A Publisher's Conversation with Authors: How Does Content/Topic Affect Book Sales?
It is Tuesday. Monday's madness is over, and Wednesday will take us over the hump, so Tuesday it is--for some serious discussion with authors. Tuesday talks mean to address authors in waiting and self-published authors who would like to go a more traditional route or who would at least like to take their steps with a publisher by their side. Today's topic asks how content/topic affects book sales. Quite a bit, actually, is the answer. Consider the following: The best-written, most award-winning book cannot become a NYT bestseller with a topic that is not of wide, general interest. Most memoirs fall into that category; so do books that are rather off the beaten path. If you are not hearing about your topic right now on all the talk shows, news outlets, and social media venues, chances are readers are not searching out your book; they are searching for a book about the latest hot topic. That is why books go through cycles of good and not-so-good and even no sales: life chanc