Have you ever wondered why so many authors who
dare to put out their books for sale to the public tap out at 2 sales (the
average number for a self-published title) and others can sell 2 million or
more? Ok--stupid question. Of course you've wondered that. Is it just fancy
promotional material or a good sales campaign? To some degree--but the
marketing is really just a means to an end.
The truth of the matter is--knowing what sells and what doesn't sell is as
simple as knowing the hidden truth about the human condition. Alright--on the
surface that sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is. But the truth
of the matter is when we think for a few minutes it becomes very obvious what
the base human condition is in relevance to this: humans like what is familiar
to them. Humans NEED what is familiar to them. Humans seek out the familiar
even if the familiar is harmful to them. Think about all the people who end up
in toxic relationships over and over again--thin kabout all the people who buy
the brand name loaf of bread or cereal even if the store bought brand is
exactly the same thing and three dollars cheaper. Humans have a weakness for
the familiar--and the same thing applies in marketing.
The reason that marketing campaigns spend so much money on blasting their names
on the radio, on television commercials on busses, at football stadiums and in
papers is to get you to be FAMILIAR with their product or brand. For example--when
sitting at a football game--you might have no need to look at the plastic
surgery sign on the wall there. But two weeks later after a car accident--and
plastic surgery seems ideal...the one you will seek out first most likely will
be the one advertised at the stadium--why? Because the name was stuck in your
head and it was FAMILIAR to you.
Now, anyone with enough money can get the blast attention of all these people
through advertising however--we are going to assume here that the writers reading
this do not have bucket loads of money to burn through on an advertising
campaign. And that's perfectly alright--because familiarity more than any
singular method has to do with forming a RELATIONSHIP between you and your
readers. Think about it--the teenager who throws their novel together in two
weeks and self-publishes it quickly with no previous writing experience and no
existing fan base might still sell a handful of copies to their family and
friends. And by the same token--the best-selling novelist could presell 100,000
copies of their book thanks to an email before it is even finished yet. The
only difference between these two people--or at least the only difference that ultimately
matters when it comes to sales--is that the group with which each author has a
RELATIONSHIP with is vastly different in size. The best-selling author might
not be family or personal friends with the 100,000 people who pre-ordered their
book. But they already have an existing relationship with them thanks to
interviews, previous publications, mailing lists and book tours. The first
author simply doesn't have a RELATIONSHIP with a large enough group of people
to sell their work widely.
Now here is the good news. Thanks to the age we live in ANYONE can developed a
RELATIONSHIP with thousands or even millions of people via the internet. We
might not all go viral and get millions of readers--but it is definitely
possible to get a few thousand people to follow whatever you are doing if you
are consistent enough. The key is to position your writing in a way so that it develops
a relationship with people that will eventually lead to them being interested
enough to go through with a sale.
The best way to get people FAMILIAR with your work to the extent they develop a
RELATIONSHIP with you and your writing is to put as much of it out there as you
can. If you are a fiction writer or a poet--a blog that you frequently post on
would be a good idea. Eventually a website where you post free content for
people to read. Consistent content is the key thing to remember because it is
through this method that readers will keep on coming back. Plus, the way online
marketing works, the more your blog or website has, the easier it is to pick up
in search engines and to generate traffic. As people become familiar with your
work, you might start to consider having them join an email newsletter or
subscription service--they give you their email in exchange for free content.
If they trust you enough to give you their email--they must like your content.
You can use the newsletter to send the some more free work and then eventually
offer products for sale--a self-published book, an audio book, a paid
subscription to a section of your website that offers exclusive material to do
with a favorite character, or an e-version of a story or poetry collection.
The trick here is that whatever it is you are offering for sale--by the time
you offer it, your readers have already developed familiarity with what it is
you are writing and a relationship with you--the author. Having both of these
things formed--and having enjoyed the free content you have provided for the
period up until this, they might just be willing to part with a few dollars to
see more.
Of
course, these methods work quite a bit better if the writing you are posting is
quality--adds value to their lives through entertainment, information or
emotion. And it helps when you post your writing consistently and are generous
with the readers--in which case not only will traffic flow to your site through
search-engines, but also through word of mouth. In which case you can expect
the number of readers with which you have a relationship to continue to
grow--and grow steadily.
