Posts
http://www.amazon.com/ADRIFT-THE-TIME-STREAM-ebook/dp/B004XZUY4UWe bloggers run the danger of ignoring the rest of the cyberverse.
Do we Indie Published authors see ourselves as the non-blogger readers see us?
Chad Orzell wrote a Wake-Up Post on his Science Blog:
10,000 NEW BOOKS BUT NOTHING TO READ!
http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/06/20/10000-new-ebooks-but-nothing-to-read/
"So, here’s the scenario:
my e-reader is a Nook, and if I buy books for it from Barnes and Noble directly, I can read them on the Nook, on the iPad, or on my phone, and it’s good to have that choice.
So, I went to Barnes and Noble’s web store, and looked at the SF and Fantasy page, because that’s the genre of most of my airplane reading.
(HERE IS THE KICKER!)
And then there’s the self-published junk, most of which is obviously porn.
Probably 70 of the 90 books displayed on that page are self-published works, most of them of vanity-press quality judging by the plot descriptions. The second page of results is even worse– probably 80 of the 90 are just garbage.
This is the problem. There might be a few hidden gems in there, but there’s no way I have time to read enough of it to judge, let alone money to pay for it.
If I want to find new stuff that’s worth reading, I have to sift through a huge mass of crap to try to find the few things I want to read. And, really, life is just too short.
So, the situation we have is that there are more books published than ever before, but it’s harder to find anything worth reading than ever before. The filtering provided by traditional publishers is a huge time-saver, and faced with having to essentially sort somebody else’s slushpile, I’m most likely going to just give up. There’s no useful way to browse new releases.
OUCH!!
We can do blog book tours, offer free ebooks, and visit one another. But we are merely singing to the choir if we cannot reach the non-blogging public!
1.) READERS WON'T BUY WHAT THEY CANNOT FIND.
2.) READERS WILL NOT BUY WHAT THEY CANNOT CONNECT TO.
3.) READERS WON'T BUY IF THEY DO NOT BELIEVE THEY WILL ENJOY WHAT THEY WILL READ.
How do we step out of the glut of books out there? Free books? How many free books are truly read?
When you go to the bookstore and pay hard cash for a book, you usually read it, then get another. Not with the ebook revolution.
And will bargain-hungry readers just wait for you to offer your next book free?
What do you think? What can we do to stand out from the crowd?
Very good point Roland. I say all we can do is write well and hope that eventually enough people will notice. We all have friends and family that do not blog and word of mouth is a powerful thing.
ReplyDeleteSiv:
ReplyDeleteAlas, I have no family and those with whom I work think of me as Don Quixote. :-) I will pass the word about your short story on my blog and my blogger friends though!!
To stand out from the glut? Hard question.
ReplyDeleteIf everyone follows the same formula, no one is original. It's hard to know what little thing will make the difference.
My policy: never give up, but ensure alternate income.
D.G:
ReplyDeleteAs my best friend, Sandra, chuckles, "Roland, don't give up your day AND night job!" LOL.
Your blog post is exactly what I have been worrying about when I've thought about self-publishing. The problem is, at this time, I have no idea how to rise out of the huge glut of books. I know word of mouth is what sells books, whether traditionally or self-published, but how can you get your voice heard above all the others. I think that is becoming the question all authors and publishers are asking. Traditionally published authors have some of the same concerns. They're still one fish in the very big pond, too.
ReplyDeleteLara:
ReplyDeleteSome call it timing. Others, like me, call it lightning.
John Locke wrote a post on his mother and Coach Paterno (years before the scandal) & Paterno's college picked up the post when John tweeted them about it.
The handlers of the college website liked what they read and spotlighted it on their website.
Locke had sold 16 books the month before (ouch!). That month he sold 1600! Lightning struck ... and he had a backlog of 7 books at 99 cents each. His one book was liked by many who gambled on him. And he had 6 other books to be bought at 99 cents.
The rest is history.
Some of it was Locke's doing: searching on Twitter for Paterno fans and tweeting them on his post.
Most of it was lightning. The college website picked his post to spotlight for a month!
Locke had positioned himself to take off should the lightning ever strike. His seven books gave him the momentum to become a powerhouse in the ebook industry.
As in my latest post, I stress how we cannot use what Locke or Hocking did to become a "Lightning Rod." We must be different.
As you said: "How do we do that?"
I don't have the answer for that.
I only know this lonely vigil for the lightning has made me promise myself that should the lightning ever strike me, I will try to hitch as many of my current blog friends up on the comet's tail with me as I can.
I want friends with me on the wild ride, Roland
Yeah, I think you've got a great point. Set yourself up to be ready for that magic moment. They probably do happen more frequently than we think, we just aren't in a place to capitalize on it, yet.
ReplyDeleteFriends are nice. :)
Lara:
ReplyDeleteShould I ever find myself on that comet's tail, yours is one of the first hands I will grab to take with me on the wild ride.
The football field we authors find ourselves on is a light year wide. We wave our hands, yelling, "Throw the ball to me! I can make a touchdown. I just know it!"
So far, the Great Quarterback has not thrown me the ball ... or worse, I was so dense, I didn't see or recognize it!!
Likewise, Roland :) Here's to the hope that one of us will get the opportunity to help the other! I totally feel like I'm waving my hands, begging for an opportunity to get the ball. It's a sad replay of high school PE. :P
ReplyDeleteLara:
ReplyDeleteIt is, isn't it? :-(
All we can do is fight the odds as intelligently as we can. It worked for the Alamo ... for 13 days at least!