Finding a hook

I read somewhere a while back that more books were published in the last year than in the last five years combined, or something along those lines. And yet the amount of time people have to read has actually SHRUNK by…well, I don't have actual statistic on hand at the moment, but it's probably some depressingly high number. Basically, more books are out there for sale, but there are fewer eyeballs around to see them. So how is a hardworking, hard dreaming independent author supposed to make it nowadays (and by make it I mean actually sell more than a handful of copies, digital or otherwise, to paying customers who AREN'T friends or family?)

It seems to me that in order to be successful, you need to have a hook, some kind of gimmick or angle that makes you stand out from the others. Look at Edward Rutherford - he basically writes novels about physical places stretching over the centuries. Sarum, Russka, London, all basically focused on a place and various families who live there. The places in question may change, but the basic angle doesn't....and God bless him if he doesn't make a living at it.

So…I guess if you're trying to get SOMEONE to read your words, you need something to hook 'em in. Either that or wait until the day when books can be beamed directly into the brain. Which would be really cool. Unless it causes the brains in question to explode, in which case it will merely be really messy.