What makes you buy a book?
I’m going to play strawman so that I don’t offend anyone. I read certain discussions on the internet about what qualities a book needs to have in order for people to buy it. Some things that are discussed include: paper quality, softcover versus hardcover, author picture on the back or not, and other little things like that.
Here’s my take on it: there is a certain quality that the majority of book buyers expect from a book. A book meeting that standard doesn’t ensure it any sales what so ever. Not meeting the standard, though, will cost it sales.
The rest of the issue… the majority of the issue… is hinges entirely on marketing. Does the cover attract the right demographic? Are the right people talking about the book? Is the advertising effective? Does the author have the right people in his/her corner? Are the author’s fans actively pushing the book?
The notion that people buy books just for being at a bookstore is severely misguided, because it ignores the way that the book ended up in the bookstore. The buyers for the bookstores care a lot about the marketing plan and the platform that the author has. They care a lot about the cover. The bookstore won’t stock the book without good marketing. And good placement on the shelves… well, you either need to be Tom Clancy, or you/your publisher need to pay up… probably both for the best placement.
What does that mean for the little guys? It means invest as much money as it takes to make your book a quality product. If you’re doing it on your own, your goal should be to have as good a product as any of the big boys.
But don’t obsess over getting it beyond their product. They’ve been doing this for a while, and they’ve figured out where additional investment doesn’t result in additional sales (like nicer paper for a standard book). There’s a reason that most trade paperbacks from major publishing houses are on cheap-ish paper. It’s because the vast majority of the buyers of that type of book will never, ever notice what kind of paper it’s on.
There’s a little window to my take on the world for you.
You are very smart in the brain area. You should start a small press.