Earlier this week, Publishers Lunch reported on a presentation by Jack McKeown at Digital Book World. He gave results from a Verso Digital survey of consumers. This was the part that stuck out to me:
Surveying which online influences were deemed “most useful” by readers, search engine results were still the clear leader (between 50 and 60 percent), following by author website and blogs, social networks, and online advertising (cited by 15 to 20 percent of people. Primary purchase factors deemed “very important” were, in order, author reputation, personal recommendation, price, book reviews, cover artwork and blurbs, and advertising (and remember that Verso’s main business is as an advertising agency).
Certainly an argument for authors to work on online presence and reputation management if I ever saw one.
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Great post! I google authors more now than I ever have before, especially after I read one of their books.
I should note that many authors and illustrators are successful without a web presence. I think, though, that most of us shouldn’t be invisible. And while a really lousy website might possibly turn a few readers off, I suppose, not being found most likely costs more readers anyway. Interesting times, indeed.