The only way I have been able to sell my books is in person, directly to a potential reader.

 

When I did the math, I realized that I could order my books, mark them up and sell them cheaper than someone could buy them from Amazon, when you factored in the cost of shipping.

 

Here’s an example: For me to order a copy of Local Rag costs $4.40 CA, plus $2.43 shipping = $6.83 For anyone else to buy a copy of Local Rag from Amazon Canada costs $13.29, plus $4.98 shipping, plus GST 91¢ = $18.95 The difference is $12.12 (I don’t have to collect the GST because my sales are under $30,000 annually).

 

If I deduct the $2.86 royalty from my Amazon sale, I'm  still ahead $9.26.  I can offer a $2.00 discount to the purchaser and make more than $4.00 more than I get from a sale on Amazon.

 

About a year ago, I started researching venues where I could sell my books in person. I rejected flea markets and other events unrelated to literature and soon found opportunities to participate in public readings and talks. You speak briefly about your book or a related topic and sell your work after the event while mingling with the audience.

 

I took it a step further and developed mini-seminars in self-publishing and memoir writing which I conducted free. The audience was very sales friendly. This system worked at book fairs as well, but since the table rental had to be taken into consideration, I had to be a little more aggressive.

 

In sales, it’s essential to engage the customer, so you have to get out from behind the table and chat up the passers-by. I printed up cheap bookmarks to give away, had them fill out an entry form (don’t forget their email address) for a free draw of some of my books, and talked about the event, even the other authors.

 

I’ve made a living at direct sales so this is second nature to me, but even so it was exhausting and not a lot of fun.

 

After six months I had a decision to make. I now had lots of opportunities to speak, teach and sell my books, but I needed to invest in more stock. If I ordered more books, I’d have to get out there and flog them.

 

I decided I’d had enough.

 

So what have I learned?

 

Selling a book is a lot like writing one. There’s no easy way,

 

and nobody can do it for you.

 

Too bad.

 

Stay calm, be brave, watch for the signs.

 

 

Amazon Author Page (still the easiest way to sell books)

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B003DS6LEU

 

So, this happened today:

 

It looks like I might have bought all the books.  But I didn't, really.  Just most of the Agatha Christies.  They were 0.50 cents each, most of them unread.  I didn't have enough cash on me to buy the entire lot, so I immediately checked out BrokenTune's and Moonlight Reader's shelves and discarded the 6 or so they both liked least, and bought the rest.  $38.

 

Don't ask me where I'm going to shelve them or what MT's reaction will be (he likes Christie, so it's 50/50 odds he'll just shake his head).

In most of the cases, first-time authors find it difficult to find an effective strategy to sell their eBooks. And in case of the accomplished writers, they wonder how to increase the sales of their books. Well, as an author, you would try to strike an effective way to increase the exposure of the books that you have worked hard upon. Online channels have in fact opened up a number of ways, in which you can increase the sales of your electronic books. Here, you will come across some of the most effective strategies that will definitely increase eBook sales.

 

Sell your eBook through multiple stores

It is necessary to place your electronic book in as many stores as possible. This will increase the number of channels, through which you can increase the transaction of your books. While the leading sites like Amazon, Apple and B&N are popular, you should also place the book on smaller sites. People will get to know about your book more when you improve the number of sales channels. A number of new sites are coming up these days, and you can try them out.

 

Invest on the cover page

You need to make a good investment in order to make the cover page visually appealing. An attractive eBook cover design goes a long way, streamlining its sales mechanism. The Internet is overloaded with this, and it is necessary to grab the attention of the readers when you reach out to them. A compelling its cover can lure the readers into its contents. Eventually, it can result in a transaction. Therefore, you should get the necessary illustration or graphic art done by expert cover designers for ebooks offering brilliant ebook cover design services.

 

Provide eBook preview

Providing preview of digital book contents can keep the readers engaged, and they will find your book interesting. This can turn a large section of the readers into your customers. You can create the preview in various ways. You can post screenshots of the relevant pages as images along the content pages and index. You can also place the relevant pages in these areas as HTML. This will complement your SEO efforts as well.

 

Ebook reviews

One of the best ways to increase the sales is to get your ebook reviewed. People willing to buy the digital book would want to know the opinion of the first-hand readers. These reviews will come beneficial in such cases. Well, you should know that electronic books with testimonials and published reviews tend to attract more attention from the readers who explore the eBook stores. Evidently, this can improve the sales of your eBook.

 

Joining affiliate programs

Certain websites like Click Bank provide affiliate programs. Joining these affiliate programs can increase the exposure and sales. Most of the successful authors join affiliate programs as this provides a widespread exposure to your electronic books. Both new authors and established writers should try out these programs in order to generate the sale of their electronic books.

 

Search engine optimization

An optimized sales page can bolster definitely promote your eBook online. When you want to sell your eBook through websites, SEO plays a crucial role in increasing the chances of sales. You need a dedicated page for the eBook, which will draw traffic and increase the sales. You may also share the author’s information on this page. Besides, these pages can also contain relevant information about the book, special offers and other details.

 

Multiple file formats

The electronic books should be made available in multiple file formats. Your readers may want to read these files on their mobile devices, laptops, PCs or other electronic book readers. Therefore, when you come up with multiple file formats, you can get across with your creation to a larger section of the readers. Making the digital document available in various file formats, at least the most common eBook file formats ensures that it will be compatible with multiple e-reading devices.

 

Use social media for a greater exposure

Social media provides tremendous exposure to this. You can go for social media marketing in order to increase the sales. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are effective platforms to promote your digital document. Readers spend a lot of time on these sites, and it is wise to seize the opportunity to get across to them over these channels.

 

Offers and discounts

People are attracted towards goods when they are available at discounted prices.  You can come up with discount and offers for your eBook which will improve the sales. Limited period offers have proven to be effective in increasing the sales of eBooks when it comes to selling books from your website or any third party platforms. There are lots of ebook publishing platform available online. Also, you can find the information about best place to sell your ebook here.

 

Intelligent pricing

The pricing of the eBook has to be intelligently made. Consider the buying capacity of your target customers while deciding the price. Recent trends have proven that keeping the price low can boost up the sales of the eBooks.

 

For new authors, it is difficult to find the market for their eBooks. For accomplished authors, expanding the market is always a challenge. These strategies will strengthen the sales mechanism of your eBooks. Integrate these plans into your marketing process and see the sales skyrocketing.

 

 

This feels a bit like a companion book to [b:Prosperous Creation: Make Art and Make Money at the Same Time|33670474|Prosperous Creation Make Art and Make Money at the Same Time (Growth Hacking For Storytellers #5)|Monica Leonelle|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1483320662s/33670474.jpg|54542108]. It went a little deeper into understanding the tactics you can take to sell your books.

My biggest problem with the book was that I didn't really find any tactic that really resonated with me. I've latched onto one, I think, and I plan to look at my current endeavors and see if I can work them into that tactic.

The other thing I found confusing was the author's use of the term "sales funnel". I've seen it used before, but wasn't sure until nearly the end what she meant by it (as opposed to what I've gathered from other sources).

Overall, though, it's a great eye-opener to get you thinking about selling differently (it's not a specific, one-size-fits-all blueprint so much as a mindset and digging deep kind of thing).

So if you're looking for specifics, you might be disappointed by this book, but if you're ready to figure out something that works for you, your books, your budget, and your personality, then you'll likely get something worthwhile from Get Your Book Selling.

This came through my email yesterday and I thought I'd pass it along to my USA friends who might be interested.  Henery Press produces some great cozy mysteries.  Of this batch I can recommend highly Board Stiff - Kendel Lynn, Swan Dive - Kendel Lynn    and The Semester of Our Discontent - Cynthia Kuhn.  

 

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