“If You Write It, They’ll Buy It.” Just Ain’t So!

The following guest article is published with the kind permission of Susan Owens of Tales for Telling.

For all but a few famous authors, whether a book is self-published or published by a big name like Random House, “selling” books is in a very real sense up to the author. What sells books is buzz, getting people excited about the topic, the author, or both, marketing, and the author being willing to push the book at every opportunity. Some people are great at this; others think that once their book is printed and on Amazon, they’re done. Sadly, “If you write it, they will buy,” just ain’t so!

Of course it’s important that a book be well-written, well-designed, and attractively presented. But the sad truth is that a lot of good books have languished on the shelves while a lot of bad books have sold very well. Why? Because they’ve gotten the right publicity, or because the author is famous.

Distributing books, on the other hand, is a different matter. Self-publishing houses like iUniverse and others do make certain that the book gets on the list to be distributed by places like Ingram (most bookstores order from this source) and that it can be purchased from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com. Some houses arrange for the book to be made available electronically for Kindle or other e-book sources. As important as these logistical steps are, I don’t think it can be said that these houses are “selling” books. What they are doing is facilitating the process so that when the author sells books, people have a way to get them in their hands. That said, here’s an interesting article about self-publishing: The Basics of Self Publishing

Here’s what to do to get a book into the distribution channel so that when the author generates that buzz, the book is out there to be had.

Determine who the publisher is. To publish a book for sale, you need an ISBN number, which can be purchased in blocks of ten but only by a publisher. Would you be the publisher? Or would the author?

Get ISBN numbers and barcodes. If you have hardback and paperback, each gets a different ISBN. Click here for more information.

Register copyright with Washington, DC. This isn’t required but it’s certainly a good idea. It costs $45. Don’t do this until the manuscript is pretty final; changes of more than 25% of content, I believe, require a new registration. For more information click here.

Figure out what BISAC code you want to use. These are often printed on the back cover. This helps bookstores to shelve the book (for example, Self-Help, Memoir, etc.) See this website for more information.

Find a librarian trained to do publisher’s cataloging-in-publication data. This is the stuff on the copyright page that the Library of Congress does for traditionally published books but will not do for self-published books. However, I think it adds a level of professionalism to a book and also helps librarians to add it to their databases. This means libraries are more likely to buy the book if it’s marketed to them. Your local library may be able to recommend someone with this expertise.

Register book with the Library of Congress. You also have to send them copies when the book is printed. Click here for more information.

Try to get the book into the Ingram catalog. Check this website for more information.

Get the book on the Books in Print list. Here’s a link with more information.

Get it listed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Also have the book included in the “look inside” feature. For information on selling a book on Amazon click here. And for info from Barnes & Noble click here.

Make an e-book version available (for Kindle users, at least). I know one author I worked with had requests for this almost immediately when he started to give talks and push his book. And fortunately, the publisher we had used was able to comply pronto.

After all of this the work begins. Actually before that, because the author should begin to generate publicity about the book months before it’s released. This should include a web page, perhaps a Facebook page or blog, etc. Once the book is out, there should be press releases, speaking engagements, radio/TV appearances, and so on.

I hope this helps.

Photo by katiew

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