Congratulations to Disruptive Author, Paula Burgess, who was featured in The Redcliffe Guide this week. What a great article.
Paula is a wonderful advocate for people living with ADHD and it is wonderful to see her, and her book, Beyond the ADHD Label, in the spotlight and still relevant after more than 4 years of being in print.
I wonder how many of Paula’s ideal readers saw the article and wanted to reach out to Paula.
It probably seams easier to generate interest in your book when it is first launching and everything is new and fresh, but I wonder if that is actually true? Especially when hugely successful nonfiction books such as You Can Heal Your Life and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior have actually gained more momentum and sold more copies over a longer period of time.
Have you given thought to what it would take for your book to become a best-seller? I’m not talking about being an amazon kindle bestseller for a day or two.
That’s exciting of course, but I’m actually talking about the type of bestseller that generates enough revenue for you to make a living from your writing? Wall Street Journal bestseller would be a good example.
One of my favourite marketing gurus for authors suggests that it takes at least 365 days of consistent marketing, and your book in the hands of at least 10,000 readers before a book will go viral.
Most authors I know would kill to have their books read by more than 10,000 readers and they’re more than happy to market their books as long as they are getting traction from their marketing.
As soon as they stop generating interest, however, they tend to stop sharing their books and alas, sales come to a complete halt.
How, then, does an author reach 10,000 readers? And how do they find 365 unique markets in which to share their books in order to reach their 10,000 readers? Remembering of course that in order to reach 10,000 readers their book needs to be in front of anywhere up to 100 times that many readers!!
Personally, I think there is probably a lot of luck involved in a book becoming a bestseller. That means finding yourself in the right place at the right time with the right attitude.
But I also believe the odds increase significantly in an author’s favour when they know who their ideal reader is and where they hang out.
Who is already looking for your book? Who needs to read what you wrote? Who’s life will be changed by your words…your wisdom…your expertise?
Where is she? Who is she watching? Who is she following? Who is she listenning to? What is she already reading?
Most importantly, how can you use this knowledge and put your book in front of her? And how can you do it en masse?
Is there a magazine, a newspaper, a Youtube chanel, a podcast or a social media platform where lots of your readers are hanging out?
Is there an event or a news story that matters to your reader that you can associate your book with?
I am willing to bet that there are lots of opportunities for you to connect with your ideal reader that you have not yet explored.
I challenge you to find the answer to these questions, and if you truly believe your have written something that will change someone’s life, reach out and do whatever you can to put your book in front of your reader.
Start by registering with SourceBottle.com and look for opportunities to share what you know.
Create your own author platform and create your own opportunities to share what you know.
Then keep doing it!! Don’t give up until your book sales hit the critical point where it takes on a life of it’s own.
PS. If you haven’t already established your author platform and you want to know more about how to do it, email Deb at deb@disruptivepublishing.com.au and ask how she can help.