5 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Your Ebook Sales
Introduction
As an author or a publisher, you’re constantly looking for ways to increase sales. And if you’ve conducted any experiments, you know that many “traditional” methods are ineffective. Some of them may prove to be more time, money, and trouble than it is worth.
5 Highly Effective Ways to Increase Ebook Sales
There are numerous ways to increase ebook sales from the comfort of your own home or office. Here are some of the highly effective ways to do it.
Create Beautiful Covers and Captivating Titles
If you examine the bestseller lists, you’ll notice that virtually all of the best-selling fiction and nonfiction books have one thing in common: covers and titles that attract attention.
Your ebook’s title and cover design will be the first thing potential buyers notice. If this title and cover fail to pique their interest, they will not investigate your ebook further. They will not read your advertising copy, reviews, or excerpts. And they will certainly not click the “order” button.
Here are two suggestions for increasing ebook sales:
- Create a professional-grade cover. It’s fantastic that you know your way around Photoshop. However, if you lack effective graphic design skills, it is best to outsource your cover graphics to a professional. Alternatively, you can use tools that provide some templates, so you don’t have to start from scratch. Try Canva and see if it works for you. Check Appsumo for some tools that may fit your needs.
- Test your titles. You can begin by generating several (plus subheadings) and then track and test the best ones to determine which has the highest conversion rate.
Establish Your Authority
The first place to present your authority is in your sales letter. That is where you set your credibility and explain why people should listen to you. The ultimate goal here is to prove it. Here are a few tips:
- List your experience and accomplishments pertinent to the niche. That includes anything the audience will consider significant, such as relevant education, professional experience, and awards. For instance, if you are writing about interior design, you would list your design awards. Or, if you are writing about a wellness-related topic, you can list your medical credentials to enhance your credibility and authority.
- Provide evidence that you can produce results. It includes sharing case studies, testimonials, and anything else that demonstrates your expertise.
The second place to establish your expertise is outside of your sales letter so that by the time your prospects land on your sales page, they already know and respect you. You can distribute high-quality content throughout your niche via guest blogging, social media, YouTube videos, blog, and other channels. If done right, people needing your expertise will likely discover your content. Even better is if they find out an excerpt from your book.
It’s a long-term strategy that requires time. So, be patient.
Place Your Book in the Right Hands
Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, there are many “gatekeepers” in your niche or genre. These are reviewers, vloggers, and bloggers who routinely review niche books, and their followers base their purchasing decisions solely on their reviews.
The average prospects are pretty busy. They lack time to conduct extensive research to determine whether a book is worth purchasing. They don’t even have the time to test out the book themselves. As a result, they identify individuals in the niche whom they know, like, and trust – the “gatekeepers” – and investigate what these individuals say.
It is not something new. The large publishing houses have been the gatekeepers of the publishing industry for decades. Today, however, anyone can publish a book quickly and easily. It’s a significant benefit for readers, who now have access to a wider variety of books than those distributed by publishing houses. However, because there are many options, many prospects seek out gatekeepers.
Your job is to identify the gatekeepers in your niche or genre and then distribute your book to them. Within a short time, you can create a significant buzz. All it takes is one positive review from one of these influential people, and not only will you see a flood of sales, but OTHER influential people will also publish their own.
The key is to find influential, well-respected individuals with large followers. You can find them on social media, YouTube, and their websites or newsletters. Some of these individuals actively solicit individuals to send them products for review. You may require a little rapport and relationship building before gaining access in other situations. In either case, it is well worth your time to have a prominent figure in your niche review your book.
Give Individuals a Preview
One “old school” technique is still highly effective, providing a sample of your book.
Before the advent of online selling, most books were sold at online book stores and even grocery stores. People combed through shelves of books, then opened any that appeared intriguing. People would occasionally utilize the bookstore’s provided seating to read the first few pages of a book.
Today, places that sell numerous books, such as Amazon, utilize a “preview” function. For instance, Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature allows customers to preview the first 10% of a book (unless the author opts out of this program). It is comparable to holding a book and flipping through its pages.
However, previews are not always available when looking at authors who sell their books directly from their websites. They might possess an ebook trailer (which is a great idea). They might occasionally publish excerpts on their blog, social media, and newsletters (all great ideas).
However, no preview provides the same experience as flipping through the book itself. It is crucial. And it would be a mistake to lack this feature.
For a prospect to click the order button, they must be able to envision themselves utilizing the product. That is why people browse books in bookstores. However, a plain text excerpt on a blog or elsewhere does not have the same impact.
A new tool can give your prospect this browsing experience: FlipGuardian. FlipGuardian allows you to create a preview. With animated page turns, sound effects, and other features, this publishing platform transforms a digital preview into an immersive experience. It is similar to having someone page through a book (which works for digital or physical books).
Here’s a demo for you to see what I mean:
Incredible, right? When the preview concludes, the prospect is encouraged to purchase the product. You can create a page where the flipbook is the only element, similar to the demo above, or you can embed your flipbook in another page, such as a sales page or blog post.
Here is the next sales-boosting tip.
Create a Specific Mailing List
People might visit your website, blog, or other platforms just once. They might bookmark your website, but they might never return. There is a high probability that you will never see them again. Therefore, you must add all interested parties to your mailing list to contact them repeatedly.
Creating a lead magnet that is highly relevant to the book you promote is essential. For instance, if you’re selling a nonfiction ebook on weight loss, you could include a report with an overview of the weight-loss method or weight-loss tips.
Using the “Lead Gate” feature of the FlipGuardian flipbook player is a very excellent way to accomplish this.
You establish a preview of your lead magnet (such as your report). When your prospect reaches the end of the preview, request them to sign up for your mailing list to gain access to the freebie in its entirety.
Check out this demo to see how it works for yourself:
Once you have people on your mailing list, you can contact them repeatedly to promote your book and any other related products.
You’ve probably heard before, “the money is in the list,” and we believe that FlipGuardian is one of the best ways to build a list.
Conclusion
As you can see, selling more ebooks boils down to capturing and retaining your prospect’s attention. You create a captivating title and cover to attract attention; you provide a preview to hold their interest, and you add them to your mailing list to maintain their interest.
Additionally, as you have just discovered, the new FlipGuardian publishing software is an integral part of your marketing strategy. This software makes it simple to provide book excerpts and build your mailing list.
Some claim that this software is the most exciting thing to hit the publishing industry in quite some time, and I believe you’ll agree after taking a closer look.
You can check more on FlipGuardian here.
P.S. This post assumes you already have an ebook to sell. Check our recommended ebook creation tool if you don’t have one yet.
