Publisher research pilots

By the time the sales data lands, the market has moved on.

Reader Lab shows how real genre readers respond now, before your decision is locked. Put concepts, excerpts, covers, titles, and blurbs in front of them, then see what they actually do.

Schedule a call See a sample report
Behavioral signalReader actions, not survey intent.
11,000+ usersA live human-written fiction community.
Human by policyReal readers, firm no-AI-fiction rule.
Reader-behavior funnel: seen, started reading, kept reading, came back
Decision
Which package earns sustained reading?
Behavior captured
Starts, depth, completion, returns
Output
Decision-ready recommendation with caveats

The problem

The most important decisions happen before the best data exists.

Sales data tells you what already worked. Reviews arrive after a book is acquired, packaged, and released. The hard questions come earlier.

Is this premise strong enough to acquire or commission?
Which title, blurb, or cover gets readers to start?
Which audience is actually responding?

The Reader Lab difference

See what readers do, not just what they say.

Traditional research tells you what readers say they might read. Reader Lab shows what they choose when they are simply deciding what to read next.

DiscoveryImpressions and click-through.
EngagementStarts, reading depth, completion.
LoyaltyReturn sessions and time spent.
SegmentsVariant performance by genre and trope.

Why this signal exists

A fiction platform, not a survey panel.

Readers on StoryForge already discover stories, start them, keep reading or stop, and return to the ones that hold them. Reader Lab measures that behavior against your question.

Live demand

See what genre readers are reading right now.

Before you test anything, Reader Lab can show the genres, themes, and tropes drawing real readers inside StoryForge today. A directional read on live demand, ahead of sales data.

Reads, not purchasesFiction, not everythingForward, not backward

What you can test

Use Reader Lab when the question is still actionable.

Each pilot is built around one decision, one primary question, and a clear interpretation framework.

Float a premise

Put a concept or excerpt in front of genre readers before acquisition.

Test a cover direction

Compare package directions against the same story or sample.

Validate a title or blurb

Hold the work constant and test which framing pulls readers in.

Find the live audience

See which category a project actually reads as.

Reassess the backlist

Surface titles newly aligned with current genre, trope, or mood.

How a pilot works

A focused experiment, not an open-ended dashboard.

Reader Lab answers one publisher-defined question with enough structure to support a real decision.

Pilot plan: decision, variants, sample target, primary metric, agreed before launch
Step 1

You define the decision

Acquisition, packaging, positioning, backlist relaunch, or audience fit.

Step 2

We design the test

One primary question, clear variants, agreed metrics, and a sample target.

Step 3

Readers respond naturally

The work is surfaced inside the StoryForge reading experience.

Step 4

You get a decision-ready report

Behavior, segment patterns, caveats, and recommended interpretation.

Step 5

You decide what to do next

Acquire, pass, reposition, retest, or find a better audience.

What you receive

A report built for real publishing decisions.

Reader Lab does not promise that a book will sell. It reduces the guessing before you make the call, in a form you can take into an editorial, marketing, or acquisitions conversation.

Sample report: recommendation, click-through chart by package, and caveat

Download the full sample report (PDF) →

Research plan

Decision, question, variants, and sample target, set before launch.

Behavior summary

Click-through, starts, depth, completion, time, and returns.

Variant comparison

Which package, framing, or concept performed better, and where.

Audience cuts

Genre and trope response, where sample size supports it.

Confidence notes

Practical caveats, sample limits, and interpretation boundaries.

Recommendation

A clear read on what the data suggests, and what it does not prove.

Choose your path

Observe the signal. Test against it. Or both.

Start where the decision in front of you sits, and move up when you are ready.

Pulse · Observe

See what genre readers are reading now

A live read on the genres, themes, and tropes drawing real readers inside StoryForge. Built for small publishers, agents, and bookstores who want a feel for live demand.

Reads, not purchases.
Pilot · Test

Put your own question to the community

Float a premise, test a cover, validate a title, or resurface a backlist book, and watch what real readers do. A focused behavioral test with a decision-ready answer in days.

Readers choose. Reader Lab measures.
Complete · Both

Observe the market, then test against it

Pulse and Pilot together. Watch what is moving across the community, then run your own experiments against that live signal.

Awareness plus evidence.

Boundaries

What Reader Lab is not.

The value of the signal depends on being clear about what it can and cannot answer.

Not a replacement for editorial judgment.

It adds reader behavior to the decision. It does not make the decision alone.

Not a guarantee of sales.

The report supports earlier decisions. It cannot promise a market outcome.

Not a synthetic reader panel.

Real reader behavior inside the platform, not generated personas or a trained focus group.

Not a rights grab.

Test material is used only within the agreed pilot structure and permissions.

Publisher questions

A few things to resolve before a pilot.

What kind of material can be tested?

Concepts, opening chapters, excerpts, titles, blurbs, cover directions, positioning statements, and selected backlist samples. The best test asset depends on the decision you need to make.

What makes a good first pilot?

One decision, two or three clear variants, a genre where StoryForge can reasonably surface readers, and an agreed interpretation plan before launch.

Will the report tell us whether to acquire the book?

It supports the decision by showing reader behavior, audience response, and caveats. Use it alongside editorial, commercial, author-platform, comp-title, and list-fit judgment.

Next step

Have a question you wish readers could answer before publication?

Bring us the decision. We will help design the test.

Schedule a call

Already know what you want to test? Request a pilot.