You will not sell books unless you promote them.
I had this dream when I published my first book. In this dream, I sold thousands of copies of my first book. I became a #1 bestseller. And I was making money hand over fist.
In reality, I sold a few hundred books. I wasn’t a #1 bestseller upon launch. And I actually lost money on the endeavor.
However, I learned a valuable lesson.
Self-publishing books meant that I would need to promote those books. Most of all, I would have to have a game plan to do it effectively. Once I figured this out, things changed.
In the liberation of my ability to promote, I have launched every single one of my books to #1 Bestseller status on Amazon. Last night, my latest book hit that #1 spot too. Best of all, I see regular purchases monthly!
Today, I wanted to share three things I have learned along the way.
3 Important Lessons About Promotion
These three lessons have helped me reach four #1 bestselling books. They have helped me sell over 6,000 books. And it has given me a vision to keep publishing books. So, without further ado, let’s get into these lessons.
1. You need to spend money to make money.
You need to spend money on an editor, cover designer, and on book promotions. For your first book, you probably will not make this money back. However, with books after this, it will compound on how much you can make.
2. You need to shamelessly share your book with people.
People will buy your book. They will love it too. But they won’t know about it unless you share it with them. My first book has sold quite a few copies to people from my day job. In fact, one of my old supervisors buys my book for every new rep to her team. That wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t share my book with people.
3. You won’t strike gold on your first book.
I didn’t break even on my first book until two years later. Want to know why? Because it was my first book. And because I didn’t promote it well. However, once I learned to promote it, I started seeing it go out the doors and finally made money on it. If you accept this, it will help you in the long run.
Final Thoughts on Book Promotion
Without promotion, you might as well start the funeral procession for your book. It will die a quick death to be lost in the wave of published books out there.
However, this doesn’t have to be the case. With a promotion plan, a lot of work, and sharing it like crazy, you can see your book get into the hands of a lot of people. And you might even make a little money off of it too.
So, if you have a book or product, share it in the comments on the Substack page and be sure to check out other people’s books and products!
This week, I am doing a free book promotion with my latest book, check it out now!
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who loves helping people grow in their faith and help writers become authors. You can connect with him on Medium, his website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Substack!
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I’m really hoping I have the promotion right for this one. As you say the other two have just broken even but it took a long time.
This is my first fiction piece so a little different from past releases. I’m curious to see how it goes.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B71QQQSW/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=13I5BGFXETFCY&keywords=sam+h+arnold&qid=1658242794&sprefix=sam+h+arnold%2Caps%2C59&sr=8-2