Five Steps for Authors to Sell More Books

By Susan Reichert, Editor-in-Chief, Southern Writers Magazine

   

1. Take the first chapter and put on your website for people to read free.

       2.  Take your first novel you wrote and put in an eBook and give away free.

       3.  Take the first few pages of a new novel and ask for reader participation. Let them help with naming characters, flaws, locations, etc.

       4.  Take the first few pages and ask for reader feedback.

       5.  Newsletters are great to garner participation…asking them to join your team

Okay, let’s face it, in today’s writing arena there are a lot of people writing books and publishing. Some of these books are good…but not all of them. So what are we as writers to do to get our books read in this sea of competition?

I know no one likes to give away his or her work free. However, stop and think a minute. You know that Bakery Shop that just opened around the corner? Do you notice the owner is outside his shop holding a tray with fresh baked cookies offering to every passerby––a free cookie? Why? To let them taste what he is selling. And why? So they will come into his shop and buy a dozen cookies.

There you have it. There are many places we can buy cookies…so the bakery owner is offering a taste of his free so we will become buyers of cookies in his shop. “Smart Cookie!”

This is what an author can do with his fiction. So let’s take these five and dissect them into bite size instructions.

1.      Take the first chapter-put on your website. Make sure you have edited properly. Ask people to read it. (This is your cookie you are introducing the person to-if they like your first chapter they are going to want to buy your book.) The people on your street–Social Medias and everyone on your email list. Offer them this free chapter to read. Be brave ask for feedback.

2.      You know that first novel you wrote?  Get it, put it in eBook form and give it away free.

3.      Take the first few pages of your new novel and ask for reader participation. Ask them to help with naming the characters, naming their flaws, locations, etc.

4.      Take first few pages and ask for reader feedback. Ask them what they liked, what they didn’t, what would make it more exciting? You get the idea.

5.      Send out a newsletter, asking volunteers to join your reader team. The pay is a free book.

All of these will help bring attention to your writing-your books. If someone reads what you have written and likes it, they will become buyers of your books.

If they participate in helping you with names or feedback, they have become fans of yours and are going to buy your books.

These are just five ways to bring readers to your books and sell them. Can you think of other ways? Let us know.