Author Book Marketing

The world certainly has more writers, but apparently it needs more readers, too. According to Bowker (who handles ISBN's), there were 211,000 self-published books put on the market last year, up almost one-third in two years. Did you contribute to that total? Turner Publishing expects to crank-out over 1,000 titles this year - and focuses on first printings between 5,000 and 10,000. Their marketing has to be spot-on and conservative to keep in line with those small but realistic numbers. Obviously re-prints are based on performance, and many titles rise in sales to reach six-figures, but what about your book? Last year the average (according to Bowker, again) self-published fiction book sold for $6.94 - in softbound. Nonfiction works commanded nearly three times that figure, and sold more copies on average! Next, take into account that e-books accounted for 41% of self-published units, but only accounted for 11% of sales dollars, mostly due to the average e-book sales price ...

When I'm busy elsewhere it seems like I just can't wait to get to work on my latest novel ( Dying to Be Slim ), but when I sit at the computer, there I go to Twitter, Facebook, my emails, my book sales.........anything but the manuscript! How much time needs to go into marketing and social media these days to be successful? Well, although I have a degree in marketing, so much has changed in the last ten years with regard to selling books I sometimes feel like I have no idea anymore. Publishers still use book wholesalers, book tours and good-old-fashioned TV/Radio/print marketing to drive sales, but publishers are increasingly more reluctant to take on new authors. That's understandable, and fortunately it's easier to publish your own work these days, so there are options for those of use who are inclined to self publish.  In my case, if I actually finish the novel I'm working on (maybe by the end of the next month) I won't be heartbroken if I can't fi...