This is from a rant that Rachel Thompson posted on Facebook and let me re-publish. Rachel is a BestSelling author and Social Media Consultant at www.RachelintheOC.com and www.BadRedHeadMedia.com.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: ONE thing will not sell your books. It’s a combo of:
1. A spectacular book (professionally edited, formatted, designed, and proofed).
2. Reviews. (minimum of 25 within the first few weeks.)
3. Beta or ARC readers before you release.
4. An optimized website (professional graphics, social media icons, keywording, HTML, CSS for faster loading, etc…all to increase your SEO). Look it up.
5. An active blog. (once weekly minimum).
6. Interactive social media. (not spammy) At minimum Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ (important for your Google ranking), following readers, book bloggers, book reviewers, and book clubs.
7. Groups. (important to establish connections with peers).
8. An eBook version (duh). I don’t care if you hate eBooks. What do your readers want?
9. A virtual blog tour. It won’t necessarily sell books, but it DOES increase visibility, SEO, reviews, connections with readers and bloggers, and Google Ranking.
10. Google AdWords. (get advice on how to do it correctly, study and research, or pay someone to do it for you).
11. Book clubs.
12. Book signings.
13. Swag. (bookmarks, pens, postcards, etc)
14. Guest blog. Guest blog. Guest blog. (and not only about your book and how wonderful your toenails are).
15. Interviews.
16. Give back, for fuck’s sake. Stop talking about yourself all the damn time.
Bitch and moan that you’ve done EVERYTHING (bet you haven’t), and still haven’t sold any books. I don’t believe you. Sorry.
When you’ve done ALL of the above in great detail, and I mean everything with a concentrated effort and still haven’t sold any books, then guess what? Maybe you need to rewrite your book, or write another.
It typically takes FIVE books to start making a living on your work. FIVE. (Says who? Almost every writer who is making a living on their books —Steena Holmes, Bette Lee Crosby, Ryne Pearson, Liz Schulte, Hugh Howey, and on it goes).
So stop with the whining about how Amazon sucks or blah blah doesn’t work (nothing is magical), pull up your big girl and big boy pants, and spend that effort writing your next blog post, book, or tweet. Or yell at me for bitching at you. I don’t care.