Truth #1: You are responsible for your success (or failure).

This is both a reward and a significant deterrence. The moment you decide to self-publish, you must think like an entrepreneur.

While writing is an art, publishing is a business. Authors are in the bookselling business, and no matter how you look at it, business will always be business.

When cartoonist Lars Martinson submitted the first of a series of webcomics to Reddit, his site’s visitors jumped from 100 a day to 48,342 within a single day. That’s a 25,000 percent increase in website traffic.

He took this spike as an opportunity to sell shiploads of eBooks. You’d think he would sell a ton of books, yes? Well, actually, no, he sold 23. That means only 0.048% of the extra visitors purchased.

Here’s the thing about advertising on the Internet: you can tweet, blog, and use Facebook to tell everyone to buy your book, because that’s what you want them to do.

You can do all these things but still make little progress. To increase book sales, what you need is:

• Dedication
• Consistency – stay active in your book marketing efforts
• A multitude of bookselling methods

Below are bookselling tips and tactics to help you maximize your book’s sales potential.

1. Social Media Marketing

When it comes to social media marketing, your target should be audience engagement and brand awareness.

With these goals in mind, you can create and share content that can attract clicks, reads, and even book orders.

So, the first step should be to grab attention.

You can do this by posting a photo of the vintage car your character drives on Pinterest; sharing an article about the historical event that inspired your story; or tweeting a link to a review from a book blogger.

There are endless things you can do. Always post interesting, inspirational, or entertaining pieces of content and use a compelling headline so people  will like, share, favorite, and comment on.

On Facebook, always like and comment back when people comment on your posts. They will appreciate the attention from you, and this will encourage them to interact with you.

2. Blogging/Author Website

Think about the last author or book you really liked. What did you want to do after finding this brilliant writer or great read?

Probably follow the author’s blog; like their Facebook page; watch their interviews on YouTube, etc.

This is one of the many reasons to blog – give people a place where they can learn more about you.

A blog is a staple of all authors these days.

This is where you can provide valuable information about yourself and your book; link to social media; offer details about the next giveaway or promo; and post about anything to your heart’s content.

Don’t just blog about your thoughts; post writing tips, book recommendations, and posts about your experiences in writing and publishing.

These posts are the kind that book fans, writers, and authors like to read.

3. Book Reviews

Reviews are influencers. Even negative reviews can arouse people’s curiosity about your book.

Word of mouth has been a huge advertising tactic for most of the popular books in the history of literature – how did Fifty Shades of Grey receive so much fame?

Nothing propels word of mouth advertising better than getting a reviewer with authority say that everyone should read your book.

4. Book Festivals/Exhibits

There are all kinds of people who visit book exhibits, namely, literary agents, publishers, librarians, educators, and of course, book lovers, all of whom are there to find new authors and titles and to buy books.

Book festival facilitators often seek authors to showcase their book and give talks, and they usually have several events throughout the year.

If you miss an event, go for the next one.

If you have a physical book, don’t let opportunities to join book festivals slip away.

Use a mixture of online and offline tactics to increase the exposure of your book.

5. Get Involved with the Community

Book clubs are everywhere on the Internet.

Such groups are usually comprised of authors and bookworms who love talking about book recommendations, books they’ve penned, and anything related to their interests (we all want someone to talk to about our interests after all).

Some of the websites where you can find them are Goodreads, LinkedIn, and Meetup, as well as Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages for authors.

The best part is that members often help each other out to promote books from other members.

Befriend, get involved, and network with these groups. Note that most book clubs using Facebook Groups are exclusive and closed to the public.

Only when you befriend individual members who will vouch for you to be invited can you join a group.

6. Media Exposure

If you get picked up by the media, they can do the information dissemination on your behalf.

Seeking media exposure can be as simple as writing a guest post for blogs or as effortful as seeing TV, radio, or print interviews.

The secret to garner media exposure is telling your story in an intriguing angle and finding your platform or niche.

Start from there and you’re bound to draw attention.

Continue reading? Click here to Download Hard Truths Every Self-Publishing Author Must Know (That Advocates Don’t Tell You)