R. Garcia's Website
  • Home
  • Documents
    • Fiction
    • Poetry and Poetry-Related
    • Humor
    • Essays
    • Photographs
  • Blog: The Eclectic Life
  • Quotes
  • Books
    • The Sun Zebra
  • : ^ )
    • Fun Quotes
    • Rolando's Official Web Mascot
    • Cool Videos
    • The Power of Words
    • Odd and Fantastic Pictures
  • Contact

Print Books Are Unnatural

8/4/2012

2 Comments

 
I was thinking the other day about how the rise of e-books has revealed something peculiar about how books sell. Some e-books become best sellers in the moment they are published while others sell much less but consistently overtime. Some e-books do not sell very well for a stretch of time and then “take off” while others sell irregularly alternating between periods of good sales and bad sales (peaks and valleys). There are multitudes of sales patterns and which one will regulate the “sale’s life” of a book is determined by multiple variables. Thinking this about e-books I realized something: print books are unnatural.

Let me explain.

First let me clarify that by “print books” I don’t mean those printed by POD (print on demand) services. I am writing about traditionally published print books. There is an aspect of the publishing of these books that is often not understood by people and this is what I call here the “time factor.” When you publish a print book, in the moment the book hits the stores a clock starts ticking. If your book does not achieve significant sales in a few weeks then it gets removed from the shelves along with your dreams and gets sent back to the publisher for a refund. Why is this?

In the brick and mortar store, your print book is a physical object that occupies space and competes for said space with other books. The book stores obviously want to make money and what they do is that they give preference to the books that are selling better. So your book has a very narrow window of time to be a success. This is why print books are unnatural. These books cannot develop their natural sales pattern because there is a selection process in favor of the books that sell well from the beginning.

This hurdle is overcome by e-books for the simple reason that they are virtual and therefore don’t occupy any space, which means they won’t be “removed” if they don’t sell that well compared to other books. And this is the way book selling should be because each book is different, and it is also the reason why e-books have a greater chance of success than print books.

Thus we come to the paradoxical conclusion that an e-book, something that does not exist in the real physical world, is actually more natural than a print book!


                                    ***
If you like this blog you can have links to each week's posts delivered to your e-mail address. Please click here. 

2 Comments
Patricia Lynne link
8/6/2012 01:14:48 am

Interesting point. Think you're on to something.

Reply
Rolando link
8/6/2012 11:21:05 am

Thanks for your comment. It's one more reason to publish e-books! : ^ )

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    I am a tinker, tailor,
    soldier, sailor,
    rich man, poor man,
    beggar-man, thief!

    Follow Phantomimic on Twitter

    RSS Feed

    Blogroll

    Laura Novak
    Barbara Alfaro
    Suzanne Rosenwasser
    Sunny Lockwood
    Christine Macdonald
    Jennie Rosenbaum
    Kristen Lamb
    Joe Konrath
    Sweepy Jean
    Ingrid Ricks
    The Jotter
    Robert David MacNeil
    Molly Greene
    The Passive Voice
    Third Sunday Blog Carnival
    Marilou George
    Laura Zera
    Jeri Walker-Bickett
    Lia London

    Categories

    All
    Advice For Writers
    Amazon
    Art
    Author
    Ballet
    Bloggers
    Bluegrass Music
    Book Promotion
    Book Review
    Cats
    Censorship
    Clopper Mill
    Coffe
    Cool Places
    Coral Castle
    E Books
    E-Books
    Enchanted Highway
    Fair
    Fiction
    Glenstone
    Goodreads
    Grammar
    Guest Post
    Harry Potter
    Indie
    Interview
    Issues
    Kdp Select
    Kindle
    Milestone
    Milestones
    Muses
    Nell
    Novel
    Nuclear Missile Sites
    Painting
    Picture
    Poe Toaster
    Poetry
    Politics
    Prague Quadrennial
    Print Books
    Quality
    Reading
    Restaurant At Patowack Farm
    Science
    Scribd
    Self Publishing
    Self-Publishing
    Short Story
    Song
    Spirit Women
    Spotlight
    Sun Zebra
    Supernatural
    Theater
    The Sedlec Ossuary
    Video
    Women
    Words
    Writer
    Writers
    Writer's Block
    Writing

    Archives

    April 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2015
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    October 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.