Episode 31: Today we’re exploring a concept called “confirmation bias” and how we can use it to influence readers, agents, and publishers and how it can also help bring our characters to life!

SHOW NOTES:

So I had heard the term “confirmation bias” before, but it wasn’t until I saw a segment on a show called “Brain Games” that I truly understood it. Rather than give you some technical definition of what it is and why it’s so vital for us to know about, I’d like to instead tell you about the segment…

[WATCH THE SEGMENT HERE]

What happened in the video is something called “confirmation bias.” In the video, they call it the “primacy effect” but, at least for our purposes today, we’re going to refer to it as “confirmation bias.” The interviewer formed an opinion about each of the candidates within the first few things that they said. That opinion, even though the interview doesn’t realize it, is then coloring everything else that happens in the interview. If additional information doesn’t match the initial decision, it’s more easily ignored or discounted. If it does, then it’s seen as confirming the original decision—which we’re calling a bias (not in a negative way here, we’re using bias as simply an initial impression or decision about a person or a thing.)

We see it all the time in our real lives, especially in an area like politics. If you’re biased one way or another, you’re more likely to seek out and watch channels that support your position, or confirm your bias, than you are to watch channels that provide evidence against it. And, even if you do hear alternative positions, you’re more likely to ignore or discount the ones that don’t fit your position than you are the ones that build it up.

I tell my academic writing students that teachers and professors do the same thing. That’s why proper format and titles and double-spacing and font choice and all of those things matter. If a professor looks at an essay and the formatting is all wrong or they’ve clearly used too large of a font in order to meet a page count or something like that, then the professor can’t help but form an initial opinion, an initial expectation, or an initial bias. Whether intentional or not, and it’s usually NOT intentional, the professor will see everything else as a way to confirm that initial bias. If the formatting is good and everything looks like it should, and the professor discovers a misspelled word, it’s easy to think, “oh well, everybody misses a word here and there. It’s clear this writer knows what she’s doing, though” and they can look past it. If the formatting is off and the same misspelling happened, the professor will instead think “See, I knew it. I knew this writer wasn’t good. And there’s even more proof.”  It may not be fair, but that’s the real world. That’s just the way our brains work, the way they process the world around us that throws WAY more information at us than we can possibly process. It’s a shortcut that we use to navigate the world. Sometimes it’s dead on right, and other times it misfires.

What’s important as writers is that we recognize that this is what is happening when people encounter our work. Like it or not, potential readers, agents, and publishers are all doing the same thing with our work. They are getting a first impression based on things that may have absolutely nothing to do with how well you write that are going to color the rest of the experience of reading your book or manuscript.

So today we’re going to look at some of the ways that we can get confirmation bias on our side. How can we make sure that our readers – whether it’s someone looking to purchase our book on Amazon, an agent considering representing you, or a publisher considering putting your book out there into the world – how can we get them on our sides before they’ve even gotten more than a few pages into our manuscripts, if even that far.

YOUR NAME

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  • To be more memorable
  
  
  • To spell it or pronounce it more easily  (Mindy Kaling = Vera Mindy Chokalingam) – this is problematic
  
  
  • To access markets (although this is problematic, too)
    
    
    
    • Lots of examples of women changing names or going by initials to hide their gender
    
    
    • Examples of the same thing to hide race or ethnicity
    
    
    • Although I’d like to say this has largely gone away, I’m not sure I can say that… something to keep in mind.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • To look better on a book spine
  
  
  • To set yourself apart
  
  
  • To seem more professional
  
  
  
  


• To hide your true identity? You might be writing about people or subject matter that you’re not comfortable announcing to the world!


• My own example: Brad Thompson to Brad Reed (middle name)
  
  
  
  • It’s more memorable (the play off of READ and REED). Short. Same number of letters in both and many of the same letter. No trouble in spelling it (Thompson is sometimes confusing). Fits better—and bigger—on a book spine. Also provides some anonymity from my high school students, etc.
  
  
  
  


• There is almost nothing more personal and intimate than your name, and it can be hard and even hurtful to some of your family. At the end of the day, remember that you are creating a product–a book or screenplay or poem–that you want to get out into the world. To do that, you need a good marketing campaign which requires a good brand name. Maybe you’re lucky and you were given a good brand name at birth. But maybe not. It’s worth taking some time to explore your options.

YOUR PHOTO

• Life as a real estate agent… a photo, if you’re using one, is key. (although it probably shouldn’t be)


• Make sure it reflects your genre, your market. Playful, fun, and spontaneous might work, but professional is probably better. Whatever you do, do it intentionally and get feedback!

YOUR BIO

YOUR EMAIL AND WEBSITE, TWITTER, ETC…

• I had to email somebody the other day who was still using an @yahoo email address. Now, I’m sure there are some of you listening right now that still use one as well… actually, I’m not sure of that at all! Did you ever stop to think about what your email address says about you as a person? I’m not even talking (yet) about what your address before the @ sign is, I’m only talking about what’s after the @ sign. Sure, everybody uses gmail addresses now, so what’s the big deal. Well, that IS the big deal. Everybody uses them. They’re free. They’re ubiquitous. They probably don’t HURT your image as a professional writer, but they don’t actively HELP it, either. Consider purchasing a domain name to show your potential agents and publishers that you’re serious about what you’re doing. For example, my email is bradreed@bradreedwrites.com. There is hopefully no question in people’s minds that I’m serious about writing, based on something as simple as an email address. And please, make sure you’re not using the same email address you set up in middle school. The email smashmouthrocks@msn.com is not going to impress anyone.


• Same thing goes for Twitter handles and other social media profiles. These are branding opportunities and actually carry a lot of power. They are like billboards for your writing business–what is the most important information you can convey in just a few words? Probably your actual, human name–or your pen name if you’re using one. And maybe one other detail–maybe. All of my social media echoes my website and email address: bradreedwrites.

YOUR BOOK TITLE

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  • The kill list – A link in the show notes (and ton