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How to Sell a Book and Be a Respected Author



If you ask most authors, their goal is to write a bestselling book. Being able to call yourself a bestselling author improves your professional prospects in many ways. When you're in the planning stages and thinking through how to sell a book, make sure your author platform is well developed. A platform refers to the group of people you can reach with your message (or story) – and therefore will buy books. A highly engaged audience equates to customers, which is what every business needs to succeed, and book publishing is a business. Fans who have bought into the author's message are vital.

For all books, the content is the crucial success factor, and any title that succeeds has outstandingly helpful or entertaining content. To have a bestseller, you need to sell thousands of books within a week or other short periods – sometimes referred to as a high sales velocity. It's when having a loyal and interested fan base comes in. When you as an author can activate a large group of fans who will take action and buy books, it helps achieve a bestseller. Although bestseller status doesn't need to happen the first week a book is released, it quickly builds momentum at retail.

No two authors are alike, and the same is true for their fans. Some have a group of more highly engaged followers, and others require a larger pool of fans to spark the same sales results. For book sales, word-of-mouth is a powerful driver, and social media shares and likes can contribute to building a buzz. At the same time, authors need to be mindful of writing books related to their audience and brand – something fans will enjoy and find interesting based on what they know and love already. There have been authors with enormous fan bases who have had flops because they strayed too far off-topic.

Therefore, planning and alignment with fan interests are crucial. It can be tempting to try to branch out into other areas to tap into new markets or follow your own interests. But it works best when it's a gentle evolution rather than an all-out change in your topic. Fans need time to become familiar and to build their interest in the new subject. Despite all of the technological breakthroughs of recent decades, nothing outperforms enthusiastic word-of-mouth recommendations from one fan to another. If you write an excellent book related to your topic/brand, you have a better chance of a bestseller.

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