Write a Book… Publish A Book…Then Market That Book?

I can say that when I began the journey to write a book, I understood that there were many steps to the process of writing.  I thought that once I’d published the book, since I write a blog there would be readers who would at some point buy a copy.

I didn’t think much about marketing beyond that.  I believed that I had some marketing done before the book was released, but I was not being realistic.  I didn’t do something I like to call “worst case marketing.”  I hoped people would purchase a book.

So, should you write a book, publish a book, and then market that book?

Yes, you should.  I have a few suggestions based upon my own experience.

1) Don’t believe the hype.  By this I mean, don’t overestimate how many books you can write, and also don’t underestimate how much marketing you will have to do to get the book sales you want.  Go beyond simply thinking about the number of sales you have and think about what work you will need to do if the book does not sell as well as your hoped — you have to market hard to sell your book.  (In this case, a lot of links to Amazon, or writing online articles.) 

If you overestimate the good things, you are believing the hype.  The hype is just expecting the best and not believing the worst might happen

2) Have someone else…  Don’t underestimate the value of another pair of eyes, be it with editing or even taking a look at a business plan of yours.

3) Know your market:  There is a place where anyone can sell their book online (it’s called Amazon,) but the truth is, not everyone wants to buy the book you have published. The reality is there are very few Harry Potters or Fifty Shades out there, and as a friend of mine said, even they had a market they were targeting.

4) Know your market format: For example, you can market your book in paperback or in e-book format and still have success with it, or you can focus on one format or the other.While the market out there can handle two formats of your book, you should choose which format you will market more, and what sort of services you can afford to use.  (Kindle offers the Kindle Select program, but there are drawbacks to this service.)

5) Have a business plan: This is one of the hardest things to write, next to your book.  It is also one of the most important since the meat of it can mean that your book will sell well or it will not sell at all.  The focus you choose to place on this plan might mean the difference between having more sales or less success — which equates to profit — and at this point you can argue that you did publish your book as close to free as you could (minus time it took to write your book.)