Welcome readers, writers, authors, and bloggers!
We're glad you're here! It's the First Wednesday
of the month; when we celebrate IWSG Day in the form of a
blog hop featuring members and guests of the Insecure
Writer's Support Group. Founded by author Alex Cavanaugh (Thank you, Captain!) and fostered by like-minded
associates, IWSG is a comfortable place to share views and literary news as we
record our journeys. Check out the December
newsletter here.
The awesome co-hosts for this month’s posting
of the IWSG are:
Optional Question for July:
Is there anything you’d like to see changed, added,
and/or rearranged about the book publishing industry?
* * *
Up until the
moment I read this question, I’d have answered no. Now that I’ve pondered, processed,
researched, and been practically possessed by the subject, I find I have a
hundred more questions, many of which were proposed and answered in an article
by Steven Piersanti, Senior Editor at Berrett-Koehler
Publishers, if you’re interested.
For instance,
when and why did publishers stop providing any marketing of books they publish?
That is all left up to the authors now, which isn’t such a terrible thing if
you’re used to self-publishing. You already know the real work (assuming
writing the book was an act of passion) is just the beginning. But did you know
that according to Bowker’s Books in Print database, your book has less
than a one percent chance of ending up on a bookstore shelf? And even then,
according to BookScan, the average book sells fewer than 300 print copies over
its lifetime. A recent study found that nearly 90 percent of titles published
by the Big Five trade publishers “fail to reach 2000 copies sold.” Depressed yet?
I am.
By the way,
did you know bookstores typically devote only 20 percent of their shelf space
to new release titles, leaving the remaining shelf space for Bestsellers and
Classics? Stiff competition, huh?
However, it’s
not like book sales have collapsed entirely. Bowker data suggest that the number of new titles published each year is 15 times higher than it was 20 years ago.
But check
this out – of the 4.2 million titles published last year, 3.5 million were
self-published!
Marketing is
not among my strong points. Unless I’m doing it for someone besides myself,
that is. It feels like asking the Chef to clean up the kitchen. But if we need
to tweak this publishing glitch (and it seems we should), my suggestion for a
starting point is to acknowledge (or embrace?) a couple of strategies provided
by Berrett-Koehler.
Namely:
Branding. “In a crowded market, brands stand out.” It might even be fun!
Happy Writing!
