Write It And They Will Come…NOT!

If you are thinking that a bunch of ghosts of famous writers are going to show up on your site, and droves of readers are going to flock to see them to help promote your book…that’s not going to happen. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

If you search on Google for let’s say “romance novels,” it will return over 38 million results. There are about 10 results showing per page . . . well, let’s just say you are a penguin in a sea of penguins.

Let’s quickly do a reality check.

Google research indicates that there are approximately 130 million published books.
Amazon has approximately 1.7 million titles listed. Type in “romance novels” at Amazon/books and it will return approximately 38K results.
2011: about 3 million books published.
2012: is estimated to hit about 12 million books published.
Alison Flood of the Guardian points out that a DIY study suggests that self-published authors make less than $500.00 .

 

The hard reality . . . books are easy to find; buyers are not.

If you are interested in selling your book, it’s now time to take off your author hat. You need to think like a marketer. You now need buyers…so, how do you get buyers?

First and foremost is EXPOSURE
ENGAGE your potential buyer

Offer them interesting or helpful content

 

GOT FANS? Sometimes we are our own worst enemy when it comes to selling. I know; I am a master sales trainer of 34 years. What I hear from authors:

I don’t blog.

I’ll never guest post.

I don’t know what to blog about.

My book is not selling; can you recommend a top agent for me in NYC?

I will advertise when book sales are better.

I am too old to use twitter.

I hate Facebook.

I don’t want people to find me.

I won’t sell a book on twitter.

“Hello, McFly!” Where do you think your buyers are going to come from?

A search on Google? You’re 1 in 38M!
A search on Amazon? You’re 1 in 38K!

 

Get active! It’s all about getting your book or yourself out there as an author so potential buyers see you and what you write. There is a reason approximately $80B was spent last year on business to consumer advertising. EXPOSURE!

Here are 10 things you can do right NOW to EXPOSE YOURSELF:

Create a blog

70% of the millions surveyed buy due to reading a blog.

50% of those people read a blog once daily.

Then drive traffic to your blog:




Get Reviews
Guest Blogging
Twitter
Face Book Fan Page
Google +1
Pintest
LinkedIn
GoodReads
YouTube Video
Use a book promo service
Advertise

 

Create a book webpage

Create a book website with a blog (e.g., humanbodydetectives.com)
Create a blog with a link to a book webpage (e.g., rachelintheoc.com)
Make the book webpage visually interesting and enticing

 

Be sure to have a buying page or a link to where they can buy your book on your blog and book webpage with a strong call to action.

 

Set up a Facebook fan page

 

Set up a Twitter account

You can tweet about your blog posts or book subject matter (just learn how to use the site properly so you don’t spam or self-promo exclusively).

 

Reviews: Get beta readers to read your book.

Visit badredhedmedia.com for more information

Minimum of 10 reviews
Minimum 25 likes

 

Set up a Google+1 account, LinkedIn account, GoodReads, and Pintrest account

 

Set up a YouTube account.

Create a video






You can have a video created for as little as $5 on Fiverr.com (e,g., $45 video example at http://youtu.be/KHRj8kfbzRI)





You can also advertise your video on YouTube for as little as $.01 per view

 

Use a service to promote your book

BadRedHeadMedia.com
BookBuzzr.com
IndieBookPromo.com

 

Advertise

Use AdWords (Google)
or AdCentral (Bing and Yahoo)

 

Until next week, expose yourself!

J.P. Thompson

theadwordsguy.com

Also, visit my blog on selling at Salescafe

Author informationadminSocial Media and Wordpress Consultant Barb Drozdowich has taught at Colleges, trained technical personnel in the banking industry and, most recently, used her expertise to help hundreds of authors develop the social media platform needed to succeed in today’s fast evolving publishing world. She owns Bakerview Consulting and manages the popular blog, Sugarbeat’s Books. Her first book is now available on Amazon - The Author's Guide to Working with Book BloggersTwitterFacebookGoogle+