I am not an author but I am married to one and I have noticed that writing and selling your book is similar to running a business. In the business world what makes your products or services stand out from the competition? In other words why should I do business with you over your competition? Is it because my offering is made of the highest quality, the most expensive, the best buy, the least expensive, best warranty, etc., you get my point? So what makes you (or your book) different and why should I buy it?
My Father-in-law is an author and I used to always ask him what is your strategy to sell your book and why should I buy it over another one? He used to tell me that his books would shed new light on a centuries' old question concerning the mystic of Rennes Le Chateau. He said his book would show where all the treasures were buried by the Knights Templar and Visigoths and he had a cypher key to "prove" it. Sadly the treasures still have not been found and he is not a best selling author yet.
So what is your strategy to differentiate yourself from others to sell more books? Sometimes when I am interviewing job applicants I want to see how they think on their feet so I would ask them a simple question to see how they would answer it. I would say "it is over 100 degrees outside and you are selling ice cream at a park and there are 5 other ice cream vendors at the same park, how are you going to differentiate yourself from the others to sell more ice cream?" I was looking for creative answers and many times would not get any. I expected at least an attempt such as I would position mine as all organic or I would be the cheapest or I would run a promotion of buy 4 and get one for free or I would work longer hours.
Selling a book needs to have a strategy with tactics. Is your story and cover so good that it will sell itself? Will you be going door-to-door or bookstore-to-bookstore promoting your book? Do you plan to advertise it heavily when it is first released? Will you be orchestrating a rapid release of two or three other books you have just written? How do you plan to spread the word? Relying on luck and word of mouth will only take you so far.
In other posts I will address different tactics for how to promote your book and get the most sells until then happy selling.
