The first rule for selling anything including your book! by Chris Keys

I apologize, to the three or four people who’ll read this. You’ve probably read my other marketing exposes’ on how your blog is a real a marketing tool. I should have started with this one. I got ahead myself and it took a while for the old memory to kick in and remind me to point out this obvious fact. It’s been a couple of years since I have actively sought to sell anything,that's my excuse but it was there, buried in the recesses of my mind. However, if you haven’t been in sales basically your whole adult life you may not realize this is as important as it gets.




The first rule of selling anything; is to ask for the sale! Ok we're done now. Unless of course you'd learn the reasons why. You may have a great product but if you never ask anyone to buy it, you typically won’t sell very many. The basic rule is that if you don’t ask, you don’t get. The same is true when it comes to selling your book.



Now, I know, there are some people saying that they buy things all the time that no one ever asks them to buy. I can only answer back, maybe. The only products that come to mind, that I see very little advertising about, are vegetables and other produce items. Other wise, they all ask for the sale.



How? That’s really easy to explain. They advertise. Now advertising, that’s not so easy to explain. Advertising isn’t just the commercials you see on TV or hear on the radio. It’s not just the print ads you see in news papers and magazines. It’s not just the bill boards on the side of the road. It’s all that plus a whole lot more. From the words you chose to describe your product to the color of the package to the position on the shelf in the store, you need to be asking for the sale. Everything about the products you buy has been cultivated and designed to bring you to a favorable buying decision.



Asking for the sale isn’t always done like the late Billy Maze did it. Loud, obnoxious, fast paced, screaming at the customer, though some car dealers in my area still think that way. It’s also an extremely subtle poster that just shows the car and smiling people driving the newest model. It’s the company name or logo on baseball caps, t-shirts, coffee cups, pens, pencils, golf balls and book marks. Yep, your book mark is advertising. Now you haven’t got enough time to for me to go into great detail about what all can be used is used as advertising, but suffice to say it‘s everywhere.



Breaking it down to the major items of book marketing, that doesn’t involve blogging, goes something like this. You have the book cover, your website, the few pages inside the book that you’re allowed to place your bio, dedications and other notes on, it’s your book marks, your posters, your business cards, book signings, book reviews and even your emails.



Other items that come to mind, that you might want to consider as the budget allows are coffee cups as give aways at book signings, or radio interviews, book fairs etc. AS well as sell them on your website.The same is true for ball caps with your book title on it, t-shirts with your cover art on it, and or anything you can thing of to give away or sell to generate buzz about your books or make an extra buck off of because we can all use the extracash and it’s got the names or art work from your books on it.



Everything should and does ask the readers to buy your book. By having these things asking for the sale you’ll generate more interest and then it’s up to the work to impress them to provide you with the absolute best form of advertising, where someone else outside your marketing plan is asking readers to buy your book. That’s word of mouth advertising.



Now before you start writing things on your website like “BUY ME”, remember there are subtler ways to do it and it takes a combination to direct action motivators and soft sell motivators to get the average customer to buy. For books, I personally recommend that you mention the name of your current book as often as possible, without making people around you cringe every time you walk by or go to post a new blog or comment. Throw in occasionally comment that your book is for sale on so and so. If it is on your website, on every page ask for the sale, both ways. A small balloon button with the words buy me works well as the direct way and mentioning that they can buy at so and so or that they can pay with PayPal. Is good for a semi direct way and can also be used, plus having a really great picture of your book cover is good as a subtle way to ask for the sale. Reviews are also good subtle ways to ask for the sale. Just be sure they good reviews



Asking for the sale, when it comes to your books, is all about repeatedly asking the reader to buy it, showing them where to buy it, showing them how to buy it and then telling them when to buy it, which by the way, is always now. The more often you ask; the more readers that buy. So ask often, but be subtle most of the time. You don’t want to overpressure them, but you want them to know, they need to buy the book.



In another blog soon, I’ll provide several phrases that have worked well in the past me and some ad designs that present your book while asking them to buy, without hitting them over the head with it. Plus subtle ways to keep your books title, like mine, “Reprisal! The Eagle Rises!”, or “The Fishing Trip-A Ghost Story” in front to the public and hopefully only chase away about half the buyers. Just kidding, if we do it right, we’ll get lots more buyers, which means lots more readers. So ask for the sale!



So, buy my books, “The Fishing Trip-A Ghost Story”, coming soon in ebook form and paperback, plus “Reprisal! The Eagle Rises!” due out by summer 2010! Good example of the direct approach huh?”



Thanks for reading, Chris Keys

Author of “The Fishing trip-A Ghost Story” and “Reprisal! The Eagle Rises!”

Both books due out late spring 2010, Look for them on ebook, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other fine retailers.