From the SRP Editor site:
Writers spend an enormous amount of time thinking about discovery. How do readers find our books? How do we get noticed? How do we stand out in a marketplace where thousands of new titles appear every single day?
Those are important questions. But there is another question that may be even more important.
What happens after a reader discovers us?
For many writers, the answer is surprisingly little. A reader buys a book from a retailer. The retailer owns the customer relationship. The retailer controls what happens next. The writer may never know that reader exists.
That’s one reason I encourage authors to think seriously about direct sales and reader communities. A direct sale is not just a sale. It’s the beginning of a relationship. When readers choose to buy directly from an author, they’re often raising their hand and saying, “I want to hear more from you. That creates opportunities that simply don’t exist elsewhere. Newsletters become more meaningful. Launches become easier. Crowdfunding campaigns become possible. Special editions become viable.
Most importantly, writers gain something every creative business needs: resilience.
- Algorithms change.
- Retailers change.
- Advertising costs change.
A loyal readership that knows how to find you directly is far more stable than any platform.
This isn’t an argument against retailers. They’re valuable partners and an essential part of the publishing ecosystem. It’s simply a reminder that readers are not transactions. They’re relationships.
And relationships tend to outlast algorithms.
— Mark