Self-publishing today: “How can I sell more books?”
Whenever a writing student asks me that question I buckle down and do the research. What research, you’re wondering? Here you go.
You research the author’s:
- Audience;
- Published books (audience and blurb? Keywords? Categories? Etc.);
- Audience targeting;
- Macro and micro marketing methods to reach his audience…
Reality: selling books is complicated
Selling books is complicated. No one really knows what works for a specific book.
Consider that if anyone knew how to sell more books and could do it by throwing money at it, traditional publishers would only publish bestsellers.
They’d never have books which just don’t sell. Think of the money they’d make. Instead, traditional publishers do what self-publishing authors do: they publish a lot of books and hope some of them hit it big.
Sometimes books do hit it big, for both self-publishers and traditional publishers.
If you’ve asked the “How can I sell more books?” question, let’s look at some commonsense ways to sell more.
1. Know your audience: who are they? What do they read?
Every month, 50,000 new books hit the Kindle Store. That’s a lot of books. And, despite the immense competition, each and every month bestselling authors publish a new book and it becomes an instant bestseller. These authors rake in many thousands of dollars each week… They’re making more money than authors have ever made in the history of publishing.
How’s that possible?
In a word: audience.
Today it’s possible to reach readers no one could reach before. As long as you know who they are, you can reach the perfect audience for your book. Bestselling authors who sell more copies in an hour than others sell in a year hit the bulls-eye on their target audience.
Tip: think about genre. Who reads novels in the genre in which you’re writing? What tropes appeal to your genre?
Half an hour’s research can help you to define your book’s audience. This knowledge will not only make money for you, it will save you money too.
2. Develop a marketing message for your book and stick to it
If you’ve published several books you’ve received reviews which leave you scratching your head. What book did those readers read? It certainly wasn’t yours…
You must know what you're selling, so selling your book starts with a one sentence summary, much like a movie’s logline:
When INCITING INCIDENT happens, OUR PROTAGONIST decides TO DO ACTION against ANTAGONIST.
Read the above article and become familiar with loglines. When you develop a logline, you’re giving readers a reason to read. In essence, you’re developing a marketing message for your book.
A hard truth: if you can’t summarize a novel (or a nonfiction book) in a single compelling sentence, it won’t sell.
Tip: create a logline for the book you’re writing now.
3. Write and promote: keep writing and promoting
“Publish or perish” applies to academics — and to publishers, both traditional publishers and self-publishing authors.
“NEW” sells. Indeed, Amazon’s algorithm rewards it. So, as a self-publishing author, you need to keep writing, while promoting your books.
Traditional publishers have seasonal lists; self-publishers need them too.
Tip: create a publishing plan for the next 12 months. Stick to it.
And remember:
- Know your audience;
- Create loglines.
Write on. :-)
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