During the holiday times, you always see everything on sale, and I mean everything. The winter holiday season is the perfect time to showcase your books for sale, and any discounts you can offer will ensure that you get some customers. In my opinion, books make the perfect holiday gift, especially for those who love to read. As far as books go, do sales drive customers your way?
As for myself, after my free sale last month, I decided to back up the free sale with a 99-cent holiday sale until the New Year. As a writer, I want the things that I create and market to people to sell and make a profit. Sometimes, many times, ideas can fall flat, resulting in few, if any sales.
Let me tell you, that this idea was genius, but it all starts with a solid marketing plan. As I like to say, if you have to pay more than a few bucks to reach the masses in this technologically advanced age, then you are doing something wrong.
Winning Marketing ideas that I use are:
- To hand out business cards to nearly everyone I run into
- To advertise in unlikely places (as an eBay seller, I have access to a huge customer base that I send advertising emails to in order updates, and mail brochures and business cards in orders that I fill)
- Take full advantage of free classified ads (nationwide) such as www.craigslist.com and www.backpage.com
- Use my website and blog as an information hub
- Use Twitter and other social media sites
- Constantly update marketing materials
What I do to get book sales may or may not work for you. It all depends on how creative you are. Are you a sales person or a buyer? You have to think like a buyer to know what a buyer is looking for, and then you have to create what the buyer wants. Because without buyers you will not have any sales and without sales, you will not earn any royalties.
It is a glass half empty / half full type of situation, but as long as you try new things that are free to implement and keep going you should not have any problems getting and keeping customers.
So, do book sales work? Yes!
