Why Readers Require Social Proof in the Digital Age

Gatekeepers. In the world of books, this word evokes strong emotions from both self and traditionally published authors. In the past, there were many gatekeepers — publishers, agents, editors, critics and bookstore owners. All still exist, but can be bypassed now that self-publishing is mainstream and online retailers, unconstrained by limited shelf space, can and […]

Forget Promotion! Think like a Reader

We hope you’ll visit our guest post over at Indies Unlimited (www.indiesunlimited.com), a great new site for writers. Our post went live there yesterday and led to a great conversation about book promotion versus book discovery.  It’s called “Forget Promotion! Think like a Reader”  and was written by our founder Kathy Meis. We hope you […]

Book Promotion & Strategic Serendipity

If you’re like me, wandering around a bookstore is pure delight (no matter how inefficient Farhad Manjoo over at Slate thinks they are). But if I asked you to describe the elements that make this experience so pleasurable, could you? For centuries, bookstore ambience has led us to buy a lot of books. As we […]