Boutique businesses are on the rise in the digital age. What does ’boutique’ mean? Essentially, small is now big. Instead of people relying solely on a handful of major brands, the marketplace has shifted from the macro to the micro.

Yes, plenty of people still pick up a Brad Thor in the airport. Just like plenty of people go over to Home Goods, TJ Maxx or Kirklands to buy home decor. But there are probably just as many heading to Etsy (and similar sites) to buy one-of-a-kind decor from independent creators.

***Same for books.

While mega stores hold certain advantages, they also have just as many disadvantages. Namely, they have to stock enough variety to appeal to as many customers as possible.

The idea that ‘Small is the New Big’ isn’t particularly new. Seth Godin wrote a book on this in 2006, and I also mention this in my social media/branding book Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World. Yes, that book is evergreen, meaning it still works today. The digital landscape changes daily but humans never do.

***Go read Shakespeare or look up some ex on social media.

The reason the market shifted was because, when Web 2.0 took off, it opened up the entire world to consumers. This can be good and bad. Yay for more choices! But soooo many CHOICES!

*head explodes*

The Days of the Mega Author Titans

Many of us, when we started writing, all wanted to be the next INSERT NAME OF MEGA AUTHOR HERE. Now, do I think the mega-authors we currently have are going to up and vanish?

Of course not.

Readers will still buy James Patterson, Stephen King, J.D. Robb, J.K. Rowling (Robert Galbraith), and so on and so forth.

This said, I don’t believe any NEW mega-authors will replace them, simply because we’ve fundamentally shifted our buying patterns. The Big Six (NYC and global conglomerates) simply did not adjust to the changes in the digital world quickly enough to survive. Most of them have folded or changed their focus (I.e. solely non-fiction/more streaming content).

The Mega Author business model worked pre-digital age for very practical reasons. First, the public relied on a very limited number of gatekeepers to tell them what was worth their time. We relied on what we saw on shelves, on television talk shows, in the newspapers, etc.

Remember Oprah’s Book Club?

Before Amazon, novelists had a horrific failure rate, namely because—unlike non-fiction authors—it was virtually impossible to build a brand (fan following) before the book became available for sale.

How It Worked

This meant that, NY would release a new author’s book, and, if the stars happened to align just right and the book actually SOLD, then the author would get another book deal and a larger print run. Repeat process until you have a winner.

Sadly, only 1 out of 10 traditionally published authors ever published a second book. Yes, the failure rate was staggering.

Check out this post if you’re curious how traditional publishing worked.

Once a member of the ‘old guard’ of big name authors was ready to retire, NYC would ‘promote’ a mid-list best-selling author. Because traditional publishing was tethered so closely to bookstores (Borders and B&N in particular), they could somewhat artificially promote the next ‘big deal’ by giving the author a much larger print run and by increasing distribution.

Translation? Borders or Barnes & Noble would order MUCH larger shipments of the book and, in cooperation with NYC, arrange optimal placement.

The thought was, if potential readers kept seeing the same books in checkout lines, at Walmart, Sam’s, grocery stores, drug stores, that eventually they’d buy. This would prime the proverbial pump and…

VOILA! The next NYTBSA!

It worked very imperfectly, but before a digital marketplace, this was the best they could do.

Eventually, the reading public just assumed if it was a big name author, the book was good. Not saying their books weren’t good, but there were plenty of authors who had books just as high of quality if not better.

And, again, no shade on any of the franchise authors, because readers like them. What I am saying is Robert Ludlum (who passed March 2001) and Tom Clancy (who passed October 2013) are still hitting the best-seller lists.

Eh. Okay.

These authors’ NAMES are franchises and their books still sell in high enough volume to make the best-selling lists…even though the original authors are no longer among the living.

No young blood is coming in to take their places.

Boutique Business is Booming

Suffice to say, the mega-authors we have now are, in my POV, the last of their kind, and for very practical reasons. First, we no longer only have a handful of gatekeepers telling us what’s worth reading.

Secondly, with over a million self-published books being added every year, the sheer VOLUME of choices is enough to make our (the consumer’s) head explode.

When everything is a choice, then nothing is a choice.

Also, writers can curate content for a highly specific audience. Take any slice of society and an author can build a niche around that. Feel free to write about NYC socialites, but remember that Mississippi housewives who run a Voodoo shop to work out their middle-age angst could trend as well.

I am being silly, but not.

There will always be tribes of people who want to be represented. Drive a Harley? Keep snakes as pets? Volunteer as a docent at the art museum? Drive a Harley when not collecting snakes or volunteering at the art museum?

If you can dream it, it can be a niche.

Boutique Books

The megastore model, in general, is struggling to survive. Big box stores have ridiculous overhead and their profits are always tied to a physical product (meaning they’re also tied to the cost of petroleum and vulnerable to supply chain issues).

Refusing to downsize was one of many reasons that retailers like Barnes & Noble cut their metaphorical throats. For those who want to know more, I suggest my post, Barnes & Noble SOLD: Goliath has Fallen & What This Means for Writers.

But, one business’s problem is another’s opportunity. One thing I mention over and over in my book is that we really don’t have to cultivate an overly huge fan following to make a really great living.

Tech guru Kevin Kelly stated all a creator needed was 1000 ‘true fans’. ‘True fans’ are the super fan. They preorder books, buy everything we write, give our books as GIFTS. The super fan (and y’all know you are one) will stop strangers in a store to recommend a favorite author.

Boutique is all about the super fans!

This was why I predicted over ten years ago, that the book business would go boutique. We (readers) simply cannot keep up with all the books being published. There are no traditional gatekeepers.

In the ‘old days’ an agent might have passed on a perfectly AMAZING vampire book because they already had maxxed out the number of vampire books they were willing to release.

This was GREAT because anyone with a vampire book was only competing against a small and finite number of other vampire books. The downside was that their book might have been BETTER than the books already slotted, just they came along too late. Meaning readers missed out on a lot of great books.

Now? That vampire book could possibly be competing against a 1,000 or even 10,000 other vampire books. Pluses and minuses to everything.

Boutique Author Model

Just as physical bookstores had/have limitations, digital bookstores do as well. Namely, discoverability is a nightmare. This is why building an author brand is absolutely critical.

Unlike 20 years ago, we don’t have to make everyone a fan. We don’t even, say, have to make everyone who loves romance a fan. It’s possible to cultivate a fan for your one-of-a-kind romance. Your followers might love sassy sweet romances set in New Hampshire that focus on people who quilt, or hike, or drive an Uber.

With the entire WORLD as our ‘audience’ it is now possible to drill down and become a micro-niche. I am no longer selling science-fiction, I am selling dark comedy science-fiction set in Floridian retirement communities.

This makes that 1000 fans more than doable. And, with Amazon’s improving algorithms and metadata, it’s only getting better.

Keys to Book Boutique

What are some keys to going boutique in the book biz? First, forget trying to sell everyone. Everyone is simply not doable. When envisioning your brand, what are ways you can drill down into the micro and identify YOUR unique reader?

We are going to talk A LOT about how to do this in my upcoming class Spilling the TEA: Blogging for Authors. Blogs are wonderful for not only defining our audience, but then connecting with them and cultivating long-lasting relationships that will translate into sales.

People buy from who they know, trust and LIKE, and blogs are perfect for all three.

***The reason I recommend a blog is WE OWN IT. Unless we don’t pay our web host, all the love we give our blog will keep paying dividends. Twitter could flitter, Facebook could Meta OUT, InstaGram could InstaSCRAM, but blogs remain.

Aside from social media and cultivating that audience, the next key is to write a lot of books. Series are BIG. I find a writer I enjoy and very literally read everything they’ve written or will write in the future.

Series are boutique GOLD.

We have become a culture addicted to binging. I am even back working on my own fiction (been ghost writing for the past couple years). But, to be able to produce enough fiction to keep fans happy (or as close to happy as possible) series need to be planned. Yes, even the pantsers.

To minimize revisions, I have a great class coming up this Thursday, Bring on the BINGE: How to Plot & Write a Series. Class comes with a recording, FYI.

I cannot overstate just how beneficial it is to put in some initial planning. Even understanding the different TYPES of series can go a LONG way.

I had a writer who did my “Write Stuff Special” (where I look at your first 20 pages) and she was cutting WAY TOO MUCH. I ended up doing an intervention and calling her.

***She thought she had one kind of series when actually she had something totally different. The LAST thing she needed to do was cut.

If we think of boutique book business like boutiques in general, what comes to mind? Small, curated, unique, personal, higher quality, specialized, one-of-a-kind, niche, etc. We, as authors, can do all these things with our brand and our books.

Just Make the RIGHT People Happy

Don’t get me wrong, it does bug me that I will likely never be the next INSERT MEGA AUTHOR HERE. But the crazy thing is that the authors who are doing well—like CRAZY well—are superstars among their people. Their fans buy everything they write.

And, if you look to the common denominators that make them so successful it’s really because they a) defined their niche b) built a following c) they continue to serve new books to their dedicated readers.

A couple of my favorites?

James Lovegrove combines two niches into ONE highly unique fandom. In his Cthulu Casebook series, he blends those of us who love Sherlock Holmes with those of us who also like H.P. Lovecraft. It’s Sherlock Holmes meets Elder God horror. I own the entire series. Is it a SERIOUSLY fringe combination? Sure! But Lovegrove dominates it with people like me who love all things clever, dark and weird.

Our own Maria Grace does a fantastic job with ‘gas lamp’ fantasy. Her Jane Austen’s Dragons series is wonderful!

Daniel Arenson’s Earthrise series is a super fun science fiction for those who simply want to enjoy a great adventures with memorable characters.

When we get over into romance, fantasy, science fiction, I am certain we can add many more authors to this list. Some even have earned the titles of New York Times BSA or USA Today BSA, but they achieved these titles in a non-traditional way.

All I’m saying is the old method of write a book, get an agent, pray, pay your dues, one day hopefully hit mega-author status is pretty much a thing of the past. We’ll still have our ‘TITANS’ but they’ll dominate niches first and foremost.

In the End…

If an Amazon movie or Netflix series breaks these authors out into the mainstream, then AWESOME. Yes, that is possible. It does happen. It’s simply the process has almost reversed. Instead of writing a book we hope EVERYONE will enjoy (or at least everyone in that genre), we can start out more grassroots.

Once we find our fans then cultivate from there? Who knows how big it can go? But, the good news at least is that, with the boutique book approach, it is A LOT more doable to find and convert that core 1,000 people than to try and make EVERYONE love our work.

What are your thoughts about boutique?

Does it make all this ‘writing for a living’ seem more doable? Is it a relief that we really only need to focus on converting 1,000 true fans instead of marketing to everyone? Can you think of some of your favorite writers who dominate their niche?

Do you think I am wrong and we will continue to have mega-authors the same as we always have? Hey, this is just my opinion so let me know if you see it differently. I believe we’ll have big name authors, just they’re going to get there VERY differently than in the past. But what do you think?

I love hearing from you! And I like to reward those who chime in!

CONTEST

What do you WIN? For the month of MAY, for everyone who leaves a comment, I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice.

The Prize?

The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

CLASSES!

***All classes come with a FREE recording

TOMORROW!

Bring on the BINGE: How to Plot & Write a Series

Thursday, May 26, 2022 7-9:30 P.M. NYC Time

For more information, SIGN UP HERE.

Spilling the TEA: Blogging for Authors

TUESDAY, May 31st, 7:00 PM E.S.T. to 10:00 P.M. EST.

Use code New25 for $25 off Sign up HERE

The Art of Character: Writing Characters for a SERIES

Thursday, June 2nd 7:00-10:00 P.M. NYC Time

For more information, SIGN UP HERE.

Practice Your Pitch: Master the Log-Line

Thursday, June 9th, 7:00-9:00 P.M. NYC Time. This is a TWO-HOUR INTERACTIVE WORKSHOP!

For more information, SIGN UP HERE.

The post Boutique Books: The Fall of the Mega-Author Titans appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Normally my blogs are all about telling y’all you are not a special unique snowflake. But yeah y’all are but don’t get a big head about it . We just need to discern the places we are not special (I.e. we all have to do the work) and figure out the places we are and then USE that, especially when it comes to creating an author brand.

We’re now into the Digital Age, and the ramifications of a connected world are still being revealed daily. But, there’s one trend I’d be hard-pressed to argue with. The 20th Century was all about homogeneity. Madison Avenue flourished by telling us which clothing brands made us cool, which car made us special, what foods were “healthy.”

Information was controlled by gatekeepers and commodities restricted by retailers, thus homogeneity was the goal. Homogeneity was simpler and required less paperwork and thinking.

Generations bought Wonderbread because it was “fortified with vitamins” and “good for your kids.” In 1986? Hope you liked stirrup pants. There was a cultural need to “fit in” and be like everyone else, especially those who were the “cool kids.”

“Pillars of Same” Go Crashing Down

With the advent of the Internet and widespread use of social media, homogeneity is crumbling. Individualism is now revered more than ever in human history (often to the point of being irritating, but that’s another post).

And, no matter how weird, off-beat, or All-American we want to be? There is a subculture to embrace our style. Mega-trends have lost their power.

What this means is that, as consumers are faced with more and more choices, they’re segregating themselves into smaller and smaller subgroups. Love tattoos? Minis? Tattoos of minis?

Can’t get enough of Jackson Galaxy and cat whispering? Are you Stay-at-Home-Mom who kicks butt on a Roller Derby Team each Saturday? It’s all out there, and most of us are a unique mixture that can’t easily be categorized.

Spawn is a part of the gaming, HALO, NERF and “Shoes are for Suckers” subculture.

What all of this means is that 20 years ago, we knew which table to sit at–Jocks, Preps, Nerds, Geeks, Good Kids, Band Kids, Kid Who Smells Like Old Carpet. The lines were clearer, namely because we had only a handful of networks and limited retail outlets to define our identity.

Now? We have the reins of individual freedom and we like it.

What Does This Mean for Publishing?

Big publishing has a number of limitations. First, their size. Second, massive overhead. Third? 20th Century thinking. They have to find the mega-trend to stay in business, but what does this mean in a marketplace that is rapidly shifting to micro-trends?

NY is less able to spot the micro-trends, because in a world of algorithms, numbers and spreadsheets, one relies on the past to predict the future.

Business is always looking backward in order to move forward. It’s like trying to drive our car using the rearview mirror as the main guide. Says a lot about where we’ve been, but gives limited information as to what’s ahead.

Indies Have Revealed the Micro-Trend

We’ve talked about the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon, yet I will point out that I’ve met agents who turned down the manuscript. It was through E.L. James’ massive volume of independent sales that the micro-trend surfaced and then NY could turn this success into a mega-trend. A genre which received little to no attention has grown exponentially.

This was one of the reasons I recommended NY create e-book divisions as early as 2009 (REAL e-book divisions, not vanity-press retreads). Find a good book, give it a chance and see if the trend emerged. If not? The product cost less to produce and the writer could earn a higher royalty.

Even if the book didn’t sell bazillions of copies, writers didn’t have to sell that many books to make a healthy living and be freed up to write more books. Now instead of NY banking the farm on finding the ONE mega-trend, they could reap the rewards of countless micro-trends.

Which is exactly what Amazon has been doing.

Amazon doesn’t need one author to sell two million copies (not that they are opposed to it), but they can easily have 20 or even a 100 authors sell two million copies. The money spends the same.

This is Why Social Media is Vital for Authors

Social media is vital for keeping our fingers on the pulse of the public (code for “readers”). We can use blogging to define our brand then use content to attract those who share our “subculture” tastes (I teach how to do this in my blogging class ) .

It’s the main reason it’s death to be the All-Writing-All-The-Time-Channel. That’s a one-dimensional subculture that is overfished and quickly grows stagnant.

Also, any writer worth his/her salt is interested in a lot of things. 

The more we feed our subculture, the healthier it becomes, and the more loyal.

We are all seeking our peeps, our tribe, our “friends” in a world that has become explosively larger.

Modern humans are overwhelmed with the sheer volume of choices, and, as a response, we stick to what we know. Sure, in 1999 we LOVED the megastore because it was new and shiny. Almost fifteen years later? Mega stores are going extinct.

In fact, in 2012…2012! I spelled out a plan to save Barnes & Noble. They didn’t listen, but apparently Amazon did. B&Ns are going under simply because they failed to appreciate the power of being small.

THIS was in our local mall.

Boutique is BIG

We’ll pay a bit more to shop at the corner market who appreciates our love for exotic sushi, GF hot dog buns, and foie gras. We can buy Wonderbread at a supermarket or go to the small boutique grocer that sells sprouted grains for those of us in the crowd of Wonder-Why-We-EVER-Ate-Wonderbread.

Everyone wins.

Boutique stores thrive, but so do boutique BRANDS.

But There’s a Catch…

To spot and nourish the micro-trend, we must be present.

This is one of the many, many reasons automation gives me a twitch. Micro-trends can earn us a healthy living. A single writer doesn’t need to sell as many books to keep the lights on as NYC does. Also micro-trends have the potential to grow up to be mega-trends.

Spreadsheets can’t tell us as much as people can. And, trust me, people have a lot to say. Numbers can’t tell us as much about the future as relationships can.

What are your thoughts? Do you love a world where you can define your own style? Create your own genres? Mix in your varied interests? Have you met people on social media with similar hobbies that you’d never have met in person?

I LOVE hearing from you!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of SEPTEMBER, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

Check out the other NEW classes below! Including How to Write the Dreaded Synopsis/Query Letter! 

All W.A.N.A. classes are on-line and all you need is an internet connection. Recordings are included in the class price.

Upcoming Classes

NEW CLASS!

Pitch Perfect—How to Write a Query Letter & Synopsis that SELLS

You’ve written a novel and now are faced with the two most terrifying challenges all writers face. The query and the synopsis.

Query letters can be daunting. How do you sell yourself? Your work? How can you stand apart without including glitter in your letter?

***NOTE: DO NOT PUT GLITTER IN YOUR QUERY.

Good question. We will cover that and more!

But sometimes the query is not enough.

Most writers would rather cut their wrists with a spork than be forced to write the dreaded…synopsis. Yet, this is a valuable skills all writers should learn.

Sign up early for $10 OFF!!!

Bullies & Baddies—Understanding the Antagonist September 2nd–September 16th

All fiction must have a core antagonist. The antagonist is the reason for the story problem, but the term “antagonist” can be highly confusing. Without a proper grasp of how to use antagonists, the plot can become a wandering nightmare for the author and the reader.

This class will help you understand how to create solid story problems (even those writing literary fiction) and then give you the skills to layer conflict internally and externally.

Bullies & Baddies—Understanding the Antagonist Gold

This is a personal workshop to make sure you have a clear story problem. And, if you don’t? I’ll help you create one and tell the story you want to tell. This is done by phone/virtual classroom and by appointment. Expect to block off at least a couple hours.

Your Story in a Sentence—Crafting Your Log-Line

September 7th

Log-lines are crucial for understanding the most important detail, “WHAT is the story ABOUT?” If we can’t answer this question in a single sentence? Brain surgery with a spork will be easier than writing a synopsis. Pitching? Querying? A nightmare. Revisions will also take far longer and can be grossly ineffective.

As authors, we tend to think that EVERY detail is important or others won’t “get” our story. Not the case.

If we aren’t pitching an agent, the log-line is incredibly beneficial for staying on track with a novel or even diagnosing serious flaws within the story before we’ve written an 80,000 word disaster. Perhaps the protagonist has no goal or a weak goal. Maybe the antagonist needs to be stronger or the story problem clearer.

In this one-hour workshop, I will walk you through how to encapsulate even the most epic of tales into that dreadful “elevator pitch.” We will cover the components of a strong log-line and learn red flags telling us when we need to dig deeper. The last hour of class we will workshop log-lines.

The first ten signups will be used as examples that we will workshop in the second hour of class. So get your log-line fixed for FREE by signing up ASAP.

Blogging for Authors

September 17th

Blogging is one of the most powerful forms of social media. Twitter could flitter and Facebook could fold but the blog will remain so long as we have an Internet. The blog has been going strong since the 90s and it’s one of the best ways to establish a brand and then harness the power of that brand to drive book sales.

The best part is, done properly, a blog plays to a writer’s strengths. Writers write.

The problem is too many writers don’t approach a blog properly and make all kinds of mistakes that eventually lead to blog abandonment. Many authors fail to understand that bloggers and author bloggers are two completely different creatures.

For those who need help building a platform and keeping it SIMPLE, pick up a copy of my latest social media/branding book Rise of the Machines—Human Authors in a Digital World on AMAZON, iBooks, or Nook. 

The post Author Brands & Book Sales—Why Boutique is BIG appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Last week, we talked about how The Big Six is Dead. So what now? The future seems uncertain for many in the industry. Those who insist on clinging to outdated ways are bound to fall into anachronism. As I like to say, either we are architects of change or artifacts of change.

The only real hope of survival for New York publishing is the bookstore. If there is any hope to breathe life back into big publishing, it will rest with the bookstore. (The Big 6 will never rule like they used to, but they need not go extinct, either.)

Yet, indies have struggled competing against the mega-store B&N. Barnes & Noble has had its own share of woes. Lots of massive stores=too much overhead to be competitive. The 90s were all about excess. Giant stores, giant discounts. In this new world? Giant problem.

What is the answer?

In the future? To quote Seth Godin, “Small is the new big.” Let me explain…

Yes, But Mine Already Has Sparkles

Technology is quickly reaching an asymptote. What is an asymptote? It is a really fancy word you can throw in randomly to impress your friends. Impressed you, didn’t it? Oh, you wanted the definition! Okay, from Wikipedia:

In analytic geometry, an asymptote (/?æs?mpto?t/) of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as they tend to infinity.

WTH? you might be asking. Give me a moment.

Basically, fifteen years ago when cell phones were the size of your head, could only call local numbers, but each phone call cost $30 if one exceeded three and a half minutes, let’s just say that the cell phone had A LOT of room for improvement.

Only a handful of wealthy techies used the cell phone. They were for executives and they were barely useful.

Over the past two decades, cell phones have become smaller, thinner, prettier. Phones that once could only make calls evolved. By the mid-2000s, cell phones could take pictures and store music, but we still needed a small business loan to pay our phone bill. But then cell phones and cell phone service got leaner, meaner, faster, cheaper, better…and even came with sparkles.

Can’t beat sparkles with a stick.

What are you going to offer me? MORE sparkles. Nah. I’m good.

What About These Days?

Nowadays, cell phones are affordable for everyone. They are no longer a luxury item among the wealthy or the technophiles. Cell phones are as integrated into our lives as indoor plumbing.

And, they aren’t going to change like they used to.

Don’t get me wrong, I know we have many more advances in technology to come, but when it comes to the stuff us regular people are using? Technology is approaching an asymptote, meaning that sure it can improve, but with each improvement moving incrementally smaller toward an infinite curve.

Huh?

It means the changes now aren’t as impressive and don’t move the market the way they used to.

Think of your iPod. When the first mobile music players could only hold TWENTY songs, it was worth running out and paying a small fortune for the one that held FIFTY songs, or A HUNDRED, or even FIVE HUNDRED. But are we going to drop everything to upgrade the iPod that holds a thousand songs for one that can hold five thousand?

Nah. We’re good. Thanks for asking.

This is what the publishing industry is failing to understand. Not only are they stuck in the paper paradigm, but they aren’t—in my humble opinion—fairly appreciating the technology paradigm. The e-reader can only get so good. I had a first generation Nook and I use it to read far more than my new iPad.

Why does this affect big publishing? The technology doesn’t really matter after a certain point. CONTENT DOES. This is why NY should have done everything humanly possible to control as much content as they could. If they would have considered my WANA plan that I offered them a year and a half ago, they might have dominated all of paper AND digital.

Oh well. I tried.

The funny thing is that New York is still courting the ever-elusive “book lover” instead of realizing that technology is creating more book lovers than ever before in human history and whomever is poised to keep the public satiated is going to cash out BIG.

Also, the “book-lovers” that NY really should be going after, rarely venture into libraries or bookstores, they are a new breed with different habits. But, we’ll get back to that in a second.

The Birth of the Digital Age Reader

See, NY believed that the e-book would be like the audio-book, but here is the problem. They failed to appreciate the Diffusion of Innovations Curve. Why am I bringing this up? Well, it explains where we will find the Digital Age Reader.

Man, I am totally geeking you guys out!

Basically when any new technology comes along, it progresses along a fairly predictable curve. The Innovators—those people like me who bought the very first digital camera even though we had to promise a kidney to pay for it—are the first.

We are the geeks and we are the ones who buy all kinds of gadgets FIRST. Then there are the Early Adopters–the friends of the geeks who will either wait for a sale or wait for a cheaper Gen 2. Then there is the Early Majority, the Late Majority and the Laggards (folks who just NOW got a cell phone or joined Facebook).

So Why Didn’t E-Books Go the Way of Audio Books? 

It had to do with the nature of the product and the problem it solved. It was a niche product and always would be. Generally speaking, people don’t have time to sit and listen to each other for ten seconds let alone listen to a book for ten hours.

Who does?

People who travel long distances. Okay, well there is a small population of dedicated buyers—ME back when I was in sales and drove 1800 miles a week. Okay, well beyond the traveling salesman? The person traveling on vacation. Well, that’s 1-3 books a year. How often do you get a vacation?

Let’s be honest. It’s hard to go from listening to an e-book back to real life back to listening to a book (picture waiting in a doctor’s office). With an e-book? Smooooooth. A page here a page there. Book after book after book.

Yes, we are an increasingly ADD culture, but we are never so ADD that we can transition seamlessly from an audio book to real life and back again.

Not that talented.

Additionally, audiobooks are more cost prohibitive to make. We need to find someone who has a good voice and good sound equipment to read out book onto a file. E-books? Easy squeezy and getting easier and cheaper by the day.

Reading aloud for recording purposes? Probably the same level of hard regardless of technology.

So, as we see, the signs that audio would remain niche are clear. E-books? They are everywhere. Over the weekend I read two books from three devices. I read from my Nook while we drove so long as it was light, then my iPhone once I ran out of light, then my iPad when I ran out of juice for the iPhone.

Yes, I have a lot of gadgets.

The Big Leap

What publishing didn’t account for was that the e-reader would make the jump from the Innovators and Early Adopters to the fat part of the bell curve. Now my husband who would have never defined himself as a “reader” chews through a book a week on his Evo (or my iPad. ONE DAY I will get to use my own iPad for more than FIVE minutes! :P)

My prediction is that the e-reader will burn through the fat part of the bell curve in the next three years, five tops. Paper is just a bad investment in a world of $5 gas prices. Also, paper is a bad bet in a world that is about to have INSATIABLE demand for content.

Readers want to finish a book and buy another one INSTANTLY and AFFORDABLY. We don’t want to have to make a run to a store to buy a book. We want to hit a button and have it delivered in seconds from outer space.

By failing to appreciate the progress along the curve, NY is hunting for readers in the wrong spot. Keep hunting this way and they will starve and die.

Small is the New Big–Targeting the Digital Age Reader

What cracks me up about New York is not only are they clinging to paper, but, from what I can see, they aren’t even properly understanding the Reader of the Digital Age. They are still “hunting” for readers the exact same way they always have. They are hunting for Old Paradigm Readers at the expense of the far more numerous Digital Age Readers.

Old Paradigm Readers, those who say, “You have my hardback when you pry it from my cold, dead hands” are good to have, but they are only a very small percentage of the population. They are not the readers who will bring publishing into a new Digital Renaissance.

That is the job of the Digital Age Reader.

Instead of Random House cutting loose salespeople with no commission to create “community support” with libraries (that are experiencing more cuts than ever) and indie bookstores (that are struggling in their own right), I might come up with a solution that benefits everyone.

I really dig win-win solutions.

Technology is approaching our fancy word of the day—an asymptote—so that is no longer a viable direction. So if we can’t focus on the technology, then do it the WANA way and focus on people. Think of their lives and their buying habits. Stop trying to make people come to YOU, and go TO THEM, instead.

Think Small to Think BIG

If it were me, and I were an independent bookstore, I would target Target. Target has this new campaign The Shops We Couldn’t Help But Fall In Love With where they bring small stores from other parts of the country to a national store.

The little guy gets help from the big guy. Little guy is happy because he gets to tap into new shoppers in other regions on an unprecedented scale. Shoppers are happy because we are tired of the Age of the Mega Store. We dig little guys.

Instead of trying to compete with Barnes & Noble mega stores, small is the new big.

Target is rumored to be partnering with Apple to sell iPads. What if you could walk out of Target with that iPad full of books promised to keep you up late at night reading? Heck Target stores already have Starbucks, why not add in a small bookstore?

Just situate a bookstore kiosk with touch-screen technology next to the Starbucks, but conveniently close to the display of e-readers. Purchase an e-book at Target and they will give you a gift card to download 5 FREE! titles at their bookstore kiosk.

Now Target doesn’t have to worry about show-rooming (people testing a device at Target but then buying it at home on-line and cheaper) because Target has now offered a value-added. Oh, and Random House can put those salespeople to good use selling the titles that should be featured in the Target special.

Book-sellers still get to do what they love–recommend AWESOME books—without the stuff they don’t love—tearing off the front covers of unsold paper books they are sending to an industrial shredder.

Additionally, book-sellers can now cut down on expensive overhead by partnering with a Target, Wal Mart, Costco, or Kroger Grocery Store (kind of like how Starbucks has a sized-down version for the grocery store near you).

Now, people who buy e-readers will be ten feet away from those most qualified to help them set up their e-reader and then fill the new device all their geeky friends finally talked them into. Booksellers get to sell books they love, writers sell more books and publishers solve the discoverability problem all of us are facing now that “everyone can be published.”

Wake Up! B&N!

Barnes and Noble needs to dump all those giant stores and create small airport-sized stores that will fit nicely inside a Best Buy. Still offer some paper titles, but now cater more to the digital market.

When a grandmother buys a Nook for her granddaughter who is graduating high school, she can stop by the B&N kiosk and have a bookseller help set up the new reader and load up the gift with books guaranteed to make an 18 year-old go SQUEEEEEE!!!!!

Barnes & Noble currently lets Nook owners read anything they want for FREE! for one hour if one is inside the store. Keep doing that at the small version!

With a small kiosk at a Target, think of my husband who really doesn’t want to hang out with me while I rail against the gods as I try on bathing suits. He could bring his e-reader to the Target Starbucks, find a comfy chair, and read something the B&N bookseller recommends. Then, he is likely to BUY it because it’s an impulse thing. Placing bookstores in this way would maximize the impulse buy.

The Digital Age Reader is a different creature. She barely has time to wear makeup, so she LOVES convenience. She LIKES being able to pick up fine wine at her grocery store. It saves gas, and this is really important in a time when it costs a house payment per month to keep gas in the cars.

Trust me, the Digital Age Reader loves it when she can save time and gas. She wants to shop for groceries, but she’d like to load up her e-reader too. In fact she probably already does. She is probably using the paper aisles at the grocery story to “showroom” what she’s going to download on her iPad. I say put those aisles filled with paperbacks to better use and make them a micro-bookstore.

If bookstores retooled in this fashion, everyone wins. The big store keeps people in there shopping longer. It can earn a share of the profits and also not have the hassle of restocking shelves of paper books.

Bookstores have less waste and much more flexibility. They can offer far more titles at Target, Costco, and Best Buy because they aren’t handcuffed by the paper paradigm. Writers win because more titles can be seen at these stores, which solves discoverability. Agents win because they can negotiate more titles into key retail spaces.

Also, get the bookstore, Starbucks and store working together in the WANA way, cross-promoting. Buy so many books at the Target B&N and you get a coupon for $10 off a purchase from Target. Buy your groceries at Target, and earn points you can cash in for FREE! ebooks at their B&N kiosk. Buy certain key titles and get a Free! frappucino.

Work together! We Are Not Alone!

The WANA way saves time, enhances the shopping experience and everybody wins. We buy more books and save more time to….read MORE BOOKS! Publishing doesn’t have to die. Neither does the bookstore. They only die when they fail to be creative…or to listen to others who can help them be creative. In the WANA World, everyone wins.

I love the future.

So what are your thoughts? Would you be more likely to shop at a Target store that had an indie book kiosk? An Amazon kiosk? Maybe a mini-B&N?

I LOVE hearing from you!

And to prove it and show my love, for the month of May, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. If you leave a comment, and link back to my blog, and mention my book We Are Not Alone in your blog…you get your name in the hat THREE times. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly.

I will pick a winner every week for a critique of your first five pages. At the end of May I will pick a winner for the grand prize. A free critique from me on the first 15 pages of your novel. Good luck!

Winner of last week 5 page critique–CJ Carver. Please send your 1250 word Word document to author kristen dot lamb at g mail dot com.

***IMPORTANT MESSAGE–For those who have not gotten back pages. My web site fiasco has been responsible for eating a lot of e-mails. Additionally I get about 400 e-mails a day and the spam folder has a healthy appetite too. It is hard to tell since some people never claim their prize, but I could have very well just not seen your entry. Feel free to e-mail it again and just put CONTEST WINNER in the header so I can spot you easily. (especially if your message is kidnapped by the spam filter).

I also hope you pick up copies of my best-selling books We Are Not Alone–The Writer’s Guide to Social Media and Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Writer . And both are recommended by the hottest agents and biggest authors in the biz. My methods teach you how to make building your author platform FUN. Build a platform and still have time left to write great books.

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