Q&A: does anyone have some good tips for marketing and selling books?

by localjapantimes

Question by kaizenpublication: does anyone have some good tips for marketing and selling books?

Best answer:

Answer by elmina
I assume you have published or are intending to publish your own book.

This, in anyone’s book, is a risky proposition, because it is very easy to publish and print your own book, but almost impossible to sell it.

The impossibility of selling books is made very evident by the number of manuscripts rejected by publishers – they KNOW when a book will not sell, so will not risk money on it.

Take this into consideration when you are trying to publish – the chances are, if you have a print run made – that you will be left with a box of books under your bed for possibly the rest of your life.

So try your luck with eBooks – at least the paper will be saved. Even online publishers these days have trouble selling books, so they will reject you as well if you have a manuscript that will not sell.

Think first: Why will I have more success marketing this book, when professionals in the industry think that they will not?

On the other hand, if you are adamant that your book will be easy to get into the hands of buyers, look at the site I have left for you. There are many others with hints and advice, but all will tell you the same thing… it is almost impossible to self publish and market books successfully. Naturally, there are exceptions, and some quite spectacular ones, but at any given time, there are 800,000 authors trying to get attention for their book.

Think and make a list of people who would possibly be interested in what you have written, and whether they would be willing to part with money for it. And why pay for yours when there are so many others out there? Why yours?

Go into any secondhand bookstore you care to enter – look! All those discarded books going for a dollar. Why would anyone spend more for your book?

Think about it, improve your manuscript, and see if you still want to do this.

Hope this helps.

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