Want to sell more books? Spread the word one book at a time

I know its easier said than done, but if you a self-published author the one way for you to sell more books is to get your readers on board. Unless you’re willing shell out x amount of dollars for publicity and advertising (with no guarantee that you will sell your books) the most effective, not to mention cost effective, approach to selling your books is by spreading the word one book at a time.

Thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and Goodreads where you can connect with your friends and readers, getting the word out is a lot easier in the digital, social networking world we live in. However, you are only halfway there. Although you can lead a reader to your books and hopefully get them to buy them, you still have to get them to help you promote your book with their contacts.

The most effective way is for your readers to share your updates and links to your books, comment on your website or blog, and talk about your book. Just clicking “like” or “sharing” an update is not enough. One has to be more proactive by actually having something to say about the book. That is the real challenge.

I have a few dedicated readers/followers who do exactly that. As soon as I share a status update about one of my books or a blog post like this one, my friends spring into action by sharing these updates with their friends. Many times they will even comment about the status update which is also effective.