But what if you were told that this book, which so captured your imagination, was no longer available to other readers? Due to the physical constraints of the print publishing world, once a book disappears from bookstores, its only hope of finding readers thereafter is on the dusty shelves of a library or for the lucky few, second-hand on Amazon.
When I started a digital book publishing company late last year my main target audience was what is known as the indie author community: unpublished authors who have decided to bypass traditional publishing and go it alone. Thanks to digital giants like Amazon, and their Kindle Direct Publishing platform, you no longer need a contract from a publisher to get your book out there.
However, without online marketing expertise, that book’s readers may never be discovered and that’s where people like me come in. Having worked in Google for over seven and a half years, online discoverability is what I know best. Although there are many indie authors out there who have had great success in selling their books solely through online PR, it will be paid search and display advertising that will find readers in future. Today, when consumers hear about a new product, regardless of what it is, their first stop to find out more is search.
I was excited about discovering unknown authors and bringing their books to market so it came as a surprise to me to learn that my target audience was not exactly who I had initially expected.
Late last year, I discovered PeterWilben, an Irish author with a distinguished career spanning nearly three decades. Peter currently writes literary fiction, and is best known for his Monument novels which explore the lives and loves of interlinked families living in an fictional coastal town, based on the one in which Peter grew up.
These were books that Peter had researched for months, that a professional copy editor had painstakingly proofed, that notable journalists that glowingly reviewed, that readers had purchased to help them escape while on holidays, to act as a companion on a long flight or to give as a gift to a loved one. Above all, they are well written novels combining all the classical thriller ingredients of violence, car chases, suspense and sex with the ruthlessness of corporations and institutions.
But despite all of this, they were no longer available to readers until the digital revolution re-discovered them.
Recent data released by publishing industry experts The Bookseller, reveals that ‘the e-book market for traditionally published digital books is much bigger than previously thought, with estimates suggesting that a total number of 65 million e-books were sold in 2012, representing a value of about £200m – at least double what it was in 2011. That would mean the overall book market grew in 2012, despite spending on print books falling £74m’.
While the big names in digital publishing so far, EL James, Amanda Hocking and John Locke have all been previously unpublished, I predict that the next big names will come from this pool of traditionally published authors.
After significant re-editing, new titles and eye-catching new covers the Joe Grace series has been exclusively re-released online and is available to buy today on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/
Although it has been challenging to reinvent himself online Peter has enjoyed the experience: “It’s been very exciting to go back and re-live the action and the stories and to find that my hero, Joe Grace, is so much at home in the digital world.”
On those virtual book shelves, Peter Wilben joins thousands of former print published authors who have been similarly empowered to re-connect with their readers. Sales of Red Contract, Book One of the series, have so far been strong – but you needn’t worry about it selling out. The shelf space in the virtual bookstore is infinite.
About Anne-Marie Scully
A former Google employee, Anne-Marie Scully now runs the digital publishing company Orchard Wall Publishing, www.
