Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "sales"

Sorry so long to get my next post up here! It’s been a busy busy busy week! As most of you know, I write web content for travel sites and recently, assignments have been coming in with a vengeance. But I am making time today since I’m not working because it’s my birthday! LOL. Here’s today’s quick tip: There is an old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt,” and we never want to think that that applies to OUR friends and OUR relatives, but sadly it does. Thankfully, not to ALL of them! I have a lot of friends and relatives who are stalwart supporters of everything I do. Unfortunately, I also have some that allow the green eyed monster to take over every time I get a few hundred more sales.

Why we can’t just all support each other in ALL of our successes, I don’t know. But the warning here is this: DON’T let people like that affect your emotions in a negative way. Unfortunately, that kind of person will ALWAYS be there. Sadly, they are the one constant thing in your life… People who sit there with that sarcastic little smile or make a snarky little remark because you are celebrating your success. Ghost it away! I’m not saying cut a friend or relative out of your life over things like that, but ghost away their negative vibe. Do whatever you have to do, pretend it doesn’t exist, pretend you didn’t hear it, pretend it was a stranger who said it, create whatever alternate reality you have to to get that stuff out of your head because otherwise you are letting naysayers live rent free in your mind. Stop it in its tracks, and every time you hear something negative, remind yourself of how far you’ve come and how successful you truly are. If you do that, you will realize how little their words mean!

Here's some info that may clear up some confusion for some of my fellow writers out there. I was at breakfast this morning with two friends of mine, who, like me, make their living writing web content but who also launched their first novel in the infamous 2020! 😮 Well, they got into a heated debate about reviews versus sales: One said "You must get good reviews and that will lead to sales." The other said "No no no, focus on sales and that will automatically take care of the review problem."
Naturally, I was suppose to be the tie breaker.

Well, they are both correct and they are both incorrect. Here's why:

A high rating and great reviews on Amazon (or wherever you sell your book) will definitely get you some sales. That's because when someone is considering taking a chance on a new writer, that person often wants to read reviews. if your rating is low and you have bad reviews, some customers will automatically pass. If they are on the fence and your rating is high and your reviews are good, they may very well get pushed off the fence in a good direction! So yes., reviews can be responsible for some sales. HOWEVER...reviews in and of themselves will not guarantee sales, because people have to SEE them for the reviews to benefit you. If traffic to your link has slowed down and no new eyes are seeing your book online, the reviews are useless, since no one is there to read them. In other words, reviews can get you sales if someone clicks on your link, but reviews can't get you the
CLICKS. Only advertising can.

As far as sales getting you reviews, again...yes and no. More sales obviously increase your chances of reviews, BUT...most people do not review the books they read. Experts estimate it's approximately one out of a hundred who read a book and actually review it. I know. Pretty grim. So sales alone do not guarantee reviews, and of course, there is always the problem with Amazon continuously deleting legitimate reviews due to faulty software that tells them the review is "fake." (insert eye rolling) So even if you get a pocket of sales and GET reviews, you may lose some to that nonsense. On the upside, yes...even if it is only one in a hundred who leave a review, it stands to reason that the more batches of "hundreds" you get, the better the chances are that more reviews will show up.
Ultimately, focus on advertising because it all starts with clicks. Then make sure your write up and cover are good, because those are the two things that affect sales the most for new authors. More on that next time. Hope that was helpful.

Keep Calm and Write on!

I know I have visited the subject before, but I have to do it again because I am absolutely aghast at the sheer number of writers who self publish or were published through a small press and then IMMEDIATELY begin to devalue their work by sending free copies of their book hither and yon to anyone and everyone in order to get a review. This does not get you anywhere!

Yes, reviews are important. And it takes a while to get them. There have also been some interesting business models to come along that seemed like they would produce legitimate reviews, but end up being disastrous. However, regardless of the many different things you might try, the worst thing you can POSSIBLY do is shove your books at people for free in exchange for reviews. This is equivalent to going down to a local tattoo shop and having "Desperate" stamped on your forehead. It's demeaning. PERIOD.

It's the tendency of every new writer to do this, because the author is thinking "okay, my book is out there now. If I get a few good reviews, I'll start selling a bunch of copies."

That's just not how it works.

I have 40 reviews on Amazon. It's technically 55, but I was caught in the crossfire of several of Amazon's infamous "review purges" (where they allow software to determine that this review and that review is "fake" and delete them.) Nevertheless, at the moment, I'm sitting at a net of 40 reviews. I also have quite a few sales. The majority of the sales did NOT come from the reviews. They came from MARKETING the book. And all the reviews that are on Amazon are from people who PURCHASED the book. So there is living proof that you do NOT have to give your book away to get reviews. If you do proper marketing, and encourage the people who VALUED YOUR BOOK ENOUGH TO BUY IT to also leave a review, the reviews will eventually take care of themselves.

Focus on advertising, because ultimately, ADVERTISING is the ONLY way to get your book into the hands of the people you most want to reach, which is readers with a true interest in your genre, and who are willing to pay for it like everyone else.

I think almost everyone has purchased some type of snake oil at some point in their life. Well, they’ve invented snake oil for authors, and sadly, they buy it by the gallon. One of the worst things a newly published author can fall for is what I refer to as the “Secrets Scam.”

Your book is out, you want it to do well, you figure there’s a whole lot of information out there concerning how to get sales and reviews, and you set out to find it. After a quick Google search, you discover hundreds of links offering to “let you in on secrets” for a certain amount of money. These “secrets” may concern marketing, they may be about getting reviews, or how to get your book to rank Amazon etc. etc. There are OH SO MANY “secrets” out there for sale. Here’s the reality check:

In the real world, also known as Unknown Author Planet, this is how it actually works...You have to get a good advertising and marketing plan and pay to promote your book. There’s no shortcut. There’s no way around it, there’s no way under it, there’s no way over it. You have to make an investment of time and money. Naturally, you do all the "free" things that make sense, such as sharing it on social media, and posting it wherever you can, but that alone will not propel you to stardom.

What you should NOT do is spend your hard earned money on “secrets to success.” They don’t exist. Whatever information these people and organizations are selling is information you can find on your own. There is no secret shortcut to becoming a best-selling author and IF THERE WAS, someone you never heard of would NOT be on Facebook selling it for $79.

People who have had smashing success with a book are busy managing their life and their success, they’re not telling everyone how they did it for a great bargain price because they “like to help people.” It would be nice…but it's just not the way life works. There’s nothing that you’re going to buy and read and then implement that will propel you to success with your novel. You have to go the long road and market and advertise. I wish I could say it’s easy, but it’s not. It is worth it, though. Just do yourself a favor, leave the snake oil where you found it.

We all like to assume that the old saying “laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone,” is a pearl of wisdom that should never be questioned. Well, the “cry and you cry alone” part is definitely true. As far as the rest of it, however, here’s a newsflash: the world DOESN’T always laugh with you. In fact, sometimes the more you laugh, the more the world scowls. If you achieve a little bit of success after publishing a book, you’ll soon learn that no truer words were ever spoken. Sure, you’ll get a lot of positive attention at first, but at a certain point, as sure as the sun comes up every day, a percentage of that positive attention will turn into cynicism and envy. And it won’t be easy to deal with. The bottom line is, the only person who can stop it from negatively affecting you is ( drumroll) YOU! If someone is gritting their teeth through a smile, asking questions designed to be friendly but are merely well disguised digs, or otherwise trying to bring you down, WALK AWAY. It’s the only solution. If you let their negativity and jealousy cook in your brain, YOU will eventually become a bitter person and you’ll end up devoting far too much time to wondering why we all can’t just celebrate each other’s successes and cheer each other on. Well, because life doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. So laugh whether or not the world laughs with you, cry alone like you always have, but never ever EVER let anyone put a damper on your success.

The term that means everything and nothing. Networking. It's important for sure. We all know THAT. But what does it mean exactly? Hmmm. Nobody really knows. Here's why. Networking, in reality, probably means something different to every person and no two "networks" are the same.

One BROAD definition of networking is "the action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts."

So... Some people network to climb socially, some network to get clients, some network to sell something. However, there are what you might call "subdivisions." For example, for networking to sell something, you want to make sure you’re hitting the right demographic for the product you want to move. If, like me, you network at times to promote your novel, you want to network with the people who (drumroll) might enjoy that type of book. Not just book lovers in general. If you get too general, you waste a lot of time.)

Figure out the demographic, and half the battle is won.

The rest is just being a sociable person and being able to talk to people, be likable–even on those days you don’t feel like it–and subtly bring up your book (or the reason you are networking) WITHOUT OVERDOING IT. That way, if the person is interested, you may get a new reader, client etc., and if not, you may at least have a new business associate or even a friend–can always use another of THOSE. But either way it’s a win-win as long as you know who to target.

So be careful if you are just following a "they say you should" formula that might not be what you need. I wrote historical fiction, murder-mystery/romance. The fan base I want to build isn't going to be the same as that of a 25 year old who released a fantasy novel set in 2066. My demographic is primarily women–even though my book isn't a fluffy romance–but overall, I target women between 28-70, because stats show that's the primary demo for my novel.

Well, the moral of the story is...network in a way that will get you in touch, in any way, with the people most likely to be interested in what you want to share. It sounds simple, but when you sit down and work it out, you may find that you’ve been wasting a lot of time on “connecting” with people who don’t really share any interest in what you are promoting. Really scrutinize it, fine tune your market and you will get a lot more yield for a lot less blood, sweat and tears.

Marketing is very important for a book, especially if you are not yet known. However, many new writers make the mistake of jumping the gun with this issue and they lose all their marketing dollars in one fell swoop. They hurry up and launch a large-scale marketing campaign only to discover that they are getting a lot of clicks, but not a lot of sales. Otherwise known as the Kiss of Death.

This is usually an indicator that the book does not have enough reviews yet. I know many writers feel frustrated, because most people simply will not leave a review for a book, no matter how good they thought it was. That means it may take a while to get legitimate reviews. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about that. Just keep attending events, going to book signings whenever you’re invited, and pushing your book on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and anywhere else you have a social media account.

When you get approximately 20 reviews, and believe me they will come, that’s the time to start advertising in earnest.

This is because a minimum of 20 reviews takes away that feeling in the customers mind that he or she is a “guinea pig” for this new author. Once you hit the magic 50 reviews, you will start to rank higher on Amazon, but 20 at least gets you out of the gate, so to speak, and it is definitely the magic number for marketing. Therefore, once you have that many, you should immediately launch a marketing campaign and advertise as much as your budget will allow.

After that, the sales will come, and reviews will begin to take care of themselves (albeit slowly, so keep that in mind and have patience.) But never jump the gun and spend money on marketing before you have any reviews. It will just be money wasted, and nobody wants to do that! Write on!

That's about the size; where you put your eyes. I remember that rhyme. It's about perspective. They say perspective is everything. "They" are right. I had a less than stellar book signing today in Pennsylvania. If someone asked me how I would rate it, I'd probably say that it wasn't destined to be in my top ten. LOL. But...I sold some books. Ok, only seven. Ouch. Here's the important thing, though: seven people have my book today who didn't know I existed this morning. Hmm...That suddenly doesn't sound so bad now. It's just the ebb and flow, the ying and yang, the feast or famine that make up a writer's life.

Every so often an event doesn't blow you away. The people are kind of dull, the sales trickle in, you feel like your outfit and makeup just aren't hitting the mark, etc.. We've all been there. What to do? Well, if you're me...you sit there and think about San Marco. My most successful signing event to date. 26 books in the pouring rain. (The weather wheel did not spin in my favor that day.) Well, we all have a San Marco. We all have an event where we blew it out of the water. THAT'S what you concentrate on when you have a less than impressive signing. Think of your big one and remember that another one like that is on the way–just like another clunker is on the way. The good the bad and the ugly make up your gross sales, and does it really matter where they all came from, or is it the sum total of BOOKS SOLD (what a lovely phrase) that really matters?

Seven books. Hmmm, but what if I get three new reviews out of that? Was it totally worth it? 🥰 Yep. That's about the size; where you put your eyes. There really is no such thing as a bad event. Only a bad attitude. Write on!

Here is something I have touched on before, but I want to reiterate. It pains me when I see so many newly published authors falling for scams and gimmicks, so I will make this very short and not so sweet. I’ve been making a living as a writer for about 16 years so I was ready for the influx of spam once my book was published. Unfortunately, not everyone has experience and some people are just a bit too trusting overall. Here it is straight: there are no “secrets” to making your book a bestseller that you can “learn” from someone online because they are “passionate about helping other authors.” Don’t be naïve in this life. If there was some “best kept secret” about “how to make your book a bestseller on Amazon in 30 days,” NOBODY would be selling it on Facebook for $99.
PERIOD.
Therefore, NEVER give money to ANYONE unless it is for a legitimate add targeted to your demographic. And yes, advertising is expensive, but legitimate advertising is also effective and the other stuff, well, all I can say is use the money to go to a concert or dine out! At least that way you'll get something out of it. The end.

If your book isn't doing well, don’t start second guessing the content. For new writers, whether or not you wrote something interesting and engaging will show up in the reviews. With regard to sales, however, it’s a little different. If you launched several advertising campaigns and your book is not selling, the things you need to rethink are the title, the cover and the write up before ANYTHING else. Those are the three things that sell a book once someone clicks through to your link.

Obviously, good reviews go a long way too, but if a book doesn’t catch the shopper’s attention, he or she probably won’t stick around long enough to read the reviews. Thankfully, it is not nearly as difficult as it used to be to change your book's write-up, title or even it’s cover. This is why you should consider getting an expert’s opinion on those three things if you find that sales aren’t happening, despite effective marketing.

Ask a pro if your title is catchy enough or if it is uninspiring. Get some advice about your cover from a professional artist as well. Boring covers do not sell books. A dull, bland cover subconsciously signals the brain that it’s a dull, bland book. (It’s also important to make sure the cover depicts what is actually in the book so readers don't get mad at you later.)

If possible, when it comes to the write-up, get the opinion of several different professionals to see if it pulls the reader in or if it sounds like 100 other write-ups. Just as books often become formulamatic in today’s modern world, so do write-ups.

Try to avoid overused phrases and clichés and search for unique ways to explain what’s happening in your novel. Of course, there could be many reasons for low sales, but the cover, the title, and the write-up are the three vital aspects that readers often base their purchase decisions on...whether they know it or not! Write on.