CREDIBILITY

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the importance of print. I’d like to revisit that thought with a few more reasons I think print books are still vital to an author’s resume.

I believe that having your book in paper-format lends you credibility as an author. For example: If I see a title on goodreads and think the blurb sounds good, and then discover I can only purchase it through Kindle or Nook or what-have-you, I walk away without a second glance. Now, this is due in part to the fact that I don’t have an e-reader. However, it is also because I don’t feel I can trust the author to have produced something worthy of my time. If the author did not take the time and effort to make their book available in print, I have a hard time believing that their story is worth reading. Perhaps this is unfair, but it’s still the way I think.

Credibility is so important to an author, especially a self-published author. In addition to having your book in print, I think booksignings are another way to procure some of this much-needed credibility. See what I did there? In order to do a booksigning, you have to have your book in print format (it’s difficult, and destructive, to sign someone’s copy of your book on their Kindle).

That’s called a transition, folks! Okay, moving on :)

In the USA, when you go to buy a print book... where do you go? Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It is probably more likely you will go to B&N than amazon. When it comes to books, the prices at both stores are similar and the book-store experience is a pleasant one.

Take two scenarios:

• Author A is standing on a street corner with a table full of books for $12 a piece. The book blurb sounds interesting and it is a genre you like.
• Author B is sitting inside Barnes and Noble with a table full of books for $12 a piece. The book blurb sounds interesting and it is a genre you like.


Which author are you going to hand your hard-earned $12 to? Probably the one inside Barnes and Noble. Why? Because you trust Barnes and Noble. Experience has taught you that books from that store are of good quality, polished, and have few errors inside. Both authors may be equally skilled. Both books may be equally appealing. But you are more likely to take a chance on the one with more credibility, and Barnes and Noble, as one of the last big-box stores in thecountry, can give that sort of credibility.

That is one of the main reasons I did a book signing with Barnes and Noble back in November. Because it lends credibility to me as an author. You may know lots of people who have written a book. But how many do you know have had a book signing in a Barnes and Noble? Suddenly I look far more like a “real” author to many readers, even though the only thing I’ve done differently is managed to get my book on a table inside a bookstore.

So those are my few remaning thoughts on how print books are still important.