Ah, such a complex and fraught topic. You have a product – in this case, most likely a book – and you want to put it in front of potential purchasers. You can’t make them buy it. You can pique their interest, and having hooked them, they will make their own decision. So. How to lure them closer and get them to bite? With fish, this is generally achieved with bait, be that a wriggling worm or a delicate and intricate ‘fly’ made of bits of feather to look like a real insect. A book isn’t quite like that, is it?
In some ways, it is. You have to understand who you are going to sell to, in order to present the book in an appealing way. Study the market. What are people looking for? If you have the budget, buying K’lytics data and analyzing it. If not, just looking at the best sellers on Amazon – NOT the best selling list of things like in the newspapers, as they do not reflect what is actually selling well, they are more editorial selections no matter what they claim – will help you gain a better understanding. Don’t do this just once. It will take time to see the patterns. In the meantime, be writing. Perhaps even be publishing, knowing that casting books out might not get an immediate catch – but unlike a fishing lure, your publications make up your backlist, so when you do get a reader, they can binge through all of your stuff. You will learn, with every book release, if you are paying attention and keeping notes. You can also learn from others, like those of us writing here, groups like the Writer Dojo on Facebook (the podcast, of course, although it is not focused as much on marketing as the hosts are traditionally published and don’t necessarily go about it in the same way as Indie authors). There are other places, some better than others. Observe, ask questions, and keep in mind – this will take time. There is no get-rich-quick.
Casting out your bait can be as simple, and unpredictable, as word-of-mouth, which as Dorothy recently laid out, isn’t an easy thing. It is the best thing, ultimately. All the other paths lead to that, in time. The more people talking about the book, the more interest, the more sales. You cannot force this. You can put the book in front of more people, through content marketing, and through advertising. Creating content takes time, but it can be done cheaply enough, the only real cost being your time – do not devalue this! – and it can be powerful over the years.
Advertising is paying to put your book in front of interested searchers for reading material. This seems like a simple concept. It can be deceptively so. You must be ready for this – a solid book cover, a hooky blurb – or it will be a waste of money. This short tutorial video is a great intro to how to set up Amazon ads for success. I have bought ads from Youtube creators – mixed success. That’s more a branding thing. I have not dabbled with Facebook ads, and I suspect their time has passed if most people have the reaction I do to them, as they are filled more often than not with fake products or at least wildly mis-represented, and I don’t want to paint my books with that brush. Your mileage may vary. The big ebook mailing lists are faltering, due to Amazon’s changing algorithms. Some (BookBub) have gotten very expensive indeed, others are less expensive to break into. All work best with a book on sale* and you should never use that as a promotion unless you have multiple books in a series you are trying to sell. Cross-promotion on other blogs can be a good push, although usually a small one, but that depends on the blogger and their audience. If it’s writers, not so much. If it is readers who have learned to trust recommendations by that blogger, you’ll see sales.
Organic growth takes time, and patience. Practicing the ‘flick’ of a cast is a necessity in fly fishing. Learning how to advertise is likely like this. On the other hand, setting a trotline for catfish requires knowing where they live, stinky bait, and a long lazy afternoon waiting for them to bite on. This is content marketing. Unlike fishing, though, where you pan-fry the fish and that’s the end, the best way to keep selling books? Consistently and regularly publishing stories your readers want to read. They will learn that this is the good stuff, tasty, and not only will they come back for more, they will tell their friends about it – sort of like putting out a birdfeeder and suddenly you have sparrows and doves and the squirrels! You are building a relationship with your readers, coaxing them into trusting you to give them enjoyable reading material. This is a slow process, and one that takes care to maintain. There is no easy way out. Make yourself discoverable, through links in the back of your books, a website that is clearly shown in search engines and is kept up-to-date, and some kind of online presence. Put in the time and effort.
*free books are no longer a really effective lure for readers. There are so many of them, if you send out your book with hundreds of others in one of the big mailing lists, ‘readers’ will download them all, adding them to the thousands already in their hoard. They can’t read those in their lifetime or ten more, so it’s very little chance for your book, and sometimes the free-readers can’t or won’t pay for books, so converting the freebie into a backlist buy is also unlikely. A short-term free book can be useful, just not here in this context of a mega-giveaway newsletter.