How to Promote Your Book

Since I’ve recently been on the topic of book promotion, I think I’ll go one more. It’s a trying ordeal to compose and publish a book, but selling it can be the biggest and most frustrating part of the journey. So I believe this topic to be the most relevant to authors, especially newly published authors.

The key to selling books is exposure; if no one knows about your book, they won’t buy it. So how do we get noticed in this competitive field? Statistically, most books are not sold through traditional brick and mortar book stores. 52 percent of all book sold are sold via mail order, online, book clubs, discount stores, and nontraditional retail outlets. Since 2006, online sales have nearly doubled and are expected to increase steadily year after year.

I suppose then the answer is to get online. Personally, I’ve been working this method of marketing for three years. Just for fun, Google me and see how much exposure I have accumulated—“Carol Denbow.” Now some of my search results are for recent news unrelated to books (I’m a golfer in a small town, always makes the news!). But for the most part, you’ll see a massive number of links to my books and marketing articles, interviews, etc.

I have found the best means to gain online exposure is through author interviews and submitting book related articles to article sites such as Amazines.com and EzineArticles.

Join sites like Author & Book Event Center (get in the Author Spotlight for great front page exposure).

The restaurant business is one of the toughest out there. Even as a competitive business (as we are), there is a saying amongst restaurant owners, that is, “where there’s a restaurant, build another and they will come.” Ever heard the expression, “restaurant row?” This is a tough business and we must work together.

So with that in mind, I’d like to ask that all published authors add a comment to this post and tell us what your most successful marketing tool has been. Let’s share our ideas and get some books sold!

How Many Books to Order Up

You’ve decided to write and publish your book, you’ve even managed to find a publishing method that works for you—great, you’ve made it this far. But your publisher won’t be the only one responsible for selling your books; much of this will fall on you. If you are traditionally published, your publisher will give you some copies, but expect you to purchase additional ones at your own expense. P.O.D. publishers often state they will be promoting and selling your books for you; this is just never totally true. You should expect to have several books on hand at all times. Remember, regardless of common belief, books really do sell “just one-at-a-time.”

So how many books will you need on hand?

Ask yourself these questions:

Will I be attending fairs where I will be selling my books directly to the public?

Will I be responsible for selling and “shipping” my own books?

Will “I” be the one selling and delivering my books directly to book stores?

How many copies will I be giving as gifts or using as review copies?

How many books will my friends and family be purchasing?

If you are a self-publisher and printing your own books, be careful of how many copies you initially order. Book printers offer great deals on large quantities of books. For instance, you may pay $8 per copy if you order only 100 (hard to make a profit). But if you order 500, the price may be cut in half. Then if you double the order number again, the copy price could be drastically less per copy, making it very tempting to order more than you will need. A new author may order 2,000 books to save money but end up with a closet full of books collecting dust (I can show you mine from my very first book order—dusty!).

The average self-published author sells less than 200 copies of their book. Better to make a little less profit than be stuck with excess copies for your grandkids (you just won’t have that many grandkids).

Find out how much your book will cost to print and ship using the calculator at http://www.48hrbooks.com.

Authors, give us your input to share with newbie’s by using the comment section below.