The Secret To Increasing Book Sales

Professional authors really have one big goal in mind when it comes to their writing. They want sales. The editors and agents want to see the same thing. It all comes down to sales. Careers are made and broken based on these sales figures. Many book lists are based on not just how many people "liked" your book, but how many people bought your book. 

Authors know this too. Talk to authors and they will proclaim their great sales figures (you really hear this from the self-pub authors). 

It's all about the sales, 'bout the sales, 'bout the sales... (sorry about that, the song passed through my brain, now it is in your brain). But the reality is...it is all about the money!

So authors take countless workshops, read blog posts, get books on how to increase sales. Marketing workshops are standing room only at conferences. Everyone wants to know what it is going to take to increase those sales and make money.

Fortunately for you, I am going to take the time today to give you that single secret. Yes, it does indeed come down to something relatively simply. You see, these workshops are focusing on things about marketing and getting people to find out about your book (which is good), but finding out about your book is one thing, increasing sales is something different.

So, what is the secret?

Readers need to BUY BOOKS. 

I know, you are thinking, "Come on Scott, what do you think the marketing is about?" And yes, we do want to get people to know about your book and hopefully buy your book, but this is all wishful thinking. There are, however, very easy things we can all be doing (editors, agents and authors) to increase sales figures.

1. Authors - quit giving away your books! I talk about this a lot. Yes, you have books for promotion purposes, but use these "just" for promotion. Claiming you are giving out books to your friends in the hopes that they will buy books from you in the future is not going to happen. You have to think of those free marketing books as being nothing more than a gateway drug to your real sales. I would also add, the number of you out there just giving away your books for free (most of you tend to be self-published authors) are not really helping yourself. Think of it this way, if you see those free book offers from the traditional publisher, these are often connected to a purchase of a second book. See? Sales.
2. Authors - tell your families to buy your books and quit sharing! This one always kills me. Yes, you might be thinking that this is just 1 book or the sales are not big, but a sale is a sale. Let's say you give the book to your mother-in-law. She loves it so she passes it on to her sister, who passes it on to her kids, who pass it on to their friend, or give it away at a used book store (in exchange for credit to buy a book), who benefited. The person at the used book store and not you. In fact, you lost 5 or more sales. Now think of all those books you gave out to your friends... Lost sales. 
3. Get people to buy the "real book" and not discount books! If you give readers a choice of a cheap version of your book and an expensive one, which one will they buy? It doesn't take rocket science here. When you advertise your books, link it to the most expensive version. Even if you get online at sites like Amazon and you see the choice for a used book, understand that sales figures are not going to the author (see below) 
4. Use used book stores and libraries as gateway drugs. I will first of all state, I have a great used book store I frequent. But here is the thing - it is a NEW and USED bookstore. I buy my books there. I get the new copies. I support the authors I like to read. Now, could I easily go and get a used one some place? Sure! But here is the thing, and it connects to what I have said already. The authors DO NOT see any of the profits. Used book sales do not factor in for those sales. 

I am someone who is also in education. While I fully appreciate making things inexpensive for students as much as possible, Open Education Resources (OER) are often materials that an author, who spent hours or years putting together will not see the profits from this. Find a way to support those authors.

Now, I get that some of you are simply saying that this is now a great way to support other authors, but what about your writing. You can do the same thing.

• Tell you readers to buy the books. Show them this is how your publisher monitors sales.
• If you buy a book from a fellow author, let them know and "politely hint" they should pick up your book.
• When you advertise, link things to sales that will help you.
• If you do a give-away, make sure to link it to another book as well that they will buy.

And one final note: If you want to see the publishers start offering larger advances or signing more books, this too is connected to sales. When they make money, the are more likely to spend that money.