Sell More Books Today!

All authors have had that moment, where they press the ‘submit’ button and their book goes live. Suddenly all the months, or even years of hard work, seem totally worth it. Your book is out there! People can buy it! The excitement and adrenaline and sense of achievement you feel is like nothing else.

But then nothing happens.

OK, so perhaps you get a few sales at the start from loving family members and friends, but after that initial hit, you only get the odd sale here and there, and then, as the weeks and months go by, those sales become less and less frequent, your book plummets down the rankings, and you start to feel understandably disheartened.

Of course, there is lots you can do to try and boost your book sales, and many authors don’t realise just how many options they have when it comes to marketing their work. Much of the groundwork should be done before you actually release your novel, that way you already have a solid infrastructure in place and readers eager, ready, and perhaps most importantly, aware, before your book comes out.

Things to do before you release your book:

Set up an author website

A good author website is your brand, so taking the time to make this professional and exciting is well worth it.

Write a regular blog

If you can get people reading your blog you can use this as a way to gather contacts and then market your book to those you know already like your style.

Get established on social media

Choose the most appropriate social media networks for you, and then try to gather a good following. You can do this by posting useful, interesting content, commenting, sharing and liking fellow users posts and not talking about yourself too much!

Things to do after you release your book

Get reviews

Word of mouth is so important. Encourage people to leave reviews for your book, the more positive and detailed they are, the more helpful they will be to others. Contact bloggers and see if they will read, review and blog about your book. Get in touch with local media too.

Put your book in the right categories

Make sure you have selected the right genre for your book. Getting the categories right will ensure your book reaches the right readers.

Communicate with fans

Make sure you always reach out to your fans, not just to tell them about things you are doing, but to thank them and let them know they are massively appreciated too.

Give your book away for free

While you may think giving away your book for free is counter intuitive, a book promotion of this nature can actually be very helpful in boosting your book sales overall. People love to get something for free and will be more likely to leave reviews and recommend your book to others. This will also boost the popularity of your book, and therefore people will be encouraged to buy, even after your promotion has ended.

Get SEO savvy

By identifying keywords for your website, your book description and your blogs, you can make your presence better known. You can write the best book in the world, but if no one can find it then no one will buy it. Understanding SEO can help make you much more visible and reach the right people too.

Pricing strategy

Make sure you’ve priced your book correctly. If your book is too expensive people won’t be willing to take the risk. If you’ve priced your book too cheaply, they won’t think it’s worth reading.

Be patient and willing to experiment

Good book marketing is all about trying different things, understanding what works and what doesn’t, having lots of patience and perseverance!

By following the above tips you will constantly be pushing and marketing your book, finding new ways to increase sales and giving it the very best chance of becoming a success. Remember, just keep trying and don’t give up!

Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'

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