My Seven Top Selling Secrets

Decatur Book Festival (Photo credit: The Suss-Man (Mike))

One aspect of being a writer and an author that I initially hated and feared was selling and marketing my books.  In the beginning I was one of those people who said, "I can't sell anything."  However if you produce a product, eventually you want to share it with others and unless you can afford to give it away, you will need to learn how to best promote and sell it.  I've written about this many other times but as I continue to gain insight into the best way to do this, I love to share it with others so that you too can be successful at selling your work.  The concepts that I've learned from selling books, are useful in many other situations, so whether you are a writer or artist or an inspirational speaker, you can apply these principles to your work.

1. Know who your audience is.  I write two kinds of books.  Wyatt the Wonder Dog books, are picture books with a lesson and The Call is an adult motivational book.  My children's books appeal to parents, grandparents, teachers and school counselors.  My adult book, is written for women who are interested in determining their passion and following it.  To be successful, I need to sell in an environment where I can find my audience.  
2. Know what your audience wants.  I've found that you have to be sensitive to the focus, the purpose of the audience. I've participated in quite a few school festivals where I've been a vendor and sold books which seems like the perfect environment for children's picture books. In fact, I've found that parents and kids are more focused on festival/carnival type activities than buying books. They want to play games, win a cake in the cake walk. buy junk food and get their face painted. If you are going to participate in this type of festival, you need to have something at your booth that appeals to kids and draws them in. Simply displaying your wares and waiting for the sales to happen isn't going to work.
3. Have a visually appealing set up.  Do something that attracts attention and is engaging.  Just having a few books stacked up, or brochures laid out is not enough.  There needs to be a sense of abundance at your booth.  If products look scarce, people don't feel it's worth their while to stop.  They can see from a distance the one book you are offering and check it off their list.  Is there something they can touch?  Can they flip through the book?  Can they see how they might package the book with a a puppet and tie it up with a bow for a gift?  At my latest vendor booth, I packaged my three children's books together and tied a big Christmas bow around them and displayed them on a stand.  It was easy and an instant holiday idea.
4. Tell a story. Everyone loves a story and it is stories that sell products.  No one buys a book just for the story between the covers. Readers like to know the story behind the story.  How did you come up with the idea?  Is the main character like you or someone you know?  What other interesting things can you share about the book and how it is used by others?  Engage your customer by showing the features of the book.  I like to point out my favorite illustrations.  I point out the information at the back of the book that can help parents and kids learn more from the book.  Which leads me to the next point....
5. Develop a relationship with your customer.  Don't just be interested in getting them to buy your product.  Ask yourself, "What does this person need and how can I help them?"  This is the secret to how I got past my fear of selling.  I stopped thinking of it as selling and started thinking of it as helping.  Although I have a goal of selling books, my top priority is how can I help each individual I meet.  Sometimes I help by listening to their story and making suggestions.  Sometimes I help by telling them how I started writing and publishing books because they mention that they'd like to write.  Sometimes I help by suggesting other products, books, blogs, conferences or authors  that they could benefit from.  In other words, selling  my book is secondary to helping meet their needs.  Zig Ziglar said, "You can have anything you want if you just help enough people get what they want"  and I find this to be true everytime.
6. Create a package where people feel they are getting more for their money.  I can sell one book or I can sell all three as a package and give a discount.  People are just naturally drawn to not only getting a deal, but getting more, especially where there is a connection or theme.
7. Give something away to everyone.  Even if someone does not purchase a book, I try to have giveaways that I can share.  I've partnered with a local doggie boarding and daycare business and they give me doggie treats and coupons for their business to pass out.  You can give away bookmarks, coloring sheets for kids, a brochure... the list is endless.  What I don't find to be helpful is to have a bowl of candy on the table.  It doesn't say anything about what is special about you and your product.  Be unique and relevant with your give-aways.  I also usually have something in reserve to give something away as part of the conversation that I have, not just something to grab and go from the table. 

Well there you have it.  My seven selling secrets that I've gleaned from a few years of marketing and selling my books, speaking progams and coaching sessions. Would you add anything to the list?  What have you learned about selling your product? 

Want to learn more about goal setting and how to Be Do Have, even with a busy life?  Join me for a free teleseminar on February 19th with Jen McDonough!  Details are here:  Teleseminar

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What Does It Take To Sell a Book?

Decatur Book Festival (Photo credit: The Suss-Man (Mike))

Over Labor Day Weekend, I attended the Decatur Book Festival.  Since I am in the process of launching two new books, I considered investing in a booth there. Billed as the largest book festival in the southeast, it has been in existence for seven years and although I've often thought about checking it out, this was my first visit.  After discovering the cost of a booth (pretty pricey I'm afraid), I decided to go to the festival and do some research to determine how worthwhile it would be.  I had several things to investigate.

First Booklogix, the publishing company that published my most recent Wyatt book had a large booth and was sponsoring a tent for "emerging writers".  I had been asked to participate in that venue but I really wanted to see how worthwhile it was before I invested money in a booth or a table.  I found the Booklogix booth was hopping but mainly because it had some very energetic people promoting the contests they had as well as a couple of authors promoting their books.

The most successful author in the Booklogix tent was Mark Diamond and here's why.  His wife was actually the one there selling the books and I"ll give her credit for discovering a great way to engage children.  She did this by teaching them an origami trick.  Here she is with some of her interested customers....

She had several books for sale.  One was on various origami tricks to teach children.  The others were on how to teach children to write.  Teaching children to write is something I'm interested in, so guess what?  I bought her books. Three of them.  This example shows two things.  First no matter how good your book is, you aren't going to sell it to someone who has no interest in the topic.  I visited one whole booth that consisted of about eight authors who all wrote variations on Jane Austen stories.  I was intrigued with the idea and actually talked to several of them but I didn't buy a book.  Why?  I'm just not a fan of that type of book.

Here's the second thing I found which is something I wrote about in a previous blog.  In order to sell a book (or anything really), you must engage people in someway.  The author I just mentioned engaged me in conversation right away and the fact that she had a book with a very practical way to engage children through origami caught my attention.  This is selling at it's best.  It is discovering what your customer needs and providing that.  It is helping people in some way.  It is building a relationship.  We not only talked about teaching children origami but when she found out I was a teacher, she told me about her books on teaching children to write well and the workshops they offer for teachers.  She mentioned contacts we might know in common in the county I work in.  The three books I bought from her, were the only books I bought at the festival.  Why?  Because she had books on a topic that I was interested in.  Because she built a relationship.  It's really that simple.

I visited lots of booths.  Some booths were very busy.  

Some booths were not.  

But the lesson I learned proved true in each case:  In order to sell your book, you must first find a way to market it to the right audience.  You are never going to sell Harry Potter to someone who dislikes fantasy.  You are never going sell a book on how to train a dog to someone who doesn't own one.  But even with the right customer present, you must engage them somehow.  You must get out from behind the table, you must get up off your chair, you must have something more interactive than a bowl of candy and you must build a relationship.  If you aren't willing to do this... well you might as well spend the day at home writing a few chapters in your next book.

Would you agree?  What do you think it takes to sell a book... or two?

Here's the books I bought:

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