Validation

Social media buzz.

Proof.

Validation.

Numbers.

Figures.

Likes, followers, fans, re-pins, tweets etc.

There for all to see. Evidence of success and popularity.  If your numbers are low,  you are not just a failure, but a public failure.

The emotions this taps into take me back to being at school.  Specifically in the PE lessons, when a popular student is asked to select a team for netball/hockey/whatever and you are one of the unchosen, the kids they don’t want because you are rubbish at PE/a loner/different in some way.  It’s a popularity thing.  Interesting psychology, from every angle.

Does good = popular and popular = good?  Are sales figures a valid measure?

People need to know you’re there, that your book exists in a vast ocean.  

Invisibility.  Discoverability.  The twin evils of indie publishing.  

A book can be a masterpiece but lie undiscovered in a shop or virtual bookstore like Amazon.  Does that mean it doesn’t exist?

Related posts:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/guest-post-eleanor-mcfarlane-and-chester.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/adapt-and-survive.html

http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/backtracking-lessons-in-indie.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/e-books-and-writing-for-children.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/breathe-indie-publishing-from-experts.html
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/backtracking-lessons-in-indie.html