How to Sell Books

I had so much confidence that I would learn how to sell books hand-over-foot and it would be a wild success that I established a business bank account, borrowed $10,000, printed thousands of these books and quit my job.

Do you want to know how that turned out? Well then read on. (Can you guess?)

First of all, let's be truthful with each other--you may have bought into the self-publishing hype as did thousands of other self-publishers. Don't feel bad, I did too.

Maybe you saw so many other people self-publishing books, and thought "Why can't that be me?" So you decided to jump on in, even though you didn't really know how to sell books, didn't have a solid reader base and didn't do any market research.

Or maybe you did do research and found that there was a market for your type of book but you just haven't been able to reach those readers.

So now you are a little desperate to figure out how to sell books faster -- you want to learn various ways to move those square brown cardboard boxes full of books out of your door. Maybe your POD books are growing dust in cyberworld, having never been seen or read by anyone except your parents, sisters, cousins, and friends. You need some advice from someone who has been there and done that on how to sell books using solid, proven methods.

There is a chance for your book. If you truly believe in your work, have a solid concept, want to learn how to sell books, and are willing to put in some work, don't give up!

I want my advice to renew your excitement and anticipation regarding your self-published book. Boy, if only I knew what I know now when I self-published my very first book!

All of these needs and more are addressed in my new eBook on how to sell books:

"How to Sell Thousands of Your Self-Published Book"

(instant download for $9.95)

> This is Real Advice from One Experienced Self-Publisher (me) to Another (YOU!) on how to sell books using the same methods I used.

So as far as my very first self-published book, let's just say that I did not learn how to sell books quickly as I thought I would after quitting my job. I lost all $10,000 of those dollars, tossed all of those thousands of books in the trash, and struggled for years behind it. My problem was that I had absolutely no plan at that time for how to sell books, my particular book (a book of photos), to the general public.

But fortunately I didn't give up on self publishing or writing. I went ahead to publish five more books with a clear target market in mind and a solid plan in place.

And it worked!

I have managed to sell thousands of my own books and the number grows every day. I now work for myself full-time, writing, authoring books, and working for other self-published and traditionally published clients. I'm not a millionaire, and you won't find me on a late night info-mercial bragging to you about my beach house and fancy car (lol). But I make a modest living on my own (that was my dream) and I do know how to move books. In my eBook on how to sell books, I will tell you:

- Learn how to develop a simple book marketing plan

- How to get people to actually stop, look, and buy your book at a book signing

- How to sell books online and set up your book website

- How to sell books to distributors and wholesalers

Keep these important statistics in mind as you set your book selling goals:

1) You're not likely to sell 100,000 copies of your self-published book unless Oprah comes calling. I have yet to see a self-published book publicized on Oprah, have you?

2) There are 175,000 books published each year in the United States alone, which calculates to 19 books per hour. Read more book statistics here-->
http://www.ehow.com/about_4740870_publishing-facts.html

3) The average self-publisher is considered to be successful if he or she manages to sell 5,000 copies of his or her book in its entire lifetime. So if you manage to go above that number, you are an exceptional self-publisher.

4) 93% of books published sell less than 1,000 copies and out of about 170,000 books published each year, only 1,000 of them sell over 50,000 copies.
http://www.steveshapiro.com/2006/07/03/statistic-about-the-book-industry

I am quoting you these statistics not to discourage you, but to give you a realistic idea of how self-published (and regularly published) books sell.

So please, please, PLEASE before you go any further. Wake up from any unrealistic goals you have about how many books you'll sell this year and NOW.

When you have a realistic goal in mind you are more likely to achieve it. Then you can keep setting the goal higher and higher on each round with a renewed sense of optimism. "Yes, I can do this!"

Once you have adjusted your point of view about book sales, you'll be ready for the information that I want to present to you about how to sell books. I'm coming at you from a very realistic goal: sell 5,000 copies of your book within a year. This is entirely possible if you implement a tight, targeted book marketing campaign for your new book using the tips and methods that I mention in my 23 chapter eBook. Read on...

Click here to read excerpts from my eBook on how to sell books PDF version

This

How to Sell Books

When I first started out selling my 2nd self-published book after that huge failure, I still searched far and wide for someone who could just tell me, in clear, simple language HOW to move some of those books out my living room. Yes, my books were stacked to the ceiling, fresh from the printer. Just sitting there, taunting me yet again: " What is wrong with you? You should have saved your money and kept your job!"

It was rough and very scary--I really did not want to experience yet another failure. But slowly but surely, through much trial and error, I started to catch onto advertising methods that worked for selling my 2nd self-published book consistently. I went on to publish more. Now, with this 23 chapter eBook on how to sell books, I save you the time, trouble, and trial and error that I had to experience when testing book advertising methods.

Sign Up for My "Sell More Books" Email Newsletter For Email Newsletters you can trust

How to Sell Thousands of Your Self-Published Book
A Solid Marketing Plan for Selling Thousands of Books This Year"

If the tips and tricks in this eBook on how to sell books worked for my previously obscure, tightly niched books, they can work for you too.

After the first 15 months of publishing my very first novel, I sold approximately 5,000 copies. If I would have known what I know NOW--where to put my investment money, who to target, how to convince people to buy my book--I probably would have sold triple that figure in just a year and saved LOADS of money (and bad experiences) on my tiny self-publisher's budget.

My eBook on how to sell books is finally available for instant download ($9.95) and doing even better than I expected. It's been pushed back a few times because I had (and have) soooo much information to share... and many stories to tell. I find myself constantly updating and adding more to the book. This eBook on how to sell books will re-hype you about the selling potential of your books.

What's in the eBook?

• Find out how you can sell out of your first print run of 500-1000 books in just a month, even if it's a novel!
• Learn the #1 feature that readers look at when making a decision on whether or not to buy your book
  
• A simple trick that will increase your book signing sales by at least 20%!
  
• What to say to someone to close a book sale in a face-to-face meeting
• How to give your book sales pitch without looking desperate
  
• How to make your book irresistible to potential buyers
  
• Discover the secrets to selling 5,000 to 7,000 copies of your self-published book in the first year of its publication
• The one $80 advertising investment that you absolutely must make when releasing a new book
  
• How to sell books to people in a face to face situation---surefire ways to close the book sale with at least 50% of the people who come to your booksigning table
• How to sell books using creative, unique, and easy methods
  
• How to sell books to even the most difficult customers
  
• How to sell to and work with distributors and wholesalers
• What absolutely does NOT work when it comes to book advertising and marketing
• What advertising techniques absolutely DO work for books.

Ten bucks--not too bad, right? Especially compared to the money you've probably dropped on book advertising programs and so-called "publicists" who promise you the world. I believe that at either price, small publishers everywhere will appreciate this time-saving quality information about how to sell more books.

Regards,

Penelope Thompson