Talk it up

Yesterday was World Book Day for the UK and Ireland. No, I don’t know why it isn’t the UK and Ireland Book Day or why it isn’t Book Day in the rest of the world. Stop thinking about it.

This year’s theme was “Spread the Word.” A survey, conducted for The Booksellers Association (I believe), shows that sales are highly influence by personal recommendations. BBC News reports, “Other factors which are said to influence readers’ book choices are the synopsis on the back cover, the jacket design – but much fewer people are swayed by advertising campaigns.” These factors as well as reader faithfulness to an author or “author loyalty” are the meat and potatoes of bookselling.

[Enter The Lit-Blogger, stage right]