You wrote a book and published it. But it’s not selling. You market your book but still, it’s not selling. You may be thinking….
Why isn’t it selling? What am I doing wrong? What can I do differently?
This is a common thought process. But until you know what you’re doing wrong, you can’t fix it. In this article, I will talk about some of the common problems that are causing you to fail at your book marketing efforts.
Not focusing on what needs to be done
This is what authors sometimes face. They say…
…I am a writer, not a marketer. All I want to do is write.
Well, you won’t sell any books with this mindset. You need to focus on your marketing efforts if you want to succeed.
When you're writing you need to focus on your writing. When your marketing you need to focus on your marketing. When you're publishing, you need to focus on your publishing.
You need to schedule each of these tasks for your week. This way you can get them accomplished.
Not putting the effort into it
Maybe you're not succeeding in your marketing because you not putting enough effort into it. You can’t just post one ad, tweet, or social media post and expect to sell thousands of copies. It doesn’t work that way.
You have to effort put into it. You have to plan out a full marketing plan. But not only do you have to plan it but you also have to execute your plans.
Not having a budget at all
When you’re planning your marketing you have to plan out what your budget will be. Maybe you're thinking…
…But I don’t have any money to put towards marketing my book.
I am not saying that you need to have a very big budget. There are several free marketing strategies that you can implement. It may take you longer. But it is still possible.
I suggest that you begin finding ways to save money. Then try to do a little freelance work to make a little extra money into your marketing budget. If you do you will get farther faster.
Having tech issues
Maybe you're not very internet-savvy. Maybe you don’t have the internet at home. This can make your marketing efforts more difficult.
If you can’t afford the internet at home, go to the library. They offer free access to their wifi. You can either bring your laptop with you or, you can borrow one of their computers while you are there.
Not starting to market your book early enough
You have a marketing plan but it doesn’t begin until your book launch day. You waited till the last minute to market your book.
Now to get sales, you will need to work harder to get copies sold. You are starting from the beginning. It can take up to a couple of months past the launch date to begin getting sales. You don’t want this.
Basically, when you begin marketing a couple of months before your launch, you are preselling your book. You set up a preorder opportunity to encourage immediate sales that are officially counted on launch day.
Then beginning on launch day you keep the marketing process going to help generate even more book sales.
But when you’re not marketing your prelaunch you don’t have that success. This is because there is no audience waiting for your book to come out on launch day.
Not having a marketing plan
All successful book launches happen when there is a marketing plan in place. This means that if you don’t have a plan, you will have a lot harder time succeeding at having a successful book launch.
So you will need to sit down with a pen and paper. You need to plan out the steps you will take. Write out each task you want to take to market your book.
Like, run a contest. Offer giveaways to gain reviews. Create a blog tour and when it will take place. These are a few examples of what could be on your list. Be sure to add details to every task. When you will complete each task. Who do you need to contact? How much it is going to cost you? And any other important information.
Conclusion:
If you avoid the problems listed in this article then your chances of getting a lot more book sales will increase. Your chance of having a successful book launch has increased one hundredfold.
Follow the suggestions in this article and you can see more sales. You will get a better ranking on Amazon.
Go forth and write!
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Go forth and write!
The Entrepreneurial Writer is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.