Thinking About Selling...When?

Many writers fail to identify "marketing" and "selling" as publishing features of their book. They think about cover art, editing, page layout, and book size, but fail to think about how they will get their book into their readers' hands. Unfortunately, by the time many writers think about this, their book is published or nearly published and they've missed out on a tremendous opportunity to pre-sell their book and write for a personal audience. In order to take advantage of all the opportunities available to writers, you need to think early about selling your book.

Before your book is started

Before you even start writing a book, you should be thinking about how you will sell it. Who would want to buy your book, where would you sell it, and how could you tie it into another promotion? If you can define these three categories in advance, you can write your book to better fit the needs of your market.

When you start your book

As you develop your table of contents, "sell" your chapter and category titles. Don't tell the reader what the chapter is about, tell them what they will learn. This will do two things. It will give prospective buyers a glance at the benefits of buying your book, and it will give you a framework to go by when you are writing your book.

As you are writing

As you are writing the book, constantly be thinking about places to sell your book. You can easily call these places during the writing process and tell them how your information will benefit their customers. Be on the lookout for new ways to present information or tie current events into your book.

Don't wait until the end of your book to think about how you will sell it. At the very best, you will drag out your profit timeline. Chances are very good that by the time you are published, some or all of your information could be obsolete! The time to think about selling starts long before the book is in print.

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