What Makes One Book Outsell Another?

What Makes One Book Outsell Another?
Judy Cullins
©2003

Wouldn't you rather write a book that sells well than be stuck
with unsold inventory? When you plan ahead with the 10 tips
below, you will sell thousands rather than hundreds of your
unique and important information or inspirational products.

1. Write non-fiction first. These books are 90% of total book
sales. After non-fiction success, you can use your profits to
partially finance a fiction project.

2. Write short books to start. Short books in any format, like
eBooks, booklets, guides or special reports are faster, easier,
and cheaper to write than full-length books of 200-300 pages.
They can be as short as five pages (special reports), to eBooks
that can be 5-100pages (even longer).

3. Market to a book-buying audience. Women buy far more
books than men, about 75%. If your message benefits women,
you'll do well in sales. If your book solves a problem it will sell
more. It's best to see the need and fill it rather than have an
idea-then look for an audience.

4. Choose your cover and title with care. Image is almost
everything. You have four seconds to impress your potential
buyer. Be clear, use metaphor and make sure your title elicits a
picture or an emotion. Keep your title short, preferably 5-7
words. What solutions and results does your book promise?
See more free articles including "Titles Sell Books" on
www.bookcoaching.com.

5. Expand your book into a series. Think of the huge success
of the Chicken Soup Series. They have one cover for all the
titles.The latest count is 68 million. Think of spin-off products that
relate to your book. Some people prefer to learn by listening
to a cassette. You may also want to serialize your eBook,
sending one part or chapter a week through an autoresponder.

These formats actually help you sell more books. Other spin-offs
include coaching, consulting, speaking, seminars, columns, or
videos.

6. Impress your potential buyer within eight seconds with your
back cover copy. The biggest mistake authors make is putting
their title on the back cover. Since it's already on the front
cover, you need to instead, put your sparkling headline at the
top. For example, "Imagine 1000's Buying Your Book Next
Month!" It must hook your readers, stir up their emotions, and
hit their desire.

In 75 words or less, include the benefits your book offers.
How to get more money, heart-centered relationships, more fame,
more health. Less stress and time spend in a project. Include
from 3-5 bullets of benefits, what specifics your book promises
its readers.

Finally, testimonials are the number one way to turn your
potential buyer into a "take-out-their-credit-card-buyer."
For information on how to get testimonials ask a book coach.

7. Create your written marketing plan before you finish chapter
one. This plan covers your first year's launch period and lifetime
plan. You'll want to market at least two years. Inexperienced
authors wait until publication and lose a great deal of sales.

Your plan could include how many books you want to sell, your
30 second tell and sell, book reviews, news releases, the
Online articles to market your book, the book signings, talks,
electronic newsletters, and a book Web site. Without a written
plan, an author creates vague results.

8. Put as much time into marketing as you did the writing of your
book. Your goal is to have people read and learn from your
unique message. Why plant a garden if you don't harvest it? John
Kremer, book marketing guru, and author of 1001 Ways to
Market Your Book, says to do five things each day. Five calls,
five press releases, five Online contacts or a combination of
tasks. The book coach says spend 6-9 hours a week on Online
promotion.

9. Include Online marketing to sell more books. While you can
sell your books on other sites, such as Amazon.com, you will
eventually want your own. You will make much less with
Amazon and you have to pay for shipping too. An author without a
Web site is like a person without a name. As an entrepreneur,
your site needs to attract visitors and sell your products and
service. Here you include testimonials, benefit driven headlines,
and your sales letter to get your visitor to become a customer.

10. Start promoting your book several ways. If press releases,
book signings, and back of the room sales dim, include Online
promotion such as writing and submitting how-to articles to
top ezines and web sites. When you use his virtual marketing
machine-the Internet- you will keep your book dream alive--
getting it into the hands of thousands of readers rather than a few.

Start marketing your book right now, even if you don't have a
Web site. Research by reading articles, contacting professional
book and web coaches, or take a teleclass to find out how to
learn non-techie ways to start your lifetime book promotion
journey. Master book marketing like you would eat an elephant
--one bite at a time! Watch your sales grow!