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Why Do Some Books Sell & Others Don’t?

May 12, 2013 in Articles, Book Marketing, Writing & Publishing

Book Selling SecretsI am not going to claim to know all the answers, but I might know a man that does. I have been reading Mark Coker’s (Smashwords) sales analysis of the books published on his site, and it makes very interesting reading.  Of course there are no hard and fast ‘do this and it will sell’ options, but there are some general trends that can be used as guidelines to help you improve your chances of making a sale. Remembering of course that there will be exceptions to every rule and common sense needs to reign with respect to each individual decision you make about your book, what to put in it and how to market it.

So what are the first and most important considerations Mark points out:

  • Most books don’t sell well i.e. very few sales initially and then taper off to virtually nothing
  • Books that sell, sell really well i.e. lots of sales initially and then sales grow exponentially

That is a bit of a wake up call really and could be interpreted in a number of ways. For what it’s worth, my opinion is that once a book is selling the distributors promote it more and generate more sales as a result. Look at Amazon as an example and the way they operate. How many times do you see the statement ‘people that bought this also bought this’ when you view an Amazon product, books or otherwise. Clearly if you are not selling that is less likely to happen.

Scenario number 2, Amazon give a product a ‘best seller’ rank, based on sales of course, and the results returned first on searches are the ones with the better ‘best seller’ rankings. In fact even when you search for a product based on ‘most relevant’ criteria, higher ranking products will appear above exact match descriptions. You could ask, how does that work? But it is clear Amazon like to promote best selling products because they are more likely to sell than closer fit low selling products, I think this is especially true of books, Kindle or otherwise.

eMail campaigns, Amazon send a lot of recommendations to their customers via email, based primarily on the things you say you like, put in a wish list or have a look at when you are on their site (yes they do track your very move). Of course they will often remind you of what you said you liked, but they will also offer alternatives of a similar genre or type and guess what, these will again be best sellers.

I could bang on about this forever, but I am sure you are getting the point, popular or best selling products get promoted consistently and frequently by the distributors while poor sellers get left to languish in obscurity. So it seems to me when you first introduce your new product/book on Amazon or any of the other major distributors, you need to be sure you have your ducks in a row and your marketing campaign ready to roll.

Does that mean if you have had your book published for a while then it is already too late? I think the answer to that is ‘no’ it’s never too late but if I am honest it will, I think, be more difficult to get that spark. What I am sure about is that if the book does suddenly start to sell, it will then be treated like any other best seller and it will start to be promoted. The reason I think it will be more difficult, is that I believe that there is an initial period after publication where the book is given the benefit of the doubt and is promoted in a similar fashion to products that are selling. A testing of the water period if you like, and that is a statement based on my experience of publishing books.

What are the characteristics of Books that Sell

This is the $64 question and one that is very hard to pin an answer on, but this is what Mr Coker has discovered:

  • Longer books sell better than shorter books, that is books with an average 115,000 words sold best
  • Shorter book titles are slightly better than longer book titles the best average number of words for a title was 4.2
  • $3.00 to $3.99 seems to be the price that brings the highest reward on average i.e. books sell well at that price and in sufficient quantities to return a better yield than books at any other price
  • $1.00 to $1.99 seems to be the price that provides the least reward on average

What Books SellBut before you get too excited, Mark goes on to temper these findings by pointing out that each book is unique (or should be) and that these findings are based on averages that may or may not work for your particular book. In fact the best way to find out is to experiment and see what works for you. So what I would add to his conclusions is that these figures can be used as a starting point, something to aim for in terms of content, title length and price. But as with all things subjective you probably need to go with gut feel and if you think your book is finished at 100,000 words then stop likewise if you think you have more to say, then say it. It is your book after all and the same applies to the title and the price, a little tweaking along the lines of something you think is more fitting probably won’t do any harm and you can always adjust a little later if things don’t quite seem to be working.

If you want to see the full report and the other things Mark points out then you can find the full article here Smashwords Survey, I found it very interesting and read every word, so you probably will as well.

What Can You Do to Try and Get Those Elusive Initial Sales?

There are a few things every author can do to try and promote their book after initial publication, simple things that actually don’t take a lot of effort and a few that do take time and effort:

  • Ask for the help of family and friends, give them a free copy of your book and ask them to do an honest review
  • If family and friends like your book ask them to indicate that by liking it, rating it or giving it a thumbs up on the distributor sites
  • Use tools like wish lists and listmania on Amazon and other sites, where they are availabe, friends & family can do the same
  • Register on sites like Goodreads, Library Thing and Shelfari and make sure your books are listed there
  • Tell people about the book through social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn
  • Set up your own website/blog to promote or even sell your book
  • And finally try and get your local paper, or even better a national paper, to feature you, your book or both

Getting sales often leads to getting more sales and of course when you publish your next book you can have an existing fan base sitting waiting for it to arrive so they can purchase immediately. If you don’t believe me take a look at the best seller listing on Amazon and make a note of how many are actually one in a series by the same author and very often not the first book they published.

Interesting Book & Book Marketing Resources

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Web Marketing & SEO Guide for Beginners – Featured Book

January 24, 2013 in Articles, Book Marketing

SEO for beginnersThis new eBook available from Amazon is a valuable reference for anyone that is publishing work on the Internet using a website, blog or articles.

Book writers and publishers may be particularly interested in finding out how to get free traffic to their books or Internet promotions. The book describes how to use natural organic search engine optimization techniques such as how to find the right keywords, how to build back links and how to optimise web pages so that search engines can access the information trouble free and return the pages in search results; where it matters most.

You can use the following links to go and grab your copy of what might just prove to be your long term reference to Website Marketing and SEO.

Google DOs and Google DON’Ts (UK)

Google DOs and Google DON’Ts (USA)

Who this Web Marketing Guide is For

This book is for individuals or businesses just starting out or struggling to be found, indexed and included in search engine results. Read the rest of this entry →

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Marketing and Promoting a Book Online

November 26, 2012 in Articles, Book Marketing

Promoting a BookThere are many ways any self published independent author can market and promote a book on line. But unfortunately for many that means either learning how to do it, or paying someone else to do it for them. Either way there is a price to pay, the first is payment in time and the second one means parting with hard earned cash. Of course you could do a balance between the two and take on some of the work yourself and just pay someone to do the trickier bits for you.

So lets assume that you have at least some time available and are prepared to use that time in order to market and promote your book or books. Doesn’t really matter whether they are printed book or whether they come in a digital format, marketing on-line at the end of the day will be virtually the same for both. Here is a list of ways to market a book on-line: Read the rest of this entry →

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Writing and Marketing an eBook

June 10, 2012 in Articles, Book Marketing

When you have finished writing your book and you are ready to upload it to Amazon or perhaps an alternative distributor, it is time to stop and think. There are some important actions that need to be taken care of before you make the wrong impression to your intended audience.

eBook Marketing1. Create a really compelling cover. Have you got a professional cover to accompany your book? It needs to look good not only as a full sized image, but also as a thumbnail.  Amazon shows thumbnail cover images in search results, automated merchandising, and detail pages. This is the equivalent of having your book on a shelf in a book store and the image must grab the attention of anyone viewing it. Without a professional cover it is unlikely that a potential customer will click through to the detail page of your book, the first step they take when making a purchase. If you’re struggling with creating a compelling cover, you should use a design service to create your cover.

2. Edit and proofread your book properly. Just because you have created an eBook it does not mean you can allow standards to drop. Your book needs to be readable and error free. Books filled with typos and grammatical errors will probably result in negative customer reviews. So think about using a book editing service and employing the services of a proof reader.

3. Writing a compelling description of the book. The description of your book gives potential customers the opportunity to learn about your book before they make a purchase. It is worth thinking about the description of your book as an extension of your writing style i.e. you can give potential customers a taste of your writing style and the pace of your book in the description. Again it needs to be readable and error free. It also needs to contain the search terms that people are likely to use to find a book of your genre and topic. This is essentially your sales pitch and an opportunity to convince readers to buy your book. Once again if you are struggling to put together an appropriate description then consider using the services of a professional copywriter.

4. Introducing yourself to your readers. make sure you have an ‘author profile’ available. Amazon provide this facility through their Author Central option, one for each of their primary distribution sites. Ensure your author profile is complete on all the sites you are going to offer your book for sale. You can use Author Central to upload your picture, add a biography, and in some cases link to your blog or a Twitter feed so you can speak directly to readers. If you are not using Amazon, then look what other options are available to you, you may even need to create your own blog or perhaps request an author page and or book post on this site. So if you need help with this then get in touch via the Contact Us page, the discussion can be as long as you want.

Creating a compelling author page takes just a few minutes and will help readers learn more about you and your books. Here are a few examples of author pages visible on Author Central: Brian Stephens, Samantha Ford, Richard Cheesmar. Remember, where possible, to use all the facilities offered in order to promote yourself  and your book, blog links, Twitter, Facebook etc.

5. Promote your book online. You can use the Web to connect potential readers and purchasers with your book. Social networks are a free way to establish a following. You can create profiles on sites such as  Facebook and Twitter to promote your book on those sites. LinkIn is a good option for non-fiction books especially if they have a business base. Similarly, you can create a website or blog for your book very easily and cheaply, you can post on message boards, join user communities, and promote your book on many sites across the Web. Always remember however, no-one likes direct selling and as proud as you are of your book, ramming it down peoples throats and telling them to buy it simply doesn’t work. It is far better to discuss how you came to write your book, what aspects of the writing you struggled with, how the main characters were created and what gave you the idea for them. In other words you need to create interest and engage with people, make friends with them and garner a little bit of trust. That way you will build a loyal following, not only for your first book but also any subsequent books you produce.

6. Upload videos and book trailers. If you have the inclination and capability you can create videos and book trailers for publication on sites such as YouTube. Self-publishing authors are increasingly creating video trailers to advertise their books online, and  with respect to Amazon, the  Author Pages give you a place to feature those video trailers. You can simply upload a short video that shows readers what your book is about and tempts them to read the book to find out more. This is a great tool and if you can put together a professional video, there is no doubt it will help you sell your book.

Related Articles on Book Marketing

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A Book Review – Do Book Reviews Help Authors?

April 26, 2012 in Articles, Book Marketing

A book review is an essential aspect of book marketing and promotion, this is a true statement with respect to any author but could never be more true than for a new or emerging book author. The reason why book reviews help new authors is because potential purchasers of a book tend to rely heavily on the views and recommendations of others, even complete strangers. And especially when there is no track record to refer to.

Clearly then a negative book review is going to have a negative affect and will put off a potential buyer. Is that strictly true though or is there perhaps another way to view a negative book review? It is at least an emotion that someone has expressed and they were at least driven to make a comment. So can anything be gained from a negative view?

Book ReviewI read a book recently by the founder of Smashwords (Mark Coker) where he said even negative reviews can sometimes help with book sales. I thought that was a strange thing to say, but the explanation was essentially – one man’s meat is another man’s poison. In other words someone writing a negative comment and awarding a poor rating to a book, because of certain aspects identified within the book, could identify a feature that is exactly what another person is looking for.

I go along with that to a certain extent but I would then consider, personally, that if all reviews are negative that there is perhaps a lesson to be learned and that the book reviews might be an indication that an author has missed the mark on their chosen genre or failed to deliver on their promise to the reader. A mix of both positive and negative reviews however and you can see how Mark’s appraisal would indeed be considered valid, although I am sure he wouldn’t disagree that all negative comments are not the ideal.

So what is the best type of review a book can receive? In truth it is an honest one based on a real appraisal of what was delivered versus what was promised.

If there are bad parts say so, but likewise if there are good parts say that as well. A review is after all your opportunity to share your point of view and let someone else assess whether they are likely to enjoy a book or not. A false expectation as a result of a glowing review, that is clearly not accurate, is likely to result in a stronger negative response to the book than might otherwise have been the case; and may invoke an equally negative or worse review as a result.

Authors do place themselves in the public eye and yes they will, as most people do, crave positive reviews of their work. Who doesn’t, everyone likes a pat on the back. But no reader can be forced to write a review, it is after all their choice whether they go to the trouble and effort required. So getting a review should not be considered a given it has to be earned and hopefully will fall in the positive part of the equation. That said it doesn’t hurt to ask, and any author writing a book can add in a request at the end of their book suggesting that the reader does a review if they enjoyed the book.

A positive review delivered honestly is not only likely to promote further positive reviews but also further book sales. Which at the end of the day is the objective when authors have spent months sometimes even years crafting their art. Also, if you are a reviewer, think about what you are writing, if an author says he is providing you with the basic information you need to grow tomatoes, don’t berate him or her because they didn’t go into the atomic structure of tomato seeds, that is not what they promised.

If you have bought and read a book then remember you can help out. Reward the writer of the books you have read with an honest review that will provide him/her with essential feedback. Plus, of course, you will also be helping other potential customers make a buying decision which can be based on real information.

The best place to review a book is where you bought it, so that could be on Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble etc. Alternatively if you have found a book on a site like this one then you can leave a comment. Nothing could be easier than that.

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