The new authors I work with are like every other new author: they have a story they want to get out into the world. It’s an exciting process to have an idea and see it come to life. And as it gets closer to the finish line, it gets more and more exciting. But… What happens once the story is finished? Doing a little research, it seems the average book sales for self-published books is 250-300 the first year. Now, the information on the sites didn’t mention if the authors in the statistics are promoting their books. I suspect they are to make that many book sales. I also suspect the number of sales may be a bit generous for the self-publishing children’s fiction market. And if the author isn’t promoting their book, I’m sure the number of books sold is A LOT LESS. Why? Promotion sells books. I recently watched an episode of Home Town (a show on HGTV). In the episode, one of the stars, Erin Napier, weaved in a visit to a local library where she read a portion of her children’s picture book which is published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Not only does the author have a major publisher, she has major publicity, point-in-case the subtle or not so subtle plug on her show. Now, I do watch the show and Napier is very creative, so writing a children’s book isn’t a far stretch, but the marketing power of celebrities is. This is the disadvantage the average author has to deal with. But it doesn’t mean you can’t sell those 250-300 books or more. What it means is you absolutely need to promote your books. YOU NEED VISIBILITY. A lot of writers use the word marketing when referring to promotion - I’m often one of them. In case you’re not sure of the difference between promoting your book and marketing it, here’s a little breakdown: Marketing is comprised of the four Ps: product, place, promotion, and price. According to Principio Marketing, these elements are the “cornerstone of any marketing plan.” The point to this is that promotion falls under the marketing umbrella. So once you have a book to sell, it’s on to the promotion phase of marketing. Promotion is everything you do to make your product (your book) known. It’s building awareness, creating visibility. In other words, it’s about letting people know you have a book and why they should buy your book over another. So what does promotion entail? Probably the very first element of book promotion is having an author website and creating an Amazon Author page. It’s about regularly letting people know about your book. You can do this through writing powerful copy for the book. This includes all the metadata for distribution and the backcover copy. It’s also blogging and using social media. For those authors who just don’t want to bother with a website and blogging, the very least you should do is create blurbs about your book and post them regularly to your social media networks. For a few examples of my promotional book blurbs visit: https://thewritingworld.com/success-tools/ You can’t expect that just because your book is available for sale, it will be seen. You need to make it visible in order to sell your book. So now you know what most new authors don’t know.
I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach. I can help turn your story into a book you’ll be proud to be author of, one that’s publishable and marketable. You can contact me at: kcioffiventrice@gmail.com. Or, you can give me a call at 834---347---6700. (Please leave a message - I'll get back to you as soon as I can.) Or, if you’d rather do-it-yourself, check out my book, How to Write a Children’s Fiction Book.
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