The Godfather's Secret History - Where's the logic?

Below is a question we were asked by a StoryCode visitor recently. It is one that is much like many that are crossing the minds of visitors to the sites, so I thought I would post my reply to help with understanding how StoryCode works.

Hi

I looked at your website and am intrigued at how you get 84% storycode match with The Secret History and The Godfather (US match, UK match)? I would read the first, but not the second. I agree with the storycode match of The Secret History and Miss Smilla, although I couldn't put my finger on why. As I look down the lists as I link from page to page, I see many books that I have read but not necessarily because I enjoyed others on the list.

I am intrigued because as a book marketer, I know that the real complexity in marketing books is how and why the buying public choose their reading matter. Your site has all the potential; I'm just curious to know why you would link two books such as these, just as an example.

Kind regards

Thank you for the question.

StoryCode makes no individual editorial judgements about likely matches. The Coding process, available by clicking on the Code a Story tab on either of the US or UK sites, asks readers to provide a score for each of 40 questions about the story they have read. This then creates a database record with the story's 'DNA' which we then match with all the other stories in the database.

The fact that The Godfather and The Secret History are matched at 84% is a feature not of an editorial decision by one of the StoryCode team but on the 16 codes (so far) for The Secret History entered by readers around the world and the 7 codes for The Godfather. The fact that these stories are maintaining an 84% match following the entry of 23 codes suggests that, like it or not, the stories are a good match based on the questions asked.

Please bear in mind that StoryCode is not making conventional stylistic, subject, or genre comparisons of a story, but very sensitive, equally-weighted comparisons of 40 variables.

Over time it is likely that the match for these stories will change, but at the very heart of StoryCode's power is the possibility that it will make legitimate, but lateral, recommendations such as the one you have discovered.

And your judgement that you would not read The Godfather is up for grabs in my book. I never imagined I would read A Christmas Carol (see my post below from July 5th), which, much as The Godfather, has way too much prior knowledge from movie and TV interpretations. I did read it though, as a consequence of its unlikely match with Animal Farm, and was delighted. I was also very satisfied by the logic of the match, having read both.

I suggest you go away and code The Secret History for yourself, it takes about 5 minutes, (UK coding, US coding) and then read The Godfather. When you have done this come back and tell us what you thought of the match. I read The Godfather 20 years ago and have not read The Secret History, so don't know for sure, but from our growing experience of how StoryCode is unfolding, I reckon you have a surprise in store.

Steve Johnston