Generating Book Success

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

There are many ways to market and sell a book which makes it easy to get sidetracked. However, authors can’t afford to spread themselves thin; if they do, they lose valuable time that must be spent writing their book. In writing, it isn’t which came first, the chicken or the egg; the writing comes first.

I want to share with you something I’ve found that is helpful to writers. Looking back at the year; as we do, list down the sales and marketing avenues you’ve used. Then, out by the side of each one note whether it was hard, time consuming or both. If you determine it was, then search for an easier and quicker way.  It may take some research but eventually you will find a few things.

Can you determine what was productive? Some people think they are only productive if they sell a lot of books, but in truth, they are productive if a lot of people throughout the year were exposed to their name, the fact they’re an author and the title of their book. You see, people can’t buy the book, if they don’t know the author’s name or the title of the book. They have to know one or the other.

Can you imagine going to Barnes and Noble and telling the clerk, “I want to buy a book, can’t remember the author, but she writes women’s contemporary books, I think her name may start with an M or a S.” You won’t be able to give them the title of the book either, so how are they going to find it?

What I am suggesting is focusing on name recognition. Why? Look at it this way. A company makes many products; each product has a name. But you will notice these companies are branding their names first, their product’s name second.

Examples: Apple, Ford, Nike. These companies are branded. Everyone in the world recognizes their names immediately. They come out with new products. People know what to expect from them. That is what you want. Name recognition.

Visit the website of these companies’ home pages and notice how they branded their name.  https://about.nike.com/; https://www.apple.com/; http://corporate.ford.com/company.html.

By building and branding the author’s name people will recognize and find the author’s books. 

Remember you will write more books; but there is only one you.

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