Since starting my little Kindle cottage industry, I have been humbled and overjoyed by the support I've received and the new connections we've made. Part of it is the intimacy of the ebook world, in which a reader can click, browse, and email me within minutes. I feel the ESP of story is somehow more immediate and I am linked with the reader in ways that I'm not when the book is on a store shelf across the country.
Readers also have more fun participating in the shared experience of the book, I think. While book clubs have long been popular, the connection by wires seems just as cool as the old-fashioned way of gathering in a living room with donuts and coffee, or crackers and Merlot. The Kindle and ebook audiences are self-selecting, of course, by being the early adopters of a relatively new technology. They are a combination of avid readers and forward-thinking embracers of change. Not that people who cling to paper are lesser readers--they just have a different experience.
What's really exciting as an author is there is no steep spike in sales and then a cliff dive into obscurity. The opposite happens. As the books hang around, more people find them and share them. It can literally mean an entirely new approach to a career--more like a typical small business where you grow over time and reach your customers and learn from them, eventually gathering an accumulation of rewards for your hard and persistent work. Of course, it still starts with a good book. Nothing kills growth faster than lousy customer service, no matter what the business. Thanks for shopping with me. Would you like paper or plastic?
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