How I Plan To Sell My 7-Year Old Novel Like Crazy
There is no such thing as dead content.
When I wrote my first novel in 2015, I secretly hoped it would make me tons of money and I could retire and write full-time. I was 24. I still had so much to learn.
People ask me all the time if I want to write full-time.
When people ask what I do for a living, I usually tell them something along the lines of, “I work at ___ and I write books, too.”
I want to establish that writing is real for me. I want people to believe that it is not just a hobby. It’s a legitimate career path.
When people ask if I would like to write full-time, I usually say something along the lines of, “Sure, maybe one day.”
I am not honest, because I don’t want people to see me fail. I would rather build up the income and brand in private. Then, when the proof is there, I can show it to the world.
I cannot wait to say, “See? Look how much money I have made.”
While I am building a book business with a pen name, I am ready to sell my previous books, too.
I am scaling my profitable KDP business with my pen name.
But under my real name, I have written books that really mean a lot to me. My first book — These Are the Moments — is a personal book based on my real life.
It’s a little bit heartbreaking, a little bit heartwarming, and a whole lot of nostalgia.
Most successful indie authors will tell you that you need to keep publishing in order to make a profit. That’s true, for the most part. But when you are so focused on publishing the next thing, it can be easy to forget the books you already have.
I plan to sell my 7-year old book like crazy. This is how.
There are two key ingredients when it comes to selling your book:
- Exposure
- Algorithm
We need to start thinking of selling books in the same vein as content marketing. Authors are essentially content creators now. So, we need to treat our books like content.
To sell your book, people need to know it exists.
Here is how I am creating exposure for my book.
Social media marketing is key to getting your book on other people’s radars.
Social media does not necessarily sell books, but it is crucial for authors. Amy Daws, an author with a great Tik Tok presence, used her platform to get her 2-year old book to the top charts.
Tik Tok is the best place for writers right now.
I have seen a great response from my pen name Tik Tok. The videos that do well for me are very quick to make, and they bring a consistent stream of readers to my books.
I plan to do the same thing for my books under my real name. I just created my Tik Tok for these books, and I am in the process of creating content.
The more viewers, the more readers.
That is the way that I see it.
The Amazon algorithm is also very important when it comes to selling books.
When it comes to selling books, you and Amazon are in this together.
If your book is selling and hitting high on the Amazon charts, that incentivizes Amazon to sell your book even more. Amazon will potentially send out emails to readers recommending your book.
It will also push more readers to your books through “Also Boughts” — the recommendation feature on the bottom of a book’s page — and search results.
My job as an author is to create a great book and bring buyers to that book.
If I do that job well, Amazon will be incentivized to sell right along with me.
In the past week, I received two purchases based on Medium alone.
I was surprised to see that even in the past week, I received two purchases of These Are the Moments, just from talking about my book again.
I published this Medium article, and I am pretty confident that is where the buys came from since I haven’t really jumpstarted any other social media yet.
Again, exposure and algorithm. That’s key.
Old books — or any other kind of content — are still income. Don’t forget that.
New is not always better.
If you are not promoting your old content, you are losing out on income.
I hope to start selling this novel like crazy. And when I do, I’ll tell you all about it.
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Jenny Bravo writes books and helps other writers through trial-and-error. She’s on Instagram (@jennybravobooks) and Twitter (@jennybravobooks). You can hang out at her website, www.jennybravobooks.com.
