Cindy Dees's Blog - Posts Tagged "increasing-sales"
GAINING TRACTION in SELLING BOOKS
So, I've been actively working to increase my visibility, and hopefully, my sales for exactly one year, now. A number of people have asked me what the secret is to getting their books noticed, and here's what I've learned in my own search for an answer to that one.
I blissfully wrote forty books in obscurity, and without lifting a finger to do any self-promotion or social media work for ten years, on the mistaken assumption that if I just wrote enough good books, readers would find me and I would be successful.
I've won some great awards and generally get excellent reviews. Editors love my work and I've studied the craft exhaustively. I think it's fair to say I'm not a half-bad writer.
And yet, my sales have languished. They're not bad, especially given the state of today's market, but they just weren't going anywhere. They were flat. Lying there like a dead fish.
Then two things happened. My entire backlist of forty books was put up as ebooks by Harlequin. I did the math as my royalty statements came in and saw that I made about 3K on the list over two years, and Harlequin made 150K.
Let me write that out. One-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollars. Of which, I got chump change.
The second tectonic shift in my perspective came with my first sale to Entangled Publishing, a strictly e-publishing house with a brilliant and business savvy publisher at the helm by the name of Liz Pelletier. I got a crash course in the potential power of e-publishing and of social media.
Like it or not, I was forced to admit that I was getting left in the dust and needed to move into social media and e-publishing. Immediately.
I started with 55 Twitter followers, 156 FB followers, and a dreadfully outdated website that I hadn't updated in two years.
It's now one year later, and I've got 77K Twitter followers, 12K FB followers, 4K Goodreads followers (hey, I've only been on GR for two months), 1K Linked In contacts, and a vibrant new website that reflects both genres I write in. I even guest blog occasionally for other people. Go me.
But how are my visibility and sales doing?
I have to say, my visibility is definitely improving. It's clear that more readers know who I am when I go to reader events. Other writers are starting to know who I am and what I write. I'm gaining traction.
It's not an overnight success story. I'm working hard and putting in a lot of hours. But it is gradually working. I've been hurt by a gap in my publishing schedule, but I'm picking up momentum as more books start coming out in a steady stream again.
A couple of great opportunities have dropped into my lap as a result of my hard work, and I'm hoping to capitalize on at least one of them later this summer. As it unfolds, I'll let you know how it goes.
My sales are growing a little. It's not a giant leap in tax brackets...yet...but the visibility is definitely translating to new readers.
Is my hard work paying off? Yes. Slowly. It's taking time, patience, and a ton of effort to make myself more visible to readers. I have to actively market myself and my books. And I have to write a lot of good books and keep a continuous flow of them coming.
It's taking persistence bordering on sheer, cussed stubbornness to claw my way to higher visibility and sales. This is not a project for the faint of heart. But it can be done.
I've met any number of extremely successful authors in both traditional and self-publishing. And let the record show, they ALL work their asses off.
There is no magic shortcut to increasing your visibility and sales. Quit looking for it and get to work.
I blissfully wrote forty books in obscurity, and without lifting a finger to do any self-promotion or social media work for ten years, on the mistaken assumption that if I just wrote enough good books, readers would find me and I would be successful.
I've won some great awards and generally get excellent reviews. Editors love my work and I've studied the craft exhaustively. I think it's fair to say I'm not a half-bad writer.
And yet, my sales have languished. They're not bad, especially given the state of today's market, but they just weren't going anywhere. They were flat. Lying there like a dead fish.
Then two things happened. My entire backlist of forty books was put up as ebooks by Harlequin. I did the math as my royalty statements came in and saw that I made about 3K on the list over two years, and Harlequin made 150K.
Let me write that out. One-hundred-fifty-thousand-dollars. Of which, I got chump change.
The second tectonic shift in my perspective came with my first sale to Entangled Publishing, a strictly e-publishing house with a brilliant and business savvy publisher at the helm by the name of Liz Pelletier. I got a crash course in the potential power of e-publishing and of social media.
Like it or not, I was forced to admit that I was getting left in the dust and needed to move into social media and e-publishing. Immediately.
I started with 55 Twitter followers, 156 FB followers, and a dreadfully outdated website that I hadn't updated in two years.
It's now one year later, and I've got 77K Twitter followers, 12K FB followers, 4K Goodreads followers (hey, I've only been on GR for two months), 1K Linked In contacts, and a vibrant new website that reflects both genres I write in. I even guest blog occasionally for other people. Go me.
But how are my visibility and sales doing?
I have to say, my visibility is definitely improving. It's clear that more readers know who I am when I go to reader events. Other writers are starting to know who I am and what I write. I'm gaining traction.
It's not an overnight success story. I'm working hard and putting in a lot of hours. But it is gradually working. I've been hurt by a gap in my publishing schedule, but I'm picking up momentum as more books start coming out in a steady stream again.
A couple of great opportunities have dropped into my lap as a result of my hard work, and I'm hoping to capitalize on at least one of them later this summer. As it unfolds, I'll let you know how it goes.
My sales are growing a little. It's not a giant leap in tax brackets...yet...but the visibility is definitely translating to new readers.
Is my hard work paying off? Yes. Slowly. It's taking time, patience, and a ton of effort to make myself more visible to readers. I have to actively market myself and my books. And I have to write a lot of good books and keep a continuous flow of them coming.
It's taking persistence bordering on sheer, cussed stubbornness to claw my way to higher visibility and sales. This is not a project for the faint of heart. But it can be done.
I've met any number of extremely successful authors in both traditional and self-publishing. And let the record show, they ALL work their asses off.
There is no magic shortcut to increasing your visibility and sales. Quit looking for it and get to work.
