Increase Book Sales: When a Book is No Longer Just a Book for Sale

Do you have books sitting in your garage that you haven't sold yet and looking for ways to move them? Then you will want to know about these five outrageous ideas that aren't difficult and can be just plain out fun.

Dede Hall, author of The Starving Student's Cookbook had very poor sales for her books. Then one day an outrageously light bulb moment appeared. She added an inexpensive skillet with the book and shrink-wrapped them. Then she took 150 of them to two stores that she thought wouldn't sell them. Yes, to her surprise, all 150 sold in two days. Dede stumbled on an outrageous idea and it worked out big time. She sold over 100,000 copies in a few months. Where did she sell them? Thought you would never ask. Price Clubs and K-marts.

Do you have a book that could be packaged with something else and create outrageous sales for yourself? It's Christmas time and no it isn't too late. But before you dart off to come up with an outrageous idea for your book, continue reading so that you can get all the facts.

Another cookbook was repackaged with a scarlet ribbon and some imported cinnamon sticks and then sold at department stores in the housewares and gift sections. The book couldn't sell at $5.95 but flew off the shelves at $10 and went into second printing in 30 days.

Would your book sell well in a three-ring shrink-wrapped binder? Why not create and audio or CD version of the material. Just read directly from the material. You do not have to be fancy. Add "read by the author" language to the outside in big letters. Or maybe "F-R__E-E Bonus, Limited Time Offer, Free Audio read by the author" in big letters.

Another key is to look for an item that makes the package larger than the book. This requires a larger space and then bigger visibility.

What about a book on money? Add a mug labeled, "Millionaire" and watch it fly off the shelf. Do not forget the second part of the formula -- the place you are going to sell it. When you add the mug, it is now considered a gift item. This opens the doors to more stores and places.

Try all the independent gift shops, especially at the airport. They are always looking for these type of unique combinations.

Have an exercise book? Add a "walking meter" with it. The one that measures how many miles you are walking. Have no clue what they call those things but I have bought three over the past few years. Again, now it is a gift item. How about contacting a sports equipment vendor and selling them copies of your book that would be a freebie for a limited period with a purchase.

Get the store to add a sign, "limited quality" and watch them go even faster. What is great about this angle is that gift stores, department stores and similar stores are much more open to add things to their shelf. They will work with you much better than a bookstore.

Now that you brain is going a mile a minute with ideas, best wishes for selling many more books!

Catherine Franz is a Marketing & Writing Coach, niches, product development, Internet marketing, nonfiction writing and training. Additional Articles: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Marketing Fanciful Items in the Lands of Make Believe
New York Times
... by studying the campaign of one of its clients, Powermat, a company that sells wireless chargers for mobile phones, e-book readers and GPS devices. ...

and more »

Blogcritics.org (blog)
Digital Book World Conference and Consumer Electronics Show: Past and Present
Blogcritics.org (blog)
... changing digital book business. It had three main themes: Evolving the Business Model, EBooks: Opportunity or Threat, and Marketing in the Digital Age. ...
How to Self Publish and Market an eBook on AmazonGood E-Reader (blog)

all 4 news articles »

William Gibson On the Future of Publishing: Made to Order Books
Wall Street Journal (blog)
But the ecological impact of book manufacture and traditional book marketing –- I think that should really be considered. We have this industry in which we ...

and more »

Telegraph.co.uk (blog)
Hawking book explains creation of universe minus God
USA Today
"Some people criticize this as using God as a marketing technique. There is some validity to that view, but also some unfairness," Fahy adds. ...
Stephen Hawking's Not-God Conclusion & the Religious ResponseBeliefnet.com (blog)

all 121 news articles »

Craigslist's Self-Censorship Is Smart Marketing
BNET (blog)
He is the author of seven books, including Business Wisdom of the Electronic Elite (translated into seven languages and selected by four book clubs), ...

and more »

Beach Reads Finished, It's Time for the Big Books
New York Times
If summer is the sleepy season in book publishing, the fall always seems to make up for it. For booksellers fall is a long lead-in to the ...

and more »

PSI Corp. Forms Joint Partnership to Launch Expansion Into New Vertical and ...
MarketWatch (press release)
This latest marketing agreement -- with one of the nation's fastest growing convenience-store service organizations -- signals the start of PSI's broad ...

and more »

Teaching Sales and Web Strategies to Sing in Harmony
CRM Buyer
In their book Selling to the C-Suite, authors AC Read and Stephen J. Bistritz blame marketing for flooding the marketplace with free information which has ...

and more »

XLRI Book Release | To Push or to Pull : Dynamics of Promotional Strategies
CoolAvenues
Recently, Debasis Pradhan, Assistant professor of Marketing Management at XLRI (Xavier Labour Relations Institute) Jamshedpur published a book on Marketing ...

Un-Marketing
SYS-CON Media (press release) (blog)
We need to stop marketing…and start engaging. In the interest of full disclosure, I was thrilled and honored to be mentioned in the book. ...

Ebooks, Scripts, Video Tutorials, and more at Ridiculously Low Prices

Dog Training Advice

Self Publishing Success Starts With Marketing