OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn
I love answering your questions and I'm always happy to share what I've learned on the journey, but recently I have been receiving the same question over and over again, namely,
“Help, my book isn't selling. What can I do?”
Most of the time people include a link to their book on Amazon and I can see immediately why they aren't making any sales, because although I'm an author, I'm a reader first and I've been shopping for books on Amazon for years.
My Amazon #1 bestselling book, How To Market A Book covers everything in details but the following checklist will also help you identify your problem and solve it quickly.
I have also included lots of links so you can find all the extra material on this (ever-growing!) site.
[As always, these are not rules, because there are no rules in this crazy, fast-moving self-publishing world. There will also always be outliers who get away with not doing any of the following, but these will at least help with some guidelines!]
1. Is your book available as an ebook?
99% of indie authors will not have print distribution in physical bookstores, and I would postulate that all the success stories we have heard in the last 2 years about indie authors and huge sales have come from ebook sales, not print.
Print books can be a good idea if you have specific reasons around wanting print. I decided against print but in 2013, I changed my mind, returning to print editions for all my books.
BUT/ if you want to sell a lot of books online, then make sure you have an ebook for sale as well.
There has been an influx of ebooks (and print books) self-published in the last year, as well as traditional publishers beginning to re-issue backlists digitally. I've heard a lot of people complain about this so-called ‘tsunami of crap', but personally, I believe you can surf the wave and make good sales even if you're starting now. The ebook market is growing globally as new countries come online and even within markets like the US and UK, ebooks are becoming more widely accepted.
So first off, get your ebook published.
I use Scrivener for formatting in Kindle, ePub and Word formats and then I publish on Amazon KDP, Kobo Writing Life and Smashwords or BookBaby for the rest (US citizens can use B&N Nook PubIt as well.) It's not hard if you spend some time with the various help pages.
2. Has your cover been professionally designed?
Book buyers still shop with their eyes. If people make it to your book sales page and your cover is terrible, they will not click the Buy button.
Don't use a painting your child did or that you did yourself. Don't DIY based on a YouTube video. Don't assume you can make a professional cover.
Do research your genre on Amazon and take screenshots of books that stand out in a good way.
Do take pictures of books you like with fonts and designs you like.
Do check out the ebook cover design awards at TheBookDesigner.com to see some great covers and some truly awful ones. Then hire a professional cover designer, give them that information and work with them to create a professional cover.
If you don't have a budget for this, then work extra hard until you have that extra money. Seriously, I believe this is non-negotiable if you want to stand out in the crowded market.
3. Has your book been professionally edited so it reads well?
I am passionate about the value of editing and editors, especially for new writers, or books in a new genre.
You should edit your books until you can't stand them any longer, and then you should consider hiring a professional editor to help you take it further, because you cannot see your own words after a point because you know the story so well.
You need other eyes, preferably professional eyes who will critique you honestly and tell you where the problems are, especially if the book is truly awful – and sometimes it is (and that's ok because you can write another one).
Stephen King in ‘On Writing' says to rest the manuscript for a while, so put it away and when you have some distance, read it again. You may be horrified by what you find but better now than when it's out there in the world. Here's some more articles on editing and my recommended editors.
If you can't afford a pro editor, then you can try using a critique group of readers within your genre, or join a group like the Alliance of Independent Authors to network with other like-minded authors in order to network and potentially barter your skills. Bartering shouldn't be underestimated in the online world.
But definitely do not publish your book if only you and your best friend, or your Mum, have read it.
4. Have you submitted the book to the right categories on the ebook stores?
Sorry, but not everyone will like your book.
You may think that everyone will, but they won't. You might not want to put it in a box or a genre or a category, but you have to because that's how readers find it. The category/genre reader has expectations and if you don't ‘fit' they will be disappointed. That's not to say you need to follow any specific rules in your writing (let's not get into that now!) but when you load it up to the distributors you do have to choose which categories and tags to use and they need to be meaningful.
You need some distance from your book in order to do this, but consider where your book fits within the online bookstores. This means deciding on the categories, tags and keywords associated with your book.
It's also important to match reader expectations and the promise of what your book delivers with what your book is actually about.
There is no point having a book with a swirly, girly pink chic-lit cover in the horror section of fiction. It won't sell, however good it is.
There are some scammy sites out there that will tell you to aim for the categories that will rank the best in order to have a Bestseller on Amazon. That's just silly because your book won't match the expectations of the readers and even if you get a bump in sales, it will completely dry up very soon.
You can choose a category that fits your book AND is easier to rank in, for example, I use categories Action Adventure and Religious Fiction. I rank occasionally for the former and consistently in the latter. That's optimization, but it is still true to the book and to the reader's expectations.
If you're struggling with this, choose 3-5 authors your book is like, not what you want it to be like, but what it is really like. That will help you find the right category.
A great book on categories and Amazon algorithms is David Gaughran's Let's Get Visible.
5. Have you optimized your Amazon sales page with a hook, quotes from reviews and other material?
I have seen some Amazon sales pages with not just typos but terrible grammar.
Some of them make no sense at all. Some are just the back blurb with no review quotes or other things that might draw a customer in.
Basically you need to treat the product description like a sales page. People will not buy your book if your description is badly written or hard to understand because it's an indication of the quality of your book. Here's another great article on 11 ingredients of a sizzling book description.
If you want to see a fantastic example, check out CJ Lyons Bloodstained which continues to rock the Kindle charts. That product description seriously rocks. CJ also explains all of this in our ProWriter Marketing course.
You can format your sales description with colored headlines and other funky HTML by using Author Marketing Club's Premium service (which also includes a fast-track way to find appropriate reviewers).
6. Have you priced your book realistically, or at least tried different price points?
It's important to say on pricing that no one has a clue how to price ebooks and authors are having success at many different price points. Check out this great article on The Passive Voice and the comments below to get an idea of the widely different levels of pricing and success.
However, I had one author ask why his debut novel wasn't selling, and when I checked his sales page, the ebook was priced $11.99. It was his first novel and he had nothing else for sale.
However good your book, however marvelous the cover, your first novel is unlikely to sell at that price. Most ebooks are under $9.99, and a lot of fiction is under $7.99, with many indie books being under $5.
The 99c price point still has some power even after the algorithm changes but you might go somewhere in between, changing your price with promotions as well. I have my books at $2.99 right now so I make $2 per ebook. You get to set your own prices but there's no way you'll sell much at those very high prices.
7. Have you written, or are you writing another book?
Sure, there are some breakout successes, but most indie fiction authors making decent money right now have 5 or more books. For non-fiction authors, you can expect to make your money on back-end products and services and not book sales anyway.
The more books you have available, the more virtual shelf space you have, the easier it is for people to discover you. Plus if a reader finds one they like, they may buy them all so you make more per customer.
I was as guilty as anyone of trying to hype my first novel, because it took so long and I thought it was a precious snowflake. I still believe you have to hustle those first thousand sales with everything you have, but my sales and income jumped when I released the second novel with very little fanfare because I already had an established presence on Amazon and they do a lot of marketing for you when you have multiple books, e.g. emails to people who bought your last one.
I am also fascinated by the rise of novellas and serials as a way to create more books, more quickly. Hugh Howey is a great example of someone who wrote novellas in different series and then continued the direction of the stories for the novellas that took off, Wool being his most famous and lucrative. I am definitely moving into this model in 2013 in between longer works.
8. Have you done some kind of promotion or marketing to let people know it is there?
Again, there are no rules and in fact, everyone has different results from different marketing tactics. Some hit a mega-success with none at all, but I do think that you need to hand-sell your first 1000 readers because they won't just appear out of nowhere.
Remember: Marketing is sharing what you love with people who want to hear about it. You don't have to be hard salesy, scammy or nasty. Just be authentic and share your passion.
If you need some starter tips, you should definitely be building your email list from your own website and also from a signup at the back of your book.
If you do that with book one, you will have at least some people to market to with book 2. It's a start, and it grows over time. This is my only non-negotiable recommendation for authors, because you never know what will happen with all these sites we depend upon for sales. If they disappear, or the terms we publish under change, then your email list of fans and buyers is all you have.
I also believe that social media can sell books, but it is a slow build over time and you have to have other goals than just book sales, e.g. networking with peers and other authors. It's not instant sales so you can't rely on it. The whole author platform thing is massively useful in so many ways but it is only one aspect of book sales.
If you have some budget you can pay for promotion, but be targeted and track results.
The biggest leaps I had on the Amazon charts were from paid promotional pushes on sites that market direct to Kindle readers. I have used Kindle Nation
Daily, Pixel of Ink and BookBub and there are new opportunities all the time. I more than made my money back but the rankings were worth it. Prophecy hit the Action Adventure list above Lee Child! (of course, it dropped away but the screen-print is worth gold!)
Free is still a great option, especially if you have multiple books, as it means people can discover your work with no risk. Fantasy author Lindsay Buroker talked about this in our interview where she revealed that the first book in her series is permanently on free with her other books at $4.95. You can do this by making your book free on Smashwords and eventually Amazon will price match it.
9. Have you asked for reviews, or submitted to review sites?
There's been a lot of scandal about the sock puppet reviews but reviews are still critical because they give your sales page social proof and they feed into the book site algorithms.
I give away a lot of free books to people who might like my genre and ask that they leave a review if they like it. No hard sell, no pressure, no expectation. This is easy if you have built up a list from the last book, or if you have built a platform and in fact is one good reason to do this. Traditional publishing has been doing this forever so it is not a new or a scammy tactic.
Remember that not everyone will like your book and not everyone will leave a review, or a good review, but it is a start. [And remember, don't respond to bad reviews!]
You can also contact book bloggers or Amazon reviewers to get more reviews. This is hard work if you do it manually, but you can use the Author Marketing Club's Premium service to short cut the process by finding reviewers for books like yours.
You can also listen here to Rachel Abbott in this interview talk about how this strategy got her to #1 on Amazon.co.uk.
10. Are you working your butt off?
Generally, I'm an even tempered type of girl, but when I get emails from people asking why they're not successful and they've done nothing on this list, I get a little annoyed!
Especially when this site has over 700 free articles on writing, publishing and marketing and there's 75+ hours of audio for you to learn from for free. Oh yes, and a 57 page Author 2.0 ebook on all this.
That's all available for free, but I also have a book you can buy for less than the price of a coffee – How To Market A Book.
There is no excuse not to be educated, even just from this site.
I absolutely believe that you can be a great writer and make an income from writing.
I have to believe that for you because I believe it for me, and I have left a stable job and steady income to take a chance on being an author-entrepreneur. I've been on this path since 2007 when I decided to write my first non-fiction book, so I am 5 years into working my butt off to change my life.
But writing books is not a get rich quick scheme.
I look at authors like CJ Lyons, Scott Sigler, Chuck Wendig, Joe Konrath, Bob Mayer and so many others and I know they are working their butts off every day writing and getting their work out there. The recent success of Sean Platt & David Wright in landing a Serial deal with Amazon is because they work incredibly hard at writing all day, every day to produce new content for their market. They are my heroes.
These guys are pros and they know it takes hard work to get there and hard work to stay there.
So please, if your book is not selling any copies at all, go through this checklist and honestly evaluate what you have done and how much effort you have put in. Please also share this with other people who may be asking the same question.
I'd love to know what you think, so please leave a comment below. What other tips can you give for people who aren't selling any or many books?
Images: Bigstock Help button, Bigstock Buy Me button, Bigstock price tags, Bigstock hard work ahead.
Natasha Jordache says
Hi Joanna
I signed up to your emailing list a week ago and have already been impressed by the advice you offer. And there’s a lot of it. Thanks!
On to selling issues. Well, I only published ‘After 25 Years’ on Kindle last week, too, (www.amazon.com/dp/B00DLW4HJ4 if anyone’s interested), and my first hurdle was deciding on key words and categories for it. Really, only two allowed? Damn, it could fit neatly into so many! An instant marketing challenge.
Next sales issue: the book is neither fiction nor entirely fact, since it revolves around genuine texts between me and Tom, an ex-boyfriend (and my co-author). We re-met 25 years after we broke up, and realised we were still in love; the problem? He was divorcing; I’m married with children. It’s a voyeur’s paradise, including to one reviewer! So which do I pitch it as?
And finally, Tom and I are using pseudonyms (wouldn’t you?), so asking friends and family to post reviews is out of the question. No, not even my mother has read it. Good heavens, no. In fact, she doesn’t even know I’ve written a book, let alone had an illicit affair! It’s all very cloak and dagger. And it also means we’re in a bit of a Catch 22 situation. No reviews, no sales. No sales, no reviews. Hmm.
So my question is: what are your (or anyone else’s) thoughts on hiring a literary publicist to spread the word? It’s expensive, with no guarantee of a return on investment. But can it work wonders for a new writer, in anyone’s opinion? Have you tried it and, if so, was it a success or a waste of money?
Thanks so much for your help
Natasha
Joanna Penn says
Hi Natasha,
On the fiction/non-fiction – you can sell more books with fiction, so personally, I think that’s the way to go – but entirely up to you. Memoir has a very different tone, so it depends how the book reads. You can pitch for reviews from a different email – just find reviewers who liked books similar to yours. Author Marketing Club has a good tool for this: http://bit.ly/14yzSPt
On the publicist, I have a whole chapter about that in my latest book, How To Market A Book 🙂
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/07/02/how-to-market-a-book/
so I won’t write another 2000 words on it here, but essentially you need to know exactly what you want from a publicist and have the right expectations.
Natasha Jordache says
Excellent – I have just bought your book. Mind you, I already know what I want from a publicist: to make After 25 Years the next Fifty Shades, of course!
Many thanks
Natasha
JC Johnson says
I agree 100%
Richard says
have written a novel , and I am looking for buyers to purchase my novel on-line. what advice
can you give me. The novel can be viewed on the above website.
Joanna Penn says
Here’s how to self-publish http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/01/15/how-to-publish-a-book-101/
All the best 🙂
Deborah Heal says
Super helpful. So glad I found your site. Your encouragement is priceless. I have been in the Working my Butt off Club for two years and have followed the advice you give with only limited sales of ebooks. But I’m going to pore over the links and buy your marketing book later this morning–right after I get in a few hours writing the next book. Thanks.
Sari Grove says
“[And remember, don’t respond to bad reviews!]” Hi…I’m interested in this…The don’t respond to bad reviews…Does this apply to other locations where feedback & commenting occurs online too?
I was just reading something coincidentally that talks about how a business should nip negative feedback right away, like if some says something negative on Facebook as a comment, the business should step in right away with a response…I was recently in a conversation in an art group on LinkedIn & someone misunderstood something I said…They immediately lashed out at me with an insult…I responded with an explanation of what the person had misunderstood…So then the person answered with even more insults, obviously just not getting that they were wrong…I didn’t know what to do, started to write another explanation, but then I realized I was probably just going to get more lashings from someone who who just had anger issues & not alot of IQ up there…So I left the group…I figured silence & leaving was probably safest…So I agree with the don’t respond to bad reviews idea…But then I just read that businesses need to deal with negative feedback right away so it doesn’t multiply? I’m a little confused…Do you have a link or is there more about just being silent when feedback is negative? Thanks…
Jean Shorney says
Hi Joanna,
I’ve just read your blog. My books have sold(I have three out there) They are self published, and I’m quite prolific. I published with M.Y Books. They are distributed in various online stores. But, unless I look for them with my name, I can’t find them. In the few months I’ve been selling I ‘ve only managed to sell a little over a hundred. That’s with very little marketing. It’s rather dissapointing. as I can rattle out quite a number of books.
Joy Bassetti Kruger says
Thanks for all your help!
Well, I now have two books on Kobo, but getting Kobo to load my proper cover for the 2nd book is proving to be a bit of a mission. I’ve done everything they told me to do, but I still only get the -from Kobo with love, cover. Will try again later.
I still have not managed to get a copy of the form for taxes that I need to complete for Kindle, but no doubt I will find a way to download this sooner rather than later. The other problem is that I have to post the said form to them and posting anything from South Africa is almost a mission impossible type of scenario. Even so I am positive that I’ll get ther eventually.
Anyway, I’m not giving up!!!!
Deborah Heal says
I just discovered (and fixed) a problem that others may also have and not know it. . . I was resting confident that my extended channels option with Create Space was taking care of business on all the non-Amazon book sites. But just found out this morning that major distributor Baker and Taylor did not have the jpg images for my three covers. So probably since the beginning of the year (when I did some revising/updating) they’ve been distributing my books without them!
I learned about this problem when a friend told me that several of the book sites where she went to post a review had old covers or missing covers.
Not surprising that paperback sales came to a screeching halt over the past few months. (not that they were flourishing before)
Another lesson on why an author should be proactive.
Serena Schreiber says
Hello, Deborah,
How did you find out about the B&T situation? How did you fix it? Grateful for any help you can provide!!
Deborah Heal says
My friend found it when posting reviews to several book sites. I emailed B&T and they added the cover images.
Philip says
Nice list. The struggle for me has not been the “ability” to do the right things, rather just knowing what the right things are. Thanks for your post and all the other helpful information.
Marie Zanne says
We’re two sisters who have completed one novel and are halfway done with its sequel. I (the eldest) just want to say that your website has been very helpful and educational. One of us is still in college, so we will not be e-publishing, at least for a while, due to the constraints of time and money, but your site has given us lots to read and learn in the meantime. Thanks for all your hard work in helping fledgling authors like us!
James Stoddah says
The more a read the articles on this site, the more I understand the complexity and mechanics of self-publishing. Every article is inspirational and motivational. I also realise I am doing things the right way with my own efforts so far. It’s good to have a road ahead, built by the experiences of other authors. This website is priceless!
Danyelle Bradley says
I published with a publishing company called Tate Publishing about a year ago. I had my first book signing it was a success due to my large family. My mother has 11 brother and 1 sister. I read all of your information it was helpful and inciteful information. What I got from this site was that I need to do more marketing and promotional things that will increase the sales of my books. I am a first time author and I know and understand that it takes alot if hard work behind making writing a success. My book is called Learning with Tydi and Froggy Colors and it is available on Amazon and through my publishing company.
Thanks Danyelle Bradley God Bless
Jane Gardner says
This is the most helpful information I have found. You are very generous to give out so much. I’ll buy your book.
Jane Gardner
Author of (not selling many) “One Woman Or Another.”
Brgitte Pace says
Can you kindly explain why Amazon do not distinguish between e-book sales and royalties?
What is the difference between the two…….
Charles Hurst-Author says
I just commented on the article I got from booklocker I believe. Months ago when I was starting up
Again everything Penn says is true. I have been marketing relentlessly for only a month and a half and have gotten a trickle–just a trickle but it is a start. You have to be prepared to work damn hard like she says. Every day. It is a huge amount of effort for only a little at first.
Cheers–good luck all
Charles Hurst
SM says
Can I ask, how much does the blurb factor into selling your book? I am struggling with writing blurbs for our books that will make them stand out from the crowd.
Charles Hurst-Author says
You know it has been up and down. And up and down on the trickle of Amazon rating which no one seems be able to put a finger on. I have been pretty much going from the ranking of 450,000 to under 200,000 then it trickles back up and then down. My research says this might mean one or two sold on a spike. But at least I have that and we are about two months into marketing and I haven’t touched the book blogs yet as I’m out of country for a month or two.
The blurb. I picture myself looking at blurbs. When I’m on twitter and see Joe so and so author of and that’s it does it get my attention? Nope. So I target my audience first of people who would be partial to my writing.
Then I blurb briefly in 140 characters what catches attention. I see authors just throwing out whatever–great quotes and such which has nothing to do with their own writing. I also have a weekly ezine and advertise it every week and twit out when the new addition hits. Gets about a few hundred visits a night and I’m only at 1200 followers. . . and building daily. And its really boring to keep on it night after night. some nights hit, some don’t.
It gets attention because my target audience is like me. Same beliefs and philosophy. So they retweet a lot. IE if your book is about Zombies Apocalypse find all the tweeters in that genre and start collecting followers and tweeting them.
It’s advised not to spam. I look at profiles and their followers are the same as mine usually because I’m building a genre. I don’t try to pretend to be something I’m not. I could (and do) have conversations in cyberspace with any of my followers daily. If your book and interest is about UFO abductees there is a group out there I guarantee it.
As far as the mass target everyone I hear it gets little result. Maybe the Penn can add their experience but I keep reading its like trying to sell Heavy Metal to all music listeners.
so in short yes the blurb and keep to your people.
Hope that helps
Charles Hurst
SM says
Dear Charles,
Thank you for your reply. I know I’m coming back to you a few months late, but your comment was very instructive. I am a first-time publisher as well as an author (though my book is unreleased as yet) and I can’t seem to motivate my authors to put themselves out there. The problem seems to be that the only thing they tweet or post is ‘buy my book’. My advice has been to build relationships, to discuss other books, reading, fiction or generic genre-related topics, to get their names into cyberspace (in other words, quit the hard sell). Would that be good advice, or am I missing the mark?
Judi says
Thanks for all this wonderful information. I will be going through it bit by bit to see how I can improve sales. ‘Granny Does The Boogey’ is a book of fun poems for kids and due out this week, and I’ve always felt the hard work begins now. Feedback is excellent so far, and I have pre sold 80 but there will be 420 more in my spare room. For me it’s about how I get it out of the area I live in where it’s easy to touch base with people and sell it, and that has worked with, libraries, schools and smaller book/gift stores. I’m at a crossroads with my job, and feel to make this succeed I need to leave the job security behind me. It’s also about looking at a gap in the market and going for it, and looking at the income producing spin offs. You need one to create the other. Do I take my leap of faith now? It’s wonderful to read of others doing that.
Judi
Francis says
The information is great but I still can’t figure out why my ebook isn’t selling anything (NONE) on NOOK while I sell on average about 600 a month on Amazon. I’m perplexed! They were submitted on both sites at the same time (Beginning of 2013) and have the exact content. I’ve tried changing categories somewhat but to no avail. Is Nook just a waste of time?