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is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date.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.
Jenny says
Hey Joanna,
Thanks for the information provided here. I found it when looking for some insight to why, after eleven books with an indie publisher and one I self-pubbed, my royalties annually are less than fifty bucks. The struggle to make a name for myself, to keep the momentum up, and working day in and day out for a decade has burned me out. I’m unsure whether I want to even continue in this life or not. Half of me believes that I should stick it out because I get great reviews and know I’m a solid writer with great stories and tons of ideas. The other half wonders if I’m wasting my energy on trying to have a career in a field where I obviously have no clue about what I need to do to be successful.
I’m not interested in millions or fame, but a good 20K a year would make a huge difference for my family and justify the intense labor I’ve put into this ‘career’ already.
Any advice?
Thanks,
Jenny:)
Joanna Penn says
Hi Jenny,
so I’ve got to ask (with respect) – have you answered all the questions posted here honestly? For example, if a well-written book isn’t selling at all, it’s either because it’s in the wrong category or has a bad cover or nobody knows it exists at all. Have you tried using KDP Select or a free promotion of one of your books? Have you tried doing some marketing?
Have you changed pricing? Can you get rights back and make 70% instead of whatever the indie publisher is giving you? Are they all in ebook format?
Because I don’t know any serious authors who are self-publishing with this many books who aren’t making some decent money.
Here’s an interview with one author who is making a lot more than you suggest with fewer books – so hopefully that will help give you more ideas.
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2012/09/10/fulltime-writer-slowly-lindsay-buroker/
I hope that helps, and all the best.
Randi Kreger says
I find the most important question is, does the world need your book, and do people need it do much they are willing to pay for it?
Jenny says
Hi Joanna,
Thanks so much for the response 🙂
The answer to all of the above is yes! I’ve spent money on marketing, I’ve traveled across the U.S. to promote my books at Printers Row in Chicago, at the L.A. Book Festival, and a host of genre and non-genre related conferences such as Bouchercon and Love is Murder. I’ve done blog tours, book trailers, and for a long time, maintained a regular blog (not so regular just lately,) run contests, done free promotions, been on Good Reads, Facebook, Twitter, Manic Readers, run chat rooms, hosted chats, done radio and print interviews, sent press releases, and of course book signings at clubs, libraries and book stores.
My books have all been professionally edited and the all but one of the covers had an award-winning artist design them. I’ve won awards for my writing and been lucky enough to have some great authors and professionals blurb my books for me. My latest, the self-published one, was blurbed by one of my favorite authors in the same genre I wrote the book in.
So you can see that I’ve been working hard to make it happen and it just doesn’t happen, for some reason. I wish it was as easy as someone telling me that my book covers suck or that I need to take courses in writing or something I knew how to fix. I truly wish that was the case. I’m utterly flummoxed and doing a lot of towel wringing, wondering if I should throw it in or not. So what does someone in my position do? If I knew what hoop would work, I would jump through it and then some!
Thank you so much for your time.
Warmly,
Jenny
Randi Kreger says
Jenny, the book industry does not have an answer to your question. If they did, they would be crawling with money instead of going out of business.
Eight or nine our of 10 books do not make money, according to my agent Scott Edelstein (who has written a number of books about gettinjg published). They count on that 9th or 10th book to get them out of the hole. If they knew what that book was, they would buy it.
From my point of view, I wrote a book that people had to have to save their relationships, not to be entertained. So that is a different situation than the one that I faced.
I would be happy to give you feedback if you want me to take a look at it.
Jenny says
Randi, that would be fantastic! Thank you so very much. I appreciate your time on this. At this point, I’m so confused and deflated, I’m eager to know everything I can about this.
Thank you again!
Warmly,
Jenny:)
Tim Greaton says
Another great post, Joanna. Our chosen profession is admittedly hard, but I couldn’t imagine another life nearly as fullfilling. 🙂
Serban V.C. Enache says
You’ve pretty much covered everything, Joanna; but the thing is… most ebooks don’t sell well. I have my own system though – it’s called “writing for the ear”. Write the book as if it’s only meant as an audiobook. I don’t know about other people, but I love acting, and I can do a fair amount of different voices of various accents. I love to read out loud the passages that blow my mind. As for helping sales – it’s all about work to promote, but don’t promote your book as if you’d be promoting a rudimentary gadget wrapped up in a Christmas stocking. Promote the characters, promote the story/plot, promote the dialogue, the most catchy lines; and don’t forget to promote yourself, not just as “the author”, but as a person, you know… Who are you? What are your passions? What do you like? What do you hate? What is your stance on controversial issues? What are your thoughts on contemporary issues? Don’t spam! Respect your readers, even those that don’t pay for the book, after they’ve downloaded the free sample. Don’t curse the free source pirates – piracy is about freedom, honesty, and equality. Piracy HELPS SALES! Type ‘Neil Gaiman piracy” on youtube. Write personalized emails to reviewers, don’t treat them like robots or the IRS bureaucrats. Connect to forums in order to reach the relevant reader communities that consume the literature you’re in. Place the link to your book/s in your user signature, that will turn up each time you post in a forum. Experiment with different prices and free promotionals. Socialize! Read what other people have to say. Be nice, even when you’re saying something controversial. When you feel you’re down and dusted, don’t give up. Remember, “to retreat is hell” – a wise person said that, and by my recollection – the guy was also a writer.
PS: And don’t take yourself too seriously, once you’ve done that, you’ve committed the primal sin (pride), then the path for redemption is very hard. It’s relatively easy to climb to the top, but it’s much much harder to stay there. Don’t let success or failure turn you into a pretentious a-hole or a depressed cynic. Revisit some of George Carlin’s materials in order to bring your feet down to earth.
PPS: Yeah, yeah, I’m not published yet – big deal. I will be in January, and I’m a guy who preaches what he practices, and practices what he preaches. Happy holidays, Joanna – and keep it up with this awesome and most creative penn. ^^
Jessica says
Wow this is going to help me a whole lot. I just finished my book and writing by ear is how i wrote my book. I thought of it like a movie not a book at all. Because isn’t that what a book really is? Well anyway thanks for the tips and just fixed my price. Feel free to check it out
amazon.com/author/jagnew
The new the price will be up soon.
Kevin Darné says
Thank you for putting together a wealth of information regarding marketing books. I suspect the vast majority of authors have very little knowledge when it comes to marketing and generating publicity. I’m personally doing or have done everything listed in the article and have had some varying sales of my book. I notice you did not mention the Kindle Select program.
Essentially the idea is for the unknown author in particular to provide their book as a (free download) for a certain number of days up to (5) with the idea that after those customers read your book they will recommend it to friends to purchase. One caveat is your book can only be digitally available through Kindle. Although I have been told other devices such the iPad can get the Kindle app for free and download Kindle books as well.
This past November I participated in the program and had over 12, 500 people download my book. During that month 40 people purchased the Kindle version for the $4.95 price I currenty have it listed for. During the month of December it sold about 19 copies. I am considering lowering the Kindle price to $2.99.
Although I had “several thousand people” download the book I have a feeling most have not read it yet. There are free book downloads every day for Kindle owners. I suspect many people download as many titles that interest them as possible on those (free days) with the intent of reading them “one day”. Therefore word of mouth advertising is likely to be delayed.
My book falls under the dating/relationships category and I will be looking at marketing it as a tie in with seminar/workshops. I’ve gotten a few book reviews from organizations such as Publishers Weekly, Midwest Book Reviews, and Readers Favorite thus far. I have also submitted my book for awards of which I will not know the outcome until late in the year. In addition I am considering attending a couple of book fairs/expos as an exhibitor and may break down and invest in a publicist at some point.
As you stated, you really have to work your tail off! Thanks again for all the valuable information your provide.
Best regards,
Kevin Darné
Author of: My Cat Won’t Bark! (A Relationship Epiphany)
Joanna Penn says
Hi Kevin, there’s several articles on KDP Select on the site and more here: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/publishing/
I’m not a fan of exclusivity anymore, as I see the global market expanding so fast through other channels, but it’s certainly a way to play with free and price changes.
Julio says
I am so happy to read at the end of the article when you say: ask yourself if you are working enough. I will publish my first ebook soon. I have been investigating and studying the market a lot. And my conclussion was: its not fast, it takes a lot of investment (time, work, and -maybe what most hurts- money). But if you really want to be an author you can get it, because marketing on the net definitely works. Thank you, Joanna for your information.
Charles says
This is what I call straight to the dogs throat
Thank You
Just what I needed
Gretchen Fogelstrom says
Joann – I can hardly breathe. Such great info. Your posts inspire me. Thanks for your insights and great links.
Ester Benjamin Shifren says
Hi Joanna
I was reading through the posts when I realized that one of them, posted in October, was my own. It seems an update is absolutely in order, so, here goes:
I received my first ordered 200 books on 28th November and by now have sold 150 myself, and amazon has sold around 30, several in the UK. I have my second 200 books here and waiting to be sold at several talks I already have lined up before My 2013. Of course it all took some effort in the form of going to lots of meetings, joining clubs, talking about my story, giving out cards, sitting in the front row at seminars and giving all presenters cards with my photo displayed, so they wouldn’t forget me. It’s paid dividends! I also use social media, but not as effectively as I’d like to because I’m still learning, but I’ve posted my book and new info, and others have shared it with their own following. Some prominent people who had my card from their own 2012 presentations have shared the link, congratulating me—who could wish for more? I belong to three writing clubs and have participated on panels and even recently been filmed in a teaching series on producing movies from books like mine. Yes, I’m working really hard, but it’s worth every minute. My book is available on amazon— “Hiding in a Cave of Trunks: A Prominent Jewish Family’s Century in Shanghai and Internment in a WWII POW Camp.” Several great reviews, and I’m hoping for more!
Regarding KDP Select—I thought I had given the order for CreateSpace to convert my inDesign file and publish my eBook, but it never happened, so I’m left debating whether to use them now or use BookBaby. I will do it soon, and for all the reason given above by yourself and your readers, am pitching around $7.99 rather than $9.99. I agree that too low sometimes implies the book isn’t quality, and too high can kill sales.
I’ll be happy to help if anyone wants to know anything more from me.
Joanna Penn says
Fantastic Ester and I particularly like “Yes, I’m working really hard, but it’s worth every minute. ” I agree!
On KDP, I recommend you just publish yourself through http://kdp.amazon.com/
Select is a program within the site which you opt into and which makes you exclusive to Amazon. Check this post for lots more options: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/01/15/how-to-publish-a-book-101/
$7.99 for an ebook is pretty high for a first time author though – I would consider $4.99, although I use $2.99 as I want people to take a chance on a new name and my sales are pretty good now. Although pricing is completely random really – there are no rules!
Carole Remy (@carole_remy) says
Super helpful article, Joanna! Thank you.
Another aspect to consider is burnout. It’s really easy, at least for me, to work not too little but too much! Promotion can become a 24-7 obsession, similar to running your own business. I keep reminding myself that tomorrow will be a fresh day, and the to-do list will still be there and so will potential readers. More marathon than sprint…
Thanks again, Joanna. Your blog is always informative.
Carole
Thomas Ryan says
I believe I can check off all ten on your list. I don’t know about sales yet as I only launched mid December through Bookbaby and apparently it takes up to 60 days for sales figures to flow through from the various sites I have been lodged into. I am taking a completely different approach to most. I put together a five year business plan. Firstly produce a book to international standard. I have learned from previous business experience that no matter how hard you market if the product is not up to standard it wont sell or at least you will never sell twice. Secondly with a marketing person our strategy has been to drive people to my website. Have a good website that once the potential reader has entered it will hold their attention long enough for them to make a purchase. I have worked hard on this and maybe it is effective, maybe not. I will find out soon enough. I have worked hard on social media. For two months I have spent up to five hours per day. I am up at 5am, work it to noon and in the afternoons I write. I have exercise breaks etc. Fitness for a writer is key. But since I started this routine in December today after only two months my daily web hits have lifted from 9 per day to 98 per day this morning. Everyday the hits lift. Will this turn into sales I don’t know. As I said, time will tell. I have five further novels in draft form but I will not put the next out until October. And the next the October after that. My social media marketing is costing me nothing but time but it has cut into my writing and slowed me down. However I work on the theory I have to build an audience and with ebooks this takes time. I take your point that having a lot of books makes sense but I need to do rewrites to get the quality and I like to send out to readers and assessors and do more rewrites. That’s it.