The Top 10 Secrets of Successful Authors
BY JUDY CULLINS
If you are not a successful author yet,
incorporate the following 10 secrets:
1. Treat your book as a business.
You spend many hours creating a
masterpiece to help your audience. It follows then, you need to set up a
regular time schedule to market and promote it.
2. Create a flyer for each book you offer.
Hand out your flyer at business
meetings or at any public place. Ask your audience to pass the flyer
along to friends and associates. Offer one free report or ezine on the
flyer to get new email addresses to send promotion to later.
3. Create a line or two about your book in your
signature file that goes on every email you send.
After your name, title, and benefit
statements, add something like: "Write your eBook or Other Book — Fast!"
Include your addresses and phone numbers too.
4. Invest some money in book marketing.
Contact a book coach and schedule a
low-cost introductory session to see if you are a match and will get
what you need. Many authors print too many copies or use an expensive
service to get book finished instead of putting aside an equal amount to
market it.
5. Take a teleclass on how to market your book.
These low cost and low time investments
can make your book the great seller it should be. Discover inexpensive
ways to market via the phone and email. How convenient!
6. Don't get fooled by high-cost services.
If it's too good to be true, it isn't
true. When you hire someone to do it all for you, it can cost over
$1,000 a month with small results. Check out what services fit your
budget, and get a realistic picture of what your results will be.
7. Delegate some of the marketing.
Like me, hire a low-cost computer
assistant from your local high school. They know more than many
professionals. For under $10 an hour, you can multiply your promotion
exponentially via ecommerce your assistant does for you 2-3 times a
week.
8. Set a dollar goal for your book each month.
Don't count copies sold. Count each
month's book sales. Put your goal near your workstation to remind you of
what you want. Don't price your book too low, so you'll appreciate an
easy experience — getting what you deserve for all your work.
9. Learn more about Internet book marketing.
Think about reaching hundreds of
thousands of your audience every week. When you give them what they want
— free information — they will eventually buy. Many authors go the
traditional path of talks, ads or press releases. They don't always pay
well for the effort.
10. Don't stop marketing.
Many clients come to me and say they
are discouraged their book didn't sell well in four months. Replace
doubt with patience for the process. Success takes many months, but once
you get it, the Internet keeps it multiplied for you.
Knowing the secrets of successful
authors can help you receive the same prestige and become a household
word.
Copyright © 2004 Judy Cullins
Judy Cullins is a 20-year book and
Internet marketing coach who works with small business people who want
to make a difference in people's lives, build their credibility and
clients, and make a consistent life-long income. She is the author of 10
ebooks including Write Your eBook Fast and How to Market
Your Business on the Internet; she offers free help through
her website's 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says... and Business Tip of the Month.
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