Opportunity: It's Before You

I have been reading some dismal statistics about reading and book sales lately. One statistic I ran across was reported by Brian Judd, Executive Director of APSS. He stated that according to BookScan, 93% of books published sell less than 100 copies. To be honest, I am finding that statistic a little hard to swallow.

However, when I step back and consider the sheer volume of books self-published each year, I can almost believe this statistic. There are hundreds of self-publishing companies in the United States willing to take authors’ money to produce a book. For the most part, that is all these companies do—publish the book. Many of these companies churn out thousands of self-published books each year. That is what they do—help aspire authors achieve a dream. However, these companies often don’t do anything to create sales for a book.

On the other hand, many self-published authors only have their sights on a book. They don’t think past getting a book published to actually selling the book. When reality hits and they realize that they actually have to do something to sell the book, many self-published authors don’t really know what to do to promote a book.

Almost always, the differences between the books that sell over 100 copies and those that sell less are quality and marketing.

First and foremost, a book must be quality. Compelling writing with a unique angle on a subject that has been talked about before is a must. The book must also conform to industry standards with grammatical matter, the cover design, and interior layout.

Then, marketing is needed. Without marketing, no one knows about the book. People don’t buy something they don’t know about. Marketing takes work and time. As Thomas A. Edition said:

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.“

The opportunity to create book sales comes with the hard work of marketing.

Knowing that many self-published authors are not schooled in marketing, I decided almost a decade ago to write and published Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace. The purpose of this book is to teach Christian authors what to do to market their books to help them sell more than 100 copies. However, my book is not the only book providing information on how to market books.

If you are an author and want to sell more books, I suggest you read more than one book on marketing for authors. Educate yourself and then take advantage of the opportunity that is before you to lead people to your books. Don’t be part of this dismal statistic.