Quote:
Originally Posted by tomsem
Authors and publishers have a discoverability problem.
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Correct.
More precisely, authors and publishers have a *visibility* problem for lack of effective marketing. With the explosive growth in actively available books, both new releases and backlist, it is increasingly hard for any but the biggest name authors to be noticed by non-fans. That is their problem, though.
Readers have no shortage of effective ways to find reads and discover new authors. Especially online. That the authors and publishers have a problem doesn't mean readers have a problem. Therd is no causal link between the two processes. At most, rezders have a selection problem: two many books, too little budget/time.
Unfortunately for B&N, the two most effective reader discovery systems are Amazon and Goodreads. They already have a copy of Amazon's book section and are trying to mimic Goodreads. But it's a wee bit late to be trying that. Plus they have bigger problems than marketing books. Starting with marketing themselves to avid readers to try to reverse their continuing decline in traffic.
B&N itself has a visibility problem.