| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| specfiction |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 08:36:35
Ask most people in the book business what makes the difference as to whether a book sells or not and they will say marketing bucks. The more marketing, the higher the sales. This is especially true if the author is unknown. But if you ask readers, they say:
1) Word of mouth. If a book is recommended by someone they know, they tend to buy it.
2) Reviews. If they read a positive review of a book by a reviewer they read, or if there is a positive review of a book in a well known magazine or paper, they are more likely to buy the book.
3) Lastly, readers look for a particular author. That's why many times the name of the author is larger than the name of the book on the the front cover.
What would make you more likely to take a chance on an unknown author by buying their book? Do you ever look for books online by putting the genre or subject of a book in the search engine? |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| specfiction |
Posted - 06/14/2007 : 21:28:20
quote:
Originally posted by The Jarillion
Having been a tightwad since as far back as can be measured I tend to buy everything second hand, and only rarely start on new authors. I'm working my way through Philip K. Dick at present, after seeing the film Imposter.
Reviews are a mixed blessing for me, especially with critics of TV. Quite often I will take a negative review from someone I consider an idiot as an incentive to view, and vice versa. Often I tend to experiment with older material. I fear there are too many current authors who lack a classical grounding.
www.jarillion.com
I agree with you on Impostor--great movie. Right now I'm rereading Joe Halderman's Forever War. It's a very interesting book. Joe's style reminds me a little of Hemingway--very simple declarative sentences that slowly paint a complicated picture--like an impressionist painting with little dabs of paint that are deceptively simple up close and are very dramatic and complicated when you step back.
As far as what I consider a good book--hard to describe--but I know it when I read it. BTW, give new authors a chance. That's why we let people download the first few chapters of our books--there is only the investment in time that's required to read them. Before I knew better, I thought of the web as a place where creative people without big mountains of marketing money could put their wares in front of other people. I thought that because in the begining, technologically, that's what the web was.
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Specfiction |
| The Jarillion |
Posted - 06/14/2007 : 15:58:46
Having been a tightwad since as far back as can be measured I tend to buy everything second hand, and only rarely start on new authors. I'm working my way through Philip K. Dick at present, after seeing the film Imposter.
Reviews are a mixed blessing for me, especially with critics of TV. Quite often I will take a negative review from someone I consider an idiot as an incentive to view, and vice versa. Often I tend to experiment with older material. I fear there are too many current authors who lack a classical grounding.
www.jarillion.com |
| colton45 |
Posted - 04/12/2007 : 21:14:00
Anymore, I purchase books after having seen the movie. If the movie was good, I know the book will be exponentially better. Take the case of the last book I purchased, Eragon. If you've read the book, avoid the movie, it is anemic in comparison. Nevertheless, the movie was good enough for me to consider a book purchase.
I was a bit wary to purchase Star Wars III but found the novel every bit as good as the movie. Insights into the characters, the subplots and being able to envision my own landscape via imagination was much more fulfilling than seeing the movie. When I read I also direct my own movie set inside my head.
Perhaps the decline in reading has occurred because authors are so determined to use an odd word from the dictionary that they found by simply opening the tome and finding something obscure that they ignore for whom they are writing. (And then they pat themselves on the back and consider themselves more educated). I hate to ramble but the fault of the declining audience, in my opinion, is due to supposed intellectuals and literary wannabes who demand a product that no one wants to read!!!!! What happened to supply and demand? I base my opinions on the brilliance of J.K. Rowling. I know seven year-olds as well as 70 year-olds who enjoy her books, and she uses very simple language to convey (let's be honest) a very interesting plot. Because of this, she slamdunks all the big names, i.e., Crichton, King, Steele and Grisham every time she announces a new release. These literary monsters must politely bow out her way, much like they have grudgingly had to do with Christopher Paolini who employs the same style. Ok, I shut up now. |
| tamarawilhite |
Posted - 04/04/2007 : 15:39:53
I occassionally buy from word of mouth. I often buy from the amazon.com recommendations based on what I previously purchased.
Tamara Wilhite/Humanity's Edge |
| specfiction |
Posted - 04/02/2007 : 15:09:31
I've asked this question a lot, but why are so few people willing to buy e-books? Some people have told me that they were surprised how convenient it was to read an e-book on a light-weight laptop.
Has anyone out there read an e-book from virtual cover to cover? Would you do it again?
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Specfiction |
| KFloyd |
Posted - 11/28/2006 : 15:07:43
I think putting Word of Mouth as number one is exactly right. The most powerful form of marketing I've seen recently is one person seeing a book in a friend's hand. They ask the friend if they're enjoying the book and a conversation about the author ensues. Then, they'll usually talk about other similar authors. So, having an unkown author compared to a more known author can create a positive association. This is why author's are more than happy to write reviews of books similar to their own writing genre.
Kenneth Floyd
Author of The Painted Man |
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