A business marketing strategy that emerged about four years ago, called the Long Tail, describes exactly why the Internet is of such great significance to authors who wish to self-publish today. According to the Long Tail theory, developed by Chris Anderson, the age of the monopoly of the blockbuster is over.

Blockbusters are not dead, but now they must share the stage with tens of thousands of products that serve niche markets. So instead of selling five million copies of one thing to five million people, creative people today may sell five hundred copies of 10,000 different “somethings” to five million people. And the Long Tail strategy has become possible because of the Internet. Utilizing search engines, blogs, web pages, social networking, online news release services, e-mail, and certain web retailers and media sites, the technology of the Internet makes it very easy and inexpensive for consumers to connect with those offering a specific product they desire or, having stumbled upon it, may find of interest.Just as U-Tube and Netflix have shaken Hollywood studios and i-Music has revolutionized the music industry, so Amazon.com, Google Book Search, and Safari Books Online are rocking the book publishing and book sales industries. The Internet has taken distribution out of the hands of a few powerful, well connected companies and placed it in the hands of individuals who have something to communicate – a book, some music, a vision, a film, an idea. Business has always relied upon the 80/20 rule.

For example, 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. And 20 percent of your book titles account for 80 percent of your book sales. But the Long Tail, by taking into account how best to optimize the desire and need for the 20 percent of items that are not blockbusters, uses the efficiencies of the Internet to distribute without leverage or power. Someone somewhere will probably want to buy almost anything that is made available.Amazon.com will sell at least one copy this year of 2 million book titles. Amazon has no concerns for retail store or shelf space or burdensome inventory costs. They list the titles, sell them, and make sure they are delivered, either from their own warehouses or elsewhere. Amazon.com also will sell 10 percent of the 230,000 titles they have available in electronic form as e-books. These titles not only do not require inventory, they do not require even shipping.

All this is great news for authors who may not have written the next “Da Vinci Code” but who have something of value to communicate to a niche market of interested consumers. And it is good news for companies such as Dorrance, RoseDog, and Red Lead, who offer a variety of publishing services to authors. When a title is listed on Amazon.com, Google Book Search, or Safari Books Online, a potential customer does not want to know if it was published by a trade publisher, subsidy publisher, self-publishing company, or by the author’s own imprint. They want to know what it is about, what others think of it, and how much it costs. Promoting a book and its author are still very important, but it does not take expensive sales forces and advertising budgets to accomplish effective book promotion in the age of the Internet and with the myriad of ways technology allows us to communicate with one another. It takes being smart, inventive, and persistent.

When all is said and done, it appears the Long Tail makes possible the democratization of the book publishing industry.