Reason #4: Your first five minutes don't taste good

[6 REASONS YOUR BOOKS AREN'T SELLING--and how Universal Fantasy can help]

Confession.

I’m a DNF’er for a few reasons:

I’ve got a super-short attention span. If a piece of entertainment doesn’t immediately grab me, my mind flutters away to other things.

I’m an early riser. Books and shows that fail to compel me put me to sleep after 2 pm.

And then there’s the biggest reason of all: I’m a compulsive finisher. Once I’m in, I’m all in. As I mentioned in my Reason #3 post, I have a terrible time stopping once I’ve decided I want to read a book or watch a series. This quality has burned me in the past. I can’t tell you how many rollercoasters I’ve locked into, only to end up bitter in the end because the writer(s) took me on a ride I couldn’t get off when the story took a poorly crafted turn.

Mostly because of that last reason, I’ve learned to spot huge red flags when it comes to sampling new entertainment options. These include:

• Zombie characters. Butterless sunshine employee with a dry grump boss? Yawn.

• Situations that don’t move the story forward. Nothing makes me DNF a story faster than having to watch someone wake up and go about their regular routine.

• Cold, weird, or boring story questions that don’t compel me to take another bite.

If a story has one or more of the above problems, I might keep watching if the creator is someone I trust will deliver in the end, despite an awkward start. But most of the time, I—and most cold consumers—would rather give up than warm up.

There are just too many options these days to give new-to-us creatives more than five minutes to woo us.

Beginnings have become more critical than ever when it comes to selling stories.

Forget chapters. Many readers won’t give you more than five pages to grab them. Some readers won’t even give you five sentences.

Yet many writers—including me, I’ll admit—treat these critical fives like a warm-up for the real story.

In the Reason #5 post, we’ll break down the first few minutes of two Netflix shows, Virgin River and Sex Education. Both shows are widely adored fan favorites. But, one show nailed its first six minutes, and the other show—while deserving of praise—did not.

ASSIGNMENT: Please watch the first six minutes of Virgin River and Sex Education.

In the Reason #5 post, we’ll discuss why one was a piece of lemon loaf from Starbucks and the other was more like a Kombucha Girl meme. (Oh, and if you adore Meme History breakdowns as I do, check out this fascinating five-minute video on the history and aftermath of that Kombucha Girl meme)

And read the other reasons your books might not be selling….

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