In order to make money with your books, you have to sell them. No sales, no money. Simple.
You increase your chances of selling when you know how to market your books. For years, I’ve posted articles on my blog, trade journals, other people’s blogs and article directories about how to market books.
I’ve also posted articles on how to sell books, but nowhere near as many as marketing. Yet, selling is key to your success as an author.
The most obvious place to sell your books is on Amazon. As the largest book seller in the world, Amazon is a must do… for most authors.
Even better is hitting #1 on Amazon. That means you’re selling lots of books.
Other places to sell your books are the various online books stores, your website and blog and by posting information about your books on social media.
These online locations are great, but the selling is usually passive.
What about physical locations like bookstores? Then there are workshops, seminars and keynotes.
This Woman is Rocking It
Just today, a client told me she recently did two talks where she sold books to 80% of those in attendance. This conversion rate is incredibly impressive. 80%!!!!!!
Since her book being released, Joan Lubar has presented several times and each time, a very high percentage of attendees buy her book. Some buy more than one copy.
Rock & Roll at Any Age is fast becoming a favorite of those who attend her presentations as well as those who buy it from Amazon.
Create Your Own Rock & Roll Story
If you want to increase your book sales, live presentations are a great way to go. Not only can you make money from the books, you also open up opportunities to enroll people in your coaching programs, hire you to consult or bring you in to their organization to offer a presentation.
When I first dreamed of being a speaker who could sell my books and information products to audiences, I wasn’t quite sure where to find these opportunities.
What I discovered is, the more you speak, the more you speak. The more you speak, the more opportunity to sell books.
Where to Find Opportunities
First, don’t assume you need to get paid to speak. In many cases you can make more from speaking for free and then selling your books after your presentation.
Here are a few ideas of where to find opportunities.
- Friends, family and colleagues are a great resource for speaking opportunities.
- Chamber of Commerces in your local market
- Other speakers who have spoken to groups that have a policy to only have a speaker present one time.
- Service clubs
- Nonprofits
- SCORE – Service Corps of Retired Executives
- SBA – Small Business Association
This is a partial list of where to seek out opportunities.
Negotiate being able to sell books when you present … exthat you want to make your books available for purchase. Don’t assume they will let you do so unless you negotiate this from the start.
You have to be proactive in your approach to getting on the platform. Often, it can take weeks, ever months, to get a speaking gig. Even if the gig is a no pay situation.
Start today to look for opportunities. Do something every day. When you do, you WILL sell more books and open up more opportunity.
6 Steps to More Speaking Gigs and Sales from the Stage
To learn more access 6 Steps to More Speaking Gigs & More Sales From the Stage Cheat Sheets and Checklists.
This is what your find in this FREE resource.
- Get more word-Of-mouth referrals with an Advocates List.
- Your audience will be swearing you’re reading their minds when you use this done-for-you Pre-Event Questionaire.
- Transform your audience into buyers with this Order Form Template.
- State your speaking fees with confidence when you use this Fee Schedule Template.
- Improve every presentation and obtain leads for future speaking engagements with this handy Evaluation Form.
- Feel at ease when you present and engage your audience better with these Room Setup Arrangements.
Be sure to join the Power Up for Profits Facebook Group. Click the image below.
Absolutely true. We CAN create more profits by offering some of our devices for free. Great advise, Kathleen.
Spot on Roy. Spot on.
Hi Kathleen,
I have seen people sell other peoples books as well as their own.
Of course this works best if the other books are complimentary to what you are selling or teaching.
A great tip Doug.