What makes a bestselling book? What is a best seller anyway? Is there a trick to writing bestseller books?
Well, let’s be honest here – If you are a professional writer, you’re in this business to make money, to earn a good living. Writing for the sake of writing won’t get you anywhere.
What is a bestseller book?
The definition of a bestselling book varies from one genre to another. It can mean different things to different types of writers. For a famous writer such as John Grisham or Stephen King, any book with less than 1 million sales would be considered a failure.
But for a typical writer of self-published books, any book that makes them $1,000 or more every month is a best seller.
The point is, if you’re happy with your book sales, that should be good enough for you. What we should discuss is what makes a book a best seller. There is a definite strategy that goes into that.
Here’s what you should know about making your book a bestseller.
#1: It’s all about marketing.
If you’re going to write a book, start with the marketing first. It’s the marketing that decides whether you’re going to make any money out of the book. Marketing is all about letting people know that you’ve written a great book or are in the process of writing one. You may have written a masterpiece and taken 5 years to write it, but if enough people do not know about it, the book will only get lost in the crowd. Remember this for now: start with the marketing. This can be social media marketing, book launches, pay-per-click advertising, podcasts and more. Definitely launch a dedicated website or sales page for the book – that should be the fulcrum of your marketing efforts.
#2: Write something new and unique.
Always be original and try something new and unique that hasn’t been attempted before. Be clear about the message being conveyed in the book. Pick a large general theme and write the book around that. Ask yourself: Is there anything in the book that would cause people to get excited and recommend the book to their friends? Also, choose the right genre. We have listed the 5 best selling genres for books here. Do have a look.
#3: Don’t forget the packaging and positioning.
By packaging and positioning, we mean things such as the eBook cover. A lot of writers make the mistake of spending months on a book, only to choose a ridiculously cheap cover design. That doesn’t make sense as the cover is the first thing a reader sees when checking out the book. Poor cover design very rarely equates to good sales. Also important is the formatting. Poor formatting can kill any book, regardless of the quality of the writing.
#4: Focus on the writing.
Ultimately, the success of your book boils down to the writing. You can try all the marketing and promotions in the world. You can have the best possible cover design.
But if the writing is mediocre, all of that PR will actually work against you. Nothing destroys a book more than negative reviews from disappointed readers.
So, focus on the writing, take your own sweet time to write an incredible book. Make sure that your research is impeccable. Proofread the heck out of the book; leave no room for errors of any sort.
Finally…
The book should be something that adds value to an average reader’s life, which they wouldn’t mind paying for and would happily recommend to their friends on Facebook or Twitter.