How do I sell my book? I want to make money now?
So you’re anxious to make money but acting desperate is not the way to sell books.
What if I told you that you should not focus on “making money” but on building relationships instead, would you think I’m crazy?
Just like finding the “right” guy—I’m speaking to the single ladies out there—acting desperate is a turn-off. You don’t want to beg and grovel, but you want to come across as proud and confident of your “product”. Oops, did I say, “product?”
So my first question to you is:
Are you proud of your book, I mean really proud? Is this a book you could pitch to the President of the United States, or the first lady with excitement and passion in your voice?
If your answer is “yes,” then I have good news for you:
When you have a great “product” and believe in your work, you can sell it, why? Because it will sell itself.
According to a panel of agents on Barbara DeMarco Barrett’s show “Writers on Writing,”
Indie-published authors have to set the bar higher than traditionally published authors. They have to go “high-end” with their book covers, and their book must be perfectly edited.
These agents pointed out the importance of having an amazing cover and that there are no excuses for a book cover that looks self-published.
I agree with the agents and outsourced my book cover and formatting to a professional company that specializes in book design. I’m proud to recommend 1106 Design.
Now you can move on to the following.
The key to sales is not just one thing, but a mixture of many, which I discovered in the The Frugal Book Promoter, by PR expert Carolyn-Howard Johnson
As she mentions in her book,
BIG WORRY NUMBER SIX: Fear of Marketing. The most pressing fear of all seems to be the fear of marketing.
Here is what I recommend for selling your book. Follow all 3 E’s
- Enthusiasm
- Effort
- Entrepreneurship
We’ve all heard that “word of mouth” sells books, and I believe it starts with a grassroots approach. So how do you start?
The answer lies with connecting and caring about people, not just when your book is published, but long before that.
Develop friendships with:
- famous authors
- less famous authors
- editors
- agents
- fellow writers
- your local journalists (via social media)
- publicists
- bloggers
- book store owners
- and volunteer at your library, especially if they offer an author program
- volunteer at writers associations
Marketing is about getting to know people and developing meaningful relationships.
The more people you get to know, the more you can tap into your contacts and ask about:
- Speaking at various groups (libraries, networking groups)
- Get sponsors for your book signings and maybe even your book tour
- Ask your local coffee shops and other businesses if you can do book signings at their location.
- Help promote other businesses at the same time as your own events
- Helping others (for example giving a % of your book sales to libraries, to non-profits.)
- Attending events that interest you so you can meet new people and get ideas
- Contacting MeetUp groups online and asking if you can speak at their next meeting
- Start talking to people while standing in line at the supermarket, post office, you never know if they are in a book club etc.
One easy way, is to strike up conversations with people you meet and tell them about your book. Now I don’t mean being obnoxious and saying, “I wrote a memoir and if you go to Amazon you’ll find it.”
I live in a suburban area, and bump into people I know at the supermarket, coffee shops and my gym. I’m good at remembering faces, even after twenty years or so.
The other day, I shopped at Trader Joe’s and bumped into a lady I remembered from somewhere. With a smile, I pushed my shopping cart towards her and said, “Hi, where do I know you from?”
“The gym,” she replies.
“I haven’t seen you in a while, do you still go?”
“I changed to the Aliso Viejo gym,” she said, “I like their cardio equipment there.”
“What about you?” she asks.
“I still workout at the same gym, but I’m so busy now since my book was published.”
From there on the conversation turns to my book, what it’s about, and she asks me where she can purchase it, I hand her a bookmark and my business card, and say, “My e-mail is on my card, and I’d love to hear what you think of it.”
I admit, it’s been helpful to get media coverage as people respond better when I tell them I was interviewed on the front page of the OC Register and how my book was labeled a “Hot Read” in OC Metro.
I then ask whether she belongs to a book club, and how I am going to a book club on Friday evening and have another one next week.
“I love answering questions, so please contact me and I shall be happy to come to your club.”
One final piece of advice
Be Patient.
Now if you know me, you’re laughing your head off as I tend to want things done right away. My husband jokes that I’m one of the most impatient people he knows.
Finally, you can always hire a PR person to do the work for you, but you still need to be enthusiastic and interact with your readers, often at public events if you want to sell books.
What has worked for you? Please share.
Do you have a “My Gutsy Story®” you’d like to share?
NOW is the time to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our Anthology. Please contact sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.
You can find all the information, and our sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here
VOTING for your favorite January 2013 “My Gutsy Story®” starts on January 31st, and ends on February 13th. The winner will be announced on February 14th. We have a new sponsor, Carolyn Howard-Johson, who is offering her e-book as a prize: The Frugal Editor.
Please check out the following January “My Gutsy Story®”
Next Monday, we have Linda Joy Myers “My Gutsy Story®”
I love this post, Sonia. It illustrates well what drew me to you when we first met. All that energy and determination. Lovely illustration of how natural conversations can turn into low-key sales opportunity.
I just know you are going to have a bestseller on your hands some day. You have all the chutzpah of the self-made authors such as Jack Canfield, Wayne Dyer, and Robert Kawasaki.
Shirley recently posted..The Girl Who Opened Up My World: A Birthday Tribute to Vicky
Great advice Sonia. I agree about the money. We had a saying in sales, ‘when you’re desperate for the money it gets in the way.’ It is so true!
I’m so happy for your success!
b
Barbara recently posted..The NRA, The FDA, and Me
Barbara,
Thanks, but as far as I see it, it’s passion and fun. Success, is something usually measured in terms of numbers.
Shirley,
I remember when we first met at Santa Barbara Writers Conference and a lady told me that as far as my writing, I had progressed from child-like writing to teenager, and that my next step was to write like an adult. I know what she meant, and still struggle with feelings of, “Is this good enough?”
I appreciate your support and realize that we all have to keep going and see what happens. Thanks.
Sonia, thanks for a most informative post. For those of us still writing and not yet published, it is a great outline to tuck away for future reference. I’ve placed it in Evernote to read and re-read.
Sherrey Meyer recently posted..Morning at Wellington Square by Susan G. Weidener (A Review)
Sherrey, that makes me happy if you can use it for your own promotion. I need to pop over and see what you wrote about Susan Weidener. I read, “Again in a Heartbeat” and loved it.
Sonia, this is brilliant! You are writing the book on marketing with your on-nonsense, wise and tested advice. There’s an adage in teaching ” fill your head and be yourself” which reminds me of your advice.I love your points that we need to believe strongly in ourselves and our stories as a prerequisite; the book sells itself” Like I keep saying, you are showing us the way. Keep doing what you are doing, being you. It’s working! Thanks.
Kathleen Pooler recently posted..Music Matters in Memoir Writing~A Reflection
Sonia, as always, the best advice. When I grow up, I want to be just like you, beautiful, talented, and a great mentor.
Love and Blessings,
Always, Pat
Pat,
You are overly kind and I shall not forget the courage you had to uproot your four small children and find a job, a babysitter, and sign up for driving lessons on that same afternoon. Are you still writing short stories?
Kathy,
I can only be me. Thanks, and I have to tease you, sorry. You wrote “on-nonsense” which I hope I’m not an expert on. If I am, at least I’m an expert on something. 🙂
Sonia, this is a very good post on a topic of interest to both self-published and traditionally published authors. Who knew we’d all have to be marketing experts just because we wrote a book?
Patricia Stoltey recently posted..Self Promoting My Self Promotion by Richard S. Keller
Patricia,
I just read Richard’s guest post and funny that we should write about something similar this week. Thanks for popping over.
Wonderful advice, Sonia. And thanks for mentioning 1106 Design! You’re so right to stress the importance of producing a quality book, inside and out. It breaks our hearts when we hear the terrible (but oh, so appealing) advice offered to self-publishers, that do-it-yourself design, editing, and proofreading is sufficient. This is THE BIG LIE. Book buyers, like all buyers, deserve value for their money. In today’s social media world, when buyers don’t get it, they retaliate with bad reviews on Amazon that can never be erased, affecting all future sales. We plead with authors to pause, save up, and produce a quality book. You, and your buyers, will be glad you did!
Michele DeFilippo, owner
1106 Design
Book design and self-publishing advice, with hand-holding.
Great reviews begin here.
Michele,
I did my research and was fortunate to find you from a referral. I now realize the expertise that goes into book design, and this is not a skill you can teach yourself in a day/week/month/year.
Sonia, you have so many good ideas for marketing books. You are such an inspiration. I am, of course!, pleased that you recommended The Frugal Book Promoter and glad that you learns lots from it. We authors are better off when we stick together! (-:
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Excited about how much the new edition of the Frugal Book Promoter (expanded! updated!) can help writers with the tried and true and the new media, too. Now a USA Book News award-winner in its own right (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) it the original edition was also a Reader Views winner and an Irwin Award winner.
Carolyn, as I mentioned on Linda Joy Myers interview with you, I purchased your book while I was rewriting my memoir, several years before publication. I realized from the start, that promotion is crucial if you wish to become successful. Thanks for your book and also for sponsoring the “My Gutsy Story®” contest and offering a free copy of “The Frugal Editor” to a winner of the month who selects it.
Hi Sonia,
Brilliant piece. Thank you for writing it. I’m still in the process of getting published so in the meantime I’m filling my head with as many promotion strategies as possible. I love the grassroots approach you suggest here since globe trekking is not really my thing. Being friendly with people is so important. Forging relationships and letting people see that I’m not just about ME but that I genuinely care. I think I can do this.
I am new to your blog but I’ll be back.
Grace,
So nice to meet you and that you’re doing all the necessary research before you publish. What are you writing? A memoir? A novel?
You’re right on with so many points here, Sonia. I spent 30 years in public relations and marketing before writing my memoir GROWING UP COUNTRY. In what would be a reversal for most authors, it’s when it came to the marketing part of the experience that I came into my comfort zone! Start with a quality product; be fearless in your enthusiasm; build relationships. Good post. Thanks!
Carol Bodensteiner recently posted..6 Yoga Exercises For Your Writing Routine
Carol,
Coming from a professional in PR, I am truly flattered. Thanks for the boost. How do you keep up with all the reading though?
That’s my problem.
Oy! That’s the question, isn’t it? Keeping up is difficult. I’ve become more selective in my reading and that points to how much better the writing needs to be. Your post title connected with me. The more useful the title, the more likely I’ll read. I’ve found your blog to be both interesting and useful, so I’m more inclined to read more often. That relationship thing again. Bottom line, though, I have to perceive that whatever I read will benefit ME in some way. Selfish, I know. But I think that makes me like everyone else! Keep up the good work, Sonia.
Carol Bodensteiner recently posted..6 Yoga Exercises For Your Writing Routine
Carol,
As you mention, we read when we know we can learn something, or be entertained, so all of us are “selfish” in a way. My problem is finding time to read and review all the books I’d like to read. I spend so many hours a day in front of my computer, that I find little time to read books, unless I’m on the reclining bike at the gym, or walking my 15-year-old rat terrier, who traveled with us to Belize. Thank you for coming back to visit.
I’m with you on that problem, too, Sonia. One approach I’ve taken is to get more critical in reading. Where I might once have read all the way through a book even if I didn’t love it, now I bail after the first chapter on any book where the writing and editing are bad or the story doesn’t really connect. Fortunately, I’m a very fast reader. But my goals are modest. I hope to read one book a month to review. That’s my 2013 goal. We shall see. I haven’t posted the review for my January book yet. Behind already!
Carol Bodensteiner recently posted..6 Yoga Exercises For Your Writing Routine
I like your approach to doing reviews. Often I read a book and then forget to take notes, and when I review it, I almost have to start reading it again. I procrastinate with reviews, and feel so guilty as many are blogger friends.
Doing the review while the book is fresh in my mind is important. But cut yourself some slack. We’d all like more reviews on our books, but we’re all in the same boat of only so many hours in the day. We do what we can, when we can.
Carol Bodensteiner recently posted..5 Yoga Exercises For Your Writing Routine
Thanks Carol. You are right. We are all in the same boat. Unlike you, I am a slow reader. Anyway, your comment is appreciated.
Sonia Marsh recently posted..“My Gutsy Story®” Sandra Bornstein
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