AuthorScale Half-Year Report (Jan - Jul 2024)
Dear AuthorScale Community,
Our phenomenal launch has seen over 3,000 indie authors sign up to elevate their #booktok and slideshow game. For those unfamiliar with #booktok or slideshow strategies for indie authors, find out more here.
We've received numerous requests from our community to provide insights into slideshow trends—what's working, what isn’t, and why certain slideshows go viral. Here are our findings based on an analysis of 13,338 posts:
Analysis of Top Slideshow Accounts
We analyzed posts to identify patterns among viral slideshows and those that didn’t. Many accounts are run by indie authors earning 6-7 figures annually. The timeline graph below illustrates that maintaining high post frequency is key; perseverance is crucial for eventual virality. At AuthorScale, we offer a money-back guarantee if you post 3 times a day for 30 days without a post exceeding 5k views.
Recent Viral Posts
Post 1: Nikki Ash
Account: @authornikkiash
Link to post: https://www.tiktok.com/@authornikkiash/video/7366457000818969899
Views: 10,200,000
Post Date: 2024-05-08
Observations: The post likely went viral due to a compelling combination of a highly emotional scene about unexpected parenthood, the visual impact of a relatable and sexy firefighter, and a suspenseful narrative that captivates viewers. The scenario is highly relatable, drawing people in with its surprising twist and heartfelt conclusion. These elements together create a compelling and shareable piece of content that resonates deeply with a broad audience, especially those interested in firefighter and secret baby tropes within the romance category.
Takeaways:
Opening Line: Try to start your slideshow text with “when you…”. This is a common theme we’ve seen other indie authors use successfully too. When using AuthorScale’s Slideshow Suite, you can let the system know which opening line you’d like to start with (for example “when you…”) and it will suggest posts starting with that opening line. Nikki Ash frequently uses this opening line, as seen in her other viral posts here and here.
Content: Make your slideshow texts relatable by starting with a sentence that everyone can relate to, then mix it up with a fictional scene that is rather unrelatable and rare (i.e., the baby situation above). This way, you make the reader feel part of the story.
Amount of Slides: Experiment with putting all slides onto one picture or video instead of spreading them out.
Background: Reuse effective backgrounds from viral posts instead of overengineering the background.
Post 2: Kelsie Rae
Account: @authorkelsierae
Link to post: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorkelsierae/video/7382673489615949102
Views: 2,800,000
Post Date: 2024-06-20
Observations: The post resonated with people because it immediately grabs attention with a controversial and relatable opening line about an OnlyFans account. It highlights the real-life struggles and desperation many face, along with the unintended consequences and regret that follow. The fantasy element of a powerful figure stepping in to help adds a layer of intrigue and wish-fulfillment. The detailed, emotional, and suspenseful storytelling keeps viewers hooked, creating a compelling narrative that resonates on both an emotional and fantastical level.
Takeaways:
Opening Line: She chooses the famous “when you” opening line that we also found in the post investigated above. Then she uses “OF” and “backfire” in the same sentence, which is genius as it creates an intriguing situation that readers would want to have resolved. “Why/how did it backfire?” This is a great example of captivating the reader’s attention with one sentence!
Content: If you don’t have any problems showing your face, do so! Speaking your slideshow text out loud instead of simply writing them down can work wonders sometimes. Don’t overengineer it. In Kelsie’s example, she’s chosen a door and boxes as the background, which might not seem compelling, but it does make it relatable (“oh, it could be my room”).
Post 3: ST4RZBOOKS
Account: @st4rzbooks
Link to post: https://www.tiktok.com/@st4rzbooks/video/7378175824467348768
Views: 2,200,000
Post Date: 2024-06-08
Observations: The two slides likely went viral due to their dramatic and relatable content. The first slide shows a woman wondering why her boss is being extra mean to her lately, which sets up a relatable work-related tension. The second slide reveals the reason: the boss discovered she has a boyfriend after stalking her Instagram. This twist adds a layer of drama and intrigue, tapping into themes of jealousy and personal boundaries. The combination of relatable workplace issues and the dramatic personal twist makes the content highly engaging and shareable.
Takeaways:
Opening Line: The opening line immediately creates curiosity and tension by mentioning the woman's confusion about her boss's behavior, drawing viewers in. Also, the “her … him” format is a widely used format that you could try to incorporate too.
Content: The content is relatable and dramatic, combining workplace tension with a personal twist involving jealousy and social media stalking. This mix taps into common experiences and emotional responses.
Background: The background of the slides, showing a woman in a car and a man in a contemplative pose, adds to the narrative's emotional impact, making the story more engaging and visually appealing. Additionally, the absence of visible faces allows readers to imagine the characters' appearances, enhancing their personal connection to the story.
Post 4: Carrie Elks
Account: @authorcarrieelks
Link to post: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorcarrieelks/photo/7387413800393231649
Views: 1,900,000
Observations: The slideshow resonated with readers due to its relatable emotions, tapping into common feelings of attraction and tension in a forbidden romance. The suspenseful narrative gradually builds up, keeping readers engaged and eager for the next slide. The interactive format of the slides maintains curiosity and engagement throughout, making the narrative compelling and shareable.
Takeaways:
Opening Line: The opening line sets up an intriguing and relatable scenario, grabbing viewers' attention immediately. The author starts with the famous “when you” opening line.
Content: Try to emphasize your trope. For example, in this case, we learn in the second slide that it’s about a single dad trope.
Number of Slides: 24. The author chose to use a lot of slides. The upside of this strategy is that if you manage to hook readers in the first slide, they’ll continue swiping to the next slide. The more they swipe, the more they stay on your post, signaling great engagement to the algorithm and pushing your post out to even more people.
Background: Just a simple picture of a pool. Again, don’t spend too much time overengineering the background.
More posts
If you’re interested in getting more real time access to posts from indie authors as they go viral so you can jump on the trend and apply the strategies to your books, sign up for AuthorScale.com and join our discord community.
Video vs Picture Slideshows
A frequent question that always comes up is whether you should use pictures to create your slideshows or a video and simply place your texts on top of it. That’s why we’ve specifically looked at this when investigating the 13,338 accounts, and the results look as follows:
More than 60% of all posts analyzed have a video background instead of pictures. If you’re unclear about what this means, here are 2 examples for each category:
Slideshows with Video Background:
Slideshows with Picture Background:
What does this mean for you? We’ve found that the best approach is to maintain a balance between pictures and video backgrounds to gain experience in both formats and not put all your eggs in one basket. If you’re curious to learn more about how to set up slideshows with pictures, you can refer to this article.
Hashtags
Using the right hashtags is crucial for maximizing the reach of your posts. Always include relevant and trending hashtags in your posts. For example, combining general hashtags like #booktok and #romance with more specific ones related to your content can help target your audience effectively.
Out of the 13,338 posts analysed those were the most used hashtags:
Ideal Number of Slides
Out of the 13,338 accounts that we analyzed, we’ve grouped them into the following categories:
Low-Reach Posts (0-1k views)
Medium-Reach Posts (1k-10k views)
High-Reach Posts (10k-20k views)
Viral Posts (20k-100k views)
Super Viral Posts (100k+ views)
Find the respective distribution in the chart below:
From these categories, we observed a trend towards longer slideshows in recent months. This is a strategy you can start applying today. If you use AuthorScale’s Slideshow Suite to generate slideshows, simply choose the number of slides as recommended.
What are you waiting for? Sign up for AuthorScale.com today and bring your author social media game to the next level!