Sell your book:

So a small publisher has accepted your book, you've signed the contract and you're drunk with euphoria!

Trouble is: now the work starts.

You have to do your bit to help sell your work. Unless you've been signed by a big publisher or you have large breasts and long shapely legs, you will have to market yourself as well as write!

1. Make sure you do a launch when your book comes out. It can be an official launch through your publisher or just a small party with free booze and canapés, inviting local press and radio or even TV.
2. The publisher should send out advance notices of the book to bookshops anyway but check they do it.
3. I took out an advert on facebook which got plenty of hits on my website (frednath.com) but resulted in far less sales than I thought.
4. Phone all your local bookshops and ask them to stock your book and chat to the manager about a book signing. BTW be charming. Arrange a date. Get your publisher to send posters to the bookshop well in advance. Ask your local paper to do a story on the book-signing. This needs to be out a few days or so before the signing.
5. Ensure the distributors (Bertram's etc) have the book in stock. If they haven't then let your publisher know.
6. Join 'Firstwriter.com': https://www.firstwriter.com/ . They have a list of magazines who do reviews. Contact every editor of those who do reviews and ask if your publisher can send them a copy.
7. Most don't reply but a few do. If you have any influence through friends get a review in a national paper etc, try to get reviews in before the launch date, you can then quote them. I didn't do this and regret it.
8. Once your book is on Amazon, don't ask friends to post reviews unless they have read the book! I've got reviews on 'the Cyclist' in which it's obvious they were just friends. It puts people off.
9. Blog about your book, your politics, writing anything that attracts people. Connect with other blogs.
10. Go here: http://www.fonerbooks.com/market.htm It's a site with oodles of info on internet marketing.
11. Do a YouTube video. I'm not sure if mine is crap to be honest. Maybe you could let me know! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBxQIDRxflw&feature=autofb

The most effective sales techniques on Amazon are:

Price: Kindle prices above $4 or £3 sell less.

Reviews: Every time The Cyclist gets a one or two star rating the sales fall. Currently down now to about 50/day. If you are daft enough to get friends to leave reviews, unless they really have read the book, it's obvious. Only encourage genuine reviews.

Like any other writer, I hate the self-publicising aspect - it has a 'yuk' factor even greater than Conservative politics. I didn't write so as to spend time doing marketing but it's a fact, small presses don't have the money to take out whole page spreads in national newspapers or have posters about your book on the tube.

Someone once said, 'life is like a sewer; what you get out of it depends on what you put into it'.

Writing a book is only the start and you'll have to work to get it sold!

Oh, and no one said it was an easy ride!

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