The truth about bookstore sales

Bookstores. Ah...the Holy Grail for the independently published author. How many lamentations, teeth gnashing, prayers have gone out to have bookstores--any bookstore, it didn't matter--carry their novel/baby in their store?

But should this be?

I decided to do a bit of research on book store sales trends. Guess what I found? Book store sales are actually declining and internet sales, including books, are increasing.

In fact, as I browsed more, wanting to get a clearer picture of this situation, I found this statement from a typical teenage consumer in a blog about books:

As high school students with busy lives, going to a bookstore is just not part of our schedule. It isn't that we don't want to read, but with schoolwork, sports, and personal life, not enough time is left open to both find interesting books, as well as read them. Understanding different generations like ours is the key to making the age differences less obvious.

What does this mean for the independently-published author? It means maybe we need to focus on that computer in all our homes versus the book store manager that won't return our call. All your energy could be placed on advertising that great novel versus begging a store to give it a shot.

I can't speak for anyone else, but upgrading my site and adding a cart was paramount to stay in this publishing game. It's not that expensive and the returns are worth the money.

Think about it.

Until next time...

Sydney

Links: Parapublishing,