Digital Sales Means You Have To Be Better Than Amazing

This is one of those circular arguments so bear with me.

Authors, in an effort to increase sales of their books moved to finding ways to give readers another way of purchasing books other than going to the local bookstore. I fully get this. Technology is great this way. If I need a book by a specific author or in a specific research area, I can do this from the comfort of my own home and in my bunny slippers. The book can be shipped to me and life goes on as normal. But there is a downfall to all of this.

Now, as an author, those people who used to "browse" the bookstore and would have found your book can no longer do that. They may have gone to the bookstore to find a book on Humbolt Squid and happened to stumble across your book. We don't stumble on those now. Even with the search engines, when you look for a book, the server will often provide you other books in that same area "people who bought this also bought..." Finding something outside of the genre is not going to happen.

The effect of this on the author is significant. Now, to be noticed, your story has to be AMAZING. Editors have to love it to such a level that they make sure the book sellers are promoting it on their lists. Magazines have to see this as such a "break out novel" that they feature it in the articles. Mid-listers are now going to struggle even more.

Now, we take this to a new level. This is part of the reason why publishers are sticking with their current authors more than loking at those new authors. They know people will find their names. They know what to expect. Readers can find them. Those new authors become just impossible to place.

I want to stress that this is probably the biggest change we are seeing right now in publishing. It isn't the fact that we see the e-reader technology taking over, but a change in the way the readers are finding the books. Just remember though. This happened not so much because of the publishers, but the authors changing their game plans.

Scott