I want to make money as an indie writer and one of the key ways to do that is by receiving royalties from selling books. But, as you can imagine, selling my books is an enormously complicated, time-consuming and long-term journey. It’s not a sprint, a get-rich-quick scheme, a golden ticket to riches or fame, and it’s not a sure bet, either. It’s tough, but it’s also incredibly rewarding. I know you want to sell your books, too, so let’s see how we can do that.
There are two key factors when it comes to selling indie books: stuff under your control and stuff out of your control.
The stuff under your control with selling your books includes what you write, how you present it (cover, blurb, etc.), how you present yourself to readers, how you market yourself, and what you give to readers.
The stuff out of your control can drive you crazy! It keeps writers up sleepless night after sleepless night. It’s nail-biting, hair-raising and extremely annoying. You can’t control whether your readers like your book, whether they’ll buy it or not, what awards it will win or not, your total sales, how popular it will be, and if it will be The Next Big Thing. And we ALL want to be The Next Big Thing!
Whew. It’s kind of a relief to see the stuff on the table that you can’t depend on. It moves that stuff out of the way so you can focus on the stuff you CAN control, so you can sell more books.
What You Write
This is the first – and most important – thing you can do to sell more indie books. Honestly, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what genre you write, what characters you’ve created, what plot you chose or where it’s set. You just need to write the best book you can write. Don’t slack off on this! It’s a lifelong practice, but what you write will hook enough readers that they call yours “a good book” and want to come back for more.
How You Present Your Book
Picture the shelves in a bookstore. Row after row after row of books of all shapes, sizes, colors and topics. Millions of hours have gone into designing book covers, editing, formatting and everything else that goes into creating a finished book. After writing the damn thing, to sell the most amount of indie books, you will present it in its most attractive package. Cleanly edited, no spelling or grammatical errors, perfect formatting with page numbers, headers and fonts, the front cover design, the back cover blurb, and the overall size, paper type, and whether it’s published hardcover or paperback or digital.
How You Present Yourself to Readers
Writers aren’t divas. Neither are we pale scribbling creatures who only come out at night to nibble from the fridge before we dart back to our desk! Present yourself professionally and courteously to your readers both online and in person. They’re curious to know you and will be pleased to see a respectful and mature image. Get professional author photos, write a great blurb about yourself, have an updated website or blog, get involved on Facebook and Twitter. You’ll sell more books when people see how awesome you are!
How You Market Yourself
I suck at marketing. I can update my Facebook author page, bumble around on Twitter, add a few more blog entries here. When asked what I do, I’m more apt to say “I’m a freelance tech article writer” than “Uh, er, um … I write novels? Set in the 19th century?” It’s a confidence thing, but I’m not alone. I actually read a book called “The Shy Writer,” and I’m sure it’s sold plenty of copies. But how you market yourself is one of the strongest indicators for selling books, so we’ve all got to belly up to the bar and do it. Luckily, we don’t have to do it alone. Get a publicist or marketer. Your talent is writing. Leave the hand-shaking to the professionals.
What You Give to Readers
Ironically, what you actually give to your readers isn’t a book. It’s an experience of emotions and thought that you want them to turn to again and again. You want them to tuck it on the shelf with a satisfied smile, chat about it at lunch with coworkers, throw it in a suitcase on their way to Cleveland, and hell – a place by the porcelain throne wouldn’t be bad, either. But to sell those books and have them be a part of your readers’ lives, you give, too. What you give to readers is yourself. It’s scary and it’s vulnerable and I’ve cried about it. I sit at the kitchen table, my mind blank, and I would rather be back at call centers answering customer service complaints. So, to sell more books, to make a living at what you do, and to write the good books, the ones that influenced you … give your all to your readers.
You’ve got a lot on your plate when it comes to selling books. Your writing life will be filled with a variety of stuff to do, not just writing. You’ll also be turning those Microsoft Word files into books, marketing them, being a professional author, and selling more copies.
It’s a commitment to yourself and to your craft.
So great to have you stop by and read more about making a great living as a fiction writer. There’s more coming each week, so if you feel this helped you in any way, toss your coins into my purse on your way out of the 19th century and back into the modern era.
If you are out of coins, please pass this article on to other fiction writers who have big dreams of publishing and full-time writing.
My deepest gratitude to all who have donated and helped me along the way. Your comments and donations are wonderful and definitely keep me going. Thank you!
Love, Meg
