8 Ways To sell More Books
Even though writing a book is not easy for most people, many authors tell me that selling their books is far harder for them than writing them. Most people are writers OR marketers – not both. That said, here are some tips you can use to sell more copies of your book – even if you’re horrific at marketing: 1. Turn your book into an audiobook. Audiobooks are a super-simple way to sell more copies of your books. There are lots of people who only consume books by listening to them when working out, driving, or running errands. I find that offering audiobooks often accounts for 10-20% of all of my book sales.
There are lots of ways you can create an audio book. Read it yourself, hire a voice-over artist, or, if you’re based in the USA, go on ACX.com and work with a voiceover artist on a no-money-down, 50-50 royalty split. This makes it risk free for you. 2. Post on Goodreads. Goodreads is a social networking site for readers and it’s very powerful in getting the word out about your book. Studies show that more people buy books based off of Goodreads recommendations than Amazon reviews. Post your book on the site and get active there.
3. Get your book translated. Many countries are hungry for new information. Depending on what your book topic is about, it could be very profitable to get your book translated into other languages. You can either pay for translations or use a site like Babelcube (thanks to Steve Scott for sharing that with me) that’ll work with you on a royalty split. 4. Put your book on more than just Kindle. Use a free tool like SmashWords to distribute your book to Apple, B&N, OverDrive, Scribd, Oyster, Kobo, and more. If you’re not using the Kindle Select system, you may as well get the free sales from other places. There’s no cost for you to submit them.
5. Get a better cover. Out of all of my tests, I’ve found that the #1 thing that helps increase book sales is a great cover. Make sure yours looks like something you’d find on a bookstore shelf. Until recently, I always used this gal on Fiverr. She has been great, but I just tried hiring someone over at 99Designs.com to see if a more expensive cover will help book sales a lot more. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens. Send me a tweet in a week or so and I’ll tell you what performed better.
6. Offer bonuses for buying. Use your social media and/or email list to offer a bonus for people buy your book. Not only does this give people incentive to buy from you, but when they do, your book’s sales rankings will increase. This will help even more people see your book. 7. Reach out to podcasters in your niche to do interviews. There are lots of podcast hosts who are eager to get new content for their shows. Go to the iTunes store, do a search for your niche, and contact people who have shows in your field. You can offer to do interviews or submit episodes for them. This is a great win-win that lots of hosts go for.
8. Get more reviews. There are all kinds of ways you can get reviews. Here are a few ideas: join a review exchange, beg your friends and family, post a Goodreads giveaway, offer Free Days, contact reviewers on Amazon who have reviewed similar books and offer them a free copy in exchange for their review. Even if you follow one of these tips, you should see more book sales. If you follow multiple, expect to see a pretty spectacular compound effect.