1. Ebooks will get more important. This trend is obvious. Ebooks are making a major impact on book sales. That means that you should plan to publish your books in all formats, both print and ebook formats, in the coming years. And, at the same time, learn how to market ebooks. Note: Ebook marketing is not the same as book marketing. Ebooks require a different strategy.2. Online book sales will continue to increase. That means you must learn how to market your books online. If you don't have an integrated plan for marketing your books both offline and online, you will miss out on a lot of book sales. But you have to do more than have a website, write a blog, and spend time on Facebook and Twitter. The key tool for marketing on the Internet will continue to be creating relationships with high-traffic websites and blogs.
3. Book sales will diminish. The reality is that people are getting their entertainment, information, and inspiration from many sources: TV, blogs, social networks, websites, mobile apps, newsletters, teleseminars, etc. If you expect to make a living selling books only, you will be disappointed. You must expand your offerings to include not only printed and ebook versions of your content, but also audio, video, web, and/or app versions. And live versions: consulting, speaking, events, teleseminars, webinars, coaching, etc.
4. A universal prediction: The authors who take responsibility for their book sales will be the ones who see the most sales. This prediction, of course, is based on the experience of authors over the past 20 years. Those who take action gets the results. So, in one sense, this prediction is actually simply a statement of past results. But, note, it will hold true again this year. If you want more book sales, take more action.
Now, if you look carefully at the above four predictions, you'll quickly notice that these predictions are actually based on trends that have been occurring for a number of years.
Last year was one of the saddest years for bookselling - what with the demise of Borders and the closing of many good independents - but the neat thing is that many of those former Borders stores have been taken over by other booksellers. And, for the first time in years, there has been an increase in people taking a chance by opening new independent bookstores (I base this observation on my tracking of indie booksellers for my Top 700 Independent Bookstores list).
So, don't ignore indie booksellers. They can still be an incredible source of book sales and exposure.
About the Author
John Kremer is presenting a live seminar in Palm Springs on January 8th where he will talk about how you can use the above trends to sell even more books in the coming years.
Start the new year of 2012 with a fully loaded plan to accelerate your book sales for the next 12 months and beyond! In one day, John will teach you all the latest secrets of how other book publishers are selling more books - not less - every day.
To sign up for this insider's book marketing seminar, click here:
Palm Springs Seminar - http://bit.ly/PalmSpringsSeminar
