5 Reasons You're Not Selling More Books

About this video

(Summarized from the Arabic caption track.) Dale Roberts counts down five reasons authors are not selling more books, in order of importance. Reason five is having no clear audience: if you do not know who you are writing for, your target readers cannot find you and your book gets lost in the noise on Amazon or any other platform. Reason four is weak keyword selection: keywords drive discoverability, and they must be both profitable and clearly relevant — he gives the example of putting a keyword for unicorn books for ages 12 to 15 on a unicorn coloring book for ages 3 to 6, which creates a mismatch that drives browsers away. Reason three is a bad book description that merely lists contents instead of selling: open with a strong hook, write compelling copy, and end with a strong call to action. Reason two is a bad book cover: everyone judges a book by its cover, and a cover that does not match its niche or the bestsellers in it will be passed over, so consider hiring a professional. Reason one, the biggest culprit, is no promotion: you cannot just publish and hope — marketing and promoting your book is a continuous, never-ending job. The episode is sponsored by Lulu, a print-on-demand service he describes as free to use with no upfront costs or hidden fees.

Key takeaways

• Write for a specific, clear audience — if you write for no one in particular, your target readers will never find you
• Choose keywords that are both profitable and clearly relevant to your book; a mismatched profitable keyword hurts more than it helps
• Write book descriptions as sales copy: a strong opening hook, compelling content, and a strong call to action
• Your cover must match your niche and its bestsellers; if you design it yourself and sales lag, consider hiring a professional
• No promotion is the number one reason for low sales — marketing your book is an ongoing task that never ends

Episode details: published August 19, 2020 · 7:11 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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