One of the best ways to sell books is to have a community of raving fans. The more developed your community, the more likely it is they will buy every book you publish.
This post is not about how to publish your book. It’s about selling your book once it’s published.
It’s all about strategies including list building strategies, marketing and promotions strategies, visibility strategies, and sales strategies.
“Build it and they will come” does not apply to writing books. You build it, and then letting them know you did so is the only way you will sell your books. Successful authors, those who actually make money from their work, know they must take full responsibility for marketing their books.
If you have not embraced this fact you may as well accept right here, right now, that not many people will be reading your work. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you will be the exception to the rule and somehow you will miraculously be discovered.
The first thing that needs to happen is for you, the author, to admit and accept you must take responsibility for the success of your books. Don’t fool yourself into thinking anyone will ever be as passionate about your writing as you are
One of the greatest resources any author can have is a list of potential buyers. With a solid list, you are in a position to sell lots of books each time you write and digitally publish one.
Begin today to build an opt-in subscriber list. There are a number of ways to build your list. The easiest is to offer an ethical bribe in trade for the person’s name and email address. The ethical bribe (a giveaway of some sort) needs to be enticing, valuable and in some way connected with the genre of your book.
For example, if your book is on relationships, you can give away a report – The Top Ten Ways to Make Any Relationship Sizzle. The more you focus on building a list of potential readers the better.

The sooner you start the better

While you’re working on your book, invest time each and every day to build your list. This way, as soon as your book is released, you’ll have a built-in pool of buyers.
10 simple ways to build a list of potential buyers:

1. Blog on the same topic of your opt-in gift (which amazingly is directly related to the topic of your book!)
2. Announce your giveaway with media releases.
3. Shoot a short video about the giveaway and post on YouTube directing viewers to the opt-in page.
4. Post an announcement of your giveaway on your Facebook wall.
5. Write and submit articles to three top article directories. Be sure to include a resource box at the end of your article with a link back to your opt-in page.
6. Guest blog for blogs that have a readership similar to your own. Again, at the end of your post direct readers to the opt-in page.
7. Be a featured expert on online radio programs. Be sure to get permission from the host or producer to promote your giveaway. Often, if they know you are offering something, they will be happy to encourage listeners to download your offer.
8. Write articles for traditional trade journals with a readership similar to your own. As with article marketing and guest blogging, direct readers back to your opt-in page by having a resource box at the end of your article.
9. Frequent a few key forums where your potential readers hang out. If you are writing on health and nutrition, find 2 or 3 top forums in which you can get involved. Keep in mind you are not there to simply promote your giveaway. You are there to add value to existing conversations and to begin your own conversations. The more you position your expertise, the more likely it is forum participants will visit your website. Be sure to have your giveaway visible on your site.
10. Get involved in Joint Venture (JV) campaigns, where you can offer your giveaway as a bonus. JV campaigns are not as well received as in the past for one very simple reason—they got overused, and a lot of junk was being offered. As long as you keep value in the forefront of your mind, you should have no problem making JV campaigns work for you.

Quit Pushing the Boulder Uphill

Any author who wants to sell lots and lots of digital books must have an opt-in list of raving fans. Even though it is possible to succeed without one, it’s like rolling a boulder uphill with a twig. You might eventually achieve your goal, but you’ll likely break your back in the process.
Start now to build your list to secure a pool of eager readers for whatever you publish. Then you too can count yourself among the ranks of successful authors!
Once you have your list, now comes marketing your book. Get my FREE report – Hit #1 on Amazon CLICK HERE. 
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