Thanks to the availability of printing services, free graphic design tools, word processing programs, and more, writing a book is arguably easier than ever. This is good news and bad news. On the one hand, writing a book can be a smart means of making money. On the other hand, because writing a book is so easy now, competition is fierce. You need to ensure your book stands out in a crowded marketplace if it’s going to sell.
There are many ways to market a book. Entire courses could be dedicated to this topic. A single blog entry couldn’t tell you everything you need to know about ensuring a book is successful. However, it can offer some essential tips. If you’re trying to sell a book you’ve written, keep the following points in mind:
1. Choose the Right Printing Service
One of the reasons it’s easier to write and sell a book these days than it was in the past is simply because you don’t necessarily need to publish your book through traditional means anymore. Instead of submitting a manuscript to editors and publishers, waiting and waiting for someone to accept it, you can print and sell a book on your own, cutting out the middleman.
If you choose to go this route, work with a high-quality printing service (click here to learn more). The fact of the matter is, it’s been proven time and time again that people genuinely do judge books by their covers. You want to ensure your book’s cover makes the right impression on potential readers.
2. Create a Strong Website
Selling a book will require making some investments. Along with investing money into marketing and printing efforts, you’ll also need to invest time. For instance, in the digital age, it’s much easier to sell a book if you create a strong website. Your website should also feature a blog or vlog through which you consistently provide readers with content related to your book.
Perhaps your book is geared towards young entrepreneurs. Such an audience would often search for content regarding starting and managing a business. Thus, you could blog or post videos about these topics on a regular basis. Over time, this will help you attract more website visitors. Those visitors might become paying customers.
3. Be Active on Social Media
Your digital and online presence shouldn’t be limited to your website. It’s also a good idea to have a social media presence. Books often sell more copies when their authors build communities with readers.
A website can be a useful marketing tool, but it has its limitations. Specifically, a website doesn’t allow you to engage in conversations with your readers. Your social media accounts can fill in this gap.
4. Create a Commercial
Some of the most effective book marketing efforts are often the most obvious. For example, you’re clearly more likely to sell a decent number of book copies if you run ads online.
However, not all ads are equally effective. For instance, many authors are finding that social media ads that take the form of videos are more likely to drive sales than ads that solely consist of static images and text.
Are video ads more difficult and costly to create than other types? Yes, but not to the extent that you may assume. Many online platforms offer high-quality video clips that you can download and use in your ads for no cost.
5. Appear at Relevant Events
Make a point of consistently researching local events you can participate in that potential readers of your book might attend. For example, maybe you’ve written a cookbook. You might thus set up a kiosk at a local farmer’s market. The types of people who attend a farmer’s market may be the types who will be interested in your book.
6. Submit Guest Posts
Many online publications accept guest submissions. Often, instead of offering cash payments to guest contributors, they allow guest writers to promote their businesses and products in their submissions.
Search for online publications that your audience might read. Contact their editors asking about their guest submission policies. Submitting posts to online publications that already have established readerships can help you cast a wide net when marketing your book.
7. Give Interviews
You’ve written a book because you at least consider yourself to be an expert on the book’s subject matter. If you actually are an expert, you could qualify to give interviews to relevant publications. Similar to the last tip, search for such publications and reach out to let their editors and writers know you’re available if they’re ever looking for someone to interview.
8. Focus on Independent Bookstores
While you can sell your book exclusively via the Internet, you’ll naturally sell more copies if you sell your book both online and in-person. You could sell your book in-person by selling copies to bookstores at wholesale prices. Just be aware that major booksellers don’t tend to accept self-published books.
You’ll have a better chance of finding bookstores that will be willing to carry copies of your book if you focus on independent retailers instead of big chains. You might also consider donating copies of your book to local libraries.
True, this will cost you some money at first, but in the long run, it will provide your book with more exposure than it would otherwise get. Additionally, libraries often allow new authors to give talks about their books, helping them grow their audiences as a result.
9. Ask for Reviews
Once your book has some readers with whom you’re in contact, ask them to review your book (if you know they’ll leave positive reviews, of course). They can review your book on established platforms through which you may be selling it, such as Amazon, and they can provide reviews that you may post on your website.
Research consistently shows that customer reviews play an important role in the success of virtually any type of product. Most importantly, write the strongest book you can. That may seem like an obvious point, but it’s a critical one. When it comes to selling books, quality is essential.
