How to Promote, Market and Sell More Copies of Your Self-Published Christian Book
Here are 11 ways to sell more copies of your book...
1) Make full use of your church netawork
Are you part of a denomination / church network? Be sure to contact your regional and national co-ordinators / overseers to request a table at all regional and national events.
Also, if your church denomination’s headquarters sends out newsletters / magazines / e-blasts, be sure to ask to have your book included in them.
2) Tell all your friends
Mention your book in conversations, and also send an email to all your friends telling them about it.
3) Always carry a copy of your book with you
You never know when you may meet someone you may wish to give a complimentary copy of your book to. However, be careful not to give away too many copies!
4) Use social media
If you have a Facebook / Instagram / Twitter account, be sure to promote your book on these services. If you don’t have one, then set one up (especially Facebook!). It doesn’t cost you anything, so you have nothing to lose.
5) Use marketing services
Now that you have exhausted your own contacts, make use of a professional marketer to advertise your book. This will enable your book to reach a wider audience. For printed books we have published , we can also place an advert of your book in Christian Advance, which is a Christian catalogue circulated to 5,000 Christian retailers, 4,000 ABA retailers, and 3,000 Librarians in the US. This service costs £95. Contact us for more information.
6) Ensure that your book is available at major online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.
When you market your book through any of the above means, it is essential that your audience can quickly and conveniently purchase your book using a trusted method. This is best achieved by having your book on established and popular online retailers. When you we publish your book, you have the option of making your book available to over 39,000 booksellers, online retailers and libraries worldwide, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble and many more.
7) Ensure that you have an eBook version of your book
eBooks are clearly the way forward. They enable your customer to easily purchase your book and have it immediately on their tablet / iPad / computer / smartphone. My personal experience has been that the vast majority of my online sales have been the eBook versions of my books.
We can create an eBook version of your book and make it available to all the major eBook sellers (Amazon Kindle, Nook, iTunes etc.).
8) Approach your local bookstores
You would be surprised at how easy it is to get your book in local bookstores. Visit the store in person, and tell them that you have written a book and would love it to be available at your store. If we have published your book, and have opted to have your book available to the major retailers, then the bookstore should be able to order your book from Ingram (a major distributor).
Alternatively, you can directly offer the bookstore copies of your book on a sale-or-return basis. This means that you will personally give the store an agreed quantity of your book, and agree with them the percentage of the retail price that they will give you for each book sold. For a free example sale or return agreement, please click here.
9) Have a professional website
It is very important to have an online presence. Your website should include a link to your book, ideally via one of the major online retailers such as Amazon. The best way to include links is to use the tools provided by Amazon’s associates program. For an example of using tools provided by Amazon’s associate programme, click here.
It is also recommended that you include articles on your website that are related to your book. That way, when people are searching Google for articles about your book subject, they will hopefully come to your website, where they will be able to find out about your book.
10) Use TV and radio media
Contact a Christian TV station (such as Revelation TV) and ask them to interview you about your book and ministry. There may be a cost involved, but it will give you exposure that you would not have otherwise had.
11) Always sell your book at speaking / ministry engagements
If you have a public ministry, then speaking engagements are a great place to sell your book. You will find that these engagements are where most of your sales come from. Therefore, always ask for a table to be provided when you minister.
Similarly, if you have written poetry, ask to be given the opportunity at conferences / church events to share some of your poetry, and then let the audience know that your poetry book is available at the event.
Now, this last piece of information is very important. At events, make sure you can accept card payments! This will improve sales as lots of people do not carry cash. I recommend that you use a company called iZettle. They provide a small card reader that work with your smartphone. For more information, click here.
I hope the above information is useful. If you have not already published your book, why not use our professional and affordable publishing services? Click here for more information.