Your book is complete. You just received your first shipment of one hundred copies, the excitement is wearing off, and you’re realizing, Shit, now I have to sell these! So, the research on ways to sell your first one hundred copies of your self-published book begins.
A great benchmark to set is to sell all one hundred copies; this number is not too high and not too low. You may be thinking, A hundred copies is nothing, I can do that in my sleep. Trust me, it’s not as easy as you think. The first twenty, thirty copies will fly out of the box and before you know it you’re counting to see how many are left and discover that you are still counting after thirty copies. This is when you say to yourself, Damn I still have seventy books left—how is this possible? Most authors who self-publish will sell around thirty to forty copies of their book. But if you’re focused and committed and ready to put in the work, there is a simple method to selling one hundred books.
Family & Friends (20 copies)
This is a no-brainer: parents, sisters, brothers, cousins from another mother and once removed, no matter how far down the family tree; it’s time to hit them up to buy a book. The beautiful thing about Facebook is that you can find all your long-lost relatives. Start with the nearest and dearest and then head toward the outer circle.
Friends—we all have “friends” and then “friends”; the friends we see and speak to on a regular basis, and the friends we hang out with once in a blue moon when our “friends” aren’t available. Hit them all up. Get them to do dinner book parties for you at their home. They are your brand ambassadors now. If they are good friends they will tell anyone who will listen that their friend has written a book.
Coworkers and organization members (20 copies)
Work associates, people from your book club, or spin class—they are not excluded. In casual conversation tell them that you’ve written a book about XYZ and that you are super excited about it. While it may be awkward to ask a coworker or associate to purchase your book on the spot, it is okay not to ask, you’re just planting the seed. These are people that you will invite to your book party when the time comes.
Speaking Engagements (20 copies)
Front and center. Find your niche, your area of expertise, and get in front of an audience. By selling yourself you are selling your book. At the end of a great speech, workshop, or whatever you are speaking about, everyone wants to meet and chat with the speaker. Why not have books to sell them? In the beginning, a great place to start would be at events that cater to avid readers such as Book Expo, Harlem Book Fair, First Read Expo, local book festivals, Library of Congress National Book Festival, Essence Music Festival, and NAACP Author Pavilion, to name a few.
Book Clubs (20 copies)
Working with book clubs is an awesome marketing play for self-published authors. Book clubs love to support indie books and it’s a guarantee that if they invite you to their book club you are selling a good number of books at one time. Most book clubs have a minimum of ten members. The great thing about working with book clubs is not only can you do it repeatedly, but also the people are such a delight to spend time with. Black Authors & Readers Rock Weekend is a great event to meet a lot of book clubs. AALBC.com provides a great list of African American book clubs in the United States.
Fans (10 copies)
Let’s keep this number realistic; you probably won’t get many, if any, screaming fans excited to buy your first novel. After all, they’ve probably been flooded by e-mails and social marketing since they started eyeing their social feed. However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t build a buzz around your book. Build your awareness. Participate in Twitter chats, create videos, engage with your followers, engage with authors, books clubs, and bloggers online to build relationships.
Blogger Up (10 copies)
It takes a village to sell a book or haven’t you heard? Partner up with a blogger or two or three and get them to review your book and rave about it on their social media pages. Create a hashtag for your novel so people can easily share and locate it. Before you partner with a blogger ensure they are qualified to do the job, check out their feed, make sure they don’t just promote any and every one. You would also like them to have an average to high engagement with their following to get the best investment for your money. Noëlle Santos of 1st Noëlle, Mocha Girls Read, Read in Colour, Joey Pinkney are awesome follows in the digital community. The best part is they are accessible.
By doing these five things you should be well on your way to selling your first hundred books and more.