The "One" Way to Sell Books

The "One" Way to Sell Books by Philip Davis

In the movie City Slickers, Curly (played by Jack Palance) tells Mitch Robbins (played by Billy Crystal) that he has to find the "One" thing. The dialogue goes as follows:

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean [nothin']. Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"

Curly: [smiles] That's what *you* have to find out.

The "One" thing for a book to sell well is that it must generate Word of Mouth. The goal of every tactic you employ to sell books is to create Word of Mouth. Why does every author want to get on Oprah? Because she's the biggest Word of Mouth in the market. Look at the brief list below of tactics you can use to promote your book:

* Podcasting * Book Trailers * Book signings * Razorpages.com * Websites * Landing Pages * Blogging * Book Reviews * Book Giveaways * Press Releases * TV interviews * Radio interviews * Newspaper interviews

The purpose of every one of these tactics is to create Word of Mouth. The Da Vinci code is, of course, a huge success, but I didn't read the Da Vinci code until a good friend of mine said he had read it and that he thought it was very provocative. Just about every book I've ever read has been the direct result of Word of Mouth.

Generating Word of Mouth actually begins before we even write the book. If your book isn't interesting, it simply won't create Word of Mouth and selling it will be difficult. But once your book is written and you begin to employ the tactics listed above to promote the book, if you keep in mind that your primary objective is to generate Word of Mouth, it helps you choose how to deliver your message.

For example, I was coaching an author who had written his first novel and was conducting book readings nearly every month with little success. I asked him what sections he was reading from and then I told him that the sections he was reading were not the most interesting sections and gave him suggestions on which parts of the book I would read.

The same rule applies when conducting interviews. You should control the message of any PR message and any interview. What's the hot spot of your message? That is the message that needs to be conveyed. You have very little time to get the word out on your book. Think like you are standing in an elevator and someone wants to know why she should buy your book. You've got maybe 30 seconds to convince the potential buyer to buy your book. What would you say?

Remember Curly's advice and find the "One" thing that will create the buzz, the Word of Mouth, about your book. And once you find that "One" thing, use it in every marketing tactic you use.

About the Author

Phil Davis has been in the on-demand printing industry over twenty years and has been helping both corporations and individuals publish books. He is the majority owner of ZDocs zdocsonline.com. On his blog, howtopublishabookblog.com