Fab Four Steps to Driving Book Sales & Reviews:

For longevity, control and sustainability of your book marketing, you need to have a direct channel of communication with your readers. If you focus exclusively on building an audience on someone else’s platform, any change in their algorithms or terms of service could result in you no longer being able to reach that audience. Building your e-mail list also gives you a way to send readers special offers, discounts and interesting blog posts in a way that ensures these offers will be seen.

You want your audience to have a vested interest and personal stake in the information you’re sharing with them. Their interest could stem from a variety of factors: specific interest in the content, accomplishment of their life goals, relaxation, entertainment, a sense of community and interaction.

Soft selling techniques are connection and value-based. We’ve all seen those used car salesmen commercials where they’re yelling, “Come on down!” That’s not what is at play here. Once you have established a connection with your audience and have regular readers that have signed up for your interesting, useful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) content, make sure you continue providing this,  while giving them ample opportunity to interact with you, then show them the value of what you would like to sell them. Content is king in soft selling; you need to keep their interest and sell by value. 

Interwoven through your CRM content, there needs to be a gentle education campaign regarding the value and importance of reviews for authors. Once they have bought and finished reading your book, it’s essential that your back matter incorporate this, in addition to a Call to Action.