3 Reasons Books Sell and 3 Reasons Why I Know

Submissions The Business of being an Author

3 Reasons Books Sell and 3 Reasons Why I Know

I’m not a New York Times Best seller. It’s been years since I was an Amazon bestseller. Who am I and what qualifies me to have this knowledge?

First, you need to know I’m a woman of business. While I love love love reading, characters, and stories. And I understand that if there isn’t money to be made those stories can go away.

Second, I am a publisher. And while I am new to the publisher game I worked for more than one publisher in the past. In the last few years I’ve spearheaded projects for authors who wanted to self-publish, in a addition to working with authors and speakers on their marketing and online platforms.

Third, and finally, I asked. I count myself freaking lucky to be surrounded by authors who are on so many best seller lists. And I’m humble enough that when I started this venture I reached out to at least 4 other small presses I know and asked. “What makes a book successful?”

It’s these three reasons that qualify me to create this list. I invite you to decide for yourself.

Cover art: Nothing short of professional will do. This is what they see first. This is what gets them to venture further into the book and read the blurb. This moves them further to the buy button. (Side note: Professional doesn’t have to break the bank. Professional can be defined many ways.)
Blurb: If they this then this is what my pawpaw, the fisherman, would call a “nibbler”. Nibblers are WHAT WE WANT! The way we close the deal is to have an out of this world blurb that peeks their interest and gets them to hit the buy button. If you can’t write a good blurb then pay or work with someone to do it for/with you.
Editing: Nothing short of professional will do. Your cover teased them. Your blurb tantalized them enough to buy. Now as they are reading YOU DO NOT WANT TO LET THEM DOWN! If you do, the best thing that can happen is they get a refund and they keep their mouth shut. The worst thing is they keep the books and obliterate your book’s editing. This makes you, your editor, and your publisher (if you have one) look BAD! We don’t want that. We want them to love this book so much they are on Amazon looking for more books by you. Or they are clicking on the link to sign up for more books BY YOU when they release.

Take these words to heart. Keep them in the back of your mind. Iron them on a shirt you made your cat. Whatever, you need to remind yourself of the value of these three pieces please DO IT!

We are only as successful as we all continue to be. We need each other. We need readers. And readers need us.