate a genre - it either doesn't have a genre, or isn't marketed according to its genre. Low concept books need a genre. I don't personally understand YA Amish Romances. They're all exactly the same (and all equally dull), but they all fit into a wildly popular genre and so are eagerly consumed. Or maybe it does fit into a genre - YA Historical Romance. If so, no aspect of it is marketed or described like a YA Historical Romance. You'd also need to give out ARCs to Goodreads reviewers that really appreciate that genre, to generate interest. Your platform is not good for marketing books - you're not a booktuber, after all. But you do have connections. You could reach out to Booktubers and ask them to promote your book. Either way, you need to tap into the reading community. This here is not a reading community.
- If it does fit into the genre of YA Historical Romance, then it's too short and the cover's entirely wrong for the genre (though the artwork is lovely, it doesn't look like a book cover). If it was marketed towards middle-school age girls (in which case the genre would be middle-grade, not YA), then the protagonist would have had to been around 12 and wouldn't be romantically involved in any serious way. Middle-grade novels don't feature high school girl protagonists. Even if middle-schoolers will sometimes read YA books they don't fall into that target demographic. You have to a) conform to genre conventions in cover and marketing as well as b) stand out in the genre, especially with an engaging premise. The first part comes before the second.
- Your marketing has been really timid. I get it. You don't want to humiliate yourself with yet another potentially-questionable project. But if you don't even seem to like the book or think it's worth reading, why would I?
- Maybe the average book consumer cares who wrote the book. I don't. I really enjoy Austin McConnell's content, but I would only buy Austin McConnell's book if it grabbed my attention and held it. Ultimately, there was nothing to sell it (not characters, premise, genre, or even prose) besides the fact that you wrote it.
Let's take the hat off now. I'm really glad you wrote it (hope it gave you some closure after your loss) and I'm sure it's wonderful - I just have no way of really knowing it's wonderful.
You're good at taking creative risks. Try seeing what happens if you complete revamp the marketing and Amazon page of this book (and, if possible, make your collaborations and send out book copies to Goodreads reviewers). If your beta readers were worth their salt, I suspect the actual novel is good. All you need now is to market it the way it deserves. It's difficult and it's daunting, but hey - at the very least, you could make a fascinating video about it.
Just know whether you choose to spend more time on this project or move on to a fresh venture, we're all excited to see what you create next.
What a lovely comment! I hope it gets more attention as it is very useful not only for him but also for everyone thinking of publishing a novel.
this comment really hit the mark
It looks like a JF book cover to my librarian eye, or possibly a JF graphic novel. Too cartoony to interest the YA audience.
boost!
That's a pretty cooooool review, good job 👍👏👏👏
If you're saying "a financial disaster", I'm gonna say a few hundred copies.
Yep. Not even 210 copies.
WOW, I overestimated but suprisingly close
I thought it was a hundred, so the result was pretty solid
It's been an hour and this comment has more likes than the book's had purchased.
@@icannotchoose make that a /couple/ & you're in!
As someone who aspires to be an author as well this is a humbling and transparent video.
What I appreciate is you don't sugarcoat your failures and you understand and learned from them. I love that you are showing your mistakes as other people can take them as lessons to get better themselves.
Thank you for this
Me and my good friend have always bonded over literary mediums and writing together, we decided spur of the moment to make a mini book club between the two of us, right as Neva’s Story dropped. We read through it and discussed it weekly, such a good story you’ve put together, your grandmother would be proud.
I see what you're doing, Austin. Hitting us with that reverse psychology. I bet a lot of people are going to buy the book due to this video (including me).
Now THIS is how you advertise.
Oh yeah, I am totally buying it for my sister.
Man is now guilt tripping us into buying this book.
And it's fucking working (for me at least).
already excited for the "My new book turned out big after failing hard. What happened?" video!
I bothered to copyright a book and then never published it. It’s literally in the library of Congress and I never did anything with it.
So... Kindle release when?
So your book got into a library, technically. That's still an accomplishment in my eyes.
@@orangemoustash Well thank you for saying that. Got to start somewhere I guess.
@@rinylvinyl Right, this was 25 years ago, I really do need to do something with it. It’s really just a boring collectors book on American Military History. Would really only appeal to a small demographic. I’m focused on trying to write a book and a movie script and those alone are difficult. If I was more dedicated it would be done already. I’m just open to a lot of discouragement.
@@Die-CastMetal u got it fam, love me some nerdy military history
I'm truly sorry this didn't work out. Regardless, I'm sure your mom and grandmother are very proud.
Your
@@vittovioletcreeper don’t be that guy man
@@conn6r someone had to be him
@@vittovioletcreeper As evidenced by the fact that people are routinely telling you to not be that guy, no you did not have to be that guy
his wallet on the other hand, is depressed
Re losing money on publication:
It's really a memorial to your Grandmother and a gift for your Mother. You could just as well make the e-book version free, or at least on Kindle Unlimited.
I had a similar situation: my wife's Chinese Poetry group wanted to publish a volume, and I warned her about "vanity presses" being a scam. She understood that it wasn't going to be marketed or sold by anyone, but she wanted to buy a bunch of copies to help finance the print run for the benefit of others in her group that could not afford to.
This isn't a common print-on-demand book, but a beautifully made, high-quality volume. And I have about a dozen left after giving out a bunch.
Man, you are SO LUCKY to have that bit of creativity from your grandma. My great grandpa was a treasure hunter and a rock hound, and he had hand drawn maps of the mojave that were fucking thrown away by another relative after my great grandpa died. the only reason given was "they weren't worth anything." Some relatives are just vultures, waiting for the richest old person in the family tree to die so they can swoop in and pick the bones clean. Totally not bitter that LITERAL TREASURE MAPS are gone forever. At least i have one thing though, which is an awesome portrait my great grandpa drew of my great grandma on one of his air force manuals during WWII, and i have some of his minerals. You are lucky if you leave anything behind after you die that anyone finds value in
Now that you’ve made a video in the style of your audience’s tastes, I think you might get more sales from your audience
That’s exactly why I was thinking
Maybe that was secretly his plan all along.
Viewers buying the book out of pity will easily double it's initial sales
@@guacamolenightmaretv7720 to 400 you mean? Lol
@@guacamolenightmaretv7720 Perhaps more than double would be better.
I almost wish Austin had published it with a different title and different cover art. As a teenage girl (pretty close to the target audience) the name and picture don't draw me in at all. The bit about it being his grandma's story does though, so maybe that should've been included. That part seems too cool to not put front and center anyway.
Gotta admire the effort that went into it though!
Ya, you need somthing to draw a crowd.
Yeah the title sucked
I agree about the title, but I love the cover art.
Great criticism lol
If I saw this at a bookstore I might have had picked it up and read the description. But the description doesn't make it sound interesting. I think that was it's biggest flaw.
As an aspiring author, this is the kind of video I needed to see. I don’t know if I’ll go the self-publishing route, but it’s nice to get a look at what it entails.
Focus a lot on marketing. Not as, change your product, but discover who likes your book, and how you will get them to read it.
Try doing small stories first that you don’t care much about. It’s good practice and a great way to test ideas.
Austin earns a lot of money because of yt and he can afford to just lose a few thousand which would be a lot for an average joe like yourself. Yeah, probably a good lesson.
And definitely try to market your book so you can get some professional reviews of it out ahead of or at release day. The higher profile the reviewing source, the better.
Daniel Greene and Lindsey Ellis are both UA-camrs who recently published their first books in the last few months. They both talk about their experiences and what they've learned.
I think it's very sweet that you turned your grandma's story into a real book, and the fact that you basically did it to make your mom's wish come true. that's amazing, Austin
as an english major currently taking a seminar in coming of age modern american fiction (yes this is an amazing coincidence) the one thing i really wish you had done differently was the title. i’ll be honest, i didn’t buy or read the book, but the title is probably part of the reason why. i’ll point to two novellas i read in class the past two weeks for this aforementioned seminar. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, and “We the Animals” by Justin Torres. these titles tell me what i’m reading in one way or another. theyre wildly different from each other but theyre both evocative in some distinct way. and they mean so much more after the story is over. an amateur mistake that i make often in my writing is letting the title be an afterthought. maybe your title came from your grandmother’s original vision which is great. and i haven’t read the book so maybe the title says more with the added context of the story, but titles in principle should say something ABOUT the story because people read titles before they even read the synopsis. the idea was there and i definitely admire you for the risk. i was one of the people who watched the original announcement videos when they came out, so i guess this is a peek into what kept me from even checking out the amazon page. i admit it is literally judging a book by its cover, but i’m just gonna be honest here.
Honestly, big respect for the dedication he put into this.
what i love about you is that you are honest about making a crap ton of mistakes, and are able to effectively reflect on those mistakes and share it with others. You are wildly different from other content creators because you aren't shy about being human and making mistakes. This might sound odd, but you are the most real and human content creator on youtube.
I agree. That's why his videos appeal to me so much.
You were definitely missing professional reviews as well. You have the connections to reach out and get your works reviewed in other publications, I have to assume. I was looking forward to writing a Wikipedia article on Neva's Story, but there was nothing to work with. No reviews anywhere to serve as reliable secondary sources for building an article.
How does one do that? Asking for a friend.
@@thairinkhudr4259 Get reviews, I assume you mean? There's organizations and other avenues to try and get newspaper and other reviews of your book. Though it's definitely harder to do so if you're self-published. Cultivating relationships with publishing people and literature journalists would be helpful.
@@Silverizael Cultivate connections with people in publishing and literary world, got it. Thank you!
it’s so refreshing seeing someone be honest about failure, thank you for not glorifying your life austin
I am looking forward to reading Neva’s Story while taking a 7-hour flight to visit my mother. I haven’t seen her in three years. That first hug will be special because our moms are special.
“Financial Disaster” doesn’t inspire _much_ optimism, as a title.
Does inspire A LOT of interest though.
@@nognit this man just singlehandedly explained all of YT right now.
@@lvbboi9 All of YT for the last 5+ years
@@lvbboi9 tbf, content creators still do make a shit ton of money. A few thousand isn't too much for a channel of his size. I find it hilarious though, that his audience is comprised of young adults to middle aged males bur his book caters towards teenage girls. As he states in the video, it ain't his brightest moment.
Most books aren't financially successful. Doesn't make them bad books.
I'm sorry your book failed, but you have to admit, that "Neva's story" doesn't inspire a lot of interest in the actual... You know, story. At least you could have given the accompanying videos a catchier title, but I appreciate how you did things and your honesty!
Yeah, that’s really what kinda stood out to me watching this video about the development.
The full title is “Neva’s Story: A Coming-of-Age Romance in 1940s America.” It sounds very clinical and uninteresting as a result. Needed a more attention-grabbing title.
@@jackdaone6469 I personally think just calling it "Neva" would have been more captivating, as it won't give away what it's about from a first glance at the front.
But then, it's his mom and grandma's story, not his, so I doubt changing the title would be something that would be considered.
Titles aren't nearly as important as you think. Unless a book's title is literally unprintable or egregiously misleading, it will never be a roadblock to selling it. Like, think of the dumbest, most unsellable title you can imagine that's fit to print, and I can probably find you a comparable book that was on the bestseller list at some point (I won't actually bother doing that fyi, so don't waste your time, but you can play the game yourself if you want)
@@z-beeblebrox An example for a good, catchy title: Dostoyevski "Crime and Punishment". Boom, it's "in your face". You want to read what it's all about! ... Tell me that titles arent "as important as you think"... They a r e. The title and the cover art are one of the things you see first if you're looking though the book shelves...
Should have called it avengers endgame
Ive Seen you host a Seminar with NO ONE in attendance, still went through with the whole powerpoint lol You're Fearless
but if no one was there how’d you see it
@@Solarof928 His wife filmed it lmao.
@@madamebkrt Lmaooo
whats fearless about it, no one there to judge you lol
The guy is BEYOND genuine!
You’re such an interesting person, the way you learn and view successes and failures as a learning opportunity is amazing. Really inspiring
I published my own book, doing my own marketing, no beta readers or anything. I paid 5k for marketing and print versions to sell. Total, I made 6k. I call that a good wash as that's my hobby. But hiring all those people for a 20k story? That's ludicrous!!! My stories go up to 80k words. You should have spent that money on your own development as a writer...which is weird...because you write out your transcripts for your videos, right?
"By the way, go make a website"
Best segue to a corporate sponsorship ever
i burst into laughing
It really felt like "Well, I gotta make up that money now"
I first subscribed to Austin when I heard him finish a video with "Feel free to subscribe, or not, I don't really care."
I love how you casually listed Brandon Sanderson, who has sold over 10 million copies, alongside regular book-tubers.
*author tubers
@@theimplications635 Some booktubers have become authors as well.
I love Brandon Sanderson, particularly his Stormlight Archive works. Shallan and Adolin are life lol. But since each book comes out once in every few years, I've been resisting the urge to read Rhythm of War for quite a while now, so please no spoilers =D
@@nosananolife4190 All I'll say is that you will not be disappointed!
Probably because he's also on youtube, giving lectures to help writers. It makes sense to include him if his writing advice helped in the writing or publishing process.
Perhaps a book containing “Useless Information” would have been a hit?
THIS, read this Austin! I want a large illustrated book countaining tons of useless information.
@@Game_Hero i want
Austin gonna make a bank out of this
I love how willing you are to just laugh at yourself and take things in stride. Respect.
Man your approach to this is so refreshing. It's somehow more motivating than seeing someone succeed at something
Agreed 💯
It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message…..
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
And the message is, "where's my money?"
When you’re dropping four g on editing, it’s at least partly to do with the money.
One of the reasons I like Austin's channel is that he fails quite a bit and keeps at it. It's a reminder that failure is ok and getting help is too 😉. Perseverance wins in the end.
"I have an audience" - top 10 moments before disaster.
Probably because that audience consisted of young adults to middle aged men, and he tried to sell them a book meant for young girls. Idk what he thought was gonna happen.
@@insertnamehere658 like seriously did he never notice what happens to his vids or what?
You always teach us valuable lessons from your “failures”. Thank you for the vulnerability and honesty. I bet your family is so proud of the book.
Austin, I am _thrilled_ to know I am not the only one with results like this. I self-published a novel and a sequel novella a decade ago and, after similar collaborative and financial investments, I sold about 30 copies. And my book and sequel were about a young woman, giving me the same genre conflicts. However, since I didn't have any 1 mullion-plus subscribers, I guess I'm ahead of your pace! 😉
Ouch.
- You spent 5x more than the average self-published author
- Middle-grade does better in traditional publishing
- You didn't market to middle-grade sources at all (like teachers/parents/librarians)
- Your cover, although very beautiful, is not on market and does not pop
- You wrote a book you weren't passionate about
- You wrote too it too short
- You priced it too high
Hi, Austin. I love your channel, and I commend you for fulfilling your nana and mother's dream, that's really lovely (I hope my kids grow up to be like you one day).
Self-publishing is definitely a different game than traditional and, based on the sources you gave, I think you needed a lot more research into the business side of things.
I will say, A LOT of people make the same mistakes you did on their first try, so you're not alone. I hope your video will serve as a great warning to help other authors from diving too deep, too fast.
Because this wasn't about money, just writing a beautiful story, I think you achieved your goal regardless. Writing a book that's meaningful to you doesn't always have to be about turning a profit. It can be about the journey and the satisfaction you feel at the end.
I'm sure your mom and nana would be proud of you (I would be if my son had done this). Good on you and good luck with your future projects.
Wonderful analysis of the key issues! :)
Did he say he wasn’t passionate? I mean… everyone who’s read it liked it…. So that criticism seems odd.
Ah, good question. I got that because:
1. It wasn't his idea
2. He said he struggled because he was a different demographic than the protagonist
3. He had difficulty getting it to 20,000 words
4. He spent so much on developmental edits and re-edits
I have no doubt he was passionate about the project (based on all the work he put into it), just not the story.
As a viewer who's followed his channel for a REALLY long time, I'm going to put my armchair psychologist goggles on for a minute and say I also think his struggle with wanting to be an author but not having a "good idea" stems from the paralysis of needing said idea to be "the big idea" or "the perfect idea".
(I only say that in the hopes he reads this and breaks past that fear)
Letting go is something a lot of successful authors have to do. Most of the time their favourite books are not the ones they're remembered for (Harlan Ellison is a good example of this).
It's never EVER the idea, it's the execution.
Anyways, thanks for letting me ramble haha. I'm just glad to be getting new content from Austin, he never disappoints.
Yeah, back when you were marketing it, I was thinking “wrong demo” the whole time. But as someone who starts and stops a lot of similar projects myself, I was rooting for you, and still am. Perhaps it’s not too late to go back to the traditional publishing house route?
Another thing that comes to mind is that maybe people would be more interested if the book were something more related to the channel, and sounded more like Austin. Like many, I got here via the Useless Information vids but stayed for the extremely relatable personal stories of creative endeavors. I used to make comics and video games - and the readers of my comics weren't interested in my games, and the few people who played my games cared about comics even less.
@@Po4to Honestly the best way to make it work would be to either focus on one, or have them connected, but separate. Like, both in the same universe, but each one is their own story within it; that way, if either is interested, they may be inclined to either play the game or read the comic.
It's good to know you're still posting. A lot of people were worried.
What?.... this is a standard amount of time between videos on his channel.... who was worried about him?
Watch his videos...
You'll know
@@brooksbrooks6805 see his recent vids
He just posted a month ago wtf lol
@@brooksbrooks6805 He has a heart condition that could kill him.
5:00 and that was your mistake, assuming a majority of your audience is interested in anything other than your UA-cam content. Even content creators that have merch stores have like less than 10% of their audience ACTUALLY buy anything.
"Here's the beginning of my new book"
😴
"My new book was a financial disaster"
👁👄👁
I genuinely wished I had your motivation, persistence, and resilience.
Fr, i could do so much with it
Mashallah
I'm just glad you're still kicking my dude. Here's to more potential successes (or failures) in the future.
This comment represent the target audience of this channel well. Same here, am glad as well.
I would have been too afraid of failing to get as far as to show my first draft to anyone in the world... Your tenacity and work ethic is very admirable.
Very true
Mashallah
Woah brooks brooks a cool name thats probably fake but still funny also rip
Your "failure" in this books venture actually turned out to be a quite successful story in it's own right. Mad props to you
It’s awesome to see you admit mistakes you made. That takes a lot
Austin's dedication to keep on creating despite his failures motivates me. I have no right to lose confidence in my own work now.
Honestly, one of my favorite parts about your channel is that I have no idea what you'll put out next.
Obvious reasons that come to mind:
- Coming-of-age stories with your chosen target demographic are run-of-the-mill and the market is saturated.
- Your name isn't well-known in the publishing world
- UA-cam subscribers does not in any way translate to a desire for people to consume or purchase other works by you
- You immediately jumped into corporate book-writing, which turns it into a work designed by committee.
- Self-Publishing leads to lack of advertising.
in light of that, I'd expect maybe 1000 copies or so. I mean I watch your videos from time to time but I doubt I'd buy a book you wrote unless it had a LOT going for it.
**Post-Reveal**: Oh dear. That was even fewer copies than I expected.
Even if this were in my middle school bookshelf I see no reason why I'd pick it up. All I can find plot wise is a coming-of-age romance in the 1940s. Which would probably not interest most middle schoolers. It's genre-savvy which many middle schoolers aren't, and it's in the 1940s which if you're a middle schooler is also not very interesting. How about summarizing what happens in the first chapter or the overarching theme or plot so I can see if this is something I'd want to read about.
He made 2 videos promoting his book, those did horribly, then he did a book about how the book sucked and it got hundreds of thousands of views
Between this, and Lindsay's videos on the subject, I've actually learned a lot about the process of writing, drafting, and publishing a first book.
The story of how he wrote this story is a nice story in itself
Storyception
When his best-selling book is how not to write a book (in terms of finding interesting content, advertising, and marketing)
Let's take a minute of an appreciation for Squarespace, for helping you recover your loss.
Thanks for making the video on this experience. We're looking forward to another one.
Dude I almost started crying a minute in. At first I was stunned at you had blown past the fact that your mother had passed. Then you pulled out that old short story written by the grandmother and immediately just that sense of interconnectedness hit. Like I can only imagine the emotion for your, someone whom actually had memories of the two.
Its amazing that you put in so much effort into making something like this. This project was a huge undertaking, the amount of time and effort you put into it should definitely be celebrated.
That said, I can honestly say, I'm Neva gonna read it.
This guy literally has a million subs and he's still doing other creative endeavors. Good for him.
Don’t downplay how impressive writing a book is. Congrats man.
It really isn't but sure man
@@Whatismusic123 Hear that? It’s the sound of someone who’s never written a book before.
@@TheShadesOfBlack you hear that? It's the sound of lack of creativity
@@TheShadesOfBlack TBf your response doesn't make much sense because that's like saying you can't call a movie bad just because you've never mad one. Whether the og is right or wrong, your own logic is flawed.
@@crazydragy4233 It was a joke.
Jesus Christ this man can't catch a break .
At this point he can create a separate playlist for all the rough things he has gone through during these past few years..
Sorry for your loss Austin
What I took from this was to get a publisher. Why? Because it's okay to ask for help, and sometimes the help comes from people who ask questions I don't know to ask. For instance: I know who my target audience is, do I know where they'll come from? My hook sounds great to me, but does it generate interest in potential readers? Where the heck do I market this thing?
Austin then: "My grandma started writing a book about high school in her time, sweethearts and growing up in the 1940s. I finished it."
Austin now: "My new book was a financial disaster. What happened?"
*BRUH*
Imagine being encouraged to finish a manuscript another family member started. Creative family, really cool.
One of my favourite books, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (funny title, but great book lol) was written this way as well. The writer wrote most of it but passed before she could finish and her granddaughter finished writing it.
Austin really out here roasting his Gramma-ma’s stories smh.
Huh, I spell it grand-mama
@@misteryA555 that's because you're correct
@@WobstaCat dang does that mean I'm wrong? tragedy. shoutout to all the gramma/grandma-mas
This was obviously a terrible idea, I'm a 32 year old man and every work in the sentence "Coming of age tale about a young girl in her jr year of high school in the 1940s" makes me want to the read book less than the word that came before it.
truth bomb lol
im a 14 year old girl and i would never even think that this would be a good book to read
My book is on 92 drafts.
I number each version and as the story progresses and changes are made.
You’re right in saying that you should’ve built up more hype for your book. When I saw your video in my feed I thought, huh, Austin wrote a random short story, I’m not interested in random short stories. When this video came out, I had genuinely forgotten you wrote something and was surprised you put so much effort into it. Your last video’s title read “two week passion project of unknown genre and unknown premise from unknown grandma”. The title Nova’s Story certainly isn’t doing you any favours. From the title and cover art itself I have no incentive to buy the book other than your name attached to it. Once again I don’t know what the story is about other than the age and setting, and honestly most internet users like myself don’t care enough to do further research.
Edit: just looked at the Amazon book description. WHY ISNT THERE A DESCRIPTION? There’s nothing about the actual story. The words “coming of age” isn’t an adequate description, it’s just a genre. The rest of all of it is about you. You’re really leaning on the UA-cam brand here, so much so that you didn’t bother marketing the actual writing at all.
Austin, I liked this video, and I hope your book does well. But I do not have the disposable income to buy a book that seems extremely unconfident in its actual contents. This looks (at a glance) like some of the low quality merch people are expected to buy to support their favourite UA-camr and never use. I know from this video that this isn’t the case, but it’s no surprise this book didn’t do well on release
Yeah this is a bit self sabotagy
Yeah... Honestly, the title _"Neva's Story"_ feels like a generic children's book slapped together in hopes of getting a quick buck (I know it sounds harsh, but hey, I must be honest about this). And overall, it seems like that the presentation could be much better.
I mean, (in the cover art) how does a girl shopping for clothes have any value, significance, or *relevance* to the overall story? Is that her favorite hobby?
I know I'm not getting this book either, and I'm not exactly a part of its target audience (after all, I am a teenage *boy* who's fascinated by different topics, primarily historical _nonfiction,_ sciences, etc.). Overall, I wholeheartedly agree with your ending statements--but I'd only wish him well until he corrects those additional issues, including the ones you've presented quite well.
I'm not exactly the target audience either because I'm 29, but I am female, do love books in this genre and pretty much exclusively read historical fiction. I agree with everything that was said in both Olivia and SuperSonic's comments
It doesn't really matter who his target audience is... it's the fact that he just didn't market and put very little thought into it that ultimately doomed the book. I think he just approached the project wrong and it didn't come up to him to think of this stuff.
Something I noticed was that the title and cover art really weren't that interesting. I'd suggest a more intriguing title that sounds a little more poetic, and have "Neva's story" be the subtitle. something like "when the trees swayed with my heart: Neva's story" except better because you are the author and you know the story and themes much better than I do. (note: this is obviously my own personal observations, and I'm probably alone in most parts) The cover art just wasn't that eye-catching. Now that I know more about I definitely might check out the audio book. Excellent video, as always. Very informative on what it takes to actually write a book.
Unrelated but your pfp tells me you are a true man of culture as well.
Even just “Neva” would’ve been a better title - it’s an unusual name and would stand out!
yeah. the title was especially poor. The cover-art was very evocative of ladybird books 40-50 years ago. Which is probably not what it was meant to be.
“That time I a teenager from 1940’s America got taken to another world”
I agree about the title (not the one you suggest though, that's a bit extensively corny) but I love the cover art.
Thank you for being so transparent in this video. I've self-published a picture book. Did hype, farmer's markets, deals with local animal shelters (it's a rescue pup book) even got on the front page of the local paper, and only sold a little over 200 as well. I was very dejected about it, but seeing your similar experience at least lets me know I'm not alone. And you are right: it is fun to try stuff. Best of luck recouping your investment.
What's your book tho?
You might've gotten screwed by the algo on those videos too, I literally never had them pop up on my recommended and I try and watch all your new stuff.
There's a fundamental problem with the book's description. You have more words describing yourself there than the book. It doesn't make me want to read it because I have no idea what it's about. Let me put it simply, being a girl in the 1940s isn't a story. It's a setting and a character. So what actually happens in the story?? What conflict does the main character face and what characters are important to the plot?? The only reason I would read this book is due to your channel and you in particular, not because the book sounds entertaining.
I distinctly remember watching that video, looking at the view count, and feeling bad. While this isn't a surprise, I think you deserved a lot better than 200 something copies for what it's worth.
Haha I'm one of those people who had no idea you even wrote a book. Somehow I missed it! I picked up a copy though. Definitely interested in giving it a shot. I always love how you just roll with the punches. Can't wait to see what you do next!
how did you comment here? wizard
Wtf
How the fuck did you post this comment 1 week ago
@@Br00tz966 it says one week ago for me lol
@@Br00tz966 Simple: Patreon.
I haven’t seen any of your videos recommended to me for over a year, despite being subscribed. Had no idea this was a thing.
Damn. I remember seeing the announcement video on my feed, thinking "sure doesn't look like my thing but best of luck to him" and scrolling on.
Sorry it went so poorly man. It may not be my thing, but you deserved more than a couple hundred sales.
I don't think anything is deserved if the story isn't good enough
As someone currently dealing with their own creative endeavour failures in a different market, this video hits me deep. It's not a book I would consider buying under normal circumstances, but god damn, I think its so important to support these kind of things. I purchased it as an audio book and going to listen to it while I'm working. Never stop trying new things, Austin. We appreciate it all.
I'm glad to have purchased and listened to the audiobook back in July. I listened to it with my family on a car ride and we genuinely enjoyed it, mostly because of the story of how and why you wrote it. It's not my normal cup of tea but I am glad to have been one of the few people to experience it.
Austin: I’ll never financially recover from this.
Also Austin: uses this this video to have a minor financial recovery.
Austin McConnell and Brandon Sanderson aren't the 2 names that I would've expected to be related by a long mile.
I know, right?
Yeah, I'm really curious in what specific capacity Austin was able to rope in Sanderson.
I just watched his lecture series. A few of the mentioned authors helped out directly, but most of them I just binged all their advice videos.
@@austinmcconnell Thanks for clarifying.
@Cade Lobo I kind of inferred that by the links to his UA-cam channel, referencing him last, and the statement that some where indirect - assuming direct help was listed first.
I can't speak for anyone but myself, but your two previous videos about the book never appeared in my feed. Every other video from last year did, but I never knew those two existed. I clicked on this video thinking "why didn't he make a video to promote this?"
05:44 "I am a man of few abilities." Maaan! That landed deeply at home.
However, respect to you on how calmly you accept this and the fact that does not determine the effort you put to accomplish the things you run after.
This is a great ad for the book! He knows his audience loves hearing about his various failures
Task failed successfully
I guessed 900 copies and was surprised by the real number. Wow. Real lessons learned here by you and us all.
Okay, I'm in the middle of rewriting my fourth book and it's nice to know that it will take a few drafts until things actually feel like they're going somewhere. Just because it was a "financial disaster" doesn't mean it wasn't worthwhile.
Your mom and your grandmother would be very proud of you Austin! Both for completing the work, finding the resources you need to finish the things you knew you couldn't do on your own, and for learning and growing as a person. Financial success isn't the only measure of success, and I think you should be proud of yourself as well :)
Austin: "Here's the people I took advice from, go follow them for more information!"
Also Austin: "My book's sales are an absolute trainwreck, the reviews are average, and the videos about it were failures too"