How To Write and Sell Books

No matter what subject your book is about, there are several ingredients that are helpful when marketing your book. If you want to sell lots of copies and make it a bestseller, then some features are essential. Everyone knows that in order for your book to be sold in retail stores, it must have an EAN barcode, an ISBN number, and certain bindings and features.

However, if you add certain less well known features to your book, you will hugely expand your book's marketability. For instance, almost every New York Times Bestseller has certain features and it would be wise to incorporate them into your book so that you improve your chances of being one of them too.

Listed below are the top 7 features that will make it much easier to promote and market your book into becoming a bestseller. When you design these features into your book (right from the beginning), you will market your book faster and better than other authors who fail to do so.

Feature 1 – Find a powerful theme and build it out. Find a flavorful title that makes people demand to know more. Write your book outline to be specific about what will attract the right people to your book. Don't just grab a bunch of your best ideas and slap a cover on it. You may get a book written quickly, but it probably won't sell very well. You need a book that you and others will be excited to market.

Feature 2 – Become known as the top expert by collecting stories from others. Ask people to share a personal story in such a way that it has a self-help element. You'll reach a bigger audience if each story provides benefits and helps the reader to see how they could apply the lesson to their own situation. Tips, strategies, insider secrets, specific examples, and important resources are things you should add to every story, whether it be yours or others.

Feature 3 – Quote lots of experts and you'll build in promotional value. Each quote should be selected to fit in the topic and message of that chapter. Some experts may be flattered enough that they will help promote your book to their customers, which helps both of you. They may even purchase books directly for their special clients and colleagues.

Feature 4 – Proactively seek out interviews and endorsements, and find the right person to do the Foreword. Use interviews with experts to get topical examples for your chapters of the book, and get audio or video clips to use for promoting. These interviews and testimonials will add credibility to your book.

Feature 5 – List all of the people and organizations who helped in creating the book. You can also try to find a company to cover the costs in return for notable attention in your book. Finding a partner to sponsor you in your book promotion is often very beneficial.

Feature 6 – Add an index so that your book is easier to read and use. This is often an overlooked feature, however it makes your book more saleable to libraries, which of course is a huge buyer of books and will increase your reading audience..

Feature 7 – Create a resource section with a topical rolodex. List numerous agencies, organizations, associations, services, and other professionals related to your book's subject. This feature will help increase your audience, and give those listed in the rolodex a reason to help you distribute and promote the book.

Bonus Feature – Include a bibliography. Many people want to buy copies of books that reference their own book in a bibliography. Also, it makes your book more attractive those doing research. Be sure to include the books from any experts who contributed stories, interviews, or examples.

ACTION STEP: The more features above you can add to your book, the easier it will be to market and promote. Put emphasis on the features that cause other people to want to help promote the book for their own sake. This makes the Law of Reciprocity work for your benefit because as they are helping themselves, they are also helping you, and vice versa.