How To Sell More Books In 2018

How are your book sales? Need to sell more books? As we enter the home straight on 2017, now is the time to run home hard and finish big. It is also the set up phase to sell more books in 2018.

As an Amazon bestselling mystery ebook author, I’m giving you my plan to ensure you have a big fat turkey for Christmas and a cracker 2018. Here are my 10 tips to sell more books now and in 2018.

1. Write More Books

   Sounds obvious but some people call themselves writers but never write. Or they write too little. Readers want to hear from you. They need to know that you are not a one book wonder. If your Amazon profile looks empty, they’ll move onto another author where they know more books are coming.

2. Be Price Competitive

   Check out the competition and make sure your work is competitively priced. How many pages is your book? What star rating do you have? You need to be realistic here. I know this is your baby but don’t price yourself out of the market even though you think you are a better writer than Lee Child and you should get the same price as he does for your mystery ebook. That doesn’t mean you need to be cheap either – just well priced.

3. Do A Book Refresh

   If you have a back catalogue that’s starting to look a little dated, sometimes a book refresh will breathe new life into those books. My refresh this year secured my a few #1 Amazon bestsellers in category in a few different countries and gave my bank account a boost.

   

   (Get this book FREE )

4. Run A Pomotion

   There are a lot of book promoters out there promising your world of easy sales. Be wary. I like to do a promotion where I know the risks and have some control of the outcome. I think BKights on Fiverr.com delivers a great bag for the buck. BookBub is the king daddy of promotions, but so is the price. But it seems to deliver.

5. Video Is All The Rage

   Add video to your blogs, social media posts and article promos. We live in a time poor world and people love video. It’s quick, easy and enables your readers to get to know you a little more. You can even get a video trailer done for your book and post what around the world. Again Fiverr has some decent operators who can do that for you. Check out my book trailer here 

6. Be Creative

   Post cards have worked well for me in promoting my books. I get a bunch of postcards made up and drop them off to local coffee shops in my area. I got the idea from a visit to my local Starbucks and so far it seems to produce regular of sign ups to my email list. I also use a US company, Send Out Cards, to run post card campaigns to publishers and literary agent. For under a buck I get a personalised printed card (plus postage) sent by the company. It’s a novel way to get somebodies attention. Who doesn’t like old school mail that’s not a bill. I’m at least guaranteed of a 100% open rate AND I didn’t have to leave my home, que up in a post office, buy stamps and send the card. It works for me!

7. Develop Your Email list

   You do have one, don’t you? This is the best way to increase your book sales bar none! A book promoted to an email list gets me top 10, even #1’s, just by promoting it to my reader list. Emails are great for developing relationships with your readers. Provide great information and occasionally promote your book. Don’t just contact your readers when you have something to sell. That’s boring!

8. Become A Speaker

   If you don’t like public speaking, learn. Join groups like Toastmasters or do a course on Udemy. Start off small and work your way up. I’ve done several library, retirement and author group talks. Initially they were free but I’m now having companies pay me to speak.

9. Your About The Author Page

   Ensure you have a compelling About the Author page at the back of your book and list other books you have written.

10. Have A Plan And Stick To It

    Assuming you are in this writing thing for the long haul, you’ll need a plan if you want to progress. Equally important is your focus to stay with the plan. Along the way you’ll come across ‘little temptations’ or shiny objects as I like to call them, designed to take you off course with promises of grandeur to be achieved in a shorter time. Don’t be fooled. Stay on the path to your end goal.

The above ten tips seem simple. And that’s why they work. I’ve been able to sell more books by keeping things simple. I don’t allow distractions to take me off course. You now have a workable plan for 2018. The big question is will you use it to sell more books in 2018 or dismiss it as too basic for success?