The Key to Selling Self-Published Books
Self-published authors face an uphill battle when it comes to marketing and selling our books.
Author Amelia James
The stigma that self-published books face is a tough one to shed. And, to top it off, most of us don’t have much help promoting our books. So selling self-published books is a challenge.
I have a Twitter account with a few hundred followers, a Facebook fan page, and a blog—all of which I maintain on my own. It’s a lot of work for mostly little results, but I finally stumbled upon what works. Excerpts and samples are the key to keeping my sales going.
It started when I got a tweet from one of my followers that read something like this: I read an excerpt of Tell Me You Want Me and I loved it! I can’t wait to read the rest. Similar Facebook comments started appearing, and I realized that to prove to readers my books are good, I need to get people to read them.
There are lots of places to post an excerpt.
- Your author website or blog is the best place to start.
- If you have a Facebook page, you can post excerpts in the notes section.
- Amazon and Barnes & Noble allow excerpts on your book page.
Websites like the ones listed below allow you to post excerpts:
Page99Test: www.page99test.com Post page 99 of your novel. Get feedback and includes a buying link.
Twimagination: http://twimagination.com/ Post short writings. Link to your Twitter account.
Worthy of Publishing: http://www.worthyofpublishing.com Post entire chapters. Get feedback and includes a buying link.
One of Amelia James' novels, The Devil Made Me Do It
Samples are another way to get your book in front of readers. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords all give readers the ability to download a free sample. Book Buzzr http://www.bookbuzzr.com/ allows you to specify which pages a reader can see.
Another creative way to expose your book to readers is with short stories and deleted scenes. Short stories will show the readers the quality of your writing, and stories about your characters’ backgrounds will make them want to read more. I also posted a few scenes from my books that were edited out of the final version. It was a fun way to provide more info about the book without giving away the whole book. (You can only post so many excerpts.)
Of course, if no one knows where to find your excerpts, samples, stories, and deleted scenes, they won’t get read. Instead of tweeting links to buying sites, I posted links to the sites where my excerpts and samples were available, and I posted links to Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords at the end of each excerpt on my blog.
When I promote excerpts and samples, my sales increase.
My sales numbers are slowly growing, but they are growing. If nothing else, I am fighting the belief that self-published books are bad. Getting a tweet or a comment from a reader who loved the excerpt they read and can’t wait to read more means more to me than sales ever could.
Share a comment. What’s your experience with promoting your own books?
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Follow Amelia James on Twitter @TrashyWriter and visit her blog Trashy Treasures.
She’s also on Facebook with an author page Author Amelia James
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Independent Publishing, US American Women Writers
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There’s some helpful information I didn’t know about! Thank you for sharing it. One of the great things about our self-published books is that we can continue to market them over time, where a traditional publisher would move on to the next new release. I’m making slow progress with mine, but I figure it’s a learning curve, and little by little I’m getting better at it.
When I self-published my first book in 1999, we didn’t have social media in place. I felt as though I was obnoxious, constantly talking about my book at every opportunity. Then one day an acquaintance said, “Say, did you ever finish that book you were talking about?” I realized then why Coca-Cola runs so many commercials! It takes a lot of repetition to get the word to sink in.
I’m about to e-publish and then self-publish so this is really helpful information. I didn’t know about those sites you mention, so as soon as my book is out there I’ll register with them. Thanks again and good luck with the book, Gill
Thank you. Good luck with your book!
What a great post! This is very helpful information. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! I’m glad you found it useful.
Thank you for hosting me today!