The other day I came across a book that absolutely fascinated me, Off the Rails by Susan Burrowes, and I was surprised to see it priced at $9.95 for the Kindle version, because I’m so used to seeing books in the range of $0.99 to $4.99.

However, the bottom line with Off the Rails is that I am so interested in reading it, that I am willing to pay the $9.95.

This is the basic tenet of marketing: sell by value, not price. If someone values something, they will pay the price.

Too often I see authors selling by price, not value. It is your job to present the value of your book to readers, not to bargain with them, beg them, “Well how about at this price, will you buy it then? How about free, will you download it, please?” The whole premise of this type of marketing is off kilter, off balance, is humiliating to the author and drives down their enthusiasm and morale, making them feel discouraged and insulted.
And it is insulting! The truth of the matter is: you wrote a book. You put your heart and soul into it and you are bringing value to the reader. You do not have to beg them to buy. They should be pleased and happy to pay a reasonable price for your book, and they will if they understand its value.

There are several things to consider:

In lowering your book prices too much, you are inadvertently devaluing your brand, because what goes through a reader’s mind? Well, it can’t be that good if it’s priced that low.

Ask yourself this question: if you saw a Rolex at a store and it cost 99 cents, what would your reaction be? Oh, it must be fake, a knock off, it’s worthless.
What if it was a real Rolex? What if you realized, okay it’s a real Rolex. You’d still ask yourself, well what’s wrong with it? It must be a reject, have some flaw that makes it worthless, I should stay away from it.
It’s the same principle: if your book has value, what is it doing in the 99 cent bargain bin?

How can I sell by value and not price?

The number one principle in branding is: what makes my book unique?

Make a list of ways that your book is unique. If you can say the same thing about a million other books, that’s not it. Keep digging, there are many things that make your book absolutely unique and different. Your job is to find them and portray them to potential readers. Keep in mind what makes something unique often relates to its particular combination of characteristics.

Make a list of ways that reading your book will help the reader. Dig deep. Just write down every single thing you can think of, no matter how extreme, unusual, funny or crazy it sounds. Let yourself have fun with it!

Ask yourself: what is the value of my book? And I don’t mean that dreaded internal struggle where you evaluate the positive versus the negative reviews on Amazon. I mean the deep value, the meaning behind it, what you put into it, what your hopes are for the reader in reading it. What were you thinking when you wrote it? What did you think you were bringing the reader? What were your goals, why did you write it?

Now that you have this all written down, think about how you can bring this message to your audience, i.e. take what’s inside the book and put it on the outside.

Ways to do this:

• Use Canva.com to put short, attention grabbing book excerpts / quotes and the value statements you came up with, onto attractive background images.
  In addition to the value statements, there must be hundreds of unusual, ‘make them want to click’ type quotes you can pull out. Don’t explain, you don’t need to put context, just splash it out there. Example: “A man fell off a bridge last night and I’m not at all sure it wasn’t the same man I went on a date with last week.”
• Create a YouTube channel and do ‘behind the scenes’ vlogs where you talk to your readers. People love the inside scoop.
• Get a book trailer. I can’t emphasize enough how important that is. For more on the value of book trailers, click here.
• Write short behind the scenes posts on social media. Why do you think reality TV is so popular? Because people love to see behind the scenes. Not complaining, but really showing them your view of the world. You know how to do this as a writer, show don’t tell. These are not the usual sharing posts, but focusing on the book content, the times you went through in living the events (if it’s a memoir), as well as what it was like to write it.
• Use portraits of your characters to engage, using images and text created in Canva:
  This is my daughter: will she go back to her crazy ex-boyfriend?
  (Character name) is a time traveler who volunteers with the homeless – will she meet Mr. Right?

Examples of value:

In reading my story about… readers will feel understood and that they are not alone.
In reading my story, they will learn What Not to Do! – put a humorous slant on it
My book will make readers feel connected and inspired to be their best.
They get to come with me into my dysfunctional, offbeat, but always unique family! I’m inviting them to come and stay with us for the day.

How to assess if your Posts Pop:

• Ask yourself, would I click if I saw this?
• Does it jump out?
• Is it something I’ve seen a million times before, either in the imagery or phrasing?
• Is this something different and unique? Is it showcasing what makes my book unique or is this something that could be said about thousands of other books?

For more information, set up a coaching session with me where we can discuss your branding and marketing set up and how to jump start it!

E-mail me at UBDCreative@Hotmail.com
Or send me a DM on Facebook