Five tips – Make your book sell!

Helping authors get the exposure to the right audiences who are willing to pay the right price for their work.

  • Who is MY audience?
  • What do I feel I’m worth?
  • What do I want to feel about my work / project?

Have you ever gotten your finished book to the publisher and then thought,
“Yes, now everyone will read my book!”
Only to find that it only sells a handful of copies, very slowly, and your well-meaning friends have still not even read it yet to tell you what they thought.

Writing your book is not the only thing to consider when wanting your voice heard.

Image courtesy of Ben White – Unsplash
  1. “Have I tried a test audience to see if my assumptions have been correct?”
  2. “Do I know what images / covers my audience typically chooses to pick up when they want to read a book like mine?”
  3. “Have I considered which other authors my writing may be like? What genre?”
  4. “How much money am I personally willing to put into my project to see it succeed?”
  5. “What does success look like to me?” a- 100 books sold? b- total world saturation? c- a handful of fans letting me know they love my book?

Once you’ve answered these questions for yourself, you may like to get one on one with me, to work through some other publishing / book sales problems, like…

  1. “How do I reach readers?”
  2. “How do I know they will buy my book?”
  3. “What would make it easier for them to buy MY book?”
  4. “How do I find out that is has sold, and how many copies?”

5 tips for book covers that will have people buying your novel!

5 THINGS TO GET READY BEFORE HIRING A BOOK COVER DESIGNER

  1. Make sure you know who your readership will be (genre / age)
  2. What your readership currently chooses (author / style)
  3. Write a blurb for your book. (150-300 words)
  4. Quotes from noted authors in your genre. (or magazine / website of influence)
  5. A scene (excerpt) you think makes a big impact / meaningful imagery about your novel.

brainstorming chatIf you are in doubt about any of these things, a good editor can help you decide some of these things, or having a good brainstorming session with someone who has also read your manuscript will be immensely helpful, if they can give you some good pointers on what you need for each of these steps.

Five worst mistakes first time authors can make…

Give yourself the respect as an author that your readers deserve. When you take the time to take yourself seriously and really want the best from your story, it will make all the difference in the quality and quantity of readership you will gain.

See if you are making any of these five worst mistakes first time authors can make…

  1. Unidentified readership…
    “…novel is for readers 8 to 80 years old…”
    “Women like it, but also men like to read what I’ve written”
    “The story mostly is about the children characters, but my older friends enjoy it too.”
  2. Talking about themselves, not the story
    “I’m really fantastic at bringing an amazing story to life”
    “Have you seen all the awards my novels have got?”
  3. Not engaging with their audience
    “My book is available”
  4. Putting together their own cover / or getting their friend to do it
    No comment…
  5. Unedited posts, or story in general

 

Who am I as an author?

You the author

Your novel is not the brand, unless that is the only book you will ever sell.

You are the author, the product, the thing / voice that people will come back to again and again to listen to. Readers want to read the words you write, and hopefully continue reading any otherworks you will produce.

Separate yourself from the faceless authors out there who only have their latest book as their visual identity.
Share the processes you have to write the way you do, your thoughts, your way of packaging up novels to send to countless publishers over and over again.

DON’T be a faceless brand. Be you…

  1. What makes you different to other authors?
  2. What are the things people like to read in your books?

Just as the blurb for your story is vitally important, so is the story about you the author.
How intimately connected / excited about  are you to your story that you can easily reel off the blurb of your latest novel in conversation?
I always find that if I connect with someone’s unique voice, then I’m more willing to read more novels by that person.

Do you write like you?
Does your voice show through in your writing?
What is it about you that your friends and or readers crave more of?
Is it your quirky, questioning voice? Is it your attention to detail? Has you cat taken over and become the centre of your writing universe?

“Being memorable trumps being visable any day of the week.” – James Tuckerman

Recently I have decided to put a little time aside to help some people get clear on their vision for selling their books.
If you’d like to get a bit more clear on getting yourself in front of the best audience, why not try out this quick quiz to see what you may be missing?

Or plug in for a quick brainstorming session with me… Hurry, limited places available.

Be the voice you were made to share with the world, and keep writing!

Warm fuzzies,
Marieke Ormsby
marieke@mjohmy.com

Marieke Ormsby marieke@mjohmy.com

Latest News about my debut novel ‘Long Lost Song’ (guest post by Stephen Ormsby)

Long Lost Song cover

It is finally done. The cover is set and I like it. Heck, I absolutely love it. Marieke has done an amazing job in visually my bad hand scribbles to come up with something stunning that I think everybody else will find as amazing as I do.

Would you like to have a look at my book cover? I would love to show it off for you, so without further delay, here it is: Read more