Low-Cost or No-Cost Ideas to Generate Book Sales

Time Invested and Money Spent are Key Considerations for Marketing

Mar 15, 2009 R.L. Coffield

Selling books requires a great deal of time and commitment, but not always money.

Surprisingly, given what large publishing houses often spend on advertising and marketing new titles, selling books does not necessarily need such a capital outlay. It does, however, require a considerable amount of time.

Web Sales Take Time

No matter what one’s advertising budget, the playing field gets leveled when it comes to time investment: no matter what marketing plan one produces, selling books takes time. Even selling on the web, which is generally a “free” source of advertising and sales, takes an inordinate amount of time. (If a monetary value is placed on time, then selling books is indeed extraordinarily expensive.)

Whether one twitters, blogs, joins forums or chatrooms, participates in Linkedin, My Space, Facebook, or other groups, using the web is time consuming. A web campaign is all about developing relationships on line. It is not a quick way to sell; it is simply a cost effective way to promote one’s work that can be highly effective. Developing relationships takes time and trust, however. There are no shortcuts here.

Ezines Provide Free Advertising

Writing articles for ezines (electronic magazines) is another “web way” to get “free” advertising. An author can write articles about his/her book’s subject and then post his/her url and other pertinent information about the book at the closing of the article. These articles are then often picked up and posted on other people's sites. While ezines don’t allow blatant advertising, some of these sites do publish approved news releases.

Because the articles are not copyrighted or paid for, the articles can be posted on more than one ezine at a time.

Craft Fairs and Book Events

Events that allow authors to participate as vendors, while not always “free,” are generally affordable, and increasing numbers of authors are using these types of events to sell books. The benefit of using these events as a sales tactic is “face and name recognition.” Indeed, veteran authors will say uncategorically that these events are more about author face and name recognition than anything else.

Craft fairs and book signing events present excellent opportunities for networking with other authors and organizations also.

Speaking Opportunities

A very effective, powerful and free way to generate book sales is to be willing to speak to groups about your book and its topic. Many community organizations are always looking for entertaining luncheon speakers. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce for a list of organizations in your area.

No Cost Book Sales Ideas

Using the web for marketing, writing for ezines and speaking to groups are essentially cost free activities that will help generate book sales. Participating in book fairs and craft events is generally not free, but is affordable.

Which types of activities will be most successful for you will depend entirely on what you enjoy doing, and how much time you have to invest.

The copyright of the article Low-Cost or No-Cost Ideas to Generate Book Sales in Book Publishing is owned by R.L. Coffield. Permission to republish Low-Cost or No-Cost Ideas to Generate Book Sales in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Many Authors Market Books at Craft Events