How Authors Should View Selling Their Books

 

“Our mission is to change the very way people think about selling, by changing the way they think about themselves,” says The Unsold Mindset, a wonderfully insightful book about the act of selling. The authors, Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown, may not have specifically written their book with authors in mind, but authors are sales people – and they need to adopt the mindset of someone who can sell. 

Here are some tips provided that could apply to authors: 

1.      Know that people don’t like to feel they are being sold to or that they are being manipulated. Be authentic and you will come across as genuinely caring. 

2.      Don’t feel like you have to be seen as an authority, expert, or know-it-all. Come off as a partner, not a dictator. 

3.      Don’t dwell on rejection. Let hurdles “become billboards telling them where they are, where they need to go, and how to get there.” 

4.      Believe in your ability to persuade others to buy your book. Embrace challenges, criticism, or setbacks. Keep learning and moving forward. 

5.      Learn from the selling style of others. Adopt what you like. 

6.      Reflect on the language that you use. Words are powerful. 

7.      Be a pathological optimist. Practice optimism. Cultivate it. 

8.      Believe you will sell your book. If you work hard enough for long enough, good things will happen. 

9.      Be genuinely curious about the person you talk to. Ask questions. Listen carefully. Have a deeper conversation. Seek out transformational conversations. 

10.  Don’t just see your potential readers as customers; see him or her as a partner, as being on your side. Help make them better off. 

11.  Create an “intention statement.” According to Mike Murphy in his book, The Creation Principle, an intention statement should: 

--Use positive language

--Be written in present tense

--Make it emotionally powerful and authentic

--Express gratitude within it 

Now, go sell some books! 

“Remember, your job as a seller isn’t just to reach your goals, it’s to help your customer reach theirs.”

--The Unsold Mindset

“Sometimes the wrong train takes you to the right station.”

--Indian Proverb

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent, it is the most adaptive.”

--Charles Darwin

“No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”

--Mark Twain

Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on LinkedIn. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2023. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.4 million pageviews. With 4,600+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and two jobs at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. He has been featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald. For more information, please consult: www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum