MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How many 'must-buy' authors do you have from Big 6 publishers?

ficbot · 03-10-2011, 08:32 AM

I wrote an article for this on Teleread and am curious to get more opinions. I think the Harper Collins boycott and the pricing/geo-restrictions/etc. might have more impact on the Big 6 than they realize because I think most readers have a few 'name' authors they follow, and aside from those, don't care much about the others. They'll round out their reading of those favourites with library books, used book store finds, borrowing from spouses or family, magazines, reading for school or work etc.

I know that for me, I have maybe two authors from Big Pub whose work I will buy, sight unseen, and be willing to pay a little more for. The rest of my books are just 'whatever looks interesting among the other books I have.' If something looks interesting but is priced too high or is unavailable, there are plenty of other books in the category of 'not too invested per se, but if I happen to get my hands on it, it looks fun.' So that means that out of 100 books I might read, 98 of them will not be big pub purchases, necessarily, but will be library books, impulse purchases which were cheap, Smashwords books or borrowing from my sister.

So, other readers out there, how many 'must-buy' authors do you have from the Big 6? And what percentage of your reading do those purchases represent?

03-10-2011, 08:32 AM	#1
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	How many 'must-buy' authors do you have from Big 6 publishers? I wrote an article for this on Teleread and am curious to get more opinions. I think the Harper Collins boycott and the pricing/geo-restrictions/etc. might have more impact on the Big 6 than they realize because I think most readers have a few 'name' authors they follow, and aside from those, don't care much about the others. They'll round out their reading of those favourites with library books, used book store finds, borrowing from spouses or family, magazines, reading for school or work etc. I know that for me, I have maybe two authors from Big Pub whose work I will buy, sight unseen, and be willing to pay a little more for. The rest of my books are just 'whatever looks interesting among the other books I have.' If something looks interesting but is priced too high or is unavailable, there are plenty of other books in the category of 'not too invested per se, but if I happen to get my hands on it, it looks fun.' So that means that out of 100 books I might read, 98 of them will not be big pub purchases, necessarily, but will be library books, impulse purchases which were cheap, Smashwords books or borrowing from my sister. So, other readers out there, how many 'must-buy' authors do you have from the Big 6? And what percentage of your reading do those purchases represent?