By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin
With the rapid expansion of
self-publishing (1.6 million books last year), you have to be careful in some
regards which company you select, but overall, it is easy to make a book.
Selling those books to readers is the major issue for every
author—whether they verbalize it or not. Everyone is searching for a magic
bullet which catapults them to the bestseller list and sells many books.
Are you ready for the hard truth
from my decades in publishing? There is no magic bullet or path to become a
bestseller. If such a path existed, every book from every
publisher would become a bestseller. There are many well-written books,
well-designed books which have dismal sales. What will make the
difference?
In this article I want to give
you a few of these best practices of bestselling authors. I understand there are
many others here's a few critical ones:
1. Bestselling authors understand
and maintain a relationship with their readers. These authors spend time
to cultivate and nurture this relationship. They devote lots of attention to
building an active email list. I've read the articles where
people say email is over but this long-term tool is key because each author
controls their own email list for things like frequency, tone and building these
relatinships through email. There are many tools for building this list like
ConvertKit, MailChimp, AWeber and many others. As an author, pick one, learn to
use the tool then actively use it repeatedly with your readers.
2. Bestselling authors
create multiple paths to their
email list. Whether these authors are on a podcast or a radio program
or a guest blog post or a teleseminar or ????, they have created a “gift” or a
“freebie” which is something attractive to their readers. Their readers can only
gain access if they give this author their first name and email address. Some
authors collect even more detailed information. These freebies are called lead magnets and take creativity and effort to create, then
maintain. Check my link to see some of what I've created and get ideas.
Every author needs to be creating these multiple paths of connection which lead
to your email list.
3. Bestselling authors understand
and use various forms of media like radio and podcasts. They
have built relationships with effective publicists who can book these events for
them.
4. Bestselling authors
build an active presence on various forms of social media. Yes
these platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are “rented” and
nothing they control. They understand they have to be wise (read careful) about
what they post so they don't get cancelled yet they find tools like Hootsuite or
Buffer, then use those tools consistently to reach their readers—and guide them
back to their email list.
5. Bestselling authors
understand the power of advertising and invest in Facebook Ads,
Amazon Ads, etc. Yet they hire the right people to help them or learn the inside
scoop about it before investing into it. For example, bestselling self-published
author Mark Dawson has a course which is only open a few times a year (follow this link to see it or at
least get on his notification email list) or watch some of these testimonial videos of his
students.
6. Bestselling authors are
always learning and growing in their craft and various tools to
reach new readers. It's something I've built into each of these various aspects.
Instead of searching for a magic
bullet, I encourage you to mirror some of these practices for your writing life.
Just pick one or two and begin taking action. My brief list is not exhaustive so
let me know some other aspects in the comments below.
Tweetable:
W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. His work contact information is on the bottom of the second page (follow this link). He has written for over 50 magazines and more than 60 books with traditional publishers. His latest book for writers is 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed. Get this book for only $10 + free shipping and over $200 in bonuses. He lives in Colorado and has over 190,000 twitter followers.
