Do you think being able to claim bestseller status for your book would boost sales and increase your credibility as an expert in your field? It didn’t hurt marketing expert, author, and speaker David Newman.
39 Straight Months
For 39 straight months after its release in 2013, David Newman rode the crest of bestseller status with his nonfiction business book, Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits, and Crush Your Competition. During the launch period alone, his book was, according to Amazon.com rankings:
• #1 Bestseller in Marketing for Small Business
• #2 Bestseller in Marketing
• #2 Bestseller in Entrepreneurship
• #1 in “Hot New Releases” in Marketing
• #2 in “Hot New Releases” in Marketing & Sales
• #2 Bestseller in Marketing (Paid Kindle Store)
• #2 in “Hot New Releases” in Marketing (Paid Kindle Store)
• #2 in “Hot New Releases” in Marketing for Small Business (Audible Audio Edition)
After the launch, his book never dropped below 20,000 sales rank of all 8 million+ books sold on Amazon for 39 months continuously, putting the book, according to Newman, “in the top quarter of one percent of ALL books sold, including Harry Potter and the Bible.”
David Newman Secret to Bestseller Success
His secret?
“Shameless, relentless, and continual promotion and cross-promotion with other experts via email marketing, social media, live events, podcast, and borrowing others’ platforms via guest blogging and guest podcasts, asking for reviews at every opportunity, and in a few cases buying into some highly targeted email-based advertising that was a perfect fit with my target readership and was cost-effective.”
“It’s a self-reinforcing loop,” he continues. “Readers want to know your book is popular and successful. The moment you start to gain some traction — media coverage, reviews, social posts, etc. — SPREAD and AMPLIFY that, so it builds on itself. Being shy never helped any author build their platform.”
An essential tool for that effort, he offers, is your book’s website presence: “Many authors create one ‘book’ page on their website and give a skimpy overview and a sample chapter download. That is no way enough.”
For example, during the time he was promoting his book, he had five dedicated pages::
- The Book
- Book Bonuses
- Book Preview (which included a video book trailer)
- Bulk Orders (very important to give incentives and encourage bulk purchases)
- Book Club (which also included a free Facebook community for readers to connect with each other and share ideas)
Embrace Your YOU Marketing Campaign
Finally, he advises, remember, your book is more than just a book. It as an integral part of your business:
“The book needs to support the business — just as the business needs to pivot and support the book! All the things you should be and could be doing to promote your BOOK are probably the exact same things you should be doing ALL the time to promote your business in a healthy, vigorous, and ongoing way.”
“Don’t think of it as a book marketing campaign,” he concludes. “Think of it as a YOU marketing campaign with the main distribution channel being your book!”
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This piece was adapted from Ken Wachsberger’s You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You. Ken’s other books may be found here and here. For book coaching and editing help, or to invite Ken to speak at your meeting, email Ken at [email protected].
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