The dirty book selling secret

The Dirty Book Selling Secret

I’m a researcher. 

Not that I like research stuff for my stories (I do, whether I’m apt to admit that or not) but I research other things in my life, often to death. This book selling thing has been no exception. For hours I have scoured the internet looking for the best way to sell this book, for the next tip, the next secret on how to host a successful signing. And do you know what I’ve found? 

There’s no secret. There’s no easy way to do any of this stuff. Sure, there are tips and tricks and methods that may work. And yes, some people might get lucky. They might stumble upon an agent who will represent their work and a publisher willing to pay out that million dollar advance (over three years with taxes taking the majority of the payout and the agent still getting their cut). Some people might immediately stumble upon their niche target audience and sell a million copies.

But most of the people whom I’ve seen have the biggest success have one thing in common: Tenacity.

There’s a woman on Twitter that I like to watch. She’s funny, smart, sarcastic, all the things that make you want to grab your popcorn, sit back, and observe. The other day, she made an off hand remark about selling 1000 copies this year. 

My stomach turned sour. 1000 copies? How in the . . . 

This was this woman’s first book! Up until now, she had not had any of her original work published! But, because I had spoken to this woman not long back, I knew that her story was not that simple.  

Yes, this is this lady’s first published book, but she has been writing and publishing for the past twenty years. Her work was just all on Wattpad. It was here that she built her audience and found her dedicated readers. Her Wattpad Readers LOVE her stories, and some of her fans have even translated her works into multiple languages. She may have just started publishing, but this is not the first year of her starting her ‘fan base.’ That has been in the works for years. ​

So, what do you do if nobody knows who you are? Do you give up and say there’s no point? Or do you keep putting yourself out there and hoping people will notice you? 

I can’t promise success will come in my life or yours, dear reader. Even the Big 5 publishing houses can’t guarantee that for their authors. I can guarantee this, however, if you or I give up, we will fail. So let’s all look at the mountain before us, acknowledge its existence, and keep trudging upwards. It may be bigger than it looks at the base or it might be smaller, but we’ll never know if we stop and turn back. ​

---