How to sell more books

Haytham Al Fiqi Books: http://amzn.to/27nSCB9
How to Sell
More Books
formerly
entitled
Marketing &
Promoting
your E-Books
This workshop is directed mainly to indie authors, particularly novices, but much of the advice
applies equally to those authors who are traditionally published. Feel free to take what you like
and leave the rest.

1. Write a Good Book
Before we start talking about marketing and promo tips, I have some preliminary words of
wisdom to impart: First and foremost, no matter how you end up publishing, you must WRITE
A GOOD BOOK. This may sound obvious. Sadly, given the vast quantity of poorly written e-
books I’ve found on the Internet, not all indie authors have embraced the concept. And you do
not want to be one of those.
Naturally, you intend to write a good book. Who doesn’t? But here’s the thing. You don’t know
what you don’t know. I certainly didn’t. Writing a good book requires an open mind, persistence,
and a very thick skin. I discovered everything I’m telling you the hard way—by making
mistakes.
Here’s my advice on writing a good book:
• Be Willing to Make Mistakes. I make mistakes. We all do. It’s a given. So when you do,
and especially when others point out your mistakes, don’t throw in the towel. Keep writing.
It’s the only way to learn.
• Learn Your Craft. Don’t assume (the way I did) that that because you wrote business
reports, you have the necessary know-how to write a novel. Take courses, attend workshops,
seminars, and conferences, and read everything you can get your hands on about writing in
your chosen genre.
• Know Your Genre and Audience, preferably before you start writing. This is easier for
non-fiction than fiction. Give those readers what they want. For example, my audience
consists primarily of intelligent, animal-loving women over the age of twenty-five, who want
to escape from the stress of their lives into a fun book filled with romance, suspense,
adventure, and humor.
• Enter Contests Offering Critique as well as Prizes: Leave your ego at the door. Contests,
particularly those targeting the all-important first chapter, can provide amazing illumination
on major issues in your book. Be warned: The critique you receive may result in a major re-
write. NOTE: I re-wrote The Jaguar Legacy over 20 times before I finally sold it.
• Critique Partners: Don’t write your book in isolation, especially if you're a novice. Get
yourself a critique partner or critique group, preferably writers of the same genre. Family and
friends are generally too biased and not qualified for the job. Also, this mistake may cost you
your marriage. If you can find a critique partner with more experience than you, so much the
better.
• Beta Readers: Once your book has survived your critique partners, and is polished to
perfection and finally finished, guess what? IT ISN’T. Find beta readers, the more critical the
better, to read the final product. Re-write the book if necessary.

• Hire an Editor: Once your book has survived the beta reader torture, and is polished to
perfection and finally finished, guess what? IT ISN’T. You as the author are too close to your
work to be critical. Bite the bullet and hire a professional editor. There are various levels of
editing from full editing to detailed copy editing. Re-write the book if necessary.
• Titles Count: Make your title one that stands out. Catchy and easy to remember works better
than cumbersome, vague, or too academic.
• Covers Count: Your cover, like your appearance, makes an initial impression on potential
readers. You want it to be a good one, so unless you know what you're doing, hire a
professional cover designer. The cover should give the reader a clear idea of the nature of the
book’s contents, but not overwhelm with too much detail. Make sure the title and your name
are clearly legible in a “Thumbprint” image, because this is what the reader sees first in most
online sites.
• Be as Prolific as Possible Without Sacrificing Quality: Indie publishing isn’t a sprint, but a
marathon. Your books will be available until you decide to pull them. So write as many as
you can without sacrificing quality. Sales will expand incrementally. Short stories and
novellas are a good way to spark a reader’s interest, enticing more sales. Writing a series,
especially one with recurring characters, works best to attract readers. I’m writing a type of
series called a spin-off, where one character in Fur Ball Fever gets his own story in Cold
Feet Fever. I’m also considering two novellas, one a prequel to Fur Ball Fever called The
Fever Begins, the other a sequel called Wedding Bell Fever.
2. Self-Publishing: Just Do It
Being a non-techie, I’m excluding the technical aspects of self-publishing. This information is
readily available through the e-publishers. Here's my advice:
• Bite the Bullet: Do it yourself. Or find a good formatter who will format the files for you in
return for a relatively small fee ($25 - $40). I was lucky. My husband handled the technical
aspect. Then again, I had to listen to the cursing and moaning coming from his man-cave.
• Vanity Presses: Don’t be fooled by vanity presses (pay-to-publish, they will publish
anything, no matter what the quality). These are not the same as e-publishers such as
Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, and others. If you’re new to publishing and you
come across a deal you’re not sure about, check them out at Predators and Editors
(http://pred-ed.com/). If anything about the offer doesn’t sound right, Google it or go into the
online forums and ask about it. You could save yourself a whole bunch of pain and
frustration.
• Online Networking: Join chat loops and online forums. They provide invaluable advice,
especially if (when) you hit a glitch. (More about those in the next section.)
3. Promoting Your Masterpiece

There’s no place for modesty. Blow your own horn! Marketing studies suggest that a reader must
see or hear your book’s name a minimum of ten times before it truly registers. For that reason, it
is vital to make yourself—and your books—highly visible. In this day and age, you do that by
increasing our online presence.
An excellent book on this topic is We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by
Kristen Lamb. She does a great job of breaking down the tools, guiding you step-by-step as you
create and grow your online presence. Another is How I Sold 1 Million E-Books in 5 Months by
John Locke. It’s better to educate yourself sooner rather than later to save yourself a few
missteps.
Along with directly marketing your books, you need to market yourself as a person to gain more
recognition and make contacts that will further your career. So network with contacts of all
kinds, including librarians, booksellers, reviewers, book bloggers, media people, other writers in
your genre and readers.
There are many ways to promote yourself and your book. Paid advertisements in writing
publications are expensive and may or may not result in a jump in sales to justify the expense. In
my experience some equally effective methods are online and often free. I will discuss some that
A) Website/Blog.
Every author needs these important promotional tools, so create your own or hire someone to do
it. Ideally, the blogging capability would be integrated into your website. A simple tool like
WordPress is not too difficult to master, and gives you, the author, total control of both static
pages and dynamic blog pages without the need to hire a web designer. Having said that, many
authors participate in shared group blogs. Some website/blog tips are:
• Buy Links: Every page of your website and every blog entry should contain buy links for
your books. I am constantly surprised by the number of websites and blogs that hide the buy
links, making it difficult for someone to buy a book.
• Design & Appearance: Your website/blog should reflect your genre, be easy to navigate,
and free of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and system bugs.
• Attract Visitors to Your Blog with Catchy Titles: According to numerous studies, titles
affect blog traffic. Here are some tips about the titles you use for your blog entries:
o Use instructional titles (begin with How To …, Tips For …)
o Use a numbered List (Top 10 …, Top 5 Reasons Why …)
o Ask a question
o A play or a twist on common phrases (e.g. Why a Shrinking Violet Attracts the Most
Attention)
o Big Time Promise (e.g. How to Crank up Your Romance Quotient, Success
Guaranteed)

o Oddball titles (e.g. A Tummy-Taming Teddy & a Thigh Toner)
o Make an emotional statement
o Use short titles (< 8 words)
o Make an emotional statement (e.g. The Biggest Reason Indie Authors Rock)
• Frequency: Blog as often as you can manage (my limit is once a week, some authors blog
every day). Many authors have theme days like “Man Candy Monday”, “Tuesday Tip”,
“Wacky Wednesday”, ”Factoid Friday”, “Sample Saturday”, “Six Sentence Sunday,” etc. If
you run out of ideas of your own, you can always invite other writers as guest bloggers.
• Use Bait: Some authors offer games and contests to attract visitors.
• Social Media: Use social media to drive visitors to your blog/website because your catchy
title caught their attention or because they want to win a prize.|
• Keywords: Enter keywords for each blog entry to increase the probability of your website
appearing on Search Engine pages.
B) Social Networking (Facebook) Facebook.com
Facebook is a powerful social networking tool for an author. When you join, create a Facebook
professional page (separate from your personal page if you have one). Make your writing posts
interesting. Many authors promote books they have read and enjoyed, creating goodwill and
often starting a mutually beneficial cross-promotion exercise. Others pose questions (e.g. What
books are on your bedside table?”). Check out your favorite author’s Facebook page for ideas.
C) Social Networking (Twitter) twitter.com
It took me over two years to get over my mental block about using Twitter, and now I find it a
powerful promotional tool. If I can do it, you can too. Here are some tips;
• BE SOCIABLE. Go to fellow tweepsters’ websites and see who they are. You meet
some very interesting people from around the world this way. Oh, and sometimes they
buy your books, or tell their friends about your books. Friend them on Facebook. Try to
develop online relationships with them. Interact, reply to their tweets, re-tweet other
authors, offer congratulations.
• Where to start? Start with your writer friends. Send them a friend request. Then look at
their followers, and follow them.
• Meet people with common interests. You can do this through the use of hashtags, e.g.
#Writers, #WriteTip, #Fiction, #Books, #mystery, and many, many more.

• Try to provide added value to the Twitterverse (a writing tip, a link to an article about
writing or a topic describing your genre).
• Use Twitter to drive people to your website/blog. If your blog title captures their interest
or if you announce a #Contest or are offering a #FREE #Prize or the possibility they
might #Win a #Gift, they will come. Guaranteed.
• Promotional tweets can be an excerpt, a good review, a new release, anything you want.
When I issue a promotional tweet, I always add my book title. It takes up real estate, but
it also fixes the title in people’s heads.
• There are 2 schools of thoughts about promotional tweets:
o One is that there is no such thing as too many promotional tweets. In Twitter, so
many tweets go by so quickly, the possibility of one person catching you issuing
multiple promotional tweets is virtually nil. These people use a tool like Pluggio to
schedule tweets in advance
o The other school of thought is that you should focus on relationship building and
interaction, with rare promotional tweets interspersed among the others.
o The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
D) Social Networking (Goodreads) goodreads.com
Join at Goodreads.com. This site lets you post a description of your books. You can also review
other authors’ books, make recommendations, offer contests, etc. Simply start following and
interacting in the various forums there. I’ve heard several authors say that they’ve had great
success selling books via the Goodreads catalog.
E) Take Advantage of Amazon Promotional Tools
Make no mistake. Amazon is in it to make money, and offers authors many promotional tools.
Many authors aren’t aware that some of these exist.
• Kindle Select: Amazon offers a program called Kindle Select where (for an annual fee)
‘Prime’ members can borrow your book free of charge, and the author receives a fee.
Although the Kindle Select Program is designed to attract both readers and authors, it has
advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages:
o Your books are enrolled in the Kindle Prime library (bigger audience)
o you get special privileges including a few days every few weeks where you can offer
your book at no charge. If you get the word out to the right places (there are sites that
promote free books), the surge in downloads will (hopefully) result in gazillions of
downloads. How, you might ask, can this benefit me, the author, since I receive no

royalties on free books. The answer is that if readers enjoy the freebie, they will want
to purchase your other books.
Disadvantages:
o Exclusivity. Your book must be exclusive to Amazon. That means no Nook, no
Kobo, no iTunes, etc.
o There are severe consequences for authors who don’t adhere to the exclusivity
agreement, e.g. withholding of royalty payments.
• Amazon Author Page:
o Create your Amazon Author Page and link it to your blog and to your Twitter
account. That way, your most recent tweets and blog postings will show up on your
Amazon Author page.
o Ask people to 'Like' your Author Page. I noticed a jump in sales when I hit 100
'Likes', have no idea if it was coincidence or not. I got all my 'Likes' because I
requested them on the promo chat loops.
• Reviews Count: Scuttlebutt has it that 40 reviews is some sort of Amazon threshold,
affecting their algorithms, and bumping your book up in the rankings. I'm not there yet, but
there are thousands of bloggers and review sites who will do this if you send them a free
book. It's easier with ebooks because generally, the author sends the reviewer a free copy in
exchange for a review. You can find these sites on Twitter or through web searches.
• Your Product Description, especially on Amazon, where they give you tons of space, is a
great marketing tool, so maximize this.
o Make your Product Description so appealing, reader salivate to buy your book. It’s
surprising how many indie authors post a 3-liner and figure that’s enough to tempt a
reader to download the book.
o Post tantalizing snippets from reviews (I post them at the beginning and end of the
Product Description).
o Post a short excerpt, one that's different from the first chapter, to tantalize the reader.
It also saves them the trouble of clicking on the cover page to read the first chapter
excerpt..
• Teaser Chapters: Append ‘teaser’ chapters of other books you have written at the end of
your book before uploading to the e-publisher. Make it easy for readers to find your website
and/or purchase your other books by posting the Amazon link. Always post your
website/blog URL(s) at both the beginning and end of your book.
• Cross-Promotion: I got lucky, and did some cross-promo with another author who was
fairly well established. We both appended each other’s first chapter and a buy link at the ends
of our books. I think I got the best part of that deal
F) Free Indie Promo Sites

There are many other free online promotional sites available to authors. Two that support several
genres are http://AskDavid.com and http://www.authorsden.com/. I’ve used these and others
with great success. Another is called Indie Spotlight http://www.rickiwilson.com/indie-
spotlight.html (I found her on Twitter at @HackToTheFuture).
G) Join Chat Loops for Your Genre
You can locate these through http://groups.yahoo.com). Or find out through networking (usually
the best way). Pose the question on Twitter or Facebook. For romance writers, two excellent chat
loops are:
o Authors Network (for book promotion):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AuthorsNetwork/
o Indie Romance Ink (for indie publishing news, tips, questions, etc. (no promo):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndieRomanceInk
H) Read Blog Posts by Other Writers
Many authors are happy to share tips, expertise, and encouragement. This can save you from
some of the pitfalls. The indie writer community is happily turning from rivalry to generous
cooperation. And if you don’t see a particular issue addressed, ask. There's no need to suffer in
silence or work out the bugs alone. Pioneers have already done that, and are happy to share their
experience.
I) Guest Interviews and Guest Blogging
Give interviews and participate in guest blogs. If you join some author chat loops, you can find
great offers for guest blogging opportunities. Or ask the author if he/she is looking for a guest
blogger (many will accept your offer). Don’t forget to host your own guest bloggers. Networking
and reciprocity is the name of the game.
J) Blog Hops
Join a blog hop where the organizer maintains a central list of all participating authors and their
books, and every participant blogs on the same topic (a popular romance topic might be Alpha
Heroes). Tweet the good news to the world, ask for re-tweets. Some popular blog hops have up
to 200 participating authors, all blogging, all promoting like crazy, each piggy-backing onto the
others by directing readers to the central repository of participants. Readers then hop from one
author blog to another, attracted by the lure of prizes, and leaving a comment on each blog in
order to qualify to win. A small fee from each participant pays for grand prizes (winner are
selected at random from all commenters). To sweeten the pie, each author also offers a prize to
one lucky commenter on her site (I offer a $5 gift certificate). Grand prizes such as e-book
reader, $50 gift certificate, swag, etc. attracts hundreds of readers, all wanting to win, and gets
them to your blog and commenting. If you can’t find a blog hop in your genre, create it yourself.
To see how it works in the romance genre, check out: http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.mx.

K) Business Cards
Most people are interested when they find out I’m a writer. So I advise you to carry business
cards and hand them out at every opportunity. I’ve handed mine out to my dentist, doctor,
checkout clerks, restaurant servers, stock broker, hairdresser, banker, new acquaintances, at the
gym, standing in line at a movie. You get the drift.

Good Hashtags
Good Categories for Romance Writers: These are some of the hashtags I like to use. You can
find great ideas by checking out other authors’ tweets.
#Romance
#Paranormal
#RomanticSuspense
#crime
#humor
weekendread
#Amazonlikes
#AvidReaders
#SampleSunday
#SixSunday
#SixSentence
#8Sunday
#lahe (loves a happy
ending)
#bookbuzzr
#IndieKindle
#amwriting
#onwriting
#Starbucks
#Gratitude
#Recipe
#amreading
#writetip
#mustread
#chicklit
#goodreads
#BookWorm
#bestseller
#HotTitles
#BookChat
#BookLover
#MustRead
#epub
#ebook
#IndieBook
#IndiePub
#CheapReads
#BargainBooks
#Mystery
#pubtip
#TWRP
#bookclubs
#LoveReading
#LovetoRead
#BookBlogger
#BookBloggers
#bookreviews
#womensfiction
Good Re-Tweeters
#authorshelpingauthors
#IRInk (Yahoo group for indie authors, we
RT one another)
#AuthorRT (authors rt one another)
#BYNR – Book Your Next Romance (will
retweet, authors also rt)
@WritersRetweets (will re-tweet)
@kindle_promo (will re-tweet)
@KindleBooks (will re-tweet)
@KindleBookKing (will re-tweet)
@BlueFrogBooks_ (will re-tweet)
@A_Book_Shelf (will re-tweet)
@AuthorKarma (will re-tweet book promo,
precede with ‘Announcement’)
@WritersRT (will re-tweet)
@DigitalBkToday
@KindleStuff
@KindleBooksUK
@KindleBookKing
#ASMSG (Author's Social Media Support
Group: aYahoo group for indie authors, we
RT one another http://asmsg.weebly.com/)
@KindleFreeBook
@FreeReadFeed
@4FreeKindleBooks
@FreeKindleDude
@PixelofInk
@BookBub
@DigitalLinkToday
@WLCAuthor
MORE BOOKS

#haythamalfiqi Autism - The Complete Guide for Parents
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1547004673
#haythamalfiqi How to Make Money with Outsourced Articles and Article Marketing ?
http://amzn.to/1Uv1kJE
#haythamalfiqi How to Start a Day Care Center? http://amzn.to/1RtPc5n
#haythamalfiqi India Travel http://amzn.to/1RwKd6c
#haythamalfiqi Law of attraction: (A Simple Guide to attract Wealth, Health,power,and
Happiness) http://amzn.to/1UmirNh
#haythamalfiqi Nursing Careers: Do You Have What It Takes http://amzn.to/1pDLChD
#haythamalfiqi Public Contract Law: The Law Student's Guide to Pursuing a Career in
Public Contract Law http://amzn.to/1So19Ms
#haythamalfiqi Public Speaking: Secrets for Success http://amzn.to/1ZFuF3g
#haythamalfiqi The Quality of Life: health related quality of life questionnaire
http://amzn.to/1MKj4IL
#haythamalfiqi Self Insight and Professional Growth http://amzn.to/1Pyee13
#haythamalfiqi Sex Life after 60: ( Common Issues to Consider if you want to have a Great
Sex Life after 60 ) http://amzn.to/1RwLcTO
#haythamalfiqi Swimming Pool Guide http://amzn.to/1UUA5GS
#haythamalfiqi The Weight Loss Solution :: 53 Lessons for loss Your Weight Forever
http://amzn.to/1RmkIWt
#haythamalfiqi WHAT DO YOU WANT? how to design a plan for your life: how to design
a plan for your life http://amzn.to/1ZFuG7i
#haythamalfiqi Wood Working Guilds http://amzn.to/1UQoXMj
#haythamalfiqi Yoga :: An Easy Yoga for Beginners Guide (Lose Weight, And Heal Your
Body) http://amzn.to/1pR1P3Q *
#haythamalfiqi Criminal Law: International Criminal Police Organization
http://amzn.to/25qILcO *

#haythamalfiqi American Idol Contestants http://amzn.to/1So25jJ
#haythamalfiqi Bitcoin : The Ultimate Guide for Beginners http://amzn.to/1pDMaUU
#haythamalfiqi Building Self Esteem http://amzn.to/1SeuCFV *
#haythamalfiqi Catch A Cheating Lover http://amzn.to/1VOHNTI
#haythamalfiqi Contracts http://amzn.to/1XW5urA *
#haythamalfiqi Cosmetic Surgery: Signs You May Need a Cosmetic Surgery Facelift
http://amzn.to/1pDMovi
#haythamalfiqi Credit Card Debt: Everything You Need to Know to Avoid the Mistakes
http://amzn.to/25qJafs
#haythamalfiqi Dog Training: : Complete Guide to Training Your Dog or
Puppy http://amzn.to/1Rml9A2 *
#haythamalfiqi Dream Interpretation: This book explains in detail the interpretation of
dreams http://amzn.to/1RHyZPq *
#haythamalfiqi E-Bay http://amzn.to/21NdtIr
#haythamalfiqi Eat Healthier: Tips for healthy eating http://amzn.to/1Tce5Y6
#haythamalfiqi Facebook Marketing http://amzn.to/1MKktit
#haythamalfiqi Green Tea: Why You Must Drink It? http://amzn.to/1MtiioD
#haythamalfiqi Hawaii Vacation: A Travel Guide http://amzn.to/1oetslD
#haythamalfiqi Christian Organizations http://amzn.to/1YhysTt
#haythamalfiqi Anime and Sci-Fi Collecting http://amzn.to/1QWiNmv
#haythamalfiqi Anger Management: A Grandiosity Mind Trapped in Anger
http://amzn.to/1UMgOrK
#haythamalfiqi Cat Behavior Training http://amzn.to/1XgS0sE
#haythamalfiqi A Firefighters Character http://amzn.to/1ZwoWfm
#haythamalfiqi A Good Mailing List for a Bad One http://amzn.to/1SYpp9P
#haythamalfiqi Wellness And Fitness http://amzn.to/1XgRNWw

#haythamalfiqi A Look at the Steps of Making Wine
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1533165661
Haytham Al Fiqi Books: http://amzn.to/2tEe3zR
#haythamalfiqi Haytham Al Fiqi blog : http://www.authorhaf.org/
Haytham Al Fiqi Fan Page https://www.facebook.com/authorhaythamalfiqi/
#haythamalfiqi Italy Vacations: A Travel Guide http://amzn.to/1UrvMmD
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited Benefits of Affiliate Marketing http://amzn.to/1fDkw4y
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited The Encyclopedia of Dentistry(Part2)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FHOZE6E
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited The Encyclopedia of Dentistry
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FHN5S0C
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited most effective way to make money on Craigslist
http://amzn.to/1fz14WF
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited 78 Ways to Make Money Working from Home
http://amzn.to/1iFpyhq
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited making money online as an affiliate with Click bank
http://amzn.to/1fz1uwt
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited How to Earn Money online using Twitter $100-$500 per
day http://amzn.to/1lFBNdu
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited Make Money Online - Using Pinterest
http://amzn.to/1rV8ZPW
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited Niche blogging is easier then you think - 6 figure
blogging , http://amzn.to/1o8Efst
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited Fiverr Secrets http://amzn.to/1fUFzdF
#haythamalfiqi #kindleunlimited Secret Ways To Make Money On YouTube
http://amzn.to/1pV2Aqt
Jamaica Vacations #haythamalfiqi http://amzn.to/2szlTIF

Espresso: The Quality of Espresso Cup http://amzn.to/2typdIi
Abundance and Prosperity Reiki http://amzn.to/2t40WJD
Contracts by Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2tySouV
relating to certain aspects of the laws on the use of languages in Belgium by Haytham Al
Fiqi http://amzn.to/2ubObLo
History of Flight by Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2uc9ixe
Natural Remedies: Tips for Using Natural Remedies by Haytham Al Fiqi
http://amzn.to/2stuQZ5
Espresso: The Quality of Espresso Cups by Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2tyqoYe
Nursing Careers: Do You Have What It Takes by Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2uc120d
Hawaii Vacation: A Travel Guide by Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2td3AuU
Dream Interpretation: This book explains in detail the interpretation of dreams by
Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2ubYBec
Yoga :: An Easy Yoga for Beginners Guide (Lose Weight, And Heal Your Body) by
Haytham Al Fiqi http://amzn.to/2td418H

How to sell more books

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Plus de suzi smith

Plus de suzi smith (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

How to sell more books