We’ve just been asked by one of our new authors to help him prepare a proposal for an agent interested in his memoir.
Proposals are complicated documents.
Not only should they outline your book but they also need to show why you are the perfect person to write it, what your competition looks like, how you know your idea has a market ready and waiting and, very importantly, how many ‘followers’ you have already.
These elements are crucial to the likelihood of an agent or publisher being interested in your book.
As we were researching and constructing the proposal for our author we were again reminded how many things new authors need to prepare themselves for when writing a book. Writing the book is probably the easiest bit!
5 Step to Self-Publishing a Book that Sells
But, you know, even if you plan to self-publish you are still going to need to be able to sell books!
You are going to want to earn back your investment, aren’t you?
And we are not just talking about the costs involved (proof reading, design, editing), what about all those hours you have invested too?
We know it’s tough and that is why we have written this blog to help prepare you for the writing (and selling) road ahead. The good news is that we have lots of freely available materials to help you along the way, so read on:
1. Write a proposal even if you ‘re not looking for a publisher
Weird, right? The hard truth is that even if you are not looking to find a mainstream publisher or agent you need to act as if you are going to. Before you put pen to paper you should, just as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, you need to do the following:
- Check out the competition. Find out what else is out there and read those books too. Look at the Amazon Sales Rating Figures. Any book that has a sales ranking of less than 250,000 is considered to be doing well. See which books have made it into Bestseller Lists. See in which categories they are selling best. See, how long they are, what their covers look like, what the back cover blurb says. You need to know why your book deserves to be out there too and what it will do better or differently.
- Be crystal clear why you have the authority to write this book. Have you ‘been there, done that and got the tee-shirt’? Have you worked in this field for a decade? Do you have a qualification in the subject? Have you done a TED talk on the topic? You don’t need to have all these credentials but you must be able to prove why you are the right one for this writing job.
- Know which markets you will sell to, how large that market is, how you know that market exists and how you will target it. How many followers do you have on social media hungry for your knowledge? How many subscribers do you have to your newsletter or blog? How many talks or workshops do you give in a year where attendees are going to want to buy your book? What positions of influence do you have in related organisations?
- Plan your book outline and Table of Contents up front.
THE GOOD NEWS: You can download and complete our free Pipedream to Proposal Document from our Summertime Publishing and Springtime Books websites and complete it at your leisure.
It’s a bit like a proposal and will surely show you whether your book idea has legs or not.
2. Start building your marketing lists early
It might seem a bit premature, but you need to think about selling while you are writing.
Start making lists of websites, small businesses, blogs, magazines, newspapers, companies, schools, membership organisations, places or clubs where the members/readers might be interested in your book when it is out.
Find people with common interests on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so on and start posting and commenting.
The more people who know you and are interested in the subject matter, the more places you can invite to the launch, send review copies and promote to.
Get known for your expertise as soon as you can. Become the goto person for the topic before the book is out.
Your goal is to create a readymade marketing database.
3. Learn how to write a press release
Georgina Shaw of Shaw Marketing Services, based in Spain, has helped a number of expatriate authors to get publicity for their books.
She was my October guest for the In Conversation Masterclass and shared her belief in the immense value of sending regular and timely press releases out to your market list (see number 2, above!).
A press release should be ‘oven-ready’ so its recipients can simply lift it and use it as is in their publications and newsletters.
A press release will usually be cut from the bottom up, she told us, so you should ensure that each paragraph ends in such a way that the piece could be cut off and still make perfect sense.
If you want to find out more about this effective route to free publicity then listen out for it on the In Conversation with Jo Parfitt podcast.
As a taster, let me share a few of the many sources Georgina told us about in her conversation:
- Key in #journorequest followed by a keyword to find journalsits writing about your topic
- Research talk radio stations in your location and area of expertise
- Use https://findyourexpert.co.uk/ to add yourself as an expert in your field to a list used by journalists
- Join the Feature Me! Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/166398616795827 to access folk interested in your subject matter
4. Get ready for folk to judge your book by its cover
A cover is more than a pretty picture.
It has a title and subtitle, which, together are rich in keywords. There may be a review quote from someone famous on the front cover, a compelling blurb and then 3-5 more reviews from more influential people on the back.
Start planning your cover early and get your title and subtitle right too.
Know that the text used for the back cover blurb will likely be used as the metadata for its listings with online bookstores. It’s crucial.
5. Think of the long tail
In September, Tina Quick was my guest for the In Conversation Masterclass and we talked about ‘the long tail’.
This term is used for any books that are steady sellers over time and the tail refers to the way a graph can look after its peak, when the numbers are consistent and continuous.
Tina’s book, The Global Nomad’s Guide to University Transition, was published over ten years ago.
She recognised that her main market was international schools and so she built a database of schools and then reached out to them often, but not in a huge great mailing, but one at a time.
This personal touch has paid dividends and is partly the reason behind her success.
Tina spoke to us of all the methods she has used to ensure this consistency.
Listen to the podcast to learn her tips and tricks for yourself.
I wish you lots of luck with your book-writing process and hope that some of my ideas here will help you to create a popular, steady seller.
