John Steinbeck- "Of Mice and Men" - Createspace and its market

aeschylus

After securing a decent share of a small market (AS students of selected poems of Emily Dickinson and Edward Thomas), I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of presence you can get in the GCSE study guide field. Perhaps 300000 students take GCSE English Literature; but how many of them buy a study guide?

My guide to "Of Mice and Men" has risen effortlessly into the top three on Amazon in the space of about 6 weeks; ahead of the Letts guide, and mixing it with York Notes and CGP.

I'm about to publish a long(er) study guide to that fantastic novel "Great Expectations", which is both an A-level and a GCSE text. Once that goes live, I'll have more evidence.

The moral seems to be that if you can identify your market, and find a suitable distribution channel, then, provided you can compete on quality, you can write your own destiny.

Tiny Nell

Fantastic work, aeschylus. Well done on finding that niche!

Claudia

Clever fella, our Aeschylus! Very well done, Sir.

Carol

Well done, Aeschylus.

Mrs Bear

Well done! The Letts guides and York notes are used by so many, maybe people want a fresh look at things? Onwards and upwards!

Tiny Nell

I don't know if you are aware, aeschylus, that AS levels are now being phased out; it's back to the old two-year A level courses.

My daughter's GCSE texts are Pride and Prejudice and Macbeth - if that's of any help to you!

casey

Well done finding the niche and writing an excellent guide of course! Onwards and Upwards.

Lou Treleaven

What a brilliant idea - you have found a great niche and what is more, your books are helping students to succeed!

Liz

Well done. Aeschylus!