I get this question all the time. You have just published your book on Amazon and congratulations, but now what? You might have done a full-on book launch or just uploaded your book to Amazon. What Now? What do I do on day two? How do I continue to get sales? How do I market my book? Many authors believe that once their book is on Amazon, it will sell. In reality, nothing happens. Amazon is a sales platform, but it isn’t a marketing platform. It has marketing tools but rarely markets your book. They don’t go out and sell your book, especially for new authors.
I have been actively writing and creating books for over 10 years and have had to figure out what to do to get sales. My first book goes back to 1979 with a book called Dinosaur’s Dance, written by Frank Fisler. I was the illustrator and drew all the drawings in my little studio apartment on Beacon Hill in Boston. We made that book the old fashion way, with pen and ink drawings, typesetting the words, pasting it up, and printing it at a local printer. We sold it book store by book store. Collecting receipts as we went. I had boxes of them for a long time. We knew nothing but still had fun. The reward for this book was the thank you from Frank for pulling it all together and giving him his dream of having a children’s book.
A book launch or even an Amazon bestseller launch is fun and exciting. But it doesn’t really set you up for the long-term prospects of selling your book. I look at books as long-term investments. They are like little businesses that can generate income for years and years if you can get the engine going. With some attention, you can keep them chugging along with regular sales.
In the beginning, I didn’t know what to do. I had no audience, no presence online. I didn’t have an author or a book’s website. I didn’t really know anything about social media. But I learned and experiment. I knew that the web was huge and global. I always try to think, act locally, but think globally. There are so many platforms that are free and reach a vast audience. Platforms like Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, email, Google Blogger and other free websites, Pinterest the list goes on and on. If I could figure some of that out, I could spread the news about my books and maybe sell some.
So how do I do all these things? How do I get started? How do I use Facebook, or set up an author blog, or share my book around the web? I have set this book up to highlight the different things that I have done and do to promote and sell my books. The ideas expressed here are my own ideas developed over many years of publishing books. There is no guarantee that my results will work for you but they give a place to start. As you will read, many of these ideas based around the concept of generating noise in the marketplace around your book. Making people aware that it even exists. Once they see it, you then give them a clear path to purchase. I have published a lot of books. Some have sold well and some not at all. Not everything works. Often, I am just surprised. Once something works though, do more of that.
We may love our book, but no one else does. That is the way it works. But with a little energy and using the tools that are now available to us, we have an excellent shot at getting some attention.
My goal is, what can I do to have sales for years and years?
Excerpt from How I Made $322,650 Selling Books on Amazon by J. Bruce Jones
J. Bruce Jones is an author and creator of over 50 books. Bruce teaches self-publishing authors how to publish their books. To learn more about Bruce’s latest project, How I Made $322,650 Selling Books on Amazon click here.
