What sells books? A new report from The Bookseller reveals a surprising--and initially depressing--answer: Retail displays and media coverage have overtaken word-of-mouth buzz as the main drivers for book sales.
Here are the stats on what percentage of people get their information from various sources:
* In-store displays: 26%
* Newspaper and magazine reviews: 14%
* Recommendations from friends and family: 12%
* Internet recommendations: 9%
* Advice from shop staff or librarians: 2%
I say this is initially depressing because these days what is displayed is determined largely by how much money the publisher is willing to pay. Getting your book into the window displays costs money, so does getting the book near the front of the store, and even displays like "Our Book of the Month" or "Our New Picks" are revenue-driven (in other words, if you pay, your book suddenly becomes their favorite...). Publishers are willing to pay for this for only a tiny percentage of their titles.
The second most powerful driver, newspaper and magazine reviews, are also difficult to get. There are just so many new books coming out, and many publications have cut back the space they give to book reviews.
So what can authors do? First, there is something not included in the survey but I suspect that the respondents included it as part of the "newspaper and magazine reviews" category. It is articles written about or by authors, on the topic of their book. These articles usually include details about the book. You can pitch articles like this to as many publications as you like, as long as you figure out an angle that will make you and your book interesting to their readers. For instance, in my new book, "Focus: the power of targeted thinking," I reveal a strategy for being more effective at anything you do. It's called "The Alter Ego Strategy," and I'm pitching articles to about half a dozen magazines on how it could be applied to different specific arenas.
Secondly, we can do as much as possible to get our friends and family to recommend the book. This could include having them put information about the book on their MySpace or Facebook pages, blogs, and podcasts if they have those. They could also let their work colleagues know about it, also any social groups they belong to, etc. Don't assume they will do any of this anyway--ask them to do it and make it easy for them to do it (for instance, by giving them flyers for the book).
We can also find out who are the influential bloggers in our field and send them review copies, offer to write articles for their sites, and offer to do interviews for them. I've done this for my "Your Writing Coach" book and have noticed a slow but definite pay-off.
PS: I also find it strange that television wasn't mentioned. So many of the best-selling books these days have some kind of TV tie-in. I suspect that some of that 26% that credit in-store displays may buy because seeing a book that has a TV tie-in displayed triggers the purchase.
