Last week, I spoke at the inaugural Discoverability and Marketing Conference hosted by Digital Book World in New York City. The theme of my presentation was "Discoverability starts with psychology, rather than technology." My point was that you can get your book discovered, but if you fail to answer the reader's ultimate question, "What's in it for me?" then you still lose the book sale and potential word of mouth. The talk was well-received and during the conference, I learned several other interesting tidbits that were worth sharing with you:

1. According Kelly Gallagher from www.Bowker.com, a survey of 3,000 book buyers found that women, ages 30 - 44, (a coveted key demographic) discover new books in this order:
a. In-person friend referral
b. In-person retail store display
c. Visit author website
d. Review bestseller lists

What does this research mean to you?

a. Create tools, such as free resources, that make it easy for people to tell their friends about you.

b. Get published with a traditional publisher who can you get you shelf space in the major stores.

c. Build an effective author website.

2. According to Marshall Simmons of Define Media Group:

a. Google has 67% of all search engine market share.

b. Google is banking heavily on the success of their social media platform, GooglePlus.

What does this mean to you?

Setup a Google Plus account and link to it from your website and other platforms, because it gives you one more way to positively influence the Google search engine in your favor.

3. ShinDig is a startup company that is beta-testing a new video conferencing tool that lets authors setup live video chats with over 1,000 people. Try it out for free at: www.ShinDig.com

4. If you have a WordPress website, go to www.Yoast.com and get their great plug-ins for enhanced search engine optimization.

5. According to Jon Fine, the Director of Author and Publisher Relations at Amazon, the sky is not falling for traditional print books. Instead, sales of print books are going up, and sales of ebooks are going up. The digital revolution is causing everyone to read more - and that's good news for all involved in publishing. In addition, Amazon will soon be adding Facebook to their popular Author Page feature. Stay tuned for an announcement in the next 30 days.