A senior editor at a major Christian publishing house was lately quoted as saying, “We don’t pay attention to what our readers say they want” in referring to “edgy” or “out of the box” fiction. What? Last time I heard, readers were the folks who bought the books. Yet the sales numbers mean nothing? Publishers don’t pay any attention to them?
This isn’t only disingenuous, it isn’t true. Fact is, publishers do listen to their sales numbers, and therefore, they’re hearing their readers every time they vote with their Visas. That one type of book may consistently sell better than another does not mean there is no market for the latter. It just means the publisher may have to try a little harder to reach the non-easy part of the market.
I suspect that means they’ll go for the easy sell whenever possible.
It also means some of us are becoming strongly tempted to “go indie.” More on that later.
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