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How My Book Became a Hit with Elderly People

2022-09-28 · story · John · 3:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Books & writing) · mode: Explainer · tags: self promotion, calendar ritual

John tells how Amazon's algorithm, after the hardcover of The Anthropocene Reviewed sold out, began treating the large print edition as canonical, making it a USA Today bestseller among elderly readers; he concludes publishers must modernize and that algorithms and humans steer each other in ways we don't fully understand.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting, breathless Pizza John workout gear plug, setup of the story

  • ★★ Breathless from a workout in his Pizza John football jersey, hand towel and water bottle, John says all of it is available only at Pizzamas.com for 12 more days. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Pizzamas, Pizza John
  • ★★ John's book The Anthropocene Reviewed came out last May in hardcover but not in paperback. — 00:00:00 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

00:00:27 — Why hardcovers come out before paperbacks, why that is antiquated, and why The Anthropocene Reviewed has only a large print paperback

  • ★★ Traditionally hardcovers come out about a year before the paperback; fans pay extra to read early and own a beautiful object, so everyone makes more money. — 00:00:27
  • ★★ With his novels, John makes about twice as much per hardcover sale as per paperback sale. — 00:00:27
  • ★★★ John calls this, like much of traditional publishing, wildly antiquated: it may have made sense in 2005, but readers now rightly expect to read in whatever format they want. — 00:00:56 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ There is no paperback of The Anthropocene Reviewed except the large print edition, designed for people who want or need larger type. — 00:00:56 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

00:01:25 — How Amazon's algorithm made the large print edition a USA Today bestseller and brought elderly readers

  • ★★ Some Amazon buyers click 'paperback' and accidentally buy the large print edition of The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:01:25 · Amazon, The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ As this is his first book for adults, John is lucky to have many older readers and others who benefit from large print. — 00:01:25
  • ★★★ The biggest reason: the hardcover sold out at Amazon after many people ordered it at once for Sharon McMahon's book club, thousands in a single day. — 00:01:55 · Amazon
  • ★★★ With only the large print edition in stock, Amazon's algorithm marketed it as the primary edition, and people bought more of it than they had of the hardcover. — 00:01:55 · Amazon, recommender system
  • ★★★ The algorithm concluded people prefer the large print edition and has shown it disproportionately for four months, making it a USA Today bestseller. — 00:02:24 · Amazon, recommender system, The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ Because the large print edition sells well, Amazon recommends the book to people who mostly buy large print editions, who tend to be elderly, producing more large print sales. — 00:02:53 · Amazon, recommender system
  • ★★★ John has seen a huge, lovely surge of fan mail from older people who have never heard of him through TikTok or The Fault in Our Stars but like the book. — 00:02:53 · TikTok, The Fault in Our Stars

00:03:22 — Lessons: publishers should modernize; algorithms and humans direct each other; Pizzamas reminder and sign-off

  • ★★★ John's point: a tiny algorithmic quirk created a self-reinforcing cycle, a phenomenon also seen elsewhere on the internet. — 00:03:22 · recommender system
  • ★★★ First lesson: publishers need to get with the times and publish both special editions and inexpensive paperbacks for those who want each. — 00:03:22

  • ★★★ Second lesson: algorithms are directed by humans and humans by algorithms, in ways we do not fully understand. — 00:03:22 · recommender system

    “algorithms are human-directed and humans are algorithm-directed in ways we do not fully understand”

  • ★★ Third lesson, John jokes: get all your Pizzamas stuff at Pizzamas.com before it's too late. — 00:03:22 · Pizzamas

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Amazon · Large-print · recommender system · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Also: People: Sharon McMahon

Projects: Pizzamas

Works: Looking for Alaska (novel) · The Fault in Our Stars

Organizations: TikTok · USA Today

Terms: Pizza John

Concepts: audiobook · Hardcover · Paperback · vicious circle

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