The level of success an author has is directly related to the amount of effort they put into their work. This has been said over and over again and has resulted in many authors becoming great successes over the last few years. But there has always a quandary: Is the Western readership growing or dying? Actually, it’s growing, but that growth has been driven by ‘Westernization’—a concentration of effort through a sales formula from authors to please the core readership and take care of their natural readers before reaching out to the readers of other genres. Peter Alan Turner is no exception. Once he learned the correct formula for ‘Westernization’ after attending one of my webinars, he knew that he could make it fit his work—and fit it did, as his new Western “Bear Willis: Mountain Man” has made its first appearance inside the top one hundred. It’s his first appearance after many years of writing.
Success and ‘Westernization’ comes from understanding the taste and reading habits of the Western readership. You see, Western readers already know what they want to read. They have made it abundantly clear what their preference is. Look at the bestseller chart to receive an education in readers’ taste. The trick for an author and the promoter is to balance their own artistic needs against the desires of the readership to come away with a winning product, one that socks it to the Western readers first, and goes for secondary genres second, third and fourth.
Sure, we would all like to write everything we want to write, and that is possible, as long as you have the formula in mind. For years, writers were trying to pick up Western readers, and thriller readers, and science fiction readers. This was a mistake. ‘Westernization’ calls for books the Western reader will want first. This sales formula can be applied to any Western, and that’s one of the reasons we are seeing more Westerns selling today than in many previous years. The fact is the formula is the striking point—it’s a way for you to concentrate the power of your writing to make sure it’s read by the readership because it’s created and promoted directly to them.
Yes, the Western genre is undergoing a ‘Westernization’ process at the moment. Instead of Western authors becoming more and more creative in their ways to put their books in front of other audiences, the Western is being written for the Western readership, and the formula is leading the way. I expect to see more success from Peter Alan Turner as he continues this very exciting process of ‘Westernization’ for his novels… and it all happened because he could answer the following questions:
Can you see how the formula would help sell your Western stories to readers?
When an author jumps right in with a new idea, you know they have the right idea. It was only shortly after the webinar that Peter took the elements that made the formula a success and turned them into a plot idea, no discussion needed. He knew the formula was something he could work with, and work with he did.
Are you interested in selling Westerns?
Everyone thinks they are interested in selling books, but some don’t want to change direction to do it. There were no problems with that in this case. “Bear Willis: Mountain Man” was delivered soon after conception. I think Peter was very interested in selling Westerns.
When do you think you ought to start selling Westerns?
Pronto. Now. Straight away.
And a commitment was made. He wrote the books, I sold them, and now with this first top one hundred smash, he is sitting pretty for future success as the policy of “Westernization” drives more, and more authors towards the top of the bestseller chart.
And how about you? Do you think you’d like to try the formula? How do these questions look when you answer them? Remember this, friend, it takes a lot longer to build a whole town than it does to build a wood hut, but the right blueprints can save you a lot of time. Heck, if you want to discuss the formula, you can send me a note through the form below. I always like hearing from the next Western bestseller.
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