Authors and Their Books: Yes, marketing works!

[Neil]

I’ve been reading a lot of threads and forums lately dealing with the topic of marketing your book. It seems there are a lot of “newbies” out there in this relatively virgin explosion of indie publishing and many can’t understand why their book isn’t selling. When asked if they market and promote their books most say yes, but complain that they have limited time, maybe a few hours a week.

These authors wonder why they have little or no sales. Well, here’s a hard truth. To be a successful indie author you have to market your books as much if not more than you spend time writing them. It takes a lot of work to get noticed in a publishing sea that now includes a million new published books yearly. Competition to get readers’ attention is ten times harder than it was just three years ago. But it is not impossible.

With the internet, the exhaustive task of promoting is now accessible to even the most introverted writer. No longer must writers sit in nearly empty bookstores peddling their signed wares or go out on long book tours just to get a little recognition, that recognition can now be achieved at home. It can be done. You can get noticed. But it ain’t easy.

Internet marketing does sell books. I’m living proof. A complete unknown two years ago, since then I’ve sold thousands of books to absolute strangers. I also spend an average of two hours a day marketing. It’s tough to find the time, believe me, but I do it. I used to pay for sponsorships with mediocre results and placed samples of my books on all those hundreds of author sites that promise tons of exposure. They worked to some degree, but not worth the hours of drudgery downloading in comparison to sales. Then I discovered the secret to gaining an audience.

Blindly spamming and pushing your book over and over on social media only turns readers off. You come off seeming desperate for anyone to buy your book. The proper way to promote is to build a readership through online book discussions and joining groups. Respond when a reader emails you. Get involved in discussions other than about your own work. Get people interested in you by being interesting online. Your audience will grow in time. It will! Yes, marketing on the internet will sell your book, but you have to do it properly. And have patience, if you can tell a great story the readers will find out about you.

To read more about me and my books please check out my blog: ALWAYS WRITING

Click here to read my blog!
http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

[Patricia]

This is SOOOO true! I finally have a marketing plan in place, and top on the list is making new contacts, being as friendly and as helpful as I can, responding as often as I can, taking part in as many discussions as I can, and so on.

By the way, that may seem like a lot of things, but it's all the same thing. It's getting to know people and engaging in where they are at this time in their lives.

[Neil]

Word-of-mouth sells books.