Comments on: The Era of Instant Word-of-Mouth

By: sally apokedak

sally apokedak — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:48:32 +0000

I’ve been in the hospital and am only now catching up. I don’t usually comment on old posts but I just can’t contain myself. Shadowmancer is in my number one slot of books I love to hate. Oh, I could write a volume on how offensive that book was on so many levels.

As for the rest of the post–I think this Internet marketing thing is exciting. I only buy books after reading about them from bloggers I trust. I can’t feel too bad for the midlist authors. Or for myself. I may never get published because I might never be good enough, but it’s some consolation that I’ll always be able to find the good books and I won’t be wasting money on many Shadowmancer types.

By: Icy Sedgwick

Icy Sedgwick — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:01:23 +0000

If I’m buying a book online, then yes, I will pay attention to Amazon reviews, or comments bloggers have made, but at the same time, I still buy books at random in stores. For example, if I’m at a train station and I’ve forgotten to bring a book with me, I’ll browse the shelves, and make a decision based on three things – the blurb, the cover, and the typography (I’m a firm believer that the font tells you more than the publisher intends). I like that cover copy, and I don’t like the idea that it’ll be jettisoned just because people have started discussing books online. Not everyone has Net access.

By: michael grant

michael grant — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:35:29 +0000

That whole concept — a group of characters cut off from the outside world, forced to adapt to dwindling resources and choose sides in an existential battle between good and evil — is genius. Just genius!

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:11:46 +0000

Kathryn,

That’s a great way of looking at it! I expect I’ll read this monster over Christmas … once all the queries and submissions have been dealt with.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:56:53 +0000

I finished Under the Dome last night, and those 1,000+ pages go by faster than some 300 page books I’ve read! When I sat down to start, I looked for the jacket description, which I usually read as a kind of hors d’oeuvre to a long book like that, but there was none. So, I figured, I guess I’ll just have to dive in. The lack of any jacket copy gave the book this very open, unknown feeling. Like Stephen King was inviting you to “just trust me, start reading. I know you won’t be able to stop.”

And he was right!

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:27:02 +0000

Back when I had a job (approx. six months ago now. *le sigh*) the best thing I did every pay was go into my local bookstore and pick up a book I had never heard of before. Browse the shelves, find an interesting cover, read the flap jacket and the first page and if I liked it, bought it. One book every pay (ok, sometimes more) and it had to be on the basis of its ability to catch my eye right there and then in the store.

I did it because I wanted to start reading outside the books I was getting recommended, to find something new. I didn’t enjoy all of them. And it was interesting how some of them became so familiar, as I saw them week after week and passed them over for something else, or occaisionally relented and gave them a try.

I still bought other books, but just wandering in and letting something catch my fancy was awesome. When I have money again I am so going back to that practice.

By: kathryn Magendie

kathryn Magendie — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:00:17 +0000

I love browing bookstores, and I do read jacket copy. But, I also peruse blogs and if a blog recommends a book, or if a blogger has a book out, I’ll check it out if it sounds like something I’d be interested in (or I just want to support that particular blogger).

I don’t know what I’d do without “word of mouth” for my novel – I have a small publisher without a big budget, so word of mouth, and buzz on the Blogger Community has helped me tremendously.

Interesting post.

By: Suzanne Warr

Suzanne Warr — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:04:24 +0000

An interesting point, and at first I was about to argue it. I just recently bought a book (Poison Study) I knew nothing about, because I browsed across it in the book store and was taken in by the cover and first perusal. Then I realized that the reason this example sprang to mind is it was isolated, and further that I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying a book so much when I hadn’t been looking for it. Of course, since reading it I’ve facebooked it, and the book is currently out on loan with a friend, which only proves your point!

By: SusanaMai

SusanaMai — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:05:01 +0000

This isn’t new; they did the same thing with the last Harry Potter book.

By: michael grant

michael grant — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:50:25 +0000

Marthabee:

Of course if I’m selling my own books, directly to the reader, without cutting the publisher, bookstore, etc… in on the deal, I don’t need to charge nearly as much and can sell far fewer and still break even.

I make 1.80 per hardcover. Two bucks to keep the math easy. So if I could move the same number of books I do now, I could sell them for 2 bucks each and make the same income. Or I could sell for 4 bucks and make twice as much per book, and sell half as many and break even.

How many more people might buy a $4 book than will now buy a $20 book? Usually if you lower the price of a commodity and simultaneously increase its availability, consumption goes up.

In theory I could sell the next book in my GONE series as a digital book for $4. I would double my royalty per book. And since I’d be selling the book for what amounts to a 75% discount on current hardcover price, I might sell even more. Especially since it would be available to anyone, anywhere who read English.

Then I could still sell dead-tree rights and turn that into a second income stream.