Top 5 Things Emerging Authors Can Do to Sell More Books

As is the struggle for every author, you must find your audience. Last week we discussed “The Right Followers,” and this week we’re going to talk about how to find the right readers.

Although it’s never easy to find your readers, they’re out there. And with the internet and social networks, it’s easier than ever to find them without spending thousands on promotion and touring.

The best way to grow a readership is to start with a tight niche. Sometimes this niche is not clearly definable. For example, our Rowan of the Wood series is YA fantasy. Most certainly a niche, but not a very tight one. On the other hand Avalon Revisited by O. M. Grey (nom de plume) is a Steampunk Paranormal Romance. Okay. Paranormal Romance, not a very tight niche. Steampunk is still quite tight. I don’t doubt that Avalon Revisited consistently sells 10 to 1 more Kindle copies than Rowan of the Wood because of this tight niche. Additionally, although ParaRomance isn’t terribly tight, those readers are voracious.

 

Using Public Speaking to Market Your Book

A Guest Post by Denniger Bolton.

This essay will appear in my forthcoming book Publishing and Marketing Realities for the Emerging Author.

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Your willingness to do “whatever it takes” to reach your goals is the key ingredient to success in any endeavor. However, most writers I know, not all but most, are solitary souls spending their days in front of the laptop working on their craft. They have a narrow comfort zone, and are not willing to move beyond it, especially if they don’t have to. Public speaking however, will yank all but a few out of their zones.

Are you willing to push beyond your zone, to do whatever it takes to give a speech to an audience of dozens, maybe hundreds? Getting up in front of people is the greatest fear there is, coming in ahead of dying even. Scary but profitable.

 

Are You Rich?

Often times at our events, I get asked this same question (usually by tweens) when they find out I’m an author.

They ask, “Are you rich?”

I have to really, really try not to laugh at that question. Really. Really. Try.

Sure, it’s the kids who actually ask, but I don’t doubt that many, many people assume that we are rich. Adults just know that it’s not polite to ask someone about those things.

Still, this question is quite telling, it shows that a good portion of the public think that being an author = rich. Mansions. Movies. Chateau in France. Etc.

Another one that gets me: “You should get them to make a movie of your book.”
Hmmm. Great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?

 

Expect Superman: Working the SFF Cons

You’ve just gotten your first speculative fiction work published, and now you need to get it out there to potential readers. Whether you are self-published, published by an independent press, or published in New York, marketing your book is up to you. Since you are a writer of speculative fiction (SciFi/Fantasy, or SFF), you have an excellent option to get your book directly into the hands of your niche market: SFF Conventions.

Fantasy conventions occur nearly every weekend somewhere in the USA, so it all depends how far you want to travel and how much you want to spend marketing your book. Over the past two and a half years, I’ve participated in many SFF Conventions (Cons), art shows, Celtic Festivals, and Renaissance Faires to promote my fantasy novels and my Steampunk romance novel.

 

Getting into Bookstores

If you want to do bookstore signings in Barnes & Nobles, you must make your book RETURNABLE when you set up your title through Lightning Source. You can choose to have LSI either destroy the books or ship them to you. Either way, you’re paying for the returns. It comes out of your income/royalties from LSI.

Not only do you have to make it returnable through LSI, it has to also be at a 55% discount to the bookstores. Again, this sucks; but it’s necessary if you want bookstores to carry it.

Once it shows up in Ingrams database as returnable and at least a 55% discount, you’re ready to go. (Give it a few weeks to be sure.)

Then you (as the publisher) must send two finished books, a letter of intent, and a detailed marketing plan to:
Diane Simowski
Small Press Dept.
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
122 Fifth Ave.
New York, NY 10011

Then, cross your fingers. If you did your job by hiring a good editor, cover artist, layout designer, etc., and the quality of writing and visual presentation is up-to-par, then there is no reason Barnes & Noble won’t carry your book in their warehouse.