According to figures released by the Book Industry Study Group, 3.1 billion books were sold in 2005 in the United States alone. If you assume that the average sale was for $10, that adds up to more than $30 billion dollars. That figure doesn't even include e-books, of which an estimated 250 million copies are sold annually.This means a lot for authors, publishers, book retailers, drop shippers, and anyone else who wants a piece of the pie. Not only do people love to read for free via web sites, magazines, and newspapers - but they also love to pay $5 - $30 or more for a book. There's nothing like capitalizing on something that people love to pay for!
I could be wrong, but it appears that more books are sold each year than CDs and DVDs. Either way, the numbers are astronomical and will continue to grow - especially for e-books.
Therefore, if you're in the book industry (or would like to be), my best advice is to gain an understanding of marketing. Realize that not everyone will read any type of book. Everyone has their preference: Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, mysteries, business, health, ethnic, etc.
If you're an author - make sure that you're writing books for the people who make up the majority of your fans and followers. Give them what they want.
If you're a book retailer or drop shipper, promote books that best appeal to the audience that makes up your reach. For instance, if your reach is African American readers than highlight African American books. If your reach is chefs and cooks, then highlight cookbooks.
Remember that millions of books are sold every day, so if you're not selling books - you need to change up your strategy.
Beyond numbing statistics, authors need to keep their marketing focus and realize that book promotion is a give-and-take process, a value for value mutual proposition for book fans and followers. Different works sell differently, and with reader preferences assuming critical importance, authors must find ways to keep their demographic readers engaged, interested, appreciated. Truth be told, book promotion is not as easy as it seems, and there are plenty of missed opportunities along the way. However, with a good, flexible book selling strategy, satisfactory sales returns will just come naturally.
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