Book in the New Year

READERS around the world buy more books in January than any other month.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are the easily the two biggest book buying days of the year.

But January beats December on monthly sales.

Why so? Well, the predominant theory from those who theorize about such things is you, the reader, give indies and small publishers a go in January.

People with new Kindles or other eReaders in their hands on Christmas Day or Boxing Day are not inclined to take chances so they choose best-selling authors. By January they are more likely to flirt with a tempting book by a writer previously unknown to them.

But how do readers choose indie books or small publishers? How do they even find the good ones among the three million books Amazon alone stocks?

Good question and I do not know. How do you do it? 
(You might need to be a Google+ member to comment below. I am not sure but sometimes I can be a hard marker and I may have whimsically made that stipulation. Anyway, you can see my email link right of this blog so there is little excuse not to continue the conversation, admittedly one-sided ATM.)

I received a good review for my neo-noir novel Iraqi Icicle in Publisher’s Weekly which resulted in few sales. I received another good review in our State newspaper and a fellow author said that must have provided a sales boost. Nope. 
Professional reviews do not seem to cut it anymore.  Print media supplies book reviews less frequently than they used to. The reviews are shorter and harder to find.

I suspect the 80-20 rule applies to book buying as it does in many situations: About 20% of readers buy 80% of books, that is what I believe.

If you are a 20 percenter or know of one, please alert them to the books on my website. See if any tickle their fancy. Ask them to take a little time to read the reviews on Amazon. There are not a stack of them but they are authentic and should ring true to the reader. 

Tell me how you find books you wish to read.

Here is my Publisher’s Weekly review in case it might spark you into investigating my novel Iraqi Icicle.

PW Review 

AND here are all the wonderful books you can buy from #BBBooks retailers in January. Oh, and please pass on this post to other 20 percenters. I am sure they are lovely people unlike those nasty 1-percenters. No I am not talking about Hell's Angels.

Bent Books

OUR song is associated with a true story in the novel, Iraqi Icicle, which is set in Brisbane Australia, BTW, despite references to international cultures and conflicts.

The U.S. invaded Panama on December 20, 1989, to arrest that country’s president Manuel Noriega for drug and arms smuggling.

Noriega took refuge in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City. 

Armed Forces Radio launched a rock music attack of soldiers' requests on the Embassy. It is not quite as straight-forward as that and you will need to read the novel for the full story, or my version of it.

Noriega had been in the pay of the CIA for many years before he became a designated bad guy. One U.S. soldier certainly knew this because here’s his request for a war blast at the Vatican.