I've been researching around here on self publishing, looking back on old threads. I have a hodgepodge of questions. Is there a US version of Gardners? How do most bookstores order books, and how do most sourcing managers (or equivalent) choose what they think will sell? For ebooks/KDP, how do most readers see a title, so they can decide if they want it? For ebooks/KDP, how do most readers choose whether they want to purchase? I know I make snap judgments I can't really explain, or go off of recommendations (which means the marketing wasn't really a factor at all). For ebooks/KDP, is price a big factor? I know if I want to read a book, I'm not going to sweat 4.99 or 7.99. Are other readers like that? I saw it advised that solo ads for books are not cost effective. I'm assuming this means like an ad on google to promote the book in search results? I saw it advised that facebook boosted posts are not bad. I'm not on facebook - would you need a lot of friends for that to work? Thanks @big soft moose for this: Podcasts for self publishing | Creative Writing Forums - Writing Help, Writing Workshops, & Writing Community I will get listening
I do not know BUT I have only seen physical retailers recently begin to stock self published books and all the books I've seen are "TikTok" famous romances/fantasy. So I imagine those books are either picked after customer request or researching TikTok. Either they see it while looking at the ebook store, it's been recommended by word of mouth (friends, TikTok, Facebook groups, discord readers groups, etc), or ads. I don't think anyone really can answer that. I imagine there are a lot of factors. Familiarity with the cover/title helps. Ease of purchase, recommendations, the copywrite (blurb, ads), how attractive they find the cover, if the topics are trending, etc. Depends on the genre. In romance the bigger thing is whether it's in kindle unlimited or not because a lot of romance readers read so much they need to avoid purchases so they don't spend crazy amounts. For all genres I think a price that would put off potential buyers is if similar books to yours are cheaper, especially if you are a new author.
Speaking as a reader, I usually buy (non-fiction) books based on whatever topic I'm interested in, then winnow them down to one, mostly based on the author's credentials and reviews on Amazon. We have a good library here, so I don't buy novels. Price is only a concern relative to other books in the genre. Everything else being close to equal, cheaper is better. If I were to publish a book with KDP (and I hope to, soon) I might be inclined to follow Amazon's pricing recommendations.
Just to address this one point, it's something a lot of people don't know about trade publishing: trade publishers offer an author what's called 'distribution' and that's what you're asking about. Note: distribution is different than fulfilment. In my opinion, a publisher that only offers fulfilment is not actually a trade publisher. Distribution is their network of sales reps that position the publisher's catalogue to book chains and individual stores. The publisher works with bookstore buying teams to identify inventory that will maximize sales per square foot at their locations. Sometimes they even pay the bookstore for shelf space. They prepare what's called an ABI (aka AI or AIS) for each book. Personal hobbyhorse: An ABI is something self publishers can and should do as well. Even if we're not getting the attention of Chatpers/Indigo, it's a good marketing exercise and can help when selling to local independents. ref: https://publishingterms.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/advance-information-sheet/
