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is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date.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.
Ester Benjamin Shifren says
Hi Joanna
I am continuing to enjoy and learn from your site and comments. Thanks so much. I have a question about blogging—when you say WordPress, are you referring to the .com or the paid .org version? I am really a blogging type and want to get started, but not sure whether I must have a website as well, or just a blog. I have a domain name, can I use it in a blog, or…please LMK. I appreciate everything you’ve written. BTW, I’ve sold 300+ printed books in three months, mainly through speaking engagements, past and more scheduled. This is an incredible way to get known and succeed.
Best wishes to your own success.
Joanna Penn says
Hi Ester – WordPress is a content management system, a platform for your site – and you can use it for a ‘static’ site as well as for a blog – you just change the homepage – you’ll see I now use this site’s Homepage as a static page and have the blog on a separate tab.
The software is the same on both ‘versions’ but wordpress.com is a free way to get started – but you don’t own the site, you’re basically using wordpress servers. If you go wordpress.org you need to get a hosting service – I use Hostgator http://bit.ly/9fa3dD – and then build the site yourself – there are lots of how-to videos though or you can get a pro to do it – I recommend http://www.BlogTechGuy.com (Joel)
Blogging has changed my life – seriously – it’s been amazing and I recommend it for anyone who will take it seriously for the long-term. It also gets me all my speaking work 🙂
Congrats on your speaking sales btw – that is definitely the BEST way to shift printed books – personal connection makes all the difference!
Ester Benjamin Shifren says
Joanna, thank you so much for responding—I’m delighted that you actually take the time to respond to individuals. So, what I’m hearing from you is what I’ve suspected all along. It’s better to have a website and use the wordpress.org blog that’s included. I’ve looked at videos —Conutant, (Tyler Moore) has incredible step by step tutorials on using Hostgator. I think I need a website to showcase a lot of my photos etc. that appear in my book, and more that I couldn’t include. I’ve just given my book to be formatted for ebooks so I’ll have them as well for my upcoming talks next month in Buffalo and Toronto. I’m taking your advice and will price them around $4.99 to 5.99. I see the price of digital books is dropping (DBW Daily reporting) so I want to be in the ball park.
Thank you—what more can I say?
Paul alexx Pegues says
I just put my very first book on Amazon and I’m not sure what to do next. I appreciate your list I’ll get going on it right away. If it’s about effort then I’m all in!!! Thank you for your help
sandeep sharma says
Thanks a lot for sharing it…
Daniel McBane says
I love your site and have found so much advice that will be very useful to me in eight years when I finally finish a novel. I do always feel much more motivated after reading one of your posts; unfortunately, I use that motivation to read more posts, not to write anything myself. Then I play some sudoku, stare out the window…
Rosemary Bach-Holzer says
Agreed, some good stuff is generated from this site. Um… and what’s wrong with staring out the window? Some of my best work gets done that way.
Ana Calin says
Hi Daniel,
sorry to just bump in on you. But I thought I’d cheer you up a little bit. I don’t remember where I read this (the quote of some famous writer) bit it went like this: “what the partner of every writer has to understand is that when he’s staring out the window, he is working”. So what you’re going through is perfectly normal. Been there too. When some aspect of your book is ripe, it’ll ‘compel’ its way out. Eight years… Taking so long must be a vast and deep subject… I dare ask for a hint…
Regards,
Ana
Tisha Starr says
Great article. I’ve done many things on this list and after reading it carefully I think I might get it now. Maybe, I wasn’t working hard enough or allowing the challenge of getting people to respond to my request slow me down. It’s not easy but I never expected it to be.
I will try to push a little harder and hope it pans out. Although my topic is weighted, it’s about HIV, it’s still an intriguing fictional story with great detail and character development. If you would like you can view my book trailer on http://www.authortishastarr.com and the book can be sampled on AMAZON http://www.amazon.com/The-Fear-Knowing-Tisha-Starr/dp/0988979500/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367612027&sr=8-1&keywords=tisha+starr
Mariu says
Hello Joanna
I am in the process of writing my book, on how to survive the suicide of a loved one, from the insiders viewpoint.
I very much appreciate your generosity of spirit, all the good information and insights you are giving us here.
I will read and study carefully everything, or most, of what you are sharing, I know it will help me when the time comes.
Thank you so much and I wish you every possible success in your personal life and as an author.
Ceejae Devine says
Joanna,
Thank you for sharing so many valuable tips. I am working through a final draft (yes, I’ve been through it more times than I want to admit) and will then be looking for an editor. I do plan to spend some time trying to find an agent, but if that takes too long, I’m open to the idea of self-publishing.
You are a model of success many of us are now dreaming we’ll be able to achieve.
Regards,
Ceejae
Ana Calin says
Hi Joanna,
This is a truly helpful post. Thank you so much for sharing. My book is available on Amazon for Kindle now and even though sales haven’t been my number one concern when I uploaded it (I love my job as a translator and make nice money out of it) I was very curious about how the business works. Experience is clear from your post and I celebrate you for your hard work and professionalism. I guess I’ll go out there and search your books.
Regards,
Ana
Lilo Huhle-Poelzl says
Hi, Joanna,
I am 73 years old. Years back in Germany, I was a traditionally published writer of humor, comedy, and satire. My career as a writer was cut short when my daughter (only child) was killed in a car accident. I no longer had the mindset to write (or even market) anything funny. So I stopped writing. — I have started writing again a few years ago (this time in English and different genres). I aimed at traditional publishing, but the first agent I approached no longer takes new clients and suggested self-publishing with CreateSpace. So self-publishing it is. (I am too old and too impatient to go the traditional route.) — Therefore, two months ago, I went to the CreateSpace website, from there linked to Joel Friedlander, and from there linked to you. — I would like to express that I am immensely grateful to you as well as to Joel Friedlander for educating a 100% internet-, publishing-, and marketing-dummy to the point that I now, at least, know what’s involved. — While I might be able to thank Joel Friedlander by hiring his “The Book Designer” company, how can I make it up to you? I don’t read the genre of your books (not that I wouldn’t like it, but — with time being short — I had to set priorities). — How can I spread word about all the good you are doing to self-publishing authors? You’ll have to tell me in an “idiot-proof” way as I am a complete internet-dummy and stumble around in web sites as a blind person in an enchanted forest. How about writing a book , titled “Internet and Social Websites for Grufties Who Did Not Grow Up With Computers”? But maybe not, as these type of readers are already on the “endangered species list” and will soon be extinct.
Joanna Penn says
Comment emailed from Ana Calin:
Hi Lilo! First of all I’d like to express my genuine condolences for your daughter. Herzliches Beileid! I wouldn’t know what else to say, since I’m afraid more words could just make you mad. But know that I feel your pain.
I’m Romanian, living in Germany and writing in English. Some combination, huh? 29 years old and also an internet dummy. I know many people my age stumble against the same obstacles, not to mention those in the over 40 league. So I very much support your idea, the book titled “Internet and Social Websites for Grufties Who Did Not Grow Up With Computers”.
Joanna Penn says
Hi Lilo, thanks for your lovely comment – and I am just happy to help 🙂 You left another comment saying you’d purchased Pentecost, so I really appreciate that. My main aim is to save people time, money and heartache on this writing and publishing journey, so if you ever meet someone who wants to write a book, just send them this way!
Joel’s site is amazing – he is a friend as well 🙂 Thanks, Joanna
Shahrin says
Can I use Turnitin.com for editing my work?
Lenny says
Nice work Joanna!
Dann Aungst says
Hi Joanna;
Thanks for all your great information. I recently released a non-fiction book in late April titled “From One Addict to Another”. A personal story of the fall and recovery from the depths of sexual addiction. Before its release I did absolutely nothing for marketing. I just did a website 3 weeks after its release and started a Facebook account/page in the last few days. I did however have the grace to be able to have one of Hazelden’s freelance editors work on my book., and had a professional cover done. I’ve only sold around 10 copies in the first month (not all on Amazon though), and have give away over 50. The low sales is of no surprise with my lack of marketing (trying to do it along with a 60hr/wk job), but with some of your ideas I think I can streamline my efforts. Thanks for letting all of us follow you and your progress.
David P Perlmutter says
Great tips for everyone who is about to publish their first book, or even their 2nd or 3rd..etc.
My first book was published June 2012 and I am proud to say that as of today, June 2013 it still is in the top 10 of its categories, True Crime and True Account on Amazon UK, also top 70 in Biography I noticed today. It was and still is currently #1 in Spain in Real Events and is #66 in France in Factual. Also was #1 in True Crime in the US.
This past year I have worked very hard on my marketing, using my blog, facebook and twitter, which has been amazing for me. My followers are increasing everyday, over 5.5k, I receive compliments about my tweets, I tweet other authors books, I have had reviews on twitter, I have had tweets saying people have bought my book. Talking about reviews, yesterday I received my 129 x 5 star review. Authors have been asking how has my book ranked so highly for a year, currently around 1,400 in UK, 34,000 in US, 366 in Spain etc. Its all about marketing, I am not saying I know it all, of course not, so very far from it, I don’t even use ALL what there is available, but I interact with people, which does help of course. So much so, my 2nd book out in a couple of weeks, its about how I marketing my first book, a true story called WRONG PLACE WRONG TIME. Yes I know books have been written about the same subject, but hey, this is MY take on it as an unknown author, but authors across the world have asked how do I do it, so I thought why not write a 7k word book about it.
Nearly forget to put a link to my blog where you can buy my book and even follow, how could I forget, that’s not great marketing!!!!!
http://thewrongplaceatthewrongtime.blogspot.co.uk/
Anyway, just thought I would add to the super comments that have been placed here.
Thanks for reading, if you have!!
Regards
David
Brian says
To be honest David on reading the above you come across as a bit full of yourself. (Not the usual comment on Joanna’s pages!) But I was intrigued by what what you said and so went to Amazon to look at your book. I checked out the first few pages as you do and recognised immediately one reason your book sells well is because you are such a terrific writer. I bought it of course for $0.99 and read it at one sitting with a short break for lunch. I enjoyed every page. One other point. I thought you went completely over the top with the acknowledgements as I started the book but by the end of the book I realise now that you are probably still owe the family!
Best of luck in the future.
David P Perlmutter says
Hi Brian, thank you for your comment and that you bought my book, very much appreciated.
I am sorry I came across that why, by know means am I full of myself at all. I am just amazed at how my book has and still is doing on Amazon. I am more excited than full of it.
You are very kind with your review of my writing and yes my family were and still are my rock.
Life has moved on for the better thankfully and now writing is in my blood now.
Thank you again and apologies if you got the wrong impression of me with my original comment.
Take care,
David
David P Perlmutter says
A poor typo….NO! Not know David…..But you knew that Brian!
Have a good weekend.
yusuff busayo says
Hi Joanna, I’m sticking with the “I can be a great writer…” sentence. And like Chuck Wendig, CJ Lyons, and your humble self, I must need sit my butt down and take my writing seriously. I am challenged to know folks write THROUGHOUT the day and EVERYDAY. Mind-boggling! I write occasionally (when the inspiration comes). And that’s bad. But thanks for this article. I definitely must stick it out! Busayo
Steve Windsor says
Great post Joanna. I’m taking it all to heart. I am into day two for my first novel Cramdown:Massacre and I’ve sold twelve copies. I’m grinding for every one, building author platform, and hustling.
Totally agree with the second book strategy. I am deep into writing and plotting books 2, 3, and 4. Totally excited.
As you say, it’s the hard work. I’ve never worked so hard and I was a 24×7 datacenter manager. the only difference—I love this!
Bill Goldman says
Joanna,
Thank you for the blueprint. I an someone who appreciates organized structure for a begining writer. Thank you again!
Bill
Alyscia says
Greetings Joanna,
I will be publishing a photography book but was told Kindle doesn’t display photos. Can you recommend any ebook publishers for photo books?
Jennifer Tillman says
Wow! All I can say…is wow!
Oh, and THANK YOU! I feel like I just attended a crash course of the highest caliber!
You are a very special person to share and help others they way you do!
God bless you and the best of luck to you with those wonderful “dreams” you mentioned in your podcast! With your spirit and determination- they are all attainable!
Remember: If you can conceive it, you can achieve it!
With God…all things are possible!
(A little quote from a good book I once read!) 🙂
And to all you posters: GOOD LUCK! And don’t quit!
This is soooo much more fun than going to a job all day!