Sell Your Book With Pennies
By Julie Hood

Imagine you share a huge penny jar with each of your potential readers. Every interaction with a reader either adds or subtracts pennies from the jar.  When readers need your info (nonfiction) or entertainment (fiction), they will trade the jar for your book, but only if the jar is full.  Overflow the penny jar, and your reader will buy nearly everything you write.

Notice there are two conditions for exchanging the jar for your book.  First, the jar has to be full enough.  Your reader has to believe that you will either answer a burning question for them or entertain them enough to trade in their jar.  Second, your timing has to correspond perfectly with their needs.

FILLING THE JAR

So how do you fill the jar?  Satisfy a need or answer a question for your reader.  Let me give you a few examples: 

-- Answer my question on a discussion list, add a few pennies.   

-- Publish a weekly e-zine, and provide me with info I’ve never seen before, add a lot of pennies.

-- Get a good book review, add some more pennies.

-- Let me read the first chapter of your novel, add a few pennies.

-- Add more if you have a website packed with resources.  

-- Personally respond to e-mails, add pennies.

-- Write a book that I just can’t put down, and the jar gets really heavy!

An interaction with a reader can also take away pennies.  Go negative, and you’ve lost your reader for life.  Here are a few ways to subtract pennies:

-- Waste my time with an e-zine filled with advertising and boring articles.

-- Publish an e-zine, then abruptly quit with no explanation.

-- Ignore repeated e-mails from your readers, and it’s like dumping out the penny jar.

EXAMPLES

Here are some personal examples from books I’ve purchased during the last year.

My favorite cookbook author sends a free weekly e-zine that teaches me something new about healthy eating (the really good articles add quarters instead of pennies to her jar!).  She gives me yummy recipes and answers all my e-mails.  I’ve bought every one of her books and signed up for her weekly recipe subscription. 

I had a very specific question about publishing in trade magazines.  I found a book on a writing site that I thought might answer the question.  I searched for the author’s website and sent him an e-mail. I still haven’t received a response to my e-mail, and I never see this author mentioned on the websites I visit.  Will I ever buy this book?  Probably not.

For fiction writers, entertain me with your stories (and yes, I personally want a happy ending that makes me feel good for reading the book, but thankfully not everyone is like me!).  I have a core list of authors I search for when I’m looking for entertainment. 

THE BIG QUESTION:  WHEN

When will your reader need your info?  Now this is the tricky part. Your potential reader must find you back when they need your answers.  Let me give you a couple more examples:

I found Bobette Kyle’s How Much for Just the Spider? book after reading a glowing  book review.  After visiting her site, I was impressed with the amount of info she had collected (more pennies in the jar).  I e-mailed her to see if her book answered a question I had on book marketing that had been bugging me for weeks.  She responded that her book didn’t answer my question, but she gave me the answer anyway. Wow!  I was so impressed I bought the book on the spot.

Another nonfiction author with an outstanding reputation wrote a seven-day e-mail plan that gave me really good info (plenty of pennies).  However, the book didn’t answer a direct need for me.  I liked what the author had to say, but I couldn’t justify the price tag for a book I wasn’t sure I needed.  So I still haven’t bought the book.  Every so often I get an e-mail from the author, usually with several nuggets of useful information, but I still don’t have a compelling need to buy his book.  Will I buy it someday?  Maybe.  Especially if it goes on sale!  Or if the author makes the jar overflow.

The “when” question can be particularly thorny for fiction writers.  Your readers have so many entertainment options (movies, TV, internet, sports, etc.) that catching them with time to read can be a challenge.  Word-of-mouth is critical to get readers interested in your book.  You may even have to give away a free book to get them started.  Then, regular contact is crucial. 

WHAT ABOUT PRICE?

Yes, the price of your book does matter.  In the example above, I didn’t buy one of the books because it was too expensive.  However, if your penny jar is full enough, the price may not matter much.  For example, I never buy hardback novels at regular price.  Why should I when I can get a paperback that will be just as entertaining?  But the other day I spent $22 on a hardback novel.  Why?  Because the author’s penny jar is overflowing.  I will buy nearly anything this author writes.  Finding the correct price point for your book is important, but it isn’t the most important factor in getting readers to buy your books.

So as you market your books, be sure to give away those pennies!  Where else can you use pennies to create a reader for life?  

Copyright 2002 (c) Julie Hood, Finally Organized LLC.  All Rights Reserved.  Reprinted with permission. 

Want to learn more?  Visit http://www.organizedwriter.com?src=a101.  

Julie Hood is the author of "The Organized Writer: 30 Days to More Time, More Money and Less Frustration," a new ebook with a roadmap for combining a writing career with the rest of your life. She manages the OrganizedWriter.com web site and writes Writer-Reminders, a weekly newsletter for writers. Newsletter subscribers receive a free e-book, The Sidetracked Writer's Planner.  When she isn't writing, she sneaks in cleaning house around a busy household with two children, her husband, and two avid golfers. 

Sponsored links

Ring binders

 

Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer!

How to find a book publisher

Home

Text on this site Copyright © 1998-2007 Absolute Write, all rights reserved.
Please contact the authors if you'd like to reprint articles on this site.  All copyrights are retained by original authors.  And plagiarizers will be rounded up, handcuffed, and stuck into a very small and humid room wherein they must listen to Barney sing the "I Love You, You Love Me" song over and over again.

writers writing software