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No matter what subject your book is about, there are several ingredients that are helpful when marketing your book. Some features are absolutely necessary if you want to sell enough books to make it a bestseller. Everyone knows that in order for your book to be sold in retail stores, it must have an EAN barcode, an ISBN number, and certain bindings and features.
However, if you add certain less well known features to your book, you will hugely expand your book's marketability. For instance, almost every New York Times Bestseller has certain features and it would be wise to incorporate them into your book so that you improve your chances of being one of them too.
Below are 7 of the top book features that will make your book much easier to market and promote to bestseller status. When you design these features into your book (right from the beginning), you will market your book faster and better than other authors who fail to do so.
Feature 1 – Find a powerful theme and build it out. Find a flavorful title that makes people demand to know more. Outline your book and be specific with what you want in it so you attract the right people. Don't just grab a bunch of your best ideas and slap a cover on it. That will get you a book, but it won't be a bestseller. You need a book that you and others will be excited to market.
Feature 2 – Get stories from people other than yourself and you will be viewed as the expert of experts. Ask people to share a personal story in such a way that it has a self-help element. You'll reach many more people with stories that teach the reader how to apply a lesson to their own problem than just a dry list of instructions. Tips, strategies, insider secrets, specific examples, and important resources are things you should add to every story, whether it be yours or others.
Feature 3 – Quote lots of experts and you'll build in promotional value. Choose the quotes wisely so that they match the theme of each of your sections. Consider using quotes from "live" people who might be flattered enough so that they tell others to buy it and help with promoting your book to their customer list. And, they might even buy some for themselves to give away to colleagues and special clients.
Feature 4 – Proactively seek out interviews and testimonials, and find the right person to do the Foreword. Use interviews with experts to get topical examples for your chapters of the book, and get audio or video clips to use for promoting. Your book will have greater authority by including interviews and endorsements from experts.
Feature 5 – List all of the people and organizations who helped in creating the book. You can also try to find a company to cover the costs in return for notable attention in your book. Finding a partner to sponsor you in your book promotion is often very beneficial.
Feature 6 – Add an index so that your book is easier to read and use. This feature will make your book much easier to sell to libraries which will enlarge your readership and help you draw more customers to your website. Yet this feature is often ignored in the book writing process.
Feature 7 – Make a list of associations, organizations, services, agencies, and other professionsals in fields around the subject of your book, and include it in your book as a topical rolodex in the resource section of your book. This feature will help increase your audience, and give those listed in the rolodex a reason to help you distribute and promote the book.
Bonus Feature – Have a bibliography in your book. Many people want to buy copies of books that reference their own book in a bibliography. Also, it makes your book more attractive those doing research. Be sure to include the books from any experts who contributed stories, interviews, or examples.
ACTION STEP: The more features above you can add to your book, the easier it will be to market and promote. Put emphasis on the features that cause other people to want to help promote the book for their own sake. This makes the Law of Reciprocity work for your benefit because as they are helping themselves, they are also helping you, and vice versa.
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