What Makes One Book Outsell Another?

Posted on February 26, 2008

You don’t have to leap high buildings to get your book selling well, just follow these eleven tips.

1. Write a book that people need and want. People want how-to books; they want skills. Notice the demand today for eBooks. It’s best to see the need and fill it rather than have an idea—then look for an audience.

2. Nonfiction books sell better than fiction. It makes sense to write and market a non-fiction book such as self-help first. Use your profits to finance your fiction project.

3. Short books in any format, like eBooks, guides or special reports are faster, easier, and cheaper to write than full-length books of 150-300 pages. They can be as short as five pages (special reports), to eBooks that can be five to one hundred pages (even longer). Anna Quinlen’s bestseller contained the number of pages that just one chapter does.

4. Women buy far more books than men do, about 75%. If your message benefits women, you’ll do well in sales. The Chicken Soup for Women series sold 20 million copies out of 68 million for the total series sold. .

5. Image is almost everything. Choose your title with care. Your front cover and title have around four seconds to impress your potential buyer. Be clear, use metaphor and make sure your visuals connect to your title. Elicit an emotion through your title words (preferably five to seven words). What solutions and results does your book promise?

6. Expand your book into a series. Think of the huge success of the Chicken Soup Series. They have one “brand” everyone recognizes. A series works well for children’s books, self-help, and even fiction

7. Create spin-off products that relate to your book. Some people prefer to learn by listening to an audiotape, or downloading a CD-ROM. I recently bought a serial eBook and loved getting two chapters a week—so easy to digest. These formats can actually help you sell more books. Other spin-offs include coaching, consulting, speaking, seminars, columns, or videos.

8. Impress your potential buyer within eight seconds with your back cover copy. At the top put your headline. It must hook your readers, stir up their emotions, and hit their desire. Headlines usually include the number one benefit of your book such as “Imagine Thousands of Readers Buying your Book Next Month.” What benefits does your book offer? Include these through your testimonials from decision makers and the man/woman on the street

9. Create your written marketing plan before you finish chapter one. This plan covers your first year’s launch period and lifetime plan. The biggest mistake new authors make is that they quit marketing after the initial six months. Word of mouth takes a while. Be patient and market your book for up to three years to get the buzz going.. Another mistake is that inexperienced authors wait until publication before they think of marketing, losing a great deal of sales. Your plan could include how many books you want to sell, your 30 second tell and sell, book reviews, news releases, the articles to market your book, the book signings, talks, electronic newsletters, and a book Web site. Without a written plan, an author creates vague results.

10. Put as much time into marketing as you did the writing of your book. Your goal is to have people read and learn from your unique message. Why plant a garden if you don’t harvest it? To finish your book project, write down in your organizers one to three High Level Activites you will do. They can include: reading this book, sending a chapter rough draft to an associate for feedback, or contacting a good bookcoach.

11. Include Web marketing to sell more books. While you can sell your books on other peoples’ site, such as Amazon.com or Booklocker.com, you will also will want your own. An author without a Web site is like a person without a name. Put useful information up for your Web visitors—articles, a blog, or past ezines. The more interactive it is and the better the ad copy, the more return visits you’ll get. The more visits, the more opportunity for sales.

Think beyond the box of traditional book selling and incorporate these ideas into your book marketing plan.

Judy Cullins copyright 2007

Book and Internet Marketing Coach, Judy Cullins, can help you build credibility and clients, sell a lot of books, and make maximum profits. Author of 13 books including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast and The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Targeted Web Traffic” Get her free eBook “20 High Octane Book Writing and Marketing Tips” and two free monthly ezines at http://www.bookcoaching.com

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