sell « Robin Writes

Some book promo sites want you to have X number of reviews or stars in order to list your book. It’s a chicken-egg thing: how do you get the sales and the reviews so you can promote your book?

Places to sell books:

Bookstores
Other retailers
Restaurants
Professional offices
Grocery stores
Toy stores
Kids’ event venues
Teens event venues
Any event venues
Your place of work
Fairs
Festivals
Farmers’ markets
Museums
Gift shops
Mall kiosks
Bowling alleys
Roller rinks
Ice rinks
Your front yard

Yes, the list is a bit redundant, but the idea is to get you thinking. I knew an author who carried a table, chair, and a box of books around in her trunk and could set up a booth in two minutes flat. And it worked.

The next step, of course, is getting permission to sell books at any or all of these places. You have to actually talk to someone—I know it’s hard, but it’s the only way.

Many of them, you can simply call; they’ll have a policy about these kinds of things and they can tell you right away if it’s allowed.

For most of them, it’s better if you just go there. In person. Come out of your home or office or shell, put on pants, and go. Make a list first and map out your locations and do them all in one or two or seven days. Keep a calendar with you so you can write down the bookings you get. Yes, you’ll get some. Be optimistic!

Sure, it’s a lot of work. You have to call and visit and talk and plan and carry a box of heavy books. And you have to have change and, preferably, a way for book buyers to pay via credit card. Google that.

Is your career worth it? Or is it enough to have written and published the book? If it’s the former, get busy! If it’s the latter, please speak to your publisher and ask if he or she is okay with you sitting on your butt. Go ahead. I dare you.

Another way to sell books is to blog regularly—at least once a week, but not constantly. Pick what works for you and just do it already. However, you also must have topics that are pertinent to your writing career or to your books. Don’t just slap down posts, willy-nilly. And make sure they’re all around 500 words, minimum. Okay, 400. Just don’t do three sentences and call it a day. That’s not a blog post, that’s a status update.

And as long as we’re mentioning status updates, puh-lease—a few a day is fine. Constant posting is annoying. I’ve un-followed established authors for this. Their so-called pearls of wisdom are more yawn-inducing than anything, and they keep me from seeing more interesting stuff.

Also, don’t link all your social media accounts. That accomplishes exactly the same thing—an overflow of stuff from you. First, we get something on Instagram; then LinkedIn; then Twitter; then Facebook; then Pinterest. All coming down one newsfeed. Over and over.

For Pete’s sake, who wants to read your book after they’ve heard you yacking all day already?

And finally, make yourself an expert. In what? I don’t care—pick something. Pick several somethings, just be sure you can back that up. Did you write historical fiction? You’re a history buff. Romance? Whisper sweet nothings. YA? You know about teens.

Add a page to your website or blog and advertise your speaking services. Yes, people will pay for that. Yes, you can almost always sell books wherever you’re speaking, such as schools, business meetings, clubs, and so forth.

Note: I really wish I could find some substantiated statistics on how many sales it takes to garner one book review. If anyone has a link, I’d appreciate it!

I don’t often blog about my book series, REDUCED, because, well, you know how that goes. Besides, they’re all listed down the sidebar here—————->

But just in case you missed all that, and you want more info, I’ll lay it out all nice and neat. And of course, if you’ve read them, feel free to tell everyone how great they are!

[Should I insert a j/k or a wink here or something? Nah, you get that this is all a making-fun-of-promotions thing, right?]

A devastating biological agent is about to be released, to be tested in remote areas. Rumor has it, though, that there is more to this than meets the eye. One group makes plans to hide out, and survive, in case that rumor proves to be truth. Meeting at an abandoned summer camp near St. Louis, Missouri, a dozen old friends gather after the alarm is raised.

Life becomes more precious, more tenuous, as time passes. Government controls tighten, people are herded into the city…or killed. Towns are obliterated. And soon, the enemy agenda becomes obvious.

Abby, like the rest, has special skills – each member of the group was chosen not only because of past ties, but also for their unique training and abilities. She will come face-to-face with death, bear the responsibility for a young girl, and endure the severing of childhood relationships in the most terrible way imaginable.

From mere concealment to reconnaissance to aiding a rebellion, where will it end? Will the entire region be decimated, and who will be left alive to know?

Colonel Barton has been replaced, and the new commander is sending his henchman, Major Blake, to scour the outlying areas and remove any insurgents. Abby and the girls have remained in the cave at the camp, relatively safe for now, but plans are underway to eliminate all of them… for personal reasons, known only to the commander himself.

Soon, however, worlds will collide as Captain Alison Hinson is transferred in from Chicago. In spite of her background, Alison is horrified by the tactics of her superiors in the field and begins to question her own stance on the new government. As she puts together the pieces of the past, she realizes that she and Abby are kindred spirits, faced with a mission not of their own choosing but of circumstance.

Across the country, while officials and mercenaries live the high life, the citizenry are faced with more sanctions, more regulation, and fewer necessities.

Pockets of rebellion are quickly quelled, but incidents continue to increase as more people make the decision to go underground. Literally.

From abandoned caves below St. Louis itself to a subterranean river winding north into Illinois, REUSED will tell you more, perhaps, than you truly wish to know about the potential for the utter collapse of our civilization.

Survival had become a way of life since Co-opComm first launched VADER. Thirteen years had passed, and yet, Abby remained . . . she and the others prevailed where many had surrendered. And died.

Abby is tired. Tired of running and hiding. Tired of struggling, tired of fighting. Ultratron has a new secret weapon—a better, improved version. And the government-sponsored company has a new target, a more heinous plan.

Traveling to Chicago, the heart of the current regime, they come face-to-face with a new threat—or is it? Who is this mysterious Riley, and what does she know about the St. Louis compound? And how? Shadowy inhabitants arise from the depths of the city, but are they friend . . . or foe?

But Abby has only one objective: to defeat the government. Regardless of the cost.