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Why do self-published books only sell like 100 copies on average?

Jul 12, 2008 by V for Vendetta | Posted in Books & Authors

Does it have more to do with A. column talent or B. marketing/distribution/storage/cost, etc. Can anybody out there speak from experience or real knowledge of the literary faction?

Self publishers do not have dispensation deals and their books do not make it into bookstores where people buy books.

And without expensive marketing and promotion, how can people buy it on Amazon? Nobody surfs the place searching for interesting books - there are millions. 150 thousand books are published traditionally each year and probably 5 times that many are self published. That makes it really hard for people to find you on Amazon without some heavy duty publicity.

You have to spend money to come up with a marketing map. Otherwise, the book only sells to your circle of family and friends.

Where "Talent" comes in is that if the book was extremely good, a traditional publisher would have picked it up and published it and then it would be on shelves in bookstores. Self publishing used to be called "folly publishing". That meant that anyone who wanted to could pay money, have a box of books printed up with their name on the cover. Usually that was after multiple attempts to get published traditionally and multiple rejections.

Now, people see it as the immediate way out, and many places like Lulu advertise that they are "Free". They aren't. Anything BUT.

Uncle Jim's Law - When publishing, monied should flow TOWARD the author - not away from him.

Persi's Law #1 - If you believe in your book and in yourself, you owe it to yourself to spend at least twice as long upsetting to publish it traditionally as you did writing it.

Pax-C

is it uncommon to see self published books sell 100,000 copies independently?

May 07, 2009 by training day | Posted in Books & Authors

I wouldnt consider so

How do I sell my self published books on Yahoo?

Nov 20, 2006 by Rinjing D | Posted in Other - Yahoo! Products

I don't like the notion of "pay per click". What else is there to make my website more visible on Yahoo? I have written few books, and would like to market online. Someone, Please counsel me!
RD

I don't discern about yahoo, but you should try to sell them on eBay. You can advertise them on myspace.

What are the top ten best selling self-published books of all time?

Jun 03, 2009 by writer | Posted in Books & Authors

Thanks, but I'm also looking for quantities... how many were sold, etc. Any ideas?

The Bible.

I've written a self-published book and I need to promote it, to sell it.?

Nov 26, 2007 by Mark O | Posted in Books & Authors

The usually self-published book sells only 40 copies!! I want to sell a thousand, all of my proceeds will be sent from the printer directly yo a district homeless shelter. It's a great book that will help the really needy in our society....

So, I'm going to contact all of our close by newspapers TV and radio stations. What else should I do? How would you promote it?

OK, let me be the bearer of bad information. Nobody cares about yet another self-published book. It is not considered news. At lulu.com alone, there are 4,000 new titles released each week. Process than for a blink.

Second, it's great that you are donating the proceeds to charity, but that alone is not a selling feature. Why should someone spend $10 on a book with only $2 booming to charity, if they can donate the entire $10?

A few key points:
I don't care how good YOU think the book is. I don't care how good YOUR friends and one's own flesh think the book is. Did you get an objective, third-party to read it before publishing? If you didn't, shame on you. A nuetral, objective third dinner party is your most important tool in producing a self-published book. You need someone who is not going to pat you on the back and tell you how wonderful it is. You need someone to tell you everything you did ill-use. And make no mistake, you did things wrong. EVERY self-publisher does. I've seen hundreds of self-published books. I know.

Did you get a proofreader and an collector (these are two different functions). No author is so good that they can edit and proof their own work. NONE. Even Stephen King has an collector.

Did you get a good cover? Or did you use a generic cover provided by the POD service? Just because you are a writer doesn't mean you are a overspread designer. Cover design is a very specific function of marketing. A cover makes or breaks your book.

Your website: Do you have one? Does it look master? Or does it look like a blind monkey on crack put it together? Do you have a preview available of the book?

Do you have a budget for marketing?: We shell out over $200 per title just on sending out review copies to potential reviewers. If you aren't soliciting reviews, you aren't selling books. Reviews are one of the key selling points for a lyrics.

Have you identified your target market? Even if you get a mention in your local newspaper, it won't do you much good if your local demographic is 35-60 year old mean class fans of Christian fiction, but your book is a zombie horror novel with a black, gay protagonist.