You've Written Your Book. Now What?

Here at Self Published Author.com, we offer tools, advice, and resources to help you through the publishing process. Bowker is the official ISBN agency in the US and Australia. We're excited about authors taking the publishing process into their own hands, and we're here to help however you need it.

At Self Published Author.com, we

offer industry advice and perspective, giving you an inside scoop on the business
explore marketing tools
refer you to partners who can help
list events specifically for self-published authors

Welcome! Let's get started!

Ask the Right Questions and Increase Your Sales

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Jan 19, 2021

Many independent publishers ignore non-trade sales because they do not know where to start selling. Their definition of non-trade marketing is selling books “outside of the bookstore.” However, that only suggests where not to sell books; it offers no direction, insight, or instruction about where or how to actually do it.

Here are some questions to answer that can help you define and expand your target readers, leading to new ways to sell your books and new places in which people can buy them. The questions themselves are universal and apply to all subject areas, but as examples I have focused on how they relate to a publisher trying to market a career or job-search title.

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

Read more about Ask the Right Questions and Increase Your Sales

Five Easy Ways to Upgrade Reader Engagement

by Penny C. Sansevieri
Bowker | Tue Jan 12, 2021

It’s one thing to write and publish a book; reader engagement is a whole different ballgame. Reader engagement gives you longevity and helps you sell more books, so it should really be the driver for all of your book marketing. But I’ll be honest, it’s also really hard, especially when you’re just starting out.

I’ve collected a few tips to jumpstart reader engagement, but really the key to book marketing isn’t doing everything, it’s doing what works for your genre and your reader market. It will take some trial and error before you sell more books in response to your efforts, but it will be worth it because reader engagement is the key to a long and prosperous publishing career.

An added bonus is that developing and encouraging reader engagement also creates a community of likeminded souls who can keep you connected and grounded during the very strange times we’re currently living in. And that may be an even bigger win for everyone involved!

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

Read more about Five Easy Ways to Upgrade Reader Engagement

The Measure of Marketing

by Brian Jud
Bowker | Tue Dec 29, 2020

The question most publishers periodically ask themselves at this time of year is, “Did I achieve the goals that I set?” The numbers are easy to measure and compare — you either reached your sales objectives or you did not.

Due to this perceived simplicity, publishers stop there and recalculate their objectives for next year. The problem with this process is it measures something you cannot control — sales and revenue. If you could control them, then reaching goals would be a given. But you can only influence the attainment of those metrics by the actions you take.

Publishers can significantly improve upon this process by seeking several questions, such as, “Could sales have been higher? How? Did sales maximize my revenue and profit?” And if objectives were not achieved, “Why not?”

Inside Publishing

Marketing & Publicity

Read more about The Measure of Marketing

Click here if you are from Australia

Open Video