Why Does My Book Not Sell? 20 Simple Fixes: Indie Publishing Success - Sell More Books (Writer's Craft)

The information provided gave me insight on publishing my own books. Full of usefull information and well written. I would recommend this book to other self-published authors..

I just finished another excellent how to book for writers from Rayne Hall. Why Does My Book Not Sell? is by a writer and indie publisher whose books span fantasy, horror and eminently practical guides to help writers write and market their work.Why Does My Book Not Sell? is divided into 20 chapters, all concise, with detailed information on how to improve what you’re doing now to sell your book. She covers all the bases, starting with cover design and ending with how to freshen up your writing voice. The chapters cover blurbs, sample pages, landing pages, researching readers, targeting marketing, distribution channels and pretty much everything else an indie author needs to know to successfully market a fiction or nonfiction book.I learned something from every chapter, but what gave me the most giggles was the information in the last two chapters, Overused Openings, and Freshen Up Your Writing Voice. They list clichéd opening scenes and overused words in the opening pages of fiction that will reduce your reader to yawns. I was grateful that my latest manuscript did not contain any of these errors, but I also remember, with embarrassment, some early stories that did. Rayne is a former editor and fiction writer herself, so she knows what she’s talking about here. Those chapters alone were worth the price of the book.Since I’m not overly affected by book covers in general, I was fascinated by her take on what makes one effective. The sample designs she includes made the point, and I will keep her suggestions in mind for the future. I also rewrote my blurb based on her recommendations.Another helpful feature was that she listed her personal experience with each of the chapter topics, including the mistakes she made and how to recover from them if you’ve done the same thing. It brought all the advice down to earth. There’s nothing like hearing how somebody else messed up and recovered to save yourself from throwing time and money down the same rabbit hole.Rayne’s book is not a get rich quick scheme. She has integrity, and speaks from experience about how spamming and intrusive marketing will not work in your favor. I have read several of her other books, and appreciate that I am listening to the wisdom of someone who cares about her reputation as well as making a living.I highly recommend this book to any current or would be indie author or publisher who wants to learn from the experience of one who has been there.

Since the Amazon revolution, the independent publishing business can be reduced to three simple rules: writing a book is hard, publishing a book is easy, selling a book makes writing look like a cakewalk. Aspiring young authors who spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars at writer’s conferences may wish they had simply downloaded (or bought) Rayne Hall’s Why Does My Book Not Sell? 20 Simple Fixes.Why Does My Book Not Sell? contains more useful information than I remember gleaning from a decade of seminars, and corrects a great deal of misinformation passed out to boot. For years publishers and agents buzzed about platforming, much of it an excuse to avoid marketing their own writers. Hall’s information was more concise and, in my opinion, far more correct. And she never used the word “platforming.”Hall covers three basic strategies: Tweak your book, tweak your marketing campaign, and, most important, improve your writing.It may seem counterintuitive to discuss writing skills when your book is already on the market, but Hall believes writers sell books by look forward to their next book. She also recognizes that many authors now use print on demand and eBook delivery, which allows them to revisit their books and revise them (which may require a new ISBN should the revisions be substantial).Her tweaking strategies, such as a cover redesign, are right on target. Hall and my first publisher, the late Susan Bright of Plain View Press, are in total agreement. Covers sell or kill books. I’ve been unhappy with the cover of one of my books from the beginning and just a glance at some of her examples allowed me to rethink the problem entirely.Independent authors new to the publishing game may find Hall’s marketing strategies formidable, but well worth exploring. From trimming and focusing your social media presence to positioning your book for special category sales, she offers a number of precise tools to position you to boost sales.As with her popular Twitter for Writers, Hall’s prose is clean, enjoyable and easy to follow. Even if your books are selling, you would be wise to see if she has a few tricks you haven’t stumbled across.Phillip T. Stephens is the author of Cigerets, Guns & Beer, and Raising Hell.

Rayne always has great writing knowledge to share. As she mentioned in the beginning of this book it is not really for the newbie, though there are a few things to be learned.She goes from how to create an enticing cover to a catchy blurb that will get your readers wanting to buy the book. Where the book overwhelms the new writer but helps those who have one or more books out is explaining how to get reviews that are honest, marketing that seem reasonable that really aren't, and how to promote to readers instead of the billion of writers communities you probably are a part of.For the new writer, her advice about how to chance up your first scene and make it more memorable, words to avoid that make you look like a newbie, and again how to write a great blurb and set up your book cover to get the best buying reaction are invaluable. (But I'm going to tell you what was going on in my head when I was reading it....finish your dang book first THEN you can read her helpful hints.)As always I love that she shares what's she's done in the past that hasn't worked for her. It makes her books more accessible and gives a feeling of "we're in this together" and gives her a very likable quality. The pictures only add to the book to lighten up the mood if you find you've been doing things that aren't making you sales.Very worth the read. Thanks Rayne.

I found this a useful, informative book.It is also concise, which is always tempting. That being so, it is a bit unreasonable of me when I say further down that I wish that there could have been more of it; still, I suppose that is a compliment.Also, the author has a lively sense of humour, always a selling point with me. She doesn't hesitate to quote her own past mistakes, which is always refreshing.I found it particularly helpful in pointing out that methods of promoting your books quickly become ineffective. The role of free downloads, for instance, has massively reduced as the number of free books offered has grown over the last few years.There were some sections which I wish were longer and more detailed - the tricky business of finding sub-categories on Amazon, for instance. I believe there used to be a much more detailed drop-down menu, but that seems to have vanished, and that makes it still more tricky. I spent two hours the other day looking at various books in what appeared to be sub-categories and still couldn't find a suitable one with less competition for a couple of mine (whinge, whinge).But here, I am being demanding, and the point of a concise book is that it is precisely that. I must approach Amazon, clearly, on sub-sub categories... One thing that particulary intrigued me was the author saying that, 'I hope your story isn't about (a writer's) fictional characters invading her real life - or you have written the story that just about every other author has written.' I love to read about that theme, and have only been able to track down a couple of stories on it! Perhaps the the author saw all these on the slush pile as publishers obviously detest this theme. There is, of course, that 2008 film on it, 'Inkheart'... Another topic that has always fascinated me was how much classical novelists got away with, in an age when there was so much less competition. I noted it applied here, on the section which warns against massively clichéd openings. For instance, Daphne du Maurier's 'Jamaica Inn' begins with the heroine gazing through the coach windows and reflecting on the past experiences that have brought her on this journey. Maybe it wasn't as well worn when she used it, though...Further back stll, Thackeray's 'Vanity Fair' begins before the journey even starts, though I suppse there is Becky Sharp's dictionary throwing performance...The modern author has to be so much more alert to the dangers of boring her/his audience. Obviously, the culture of hurry has a lot to do with it, and competing stimulation from all sources.Defintely, recommended.

I HAD to read this book when a writer friend emailed me to say that it was really good, and it made him laugh because two of the 'simple fixes' were something I'm always nagging him about!! Namely: 1) don't waste time and money advertising, making profiles and promoting on dedicated indie author sites/groups, because the only people who look at the sites are other indie authors, and 2) don't get into writer review swaps and review clubs and groups, because of the pressure to give rave reviews to books that don't merit it; these ruin your own credibility and mislead the reading public.I've read Ms Hall's book about writers and Twitter and loved the way it was written, so I was interested to read this. Hey, and guess what? It taught me stuff I hadn't thought of! The first bit, about book covers, is particularly good, and I very much like how Rayne gives you the advice most people don't (see paragraph above). There's a really good chapter about finding a promotion partner, which is a brilliant idea for writers who have busy lives and are perhaps not that au fait with social networking sites. I'd never have thought of that!As with the Twitter book, Ms Hall's advice is easy to follow, never patronising, doesn't make assumptions (apart from the fact that your book should be worthy of promotion in the first place, of course!), and I admire how she details her own mistakes, too. No advice is worth following more than that from one who has been there, made the mistake and suffered the consquences, after all.I'd recommend this book in particular for those who have just published their first book, but it's also worth getting if you're thinking of publishing in the future, if you've been published for a while but haven't been able to find a readership, or if you're an old hand like me who's always thinking, yeah, my books do sell.... but I wish they sold ten times as many!!!

This is a very good little book. Short and pithy and well written.I have published several books already - both mainstream and indie; both fiction and non-fiction.I am embarking on launching my own series of horror books under a series title. Even at this embryonic stage, I am fully aware that I need as much help as possible.A few days ago I stumbled onto Rayne's Writing Gothic Fiction. I sent for it immediately, and have thoroughly devoured it. An excellent piece of work. As I result, I searched out all of her other Writers Craft books and read all the Look Insides. This has led me to send for the vast majority of the other titles. I truly believe that they will become an indispensable aid on my next venture.This book is the second one of the series that I have read. It can be thoroughly absorbed in under a couple of hours, and I have read and reread it several time.Having published several books as an indie author, I found this book to have a wealth of useful information; neatly organised. My only criticism - well, rather more a plea - is that I wished several of the chapters were more beefed up. I think the book, written in exactly the same format and detail, could easily be about 25% bigger. This especially pertains to the social media sections. I am a total social media luddite, and would have found more help useful. Further, this is an area where fashions change, so must be kept updated. Perhaps a 2nd edition could be persuaded out of the author!

This book is full of useful tips, and more importantly a broad framework for approaching improving your work as what works is continually evolving. Once enough people find a new technique for improving their book's visibility and sales it becomes less useful. However there are definitely a set of things that will always remain useful.I'm not going to tell you the list, Rayne deserves to profit from her hard work and she's not charging the earth for the book. I got it on pre-order for £0.77, about 99 cents US. That could of course just have been a ploy on her part to catapult it up the sales rankings. However even if it costs you a little more it may still be worth it for the advice.Each of the things in the list is backed up with some evidence of Rayne's own experience, and some of them from other people. The explanations given seem sound to me, and there are a number of very sensible caveats about the fact that the market for books is ever changing and as more and more people try things then they become less effective.If I was to sum up the advice it would be- keep trying new things to make your work stand out from the crowd.- You can also use the top few best sellers as a sort of example, although beware that others may be doing the same thing and it may not help you.- Do what works for you for as long as it works,- keep on innovating and move on when things become less effective.Seems sound advice for life, never mind selling books.There is a load more in there, and just reading it may help you think of more stuff. Don't forget to look at things from your reader's point of view. Who do you think your target market is and how do they find new books to read?One caveat from me though. I've not yet had time to update any of my own work, so I cannot say whether or not any of the advice in Rayne's book actually works for me. However I still think it was valuable to me as a writer for the reflection time it gave me when I read it.Go get a copy of 'Why does my book not sell? 20 simple fixes' yourself!

I am always buying books like this, always doubting my abilities, and it drives my family nuts. They don’t understand how important it is to get things right, or my need to be sure I have not missed any little trick or nuance that might improve my first foray into the self- publishing world.I don’t think it is wrong to want to improve your efforts, but will agree that this has to be the last one. I mean, the doubting has to stop some time, doesn’t it? And having read it through once already, I can see it will be the last one I buy, as it is by far the most comprehensive guide I have ever read.The author, Rayne Hall, openly admits to having made mistakes in her beginnings, but learned from them, so her advice comes to us through the fire of trial and error.I systematically went through this book, checking and testing every one of the 20 points listed, and although my original efforts were not that bad, I discovered that almost all of them would benefit from a make-over.Between us, my sister and I have written six books, and I took a long hard look at them all, comparing their covers, blurbs and descriptions. What I found was interesting. Some needed a better blurb, others a new description. One needed a new cover. But it was the keywords for each book that needed the most work. I was obviously having an off day when I came up with them.