The Net Market

My first complete book was published and is now available for purchase. I have been writing for years but never completed a book unless one counts the dissertation as a book. My brother, a prolific and professional writer, is about to publish his third book. I suppose in the old days an author would write and publish a book and people would walk down to the local bookstore and purchase it. The publisher's role was to distribute the book to as many bookstores as possible. The publisher then incurred a financial responsibility and obligation and so did the bookstore. I assume many publishers printed in-house although some probably outsourced the printing at least to an extent. Even today there are many authors whose name garners great royalties and advance compensation for an upcoming work. For those authors, a store and a warehouse likely kept thousands of copies on hand for distribution and for consumers. I suspect those days are virtually gone for all but the most acclaimed writers.

Most writers are like me, amateur, average, but dedicated to the process of writing. We enjoy relating our experiences, telling stores, building on our imaginations, and expressing our opinions. I wrote this book over several years and consider it to be a fairly good resource for parents, teachers, and community members who are interested in how to raise and help autistic children. Much to my shock, however, the book seems to have "caught on" in the mainstream world, at least to an extent. This has led to the book being available online with many bookstores and in many catalogs, most of which are not familiar to me. I have even been requested to give permission for a translation into Korean. On different sites, I have seen positive comments about the book from people I do not know and am surprised to learn that the book is sort of marketing itself without great effort on my part.

Obviously the topic is timely and parents and educators are curious how to help those with autism. But that aside, it is the power of the internet working congruently with the publishing world that has propelled the interest in this little book. I do not know how long interest will remain nor if it will result in any kind of royalties at all. As of this blog entry, no royalties have been received although I assume that will happen later. Truthfully, and forgive the moment of self-righteous nobility, it is not about the royalties but, rather, is about the benefit to others as they deal with autism either as parents or teachers.

Regardless of the book's popularity, the amazing thing has been the nearly overnight exposure to a broad market. Facebook, blogs, twitter, and digital resources work together to fill the world with ideas, thoughts, materials, and ways to improve. I put a few ideas in print and within a week, the world can read those ideas. The economics of the ideas are secondary to the ability to change the world in a short period of time. We live in a highly charged, entrepreneurial culture with tremendous potential and equally great challenges. The economic rules are changing, the marketing principles are altering, the system of supply and demand is incredibly fast-paced, and there is room and opportunity for all.

My little book about my son may continue to find a wide audience or it may fall into the same black hole where most books eventually dwell. But whatever happens, the ride has been fun and makes me want to write another.