It’s obvious, and has been for some time, that discovery is the tough nut to crack in the brave new world of publishing, for traditional and self-publishers. Traditional reviews used to be a key source of readers, but mainstream media book review sections have been squeezed for years and largely only cover big releases. Online reviewing has fragmented into a sea of book blogs (which I think is largely a good thing, to be honest; I like the idea of releasing a stranglehold on popular opinion previously held by newspapers. It just makes it hard to know who to listen to and where, even, to find reviews). Bestseller lists have only ever perpetuated sales for books on those lists.

There was a brief golden age for self-publishers when promotion via social media actually worked because it was a novelty and when offering a book for FREE was mind-blowingly freakish, crazy behavior that deserved retweeting to the nth degree. Now it’s everywhere and most people are jaded by it. I think anything that tries something new to get around this issue has a chance at making waves. So far the majority of the feedback I’ve had has been of the “Wow, this is such a cool idea! At last, something new!” variety. Whether I’ve executed that idea well or not, only time will tell. If I haven’t, someone else will do, because behavior needs to evolve.