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No matter what subject your book is about, there are several ingredients that are helpful when marketing your book. Some features are absolutely necessary if you want to sell enough books to make it a bestseller. For instance, it is common knowledge that you need to have an ISBN number and an EAN barcode, plus certain bindings and features, so that retail bookstores can sell your books for you.
However, there are several less known features you should add to expand the marketability of your book. For instance, almost every New York Times Bestseller has certain features and it would be wise to incorporate them into your book so that you improve your chances of being one of them too.
Below are 7 of the top book features that will make your book much easier to market and promote to bestseller status. When you design these features into your book (right from the beginning), you will market your book faster and better than other authors who fail to do so.
Feature 1 – Find a powerful theme and build it out. Find a flavorful title that makes people demand to know more. Outline your book and be specific with what you want in it so you attract the right people. Just gathering a list of your best ideas and putting a cover on it is not enough. That will get you a book, but it won't be a bestseller. You need a book that you and others will be excited to market.
Feature 2 – Become known as the top expert by collecting stories from others. Ask people to share a personal story in such a way that it has a self-help element. You'll reach many more people with stories that teach the reader how to apply a lesson to their own problem than just a dry list of instructions. Important resources, specific examples, strategies, tips, and insider secrets are things you should add to every story, whether it be yours or others.
Feature 3 – Quote lots of experts and you'll build in promotional value. Choose the quotes wisely so that they match the theme of each of your sections. Some experts may be flattered enough that they will help promote your book to their customers, which helps both of you. And, they might even buy some for themselves to give away to colleagues and special clients.
Feature 4 – Proactively seek out interviews and endorsements, and find the right person to do the Foreword. Use interviews with experts to get topical examples for your chapters of the book, and get audio or video clips to use for promoting. Your book will have greater credibility by including interviews and endorsements from experts.
Feature 5 – Give credit to the individuals and groups who helped create the book. You can also try to find a company to cover the costs in return for notable attention in your book. And it is often very helpful to seek out a sponsor to partner with in your promotion.
Feature 6 – Your book will be much easier to read and reference if you include an index. This is often an overlooked feature, however it makes your book more saleable to libraries, which of course is a huge buyer of books and will increase your reading audience..
Feature 7 – Create a resource section with a topical rolodex. List numerous agencies, organizations, associations, services, and other professionals related to your book's subject. This will broaden your audience and it might even cause some of the leaders/owners to actually purchase quantities of your book for distribution.
Bonus Feature – Include a bibliography. This is not only helpful to the reader who uses your book for research, but there are many people who like to own copies of the books that include theirs in the bibliography. Be sure to include the books from any experts who contributed stories, interviews, or examples.
ACTION STEP: Add in as many of the above features as possible to your book. Put emphasis on the features that cause other people to want to help promote the book for their own sake. This makes the Law of Reciprocity work for your benefit because as they are helping themselves, they are also helping you, and vice versa.
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