Once you're planned your book publicity and marketing campaign, it's natural to hope it sparks sales. But if you're a self-published author, are you making it easy for people to buy your book? A surprising number of otherwise well-organized writers overlook fundamental ways to maximize the sales of their books. The most important consideration is your website. Are there visible and easy-to-click links that take site visitors to places where your book is for sale? Or, have you set up your eCommerce capability (hello, Amazon Marketplace, Shopify, etc.) to sell your book directly to interested buyers?
Any place people can find you online, it should be equally easy to buy copies of your book. For example, you can add links to your Facebook fan page. It's a no-brainer, but something more than a few savvy authors overlook. Selling books today also depends on doing well in online search results, which means you need to remember keywords. They are the words you'd expect someone to speak or type into a search engine while researching books in your genre. The internet is increasingly artificially intelligent, so be sure you use keywords well in easily readable text. Getting it right with details will help a lot.
Email remains one of the most effective low-cost online marketing vehicles, and the most successful authors send newsletters. If you collect email addresses on your website or from book orders and create a periodic newsletter, it's an excellent place to mention your book and where to order copies. The goal is to gently reach your target readers with multiple opportunities to make a purchase – because you never know when they'll decide to do it. Make it easy to sign up for your newsletter and avoid anything other than a simple one or two-step process. People click away quickly from anything complicated.
Besides your website, social media, and email newsletter, wise writers maximize their author and book pages on large bookselling websites. A long-held marketing axiom says interested people want to know more. Therefore, complete all the sections you're offered on those promotional pages and populate them with engaging, user-friendly text that includes well-distributed keywords. When you take care of all the details and ensure your book is easy to order, you'll improve your chances of success. Even if selling books isn't your only goal as an author, increasing your readership is beneficial.
