I've recently dived into Blindside, one of many FBI Thrillers penned by Catherine Coulter. Her customers gave her 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon for Blindside, Book 8 of her FBI Thrillers. Did I mention there are 22 of these books?
I wanted to know how these books worked, what kept people coming back again and again to them, what kept people turning the pages and laying down their hard-earned money—and to hopefully find a satisfying fast read in the process!
Well, I didn't finish even one book...but I did learn a few things. Here's what one Goodreads commenter thought of Split Second, FBI Thriller #15:
...plenty of action and enough sub plots to keep you guessing. Savich and Sherlock still have the necessary magic between them to keep you invested in them. Each story line is brought to its conclusion by the end of the book. I did not lose interest mid way the book as I have done in some other books I have read.
There are like 3 other thriller novels named Split Second by the way by other authors. (Damn! There goes my novel's next title!)
And here's what 'Grandma' of Amazon said of Blindside:
Catherine Coulter keeps you coming back time and time again. All her books have wonderful plots, great characters and always have a love story in every FBI story. Can’t put them down. Different settings with beautiful descriptions of whatever area of the country the story is set. The plot of Blindside was different and exciting from the first page.
There are also many other commenters who emphatically feel the opposite: The plot's phony and/or forced. The romantic subplots hokey. The dialogue moronic. The characters cardboard-cutouts, and on, and on...While authors like Catherine Coulter may turnup the noses of people who want to read "real" literature—ahem—how many books has she sold? How many readers does she have?
Despite the obvious elements of her series that keep her customers satisfied and coming back for more (such as repeated main characters; predictable plots—yes—where the heroes always win, but with twists and surprises in them nonetheless; page-turniness; familiar American settings; etc.), there is yet one additional element I've learned which keeps Coulter's fan base shelling out that dough (her novels go for like $9.99 each): Loyalty.
Specifically: brand loyalty.
Specifically: brand loyalty.
Read the Wikipedia article. Read the comments on Amazon and Goodreads from satisfied, loyal customers. Even loyalists who are disappointed in one FBI Thriller series will pick up the next one in hopes of rereading and rediscovering that which made them a loyalist first place.
There forms, I believe, an emotional attachment of reader to author. A relationship. That said, there are limits to that relationship. Stray too far from your audience's tastes and/or expectations and they'll dump you for that other product on the shelf next to yours—just as an easy reach away. Plus there are different types of brand loyalty (read the Wiki article!).
There forms, I believe, an emotional attachment of reader to author. A relationship. That said, there are limits to that relationship. Stray too far from your audience's tastes and/or expectations and they'll dump you for that other product on the shelf next to yours—just as an easy reach away. Plus there are different types of brand loyalty (read the Wiki article!).
But Coulter knows her audience and she knows their expectations. She keeps hitting them on the mark and that's why she's sold 80-plus novels and, God knows, has got 80 more to go. And they'll sell. You know why? As Coulter said herself of her fans: “They’re loyal...”