What Makes One Book Outsell Another?

Wouldn't you rather write a book that sells well than be stuckwith unsold inventory? When you plan ahead with the 10 tipsbelow, you will sell thousands rather than hundreds of yourunique and important information or inspirational products.1. Write non-fiction first. These books are 90% of total booksales. After non-fiction success, you can use your profits topartially finance a fiction project.2. Write short books to start. Short books in any format, likeeBooks, booklets, guides or special reports are faster, easier,and cheaper to write than full-length books of 200-300 pages.They can be as short as five pages (special reports), to eBooksthat can be 5-100pages (even longer).3. Market to a book-buying audience. Women buy far morebooks than men, about 75%. If your message benefits women, you'll do well in sales. If your book solves a problem it will sellmore. It's best to see the need and fill it rather than have anidea-then look for an audience.4. Choose your cover and title with care. Image is almosteverything. You have four seconds to impress your potentialbuyer. Be clear, use metaphor and make sure your title elicits apicture or an emotion. Keep your title short, preferably 5-7words. What solutions and results does your book promise?See more free articles including "Titles Sell Books" onwww.bookcoaching.com.5. Expand your book into a series. Think of the huge successof the Chicken Soup Series. They have one cover for all thetitles.The latest count is 68 million. Think of spin-off products thatrelate to your book. Some people prefer to learn by listeningto a cassette. You may also want to serialize your eBook,sending one part or chapter a week through an autoresponder.These formats actually help you sell more books. Other spin-offsinclude coaching, consulting, speaking, seminars, columns, orvideos.6. Impress your potential buyer within eight seconds with yourback cover copy. The biggest mistake authors make is puttingtheir title on the back cover. Since it's already on the frontcover, you need to instead, put your sparkling headline at thetop. For example, "Imagine 1000's Buying Your Book NextMonth!" It must hook your readers, stir up their emotions, andhit their desire.In 75 words or less, include the benefits your book offers.How to get more money, heart-centered relationships, more fame, more health. Less stress and time spend in a project. Includefrom 3-5 bullets of benefits, what specifics your book promisesits readers.Finally, testimonials are the number one way to turn yourpotential buyer into a "take-out-their-credit-card-buyer."For information on how to get testimonials ask a book coach.7. Create your written marketing plan before you finish chapterone. This plan covers your first year's launch period and lifetimeplan. You'll want to market at least two years. Inexperiencedauthors wait until publication and lose a great deal of sales.Your plan could include how many books you want to sell, your30 second tell and sell, book reviews, news releases, theOnline articles to market your book, the book signings, talks, electronic newsletters, and a book Web site. Without a written plan, an author creates vague results.8. Put as much time into marketing as you did the writing of yourbook. Your goal is to have people read and learn from yourunique message. Why plant a garden if you don't harvest it? JohnKremer, book marketing guru, and author of 1001 Ways toMarket Your Book, says to do five things each day. Five calls,five press releases, five Online contacts or a combination oftasks. The book coach says spend 6-9 hours a week on Onlinepromotion.9. Include Online marketing to sell more books. While you cansell your books on other sites, such as Amazon.com, you will eventually want your own. You will make much less withAmazon and you have to pay for shipping too. An author without a Web site is like a person without a name. As an entrepreneur,your site needs to attract visitors and sell your products andservice. Here you include testimonials, benefit driven headlines,and your sales letter to get your visitor to become a customer.10. Start promoting your book several ways. If press releases,book signings, and back of the room sales dim, include Onlinepromotion such as writing and submitting how-to articles to top ezines and web sites. When you use his virtual marketing machine-the Internet- you will keep your book dream alive--getting it into the hands of thousands of readers rather than a few.Start marketing your book right now, even if you don't have a Web site. Research by reading articles, contacting professional book and web coaches, or take a teleclass to find out how tolearn non-techie ways to start your lifetime book promotionjourney. Master book marketing like you would eat an elephant--one bite at a time! Watch your sales grow!