Booknolia

It’s a common, romantic dream. However, like most romantic dreams, reality isn’t as pretty and perfect as the rosy dream.

Myth: You just need to write a great book. Budding authors believe that the cliché “build it and they will come” also applies to writing books. In other words, they believe that if you write a great book, people will buy it.

Not so.

Everyday someone, somewhere in the world, is finishing up an amazing, seminal book. However, that book won’t hit the bestseller lists while dozens of less interesting books will.

Why?

Cynics might conclude think that it’s because Americans are uncultured and stupid. They think we all enjoy trashy books. Although some do, smart and profound books make it to the best seller list often (consider Freakonomics, The Third Chimpanzee, and The World Without Us).

Therefore, if writing a great book doesn’t guarantee success, what does?

Marketing.

Reality: You just need outstanding marketing. Amazing marketing is what separates the bestsellers from the unknowns. Obviously, writing a breakthrough book helps, but what really makes a difference is killer marketing. It’s the common DNA in nearly all contemporary bestsellers.

Therefore, if you want to be an author when you grow up, remember that there’s more to it than just sitting on the beach in Bali and writing a great book.

As an author, you’ll have to hustle and promote your book nonstop. That means writing articles, getting others to write articles about you, getting others to review your book, and getting on radio and TV. That’s hard enough, but now imagine doing all that when you have no budget (which is what most publishers give you). Not so romantic anymore, eh?

At Booknolia, we’re helping budding authors to market their books. Unleash the power of social networking at a site that is exclusively devoted to book lovers. Join today!

We all learned in econ-101 the guns vs. butter model as a classic example of the production possibility curve. It shows how a nation would choose to spend its resources: defense vs. domestic civilian spending. What pushes guns over butter? Public fear, either manufactured or real.

Public fear is easily manipulated, especially in today’s world of media consolidation. Who doesn’t want security? who doesn’t want those terrorists brought to justice and their nests demolished? Who could argue that president’s job is to ensure the security of the nation? so the argument for guns is a no-brainer.

Butter, on the other hand, is generally perceived as luxury and privilege. Anyone who talks too much about universal healthcare, unemployment protection, education, and the like is automatically accused of being fiscally irresponsible at best and a socialist at worst.

Today’s election, as every other one, is about guns and butter. Given the fear climate of the post 9-11, guns win every time. How’s this related to books? Education - schools and libraries - all belong to the “butter” category. Ignoring them, however, will require more guns in the future. So in the long run, they will all belong to the “guns” category as we need to fight our way for resources instead of using them wisely.

For a current discussion on the cost of wars, see Joseph Stiglitz’s The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict (ISBN: 978-0393067019). Guns cost too much…

In 2006, U.S. customers spent $56 billion for over 3 billion new and used books. They are between 25 and 54 with a female skew, educated and affluent, highly vocal, loyal and are more likely to engage in participatory reading activities.

Who writes these books? The 3 million authors in the U.S. who write more than 185,000 new titles annually. Who publishes them? Over 62,000 small, medium and large publishing houses with net annual revenues of $36 billion in 2006. There’s world of authors, agents, publishers, distributors, and booksellers working almost seamlessly such that we get to read the books we like.

How did all this come about? Read about it in Epstein’s short book “Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future” which reads like a personal memoir with focus on book publishers. His many years in the industry qualifies him perfectly to talk about the past and the present as well as giving him the vision to speculate on the future of this non-linear industry.

Until 2006, publishers’ sales statistics did not include smaller publishers with under $50 million in annual sales. The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) changed all that. BISG’s latest publication, Book Trends 2007, estimates that total publishers’ net revenues in 2006 reached $35.7 billion, up 3.2% over 2005’s total, and that unit sales in 2006 exceeded 3.1 billion. TRENDS projections show revenues reaching nearly $42 billion and units at 3.24 billion by the end of 2011. TRENDS 2007 which covers the entire U.S. book publishing industry is pricy ($875) if you are not a member of the group but you pay $125 if you are a member.

Lately I have been reading about online conversations and blogs. My first book about online conversations was The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business As Usual by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger. I think I read it in late 2000 after first following their website back in 1999 with their 95 Theses. I encourage you to read those theses written almost 9 years ago. Still fresh after a decade of change!

There is another book I picked up last week from the famous blogger (and a pioneer) Robert Scoble, co-authored with Shel Israel. With a great cover design and catchy title, Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers is about blogging and why it will revolutionize business communication. I haven’t finished reading it yet but if you are still wondering why to blog, you should read this book.

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