Tips for selling a book online

Selling a book online that you have published yourself is very difficult, we are not going to deny it to you. Especially if you have not consolidated a reader base prior to said publication, as we strongly recommend doing. A marketing strategy even before the book is published can be the best investment you make for your book.

The following tips for selling a book online will help you get more sales, but the process is long. In itself, self-publishing a book is very simple: just follow a few steps such as uploading your Word or PDF to a self-publishing platform like Writers of USA, uploading your cover or creating it with free tools, choosing a price, writing the synopsis, a couple of more steps and the book would already be published. And it doesn’t take you more than 10 minutes. Now, selling the book is another world and this is where marketing comes in. Let’s cut to the chase and look at a few tips for selling a book online.

Marketing Tips for Selling a Book Online 

1. Join Facebook groups for new writers and self-publishing writers: Here you can see how other writers behave and learn from them. We recommend groups such as Writers or New Writers
2. Create an online circle of writer friends: Become friends with writers who are in the same situation as you through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. How do you do this? On Twitter and Instagram, just follow them and/or send them a private message. You can ask them for some advice or tell them how much you liked one of their books. From there you can begin a fluid conversation that, who knows, may open up opportunities for you in the literary world.
3. Keep your circle of online writing friends active: This is one of the most important marketing tips for selling your self-published book. It is not enough to send them a message or comment on texts or photos. A self-publishing author must be constant in his interaction with other writers. When you have confidence with a writer like you, suggest joining a WhatsApp group with different writers, suggest writing the prologue to your book and of course, take an interest in their books.
4. Create your own circle of fans: This is not very difficult. Simply find out who has read your novel or who is reading it. From there you must keep them updated on your social networks and interact with them. Create your own #hashtags!
5. Keep your personal account as a professional account: If you are not famous yet and no one knows you, don’t despair. Don’t create any specialized accounts yet (neither for you as the author, nor for your book). Use the followers you have on your personal accounts as the main target to good screenwriters for hire for sell your book (add the word author to the description/biography of your account). Once you’ve sold enough copies, create a professional writer account. Don’t create an account just from the book!
6. Stay active on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the most used networks today (except for YouTube where audiovisual knowledge is needed). Therefore, it is necessary that publications be made in all of them at least every day. Several tweets a day + a minimum story a day + 1 photo a week minimum + a post on Facebook (from sharing someone else’s publication to publishing a text of yours, a reflection or anything related to your book or literature).
7. Don’t publish anything: Although in the previous point we said that you should publish daily, you must be careful with what you publish. Remember that you are a self-published author. Therefore, do not make posts about food or bicycles. Focus on the literature (book recommendations, reviews, etc.) and your book. The more you talk about your book, the more interest you will generate. You can also post things from your day to day life.
8. Combine literary publications with personal publications: Although you should not talk about bicycles or food. Yes, you must create your personal brand. Post stories on Instagram or tweets on Twitter about your daily life: what you do, what you are going to do, your hobbies, etc. This way, your audience will know your most personal side and will be much more interested in your book.
9. Create a book trailer: A book trailer is not for everyone. This is an audiovisual trailer about the story of your book. It should last a few minutes or even seconds. It is not recommended for everyone, only for those who really control editing. A poorly made book trailer could have an impact on book sales because people would think that the poor quality of the video translates into poor quality of the book.
10. Create your own website: We recommend using the WordPress tool: it is the best known, the simplest and the most complete. It has templates where you only have to change the texts, sections, some images and little else. An essential requirement is to add the option to buy your book through your website.
11. Write blogs on your website: This tip is not mandatory but it is recommended. Learn some SEO (web positioning) and make your audience find your blogs through Google. Once they read your blogs, they may be interested in the page and buy your book or, at the very least, follow you on your social networks. Be careful because blog titles are very important to make your text more attractive and position yourself on Google.
12. Get reviews: Contact book tubers, bloggers, tweeters… and tell them that you have a book with great potential. Give them a free copy and they will give you a review. It doesn’t matter if they have few followers, what you need is that when people search for your book on Google, reviews and opinions appear. If nothing related appears when searching for your book, your sales will not increase beyond your friends and family.
13. Upload parts of your book to the Internet: Sign up for writers’ forums and download story applications such as the well-known Seek. Once you create your account, upload part of your chapters or entire chapters. Find out what other writers think about your manuscript and read other people’s stories. Not only will you make your work known, but you will also learn from other users.

Marketing Tips to Sell a Book in Real Life

1. Sell ​​to family and friends: Don’t be ashamed to tell all your friends and family that you have written a book and that it is for sale for x price. Keep in mind that the first sales always come from them. Many are embarrassed to post it on Facebook, tweet or tell their families, but in reality they are closing a big door. Applied to the world of followers, it costs the same to go from 0 followers/sales to 100 as it does from 1,000 to 10,000, so closing the door to those first buyers is closing the door to growth.
2. Design, print and distribute “company” cards: Telling people that you as an author and your Ghostwriting Services book exist is great, but many of them will forget. For this reason, we recommend designing a card with your name as the author and one of your published books. Designing a card today is very easy because what is trending right now is minimalism. A white card with a black dot and your name and the name of your book below might suffice. It’s just one idea in a million! Printing 100 cards can cost you 10 euros. The prices are very cheap!
3. Make presentations in bookstores: From my own experience I know many people who, without being known, have made presentations of their books in bookstores, their web series in comic stores or their short films at universities. You don’t have to be a professional to promote yourself in bookstores. Simply go to the bookstores in your city and ask if a presentation of your book is possible. You don’t lose anything and they usually accept.
4. Get a spot at the book fair in your town or city: There are two types of people: those who go to book fairs with the aim of buying a book that they had already planned and people who go to the fair without thinking about what they will buy. These latter are your target and, surprisingly, there are many like that. Surely there is a book fair in your town. Come to City Hall and ask!
5. Don’t just go for a printed book or an eBook, go for both: Making an eBook is much easier than people think. There are programs like Sigil that allow you to design your eBook in a very short time. Don’t be afraid, opening the door to technology is opening the door to the future. Check out our section on how to create an eBook.
6. Read marketing books: There are dozens of books on the Internet about how to speak in public, about marketing tips, about how to sell your book. All of them will help you sell your book.