How to Sell Your Book

[Robert James Perrego]

If any of you have had success in selling your Indie book, what would be the three best pieces of advice for creating sales that you used?

Next week I will be sending out a press release and follow up with an email campaign.  I have created my Facebook Book Business page.

I am a total newbie on all of this.  Any help would be GREAT!

[Christine Amsden]

I started to respond, then went to your web page and reconsidered...are you selling a fiction or nonfiction book? The approaches will be pretty different.

[Irina Shapiro]

Hi, Robert.  Sounds like you are on the right track.  If your book comes in e-book format, it's not a bad idea to sign up with Amazon's KDP.  They give you five days of promotion.  You don't get paid for the books that are downloaded on promotion days, but it gets your book out there and most importantly gets it into "People who bought this also bought..."  It makes your book more visible.  Also, make sure you have good tags.  That gets your book noticed by your target audience.  Hope this helps.

 

Irina Shapiro

www.irinashapiro.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Irina-Shapiro/307374895948375

 

[Paula McBride]

Hi James, I have 8 children's ebooks on Amazon and the best ways I've found to create sales are these:

Firstly have a really eye-catching cover that will appeal to your specific readers.

Have a well thoughtout description that makes the reader want to know more.

Use the 'Look Inside' feature to your advantage and put as much interest in it as you can.

Paula

Children's author and illustrator at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paula-McBride/e/B005IQ4UMA
www.tothewillowgarden.co.uk

[Nancy S. Kyme]

It sounds quaint, but start with friends, family, and other local authors.  Create a clever business card, (book mark) with a small picture of your book's cover, your contact info, a brief description and how to buy it.  Give handfuls to friends and family to carry around and distributed to potential readers.  Target those areas specific to your book for the press releases.  Good luck! 

[Bethany Brown]

Hi Robert,

Three most important pieces of advice we give authors:

1. Make sure your Amazon page is buttoned up - author page, appropriate tags, fleshed out description, etc. If you don't have your Amazon page optimized appropriately, your book will be very difficult to find. If you do, it will show up higher in the search rankings. You can do this through your Author central page. You can tag your own book and get friends/family to add and agree with appropriate tags.

2. Reviews matter - don't be shy about reaching out to reviewers to review your book. Yes, this includes friends and family but it also includes book reviewers, book bloggers, category-specific bloggers and Amazon reviews. Try to get reviews from people that don't know you. This carries more weight for the savvy book reader.

3. Don't be afraid to give away books - nothing sells a book like a book. Visit your local bookstore, local organizations, friends, family, book clubs, colleagues. Giving away books seems expensive, but it's the best way to get books in the hands of readers. Offer a copy of your book to reviewers. Again - nothing sells a book like a book. And don't forget, local bookstores are often willing to support a local author. Don't be shy about asking them if they would be willing to stock a couple of copies.

I could go on, but you asked for 3! : )

Bethany

www.thecadencegrp.com

[C.B. Haight]

Thank you Bethany, this was helpful for me. I wondered if I was a bit crazy in my design to give away a few copies to book blogs, and book stores.

[Caroline Miller]

You got some very good advice on this page, Robert.  The only problem is that everyone knows it, everyone is doing it and you won't really drive a lot of sales so don't get discouraged when you don't.  The key is to be consistent.  Keep doing it and keep following the good adivce above..  But standing out in this croweded field is really tough.  Discouragement is easy.  You can't let it get you down.  You can't hit the ball if you stop swinging but most of us in the field aren't going to get rich or make it to the NY Times best seller list.  Sorry, but those are statistics. 

[Michael O'Gara]

I agree.  You'd better write because you love it and then be very thankful to make a reasonable amount.

[Caroline Miller]

Yep, as the Beatles said, love is all ya know..

[Stuart Carruthers]

Write more than one book. Cross selling works. Remember that e-books are for life so even if you only make a small amount on the first, think of it as publicity for the next.

[Stuart Carruthers]

[Michelle Hughes]

Welcome to the fun world of promotion Robert!  There are so many place to promote your work that it gets overwhelming.  Goodreads, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook.  Definitely make sure you tag your books and write the best blurb you can for the book.  Make sure your bio on Amazon looks professional.  Honestly one of the author's I respect the most wrote a great book on this (and no I don't get a cut LOL) 8 hours to jump start your career by Tammie Clarke Gibbs.  I'm recommending it because I use it personally.  She sets everything up in an 8 hour increment that will give your book the best visibility possible.

Good luck Robert and I hope you sell a million books!

Truly,

Michelle