Book Marketing Makeover: Two Book Marketing Mistakes That Could Cost You Sales

Guest post by Judy Cullins

Most authors sell only 200 self-published books. It’s possible to sell so many more copies by getting much more visibility at places like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. And remember blogging that adds to both your online visibility and credibility. Avoid the mistakes and take the actions below to get your books into the hands of your target audience.

Two Mistakes You Don’t Need to Make and Their Solutions

1. You don't stand out from the crowd of others in your field.

Let’s say you are a life coach who offers to solve your audience’s problems in relationships, finances, attitudes and a wide list of complaints. They want solutions.

So how do you stand out from all the other coaches in your area of savvy expertise? One simple answer is to develop a strong brand. And writing a short book on one of your coaching specialties to that specific audience is step one.

You need to show them what you can do for their problems and concerns. That means you need to get their questions on what they want. That could be, for example, “I have a wonderful business life, so why aren’t I happy?” Or, “I'm in a negative relationship with my xxx and can’t seem to leave. Can you help me?”

After you write an engaging short print or ebook, you need to get much bigger visibility and credibility if you want to get book sales. That means you need to do some research and even brand coaching to show how you and your books are unique and necessary for your reader.

One client, who wrote a photo book on Cuba, had a problem with focus. Should she focus on her book or on her established business as a positivity coach? The solution we came up with was that she should get more active on LinkedIn, answer questions, and then mention her book in the groups.

She creatively coupled her striking photos of Cuba with the positivity values she found there in the people. It's a how-to book with gorgeous pictures that convinced me to go to Cuba next year, with or without Castro's blessings. Her motivation centered on her clients using the positivity values.

She also got great testimonials from the influential leaders in her field. What others say about you convinces your audience to pay attention to you.

So, to stand out from the crowd, get more interactive on targeted LinkedIn groups to learn from others and show your strengths. And use testimonials on your site, in your blogs, and in your LinkedIn profile where you post great recommendations from people who have read your books or experienced your service. Post them in your tweets and Facebook pages as well.

2. You don’t keep a business blog going.

If you don’t post to your blog at least once a week, you will not reach and convert your audience to become your fans, buy your book, or use your services.

Five years ago, I wrote a blog and didn’t get much response. I quit. Just three years ago, I put up a WordPress blog and got active in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I wrote blog posts regularly and kept adding to that number each week.

You may want to replace article marketing with blog marketing. Remember, Google loves keyword rich titles You want your audience to know the benefits specific to them in your titles and first paragraphs.

Results? Visitors are hooked to keep reading, comment, and subscribe to your blog for automatic emails to them with the latest how-to information in your topic. Blog writing and book chapter writing are similar.

My own blog numbers went from 2,500 to over 6,000 readers a month by marketing with blogs and sharing my blog posts daily with my favorite social media communities. The sales that followed put a smile on my face for sure.

Building your sales comes from engaging your audience for months and years so you need to develop patience and self-acceptance. You'll get there. Just be consistent and focus your time on what works.

Does this sound like too much effort? Will it take too much time? Not for me. Remember, if you don’t set money goals, get a book marketing plan going, and get active with your online promotions, you’ll make pathetic book sales of only 200 copies.

Make a difference in your audience’s life. Give them ongoing free information that pulls them to buy you or your books. Give them value in everything you write. Notice over time how your audience engages with you.

What book marketing mistakes do you know about you could share here? I’d love your input. Leave your comments below.



About the Author

Book and blog eoach Judy Cullins helps you transform your blog into an income stream for life. Author of 14 books for business people and authors including LinkedIn Marketing: 8 Best Tactics to Build Book and Business Sales and Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast!

Judy offers free weekly publications on writing and online marketing at http://www.bookcoaching.com/help-writing-a-book.php.

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7 Practical Ways to Earn More by Working Less

Here is a great article on how to work more productively, courtesy of Terry Dean of My Marketing Coach.

The motto of my coaching business is Earn More, Work Less, and Enjoy Life! This is something every business owner wants, but they often feel it's too difficult to achieve.

Too many of us have been programmed by the employee mindset of working hours for dollars. Employees get paid by the number of hours they put in. Entrepreneurs get paid based on the value they create for others...whether they're actively working or not.

Here are 7 practical steps to begin on the road to earning more by working less.

#1 - Hire a Personal Assistant

Quit trying to be a one man (or woman) show. Even if you're currently a small business of just one person (such as a home business, life coach, or real estate agent), you can't do it all yourself.

Hire someone to help you with the routine tasks of answering emails and phone calls. Have them do secretarial work. Figure out what parts of your current work can easily be handled by someone else. Either hand it to a staff member or outsource it.

#2 - Eliminate the Time Vampires

Quit wasting your time. That short call you had to answer became a 30-minute delay. The email you once answered for a non-client has produced 10 additional emails and help requests from the same person ... who still hasn't purchased. That individual who stopped by your office for a quick word with you is still here after one hour.

Try putting an egg timer on your desk and remind yourself every call or contact needs to get to the point within the next 3 minutes.

#3 - Quit Working On Your Weaknesses

We're told to acknowledge and work on our weaknesses to be a well rounded person. Forget about it! Acknowledge your weaknesses, but quit trying to work on them. Build a team and hand off responsibilities where you're weak.

Concentrate on your strengths and giftings. You do what you do best. Hire out the rest. If you're horrible at writing, hire a copywriter. If you don't like administrative paperwork, hand it off to someone else who's qualified.

#4 - Raise Your Prices

I've helped many businesses develop their unique client focus. In a few cases, they were one of the lowest cost options. Yet this is NOT the unique client focus I prefer to have. It's the most difficult one to build a business on.

I'd much rather see you use one of the other 17 ways to develop your uniqueness in the marketplace. You'll often find that by raising your prices and focusing on a more upscale market segment, you'll eliminate many of the time consuming problems of your business.

#5 - Work One Less Day a Week

If you want to make more money, work one less day a week. It sounds crazy, but it has been proven time and time again. If you're currently working 6 days a week, drop to 5. If you're working 5 days, drop to 4. By removing one day from your schedule, you'll be forced to focus more on the days you're working. You cut the garbage out and get down to business. You'll quickly find that a lot of the things you used to think were essential weren't needed at all.

#6 - Take Time to Plan

Plan the schedule for your next day in the last 5 minutes of the day. Plan your schedule for next week on the last ten minutes of your last day of the week. Take out one day every quarter to plan the next 90 days for your business. This is only a small investment each day, but it pays huge dividends for what you accomplish. Of course you can purchase a time management course, but this is the simple basis of planning your time.

Decide on the essentials that must be done in the coming period. And always plan time to work on your business instead of just in your business.

#7 - Hire a Coach

It's so easy to keep following the status quo. I'm sure you've heard that one definition for insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. If you want to earn more while working less, you have to make some changes.

And the absolute best way to make these changes is bring in someone from the outside. They have a different viewpoint and experiences in helping other entrepreneurs just like you. A good business coach knows how to ask the right questions to help you discover exactly how to transform your business into a profitable business instead of just a low paying job.



Terry Dean is the president of MyMarketingCoach. Discover the 10 Key Strategies Any Business Owner Can Use to Earn More, Work Less, and Enjoy Life in a special free report by going to My Marketing Coach.