Authors: Why the Best Person to Sell Your Book is You

It’s often said that everyone has a good book in them. This perhaps explains why, when I published my first book back in 2012, so many people told me that they were also writing a book. Of course, they were. I mean, if I can do it, why couldn’t they? It’s just that in the last eight years, I’ve not seen many of them reach the final stage of the process where they have actually published anything.

The fact is, writing a book is difficult. It’s not just a case of having a great idea for your book. You need the dedication to sit down and write the thing, the thick-skin to survive the editorial process, and the guts to put it in front of people to read and potentially review. A lot of people fall down at this stage and find it safer to store their finished manuscript on a hard drive or in a shoebox under their bed.

However, there is also one vital task aspiring authors have to master if they are ever to be successful. They need to be able to sell their books. If they intend to publish via a traditional publisher, they need to be able to sell it to the industry. If they intend to self-publish, they need to be able to sell it to everyone.

Even if an author is lucky enough to land a traditional publishing deal, they’ve still got to put themselves out there to sell their book. Sure, they might have the support of their publisher’s marketing department for a number of weeks after the book release — but this won’t last forever and many publishers’ marketing departments are incredibly stretched in terms of the resources they can offer individual resources.

What Are Publishers Looking For?

As a start-up publisher, one of the first things I look for in an author, alongside a brilliant story, is the ability to sell their own work.

Essentially, I want to know that my authors are willing to put in the legwork, knock on doors, and actively sell their work.

R&D Publishing’s first author signing, Lowri Madoc, ticked all the boxes. Not only did she have a great book in Hetty Backstage which was supported by a fantastic personal backstory, but she was more than willing to put in the hours required to sell the book.

As well as the much-needed press coverage which she professionally managed, she actively sought out opportunities to read her book in schools and other settings where she would find her target audience of young readers. She also pursued opportunities with local retailers and got to grips with the process of documenting her journey as an author for social media. This would be no mean feat in normal circumstances — but when you consider this was managed across international borders (Lowri is based in Gibraltar) during the global COVID-19 pandemic when so many routes to market were extremely limited or completely closed down.

Demonstrating her dedication to the commercial success of her book, Lowri told me she always carried a couple of copies of her book around with her at all times. This means, when someone tells her that they intend to buy her book, she can close the sale straight away.

Yes, Lowri’s book is available on global retail sites like Amazon but thanks to her persistence she is her number one sales channel.

Could you be more like Lowri?

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