You put months or perhaps years into writing your book. You edited it, designed a cover, published it, and finally saw it available for sale.
Then something frustrating happened.
The sales did not come.
If your self-published book is not selling, you are far from alone. Publishing a book makes it available to readers, but availability and visibility are two very different things. A book can be professionally written and still struggle to generate sales if readers do not know it exists.
The good news is that disappointing sales do not necessarily mean there is something wrong with your book. In many cases, the problem is the way the book is positioned, presented, discovered, or marketed.
Before giving up on your book, take a closer look at what may be holding it back.
1. Your Book May Not Be Getting Enough Exposure
One of the most common mistakes authors make is assuming that publishing a book will naturally lead to discovery.
Unfortunately, there are an enormous number of books competing for readers’ attention. Simply making your book available through Amazon and other retailers does not guarantee that potential readers will find it.
Think about your own buying behavior. If you have never heard of a book or its author and never see the book promoted, how likely are you to purchase it?
Successful book marketing is largely about creating opportunities for the right readers to discover your book.
That can involve advertising, publicity, email marketing, reviews, social media, interviews, author branding, promotions, and other forms of exposure.
2. Your Cover May Not Be Helping You Sell
Readers absolutely judge books by their covers.
Your cover is often the first piece of marketing a prospective reader encounters. It needs to communicate professionalism while also fitting the expectations of your genre.
A thriller should look like a thriller. A business book should look credible and authoritative. A romance novel should visually communicate something very different from a children’s book.
Look at bestselling books in your category and compare them objectively with yours.
Does your cover look as professional?
Does the title remain readable when the cover appears as a small thumbnail?
Would someone immediately understand what type of book it is?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, a redesign may be worth considering.
3. Your Amazon Book Page May Need Improvement
Getting someone to your Amazon listing is only half the battle. The listing then needs to persuade that visitor to buy.
Review your title, subtitle, book description, author biography, categories, keywords, reviews, pricing, and overall presentation.
Your book description is particularly important. It should not simply summarize the book. It should sell the reader on why the book is worth reading.
For nonfiction, that generally means clearly communicating the problem the book solves or the value readers will receive.
For fiction, it means creating enough intrigue and emotional interest to make someone want to discover what happens.
4. You May Not Have Enough Reviews
Reviews provide social proof.
When a reader encounters an unfamiliar author, reviews can help reduce the uncertainty involved in buying the book. A book with little or no reader feedback may have a more difficult time converting interested shoppers into buyers.
That does not mean authors should pursue fake or misleading reviews. Instead, authors should develop legitimate strategies for putting their books in front of readers and reviewers who may choose to provide honest feedback.
Reviews are not the entire marketing strategy, but they can be an important part of it.
5. You May Be Relying Too Heavily on Organic Discovery
Authors sometimes publish their books and wait for Amazon’s algorithm, Google searches, social media, or word of mouth to generate sales.
Organic discovery can certainly happen, but relying entirely on it is risky.
Advertising allows authors to proactively put their books in front of potential readers.
For example, Amazon advertising can place books in search results and alongside relevant competing titles. Other advertising platforms can introduce books to audiences based on interests, demographics, behaviors, and other targeting criteria.
Advertising does not guarantee sales, but it can solve one fundamental problem: nobody can buy a book they never see.
6. Your Book May Need Publicity
Advertising is not the only way to create exposure.
Publicity can help introduce an author and book to audiences through media coverage, interviews, articles, podcasts, online publications, television opportunities, and other channels.
This can be especially valuable for nonfiction authors whose expertise or personal story provides an interesting media angle.
Publicity can also provide something advertising alone cannot always create: credibility.
Being able to show that you or your book has been featured by recognizable media outlets can strengthen your author platform and give you marketing assets that can continue to be used after the original coverage appears.
Need Professional Help Marketing Your Book?
If you have already published your book but need help getting it in front of more people, you do not necessarily have to figure out the next stage alone.
MindStir Media offers professional book marketing, advertising, and publicity services for authors who want help increasing their visibility and reaching new readers.
Schedule a book marketing consultation with MindStir Media to discuss your book, your current marketing efforts, and the promotional options that may make sense for your goals.
7. You May Be Marketing to the Wrong Audience
More exposure is not automatically better exposure.
If you wrote a historical romance novel, reaching 100,000 random people may be less valuable than reaching a much smaller audience of dedicated historical romance readers.
Before spending more money on marketing, clearly define your target reader.
Ask yourself:
Who is most likely to buy this book?
What other authors do they read?
What books would mine reasonably be compared with?
Where do these readers discover books?
What message is most likely to make them interested?
The more precisely you understand your audience, the easier it becomes to build a focused marketing campaign.
8. You May Have Stopped Marketing Too Soon
A book launch is important, but marketing should not necessarily end when the launch does.
Books do not expire.
A book that was published six months, two years, or even five years ago can potentially find a new audience if the content is still relevant.
This is especially important for independent authors. Without an ongoing marketing effort, sales can decline after the initial excitement surrounding publication.
Instead of viewing book marketing as a one-week event, think about how you can continue creating new opportunities for readers to discover the book.
9. Your Book May Need a Relaunch
Sometimes the best strategy is not simply to continue doing more of the same.
It may make sense to effectively relaunch the book.
A relaunch could include a new marketing campaign, refreshed positioning, an improved description, new advertising, additional reviews, publicity, interviews, promotional pricing, new creative assets, or even an updated cover.
The goal is to create a new reason to pay attention to a book that has already been available.
A disappointing original launch does not necessarily determine the future of the book.
10. You May Need Professional Book Marketing
There comes a point when authors have to decide how much of the marketing process they want to manage themselves.
DIY book marketing is certainly possible. Authors can learn advertising platforms, contact media outlets, build email lists, develop social media strategies, solicit legitimate reviews, arrange interviews, optimize listings, and manage promotional campaigns.
The question is whether you want to do all of that yourself.
For some authors, the answer is yes.
Others would rather continue writing, running their businesses, building their careers, or simply living their lives while experienced professionals help execute the marketing.
Hiring a book marketing company does not mean abandoning your involvement. It means adding professional resources to the effort.
Don’t Assume Your Book Has Failed
Poor initial sales are information, not necessarily a final verdict.
They tell you that something about the current combination of visibility, positioning, presentation, audience, or promotion is not producing the result you want.
The next step is figuring out which variables need to change.
Take an objective look at your book. Evaluate the cover, description, reviews, pricing, audience, positioning, advertising, publicity, and overall marketing strategy.
Then determine whether you can make those improvements yourself or whether professional help would make more sense.
Talk With MindStir Media About Marketing Your Book
MindStir Media provides professional book marketing and publicity services designed to help authors generate exposure, reach readers, and build momentum around their books.
Whether your book was published recently or has been available for some time, there may be opportunities to give it a new marketing push.
Schedule a free publishing and book marketing consultation with MindStir Media to discuss your book and learn more about the marketing options available.