If you were to crowdsource the title of a book, how would you do it?
January 21, 2011 5:47 AM Subscribe
If you were to crowdsource the title of a book, how would you do it?
An author has asked me to help him use crowdsourcing to pick the the title of his next book. He has several titles in mind, so the idea is to figure out which one people like the best. He's also open to the idea of reader-submitted titles.
Here's my (our) thinking:
* Run a Google AdWords campaign, with a separate ad for each proposed title. Each ad will point to a simple landing page.
* On the landing page, users will be able to vote for the title they prefer. They'll also be able to submit their own title suggestions.
* Once there's been enough activity, we can see which ads had the highest click-through rates. We can also see which title received the most votes. If there's a strong correlation, we'll know which title works best. If not, we can try to figure out the reason for the divergence.
How would you improve this method? What are the caveats?
An author has asked me to help him use crowdsourcing to pick the the title of his next book. He has several titles in mind, so the idea is to figure out which one people like the best. He's also open to the idea of reader-submitted titles.
Here's my (our) thinking:
* Run a Google AdWords campaign, with a separate ad for each proposed title. Each ad will point to a simple landing page.
* On the landing page, users will be able to vote for the title they prefer. They'll also be able to submit their own title suggestions.
* Once there's been enough activity, we can see which ads had the highest click-through rates. We can also see which title received the most votes. If there's a strong correlation, we'll know which title works best. If not, we can try to figure out the reason for the divergence.
How would you improve this method? What are the caveats?
I wouldn't even bother with voting. The title ad getting the most clicks wins.
posted by COD at 6:04 AM on January 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by COD at 6:04 AM on January 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure I like your 'ad' idea. What would you be advertising? I can't see how you can get people to click through without misleading them on what they'll find when they get there. You might get results this way, but it seems dishonest, and I wonder if Google would even have rules around it.
I would look for an online community with some connection to the subject of the book and approach them directly -- particularly if it's non-fiction, where you could use this as a means of generating interest in the book at the same time. Perhaps even make it a competition to win a copy.
posted by londonmark at 6:26 AM on January 21, 2011
I would look for an online community with some connection to the subject of the book and approach them directly -- particularly if it's non-fiction, where you could use this as a means of generating interest in the book at the same time. Perhaps even make it a competition to win a copy.
posted by londonmark at 6:26 AM on January 21, 2011
How would you improve this method?
I think I would probably ASK METAFILTER.
Seriously, we do this shit all the time.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:29 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think I would probably ASK METAFILTER.
Seriously, we do this shit all the time.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:29 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Actually, coming up with names for things is one of the things I think AskMetaFilter isn't very good at. YMMV.
posted by hermitosis at 7:54 AM on January 21, 2011
posted by hermitosis at 7:54 AM on January 21, 2011
Best answer: There are two different problems:
1) How to get people to participate?
2) In what manner should the participants indicate their choice?
Part of #1 is: who should participate? The target market for your book (if you're not Tom Clancy or Stephen King) is a relatively small minority of the population. Getting votes from people who aren't actually interested in your book is not useful
As C_D indicates, Ask MeFi is a good way to solve both problems. Otherwise...
For #1, if the author already has a following (whether or not from writing books), they should be posting it on their web site, twitter, facebook, etc. You want the input of people who care about your book.
If they don't already have a following, find the places on the internet where there are people who care about the topic (or setting, in case of fiction).
Even well-targeted Google Ads have very low click-through rates, so I doubt that would really give you a good sample size.
Crowdsourcing doesn't really come out of nowhere. You need people who care first. If the author doesn't already have a following that cares about what they write, you should ask in a forum where the topic/setting is discussed, and this needs to be a forum where the author is already known or it will seem like spam. If there isn't such a group, then the author needs to work on developing or becoming part of such a community before this idea will work.
If you still want to pay money to have unfiltered strangers place votes, Mechanical Turk will probably work better than Google Ads.
posted by winston at 8:29 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
1) How to get people to participate?
2) In what manner should the participants indicate their choice?
Part of #1 is: who should participate? The target market for your book (if you're not Tom Clancy or Stephen King) is a relatively small minority of the population. Getting votes from people who aren't actually interested in your book is not useful
As C_D indicates, Ask MeFi is a good way to solve both problems. Otherwise...
For #1, if the author already has a following (whether or not from writing books), they should be posting it on their web site, twitter, facebook, etc. You want the input of people who care about your book.
If they don't already have a following, find the places on the internet where there are people who care about the topic (or setting, in case of fiction).
Even well-targeted Google Ads have very low click-through rates, so I doubt that would really give you a good sample size.
Crowdsourcing doesn't really come out of nowhere. You need people who care first. If the author doesn't already have a following that cares about what they write, you should ask in a forum where the topic/setting is discussed, and this needs to be a forum where the author is already known or it will seem like spam. If there isn't such a group, then the author needs to work on developing or becoming part of such a community before this idea will work.
If you still want to pay money to have unfiltered strangers place votes, Mechanical Turk will probably work better than Google Ads.
posted by winston at 8:29 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: There are two reasons I'm not asking MeFi for title suggestions or votes. First, the guidelines say this:
I don't think using AdWords is dishonest. The ad I'm envisioning would read something like: "Sample Book Title: Learn more about [author]'s new book about [...]." If you have suggestions for better wording, I'd love to hear! But I don't see any ethical problems. It's essentially an ad for the book.
Also, the author is well-known public intellectual, so getting enough data shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks for the tips to All Our Ideas and Mechanical Turk, and the other comments!
posted by morninj at 7:38 AM on January 23, 2011
Please avoid "help me name my kitten/computer/website" and "help me make a mix CD" questions.The second reason is that I don't want voters to be influenced by others' votes or opinions. Once we have some data, I'll repost if there's something interesting to talk about.
I don't think using AdWords is dishonest. The ad I'm envisioning would read something like: "Sample Book Title: Learn more about [author]'s new book about [...]." If you have suggestions for better wording, I'd love to hear! But I don't see any ethical problems. It's essentially an ad for the book.
Also, the author is well-known public intellectual, so getting enough data shouldn't be a problem.
Thanks for the tips to All Our Ideas and Mechanical Turk, and the other comments!
posted by morninj at 7:38 AM on January 23, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by proj at 5:54 AM on January 21, 2011 [1 favorite]