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sarah_prineas, talented author of The Magic Thief and The Magic Thief: Lost, has got some thought-provoking posts on The-State-of-the-Publishing-Market over on her blog here and with a follow-up here.

I mention this because the consensus seems to be that the only thing that really sells books is Word of Mouth--or at least, the passing of information between individuals, rather than any kind of market-generated publicity.

I'm not sure I believe this, but it makes for an interesting and lively discussion.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

wolfinthewood.livejournal.com

Well, I bought and read The Winter Prince because I heard you speak on a panel at the 1997 World Fantasy Convention, in London. I'd never heard of you, or your book, but after the session I picked up a copy to look at in the dealer's room, and thought it looked like a book I'd like to take home with me. And when I read it, I thought it was brilliant: one of the best Arthurian novels ever.

From:

ewein2412

Was that the panel where they asked "what are your favorite three fantasy novels" and I said my own? (twit!)

at the risk of sounding petulant I would argue that word-of-mouth is the only thing that sells my books; and in truth the word still spreads about The Winter Prince, though it went out-of-print for the second time about three years ago. But word-of-mouth doesn't seem to be doing enough. And that's not for lack of enthusiasm, because most people who read them, like you (♥!) are lavish with praise for them.

which is exactly why I feel there MUST be something else going on.

So anyway, thank you for that lovely compliment, and can I also say how much I enjoyed your offering on woodwoses. How weird are the more obscure British folk traditions?

From:

wolfinthewood.livejournal.com

Was that the panel where they asked "what are your favorite three fantasy novels" and I said my own?

I don't remember that bit, so perhaps it wasn't. I actually can't remember what the panel was about: just that it made me want to go and look for a copy of your book.

I am glad you liked the woodwoses.

From:

sarah-prineas.livejournal.com

Thanks for the shout out!

I don't think it's the only thing, either. Awards matter, if they're big ones, and so do good reviews, so does lots of expensive advertising. It's interesting thinking about the top-down aproaches versus the...(I hate this term)...grass roots or go-viral approaches.

There's some kind of tipping point, I think, where top-down becomes viral/word-of-mouth, and I think that, for Marketing, is the Holy Grail. So to speak.

From:

ewein2412

the Holy Grail. So to speak.

hee.

is the term "viral" in common use, or did you make that up? because I think it's actually very good--it includes not only the spread but also the fever that seems to envelop certain books (or any consumer thing that people go nuts over suddenly).