Money

It’s time to cut through some of the ads I see on Facebook and Instagram about how to become a bestselling independent author. While I appreciate people sharing their expertise in order to help others, I also recognize that there are many ways to sell books. I’m still figuring it out. But what those ads remind me of are the people who hold seminars on how to get rich investing in real estate or stocks. Are they out there telling you to do it because they’re altruistic? Or are they doing it because they found they could make more money telling people how to do it than actually doing it themselves?

Regardless, what I’ve found so far is that you have to spend money to be even on the bottom rung of success. Or even seeing the bottom rung from below. If you do an Internet search, the average independent author sells 250 copies of their book. I’ve sold quite a bit more than that, but I’m still not making any profit. The reason is I have to pay for ads and promotions. That’s the only way I’ve found so far that lets me get people to even consider my books, but it’s pricey. Building your website, your brand, your mailing list - those are all the things the experts behind those ads will tell you if you pay for their materials or online classes. And they’re fine, but you can get all the info you need on how to do those for free from multiple sites. You’re going to spend money to sell books. Do you want it to go to someone telling you what to do, or do you want to spend the money directly on activities that’ll get you direct results?