What To Do When Your Book Hasn’t Sold

Posted by Pam on Sep 9, 2012 in Blogging | 0 comments

New York Times best-selling Christian author, Michelle McKinney Hammond has said on my Chocolate Pages podcast show, “Writing a book is only 5% of the work, the other 95% is promotion and marketing.”

Today, for authors to get a book deal or even an agent, they need more than a good book idea or a great manuscript, they must:

Michelle McKinney Hammond (pictured)

1. Have a marketing mindset
2. Have a strong personal brand online
3. Have a national author platform
4. Be willing to be relentless in promotion

Of course you start out with a great product. That’s a given. There are tons of resources to help you learn how to write better and conferences to attend.

But I want to be straight forward, there is no “silver bullet” or magic pill that will instantly get you to the top of the best sellers lists. It takes work. It takes time. It takes lots of prayer.

You have to:

Be clear on your message. Have a mission, a calling – deliver that passion via blogs, videos, podcasts and by speaking to group and organizations.
Package your brand. You can’t be haphazard about it. Be very strategic. A brand is more than a logo, it is your vision, mission translated in various forms so your audience “gets you” and knows what to expect when they experience you.
Know your audience – inside and out. Beyond what they are, but what problems do they have – and how you can help them. Know where they are hanging out online and offline. What media do they consume and who do they admire. How do you gain their trust.

Knowing your niche, interacting with them and creating regular content – these are the elements that will help you sell books.

Don’t just post on Facebook and Twitter all day “buy my book.” That’s a quick way to get “unfollowed” and “unfriended.” Instead, engage with your ideal audience, offer advice, give value and be CONSISTENT.

Yes, publicity will help – but you can’t get media attention if you don’t have the above elements. Just like baking a cake, you need all the right ingredients – skipping one of them will not deliver the results you’re looking for.

So, if you are a visionary who is serious about escalating your brand equity, strengthening market position and widening reputation cloud with creative content strategies, apply for the PR 2.0 and Platform Building Bootcamp.

Also, successful authors read! Here’s a list of books to help you leverage social media (and learn to blog better) to build your platform. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ministrymarketingsolutions/blog/2010/10/20/web-20-recommended-reading-list-from-pam-perry