The Last Apprentice
A Q&A with Bazinga! and phio_chan
Questionnaire:
The last book to the Last Apprentice will be released this April. Then the author will begin writing a new series revolving around the main character from the Last Apprentice series. Would you group all of the books in one section or would you have a separate section for each series? (Can you also elaborate on why you chose 'yes' or 'no', please)
If I were you, I would choose to have a separate section for each series. I think what the section organization you have at the moment for the Last Apprentice series is quite ideal; you offer so much space for discussion of the specific books. What you can improve on, in my opinion, is to condense those sections so it will not leave the impression of being too empty. You can turn the current forums for each book into sub-forums of a forum titled 'Last Apprentice', and add a new forum for the new series and make sub-forums for the new books. That way you will still have the same space for discussion but in a more condensed manner. That also give you space to have general discussions about the specific series without getting lost between the books and without making a new forum just for general discussion. For example, you can have a thread about which book was the best under the forum of 'Last Apprentice', and specific book discussions at its sub-forum, if we use the example I mentioned above.
What are things you would do to help attract fans of the Last Apprentice series to the forum?
Specific niche is always hard to maintain because you are too unique. I guess what I could do is to offer unique things too in return. In terms of events and contests, if you have quite a strong funding to back you up, perhaps a posting/referral contest with prize of limited edition of the novel, or special cover, or special items like key chains or book markers related to the series may be interesting for fans. Or if your fans are readers of fantasy novels, you can probably hold some kind of 'tournament' between the series, clashing some elements of the series into a polling and see which series has it better.
I also think it depends on the kind of fans. Some who like to discuss points or events happening in the book like me may find it interesting if you provide a specific thread to talk about one certain event in the book, or about elements of the book (magic, for example), or predictions of upcoming books.
What do you think of the content of the forum?
Talking about the on-topic content of the forum, I suppose I can say that the lack of updates in some sections worries me. You have sections with latest post as old as May 2013, which is more than half a year ago. There are not many threads around, and most of them are quite old; perhaps that is why discussions are also rather limited. I understand how it may be challenge to keep the discussion on-going because the niche is very specific. I believe it can still be improved on if you can find more members who read and have interest in the series to help put theories in, since apparently only certain names are seen having serious discussions related to the series. I also notice that there is a plan to make a movie for the books. That can be a source of content if you can find the information fast and stay updated.
Overall Satisfaction
[rt_qs]✓, , , ✓, , , ✓, , , , ✓, [/rt_qs]
Want to know more? Request a Full Review!
After reading your questionnaire, please click here to rate your questionnaire.
