Visibility ≠ Sales (necessarily)

Ha!

Two of the reasons that news items are news items: they're of great importance; or they're unusual (like a talking dog or a lottery win). Many stories trumpeting self-publishing successes fall into one of these categories. Sadly, many self-publishing enthusiasts assume it's one and not the other.

mpclemens said:

Because it's the Internet, and I grumble about how "one data point does not a trend make" and then go out and find stories like this:

3 Things I Learned When My Site’s Traffic Increased 25,000% in One Day

Short version: cartoonist posts info about his latest title on Reddit, a popular link-aggregator/commenting site, sees web site traffic go up, but does not automatically translate into overwhelming sales.

Not a surprise, but I actually find this somewhat encouraging, in a twisted, bizarro-logic sort of way.

And then even more interesting is the sudden bump of his work to the top of the iTunes bookstore in graphic novels: maybe due to the story being picked up on Boing Boing?

My takeaway: no sales? Blame the Internet!

Click to expand...

The guy's problem is merchandising. When you land on his homepage you don't see a sales widget with a picture of the books. By the time people read his posts they forget he's trying to sell something and move on.

Lesson? Widget up!

I learned the hard way demographics of your audience is critical. For example, each time I was interviewed in the newspaper or on the radio I figured I'd see a big bump is sales, but I did not. When I released several trailers on general video posting sites, again I estimated big bumps and again I did not. Wasn't the circulation which measured in 100K and more that was the problem. It was the nature of the audience. If the general public reads an article about a writer and their new release they are not thinking about or looking to buy a book at that moment. Same with general video posting sites. But if you get exposure on a site focused specifically at readers, totally different case and my sales data reflects that observation.

Wait a minute. Does this mean anyone at all can post their own blog updates to Reddit?