Writing should be something you enjoy doing just for the sake of it, before money even comes into the equation. Also, there is a strong argument from within the writing community that a writer should write what he or she wants to, as this allows one to be truly creative, without being pressured by what he or she thinks should be written. However, if you’re an author who is interested in selling more books in less time, the following tips will help:
Have a market to sell to
In business it makes no sense to create a product without there being a good sign that people will actually buy it. The same principle applies to your book. The most fundamental piece of the selling puzzle is having readers (or customers) who want your book. Otherwise, you may risk writing a book no one wants to buy. There can certainly be some positives in not succeeding in this way. For instance, you will learn how not to sell a book.
However, you will speed up the process if you at least gain some awareness about whether people will purchase your book. The best way to do this is to speak to potential readers of your book, tell them a bit about your story, let them read a sample, and gauge what their reaction is.
Get in there first
Okay, so you’ve figured out there is a market for the book(s) you want to write. Now, imagine being in a situation where no one else has ever written the type of book that you not only want to write, but you know there is a demand for. Having eager people ready for your book’s release will certainly help in making sales in less time. Nonfiction writing offers a lot of opportunities to be the first to market with books for different niches.
Follow up
If your book is up for sale on online retail stores like Amazon, or bricks and mortar indie stores then sales will depend a lot on the people visiting the stores, and as to whether they would be interested in your book. On the other hand, if you’re selling your books through your own website, then you might get questions about your stories and work from potential buyers directly into your e-mail inbox. If you do get questions, answer promptly. Follow up a few days later with a light e-mail to see if there are any other questions you can answer, to help the person to decide whether to buy your book.
Create partnerships
Selling your books isn’t something you have to do all by yourself. You can create partnerships with other authors and influential bloggers where you mutually help each other in marketing. You can get involved in activities such as writing a guest post at the blog of one of your contacts and include a link back to the page for your book, to drive traffic to it.
You can also hire the services of a virtual book tour provider to organise interviews and guest posting opportunities with other bloggers and writers, and set-up social media campaigns for you. Of course, this option will likely cost you money, so it’s worthwhile spending some time to think about the return on investment, and how many sales you can potentially make for the cash you spend on getting the help in the first place.
Editor’s Note: This article was first published on e-Books India in December 2014.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]