Friday, April 17, 2015

Why Your Book Isn’t Selling



Every author wants to see his or her book make best-seller lists, get reviewed by The New York Times, and to favorably impact the world.  At the very least, they want to break even in their venture, and where possible, sell enough books to not be in the red.  But the vast majority of authors are bound to question why they don’t have more sales than they think they deserve.  


Here are some reasons why your book may not be selling well.  Which ones represent your situation?  Which ones can be fixed – and will be fixed?  Is it time to throw in the towel after adding up your shortcomings -- or you can take corrective action?

1.      Your book sucks.  It’s horrible.

2.      Your book looks too ugly – the cover is a mess and/or the layout, font or typeface size challenges readers.

3.      The price is too high.

4.      Your distribution access is poor.

5.      You have had many negative reviews that are not balanced out by plenty more positive ones.

6.      You lack a website – or a BUY button/link on the site.

7.      It’s way too long or short for the tastes of most people.

8.      It focuses on a subject that is neither interesting, likeable, needed, nor desired.

9.      Your pool of potential readers is small, due to the niche content.

10.  Your genre is overcrowded with better, more popular writers, who outmarket you.

11.  You haven’t advertised your book.

12.  You don’t blog often – or at all -- about your book.

13.  You fail to grow your social media – or to use it to market your book.

14.  Your family tells you the book is not so good.

15.  Your book was poorly edited and spelling or grammatical errors fill every other page.

16.  The title is so confusing or not representative of what it’s really about.

17.  You haven’t applied for any awards.

18.  You don’t speak anywhere to talk about the book – not even bookstores or libraries.

19.  You haven’t drummed up interest by giving out free copies to get reviews and testimonials.

20.  You don’t seek out opportunities to guest-post about your book.

21.  You haven’t initiated a media campaign to reach out to newspapers, radio shows, TV stations, magazines, newsletters, or online reviewers, bloggers, and major websites.

22.  You haven’t pursued bulk sales or reached out to organizations that should have an interest in your book.

READ UP!
Writers, please never violate these three rules!

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015

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