"Depending on whom you ask, the Web is responsible for anywhere between 10 and 20 percent of all direct book sales in the U.S. Despite the enormous influence of Amazon.com and its competitors, shelf distribution and prominent bookstore display remain the critical success factors for most new titles.
Publishers and authors never had a direct conduit to readers, even after the advent of the Web. They continued to rely on tiny ad budgets and sometimes unreliable distribution channels to promote new titles.
With the advent of blogging, podcasting and other accessible content creation technologies, writers began to reach out and promote their books directly, fueling both interest and word-of-mouth sales. They've begun to use these newfound tools in large numbers."
I appreciate that this article focuses on communities. Not on traffic numbers or sales figures, but people who love the writer. They feature Jeff Yamaguchi, an author, blogger, book marketer, and thoughtful essayist. His 52 Projects concept has evolved into a book and web community, all orbiting around user-contributed "Random Acts of Everyday Creativity," and my inner artsy craftsy teenager kid loves it...
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