Context is credibility.

Credibility depends on context.

So we have a customer at the Bookmark who I was having a discussion about indie publishing and I showed him the cover of Led to the Slaughter.

"Hey!" he exclaims.  "I saw this at Barnes and Noble and spent five minutes looking through it.  I came that close to buying it."

"Linda has shown you this book in this store several times and you dismissed it instantly." I said, being the diplomat I am, and also knowing he had done it and being irked.  I was there once when Linda pointed it out to him and I saw his eyes glaze over before she could get the sentence out.

"I did?  Show me where it is..."

I take him over to where it is by the register.  "Huh," he says. 

Later, Linda and I drove out to Barnes and Noble and asked them if they had carried Led to the Slaughter in the store, and the clerk said, "We had a copy in June."

A....copy....in....June.

But even that is a little bit of a surprise.  The local manager must have gotten it because I'm a local.

Anyway, the point is:

Book sold by me in my own store.  Eyes glaze over.

Same book sold in Barnes and Noble.  Worth a five minute ponder and an almost purchase.

There's nothing to be done about it.  I don't think I'm the exception either.  I too look at context to tell if something is worth paying attention to.  How can we not?  There is too much coming at us, so we need context filters to make our decisions.

So...well, I'd love to have my books reach greater and greater reach through context, and it's what I'm striving for.

Same book...but more context.

More context, more credibility.

More credibility more context, more...well, you get the picture.