Getting The Horse To Drink

There is a thread here that Alice started that brought something to mind. I have had signings at different bookstores and find it curios to watch people come in a browse through the new arrivals display. Some people will pick up a book look it over and put back on the display. A few will take something and read the back copy, inside flap and buy. Others head straight for the new release of their old favorite, go to the register and out of the door.

Now I have no clue what trigger is getting the books selected vs not purchased. The exercise looks like a complete crapshoot that is enhanced by preferred product placement. I think any books by authors on this board would have the same odds of being purchased. Sure a known name may help somewhat, but the simple fact of being there is what is just as important. Now, I market my books online which I know is a growing but smaller subset of book buyers. Recently I saw on my report and checked Ingram and four units of my book Fools' Heaven were sold via a retail channel in February. I have no clue as to what particular action caused that sale. I know that I have put a lot of marketing out there, but I can't tie it back and say "this" caused "that" so I will do more of it.

Alice did a non-scientific test of free and it was very clever. Her free had no strings attached and still the response was muted. I think the term free, which used to be so powerful has lost some luster due to over use and there is so much free entertainment online and elsewhere. A $4 NYT bestseller is almost free, but I find them on the remainder tables all of the time. The book business is had to figure but what isn't in today's world.

I almost see this as a leading a horse to water, but will he drink or sniff and walk away?

Dt,
you are perceptive as usual. I asked some questions on a new forum with the publisher of my latest book. The question was:
What influences you to buy a book?:
The book title?
The cover design?
The price?
The author?
The genre?
Do you read the book blurb and then decide?
Can you remember the last book you purchased and what prompted you to buy it?

Only a few people responded, but the popular response was: the book cover and then the synopsis.

DT,

I agree free denotes cheap and people may feel an author is handing out their religion.

We get tired of people coming to our doors with free papers.

Like Don, I first check to see if there is anything new from the authors I like the most. Then I head for the mystery section and see if there is something I have overlooked. I rarely if ever check any other section and don't pay much attention to the bestseller list. I seldom pick a book by a writer I am not familiar with.

There are a handful of authors whose books I read. None of them are among the best selling folks who write half the new stuff out there. I look for the all of my old and trusted authors first, and usually only.

After that, I look for subject matter. I read some books about certain things, and don't care who they are written by.

I care very little for price, but will hesitate to buy something if it seems to be well over market value for that particular style or subject.

I pay almost no attention to the cover, and none whatsoever to the publisher.

I will occasionally, but rarely, pick up, browse and buy a book that is not within the above guidelines. This is because I have read thousands of books over the years, and I know pretty much what I want to read. Now and then something new will catch my eye, but it is almost always something that I heard about elsewhere, and went to the store looking for that exact book.

I think people browse through fiction stacks more than they do non-fiction. Non-fiction readers, like Don, go into a bookstore knowing what they are looking for, and will look online more often.

Ann