Competing with the Bible

When I wrote my last book, I didn't know I had to compete with the Bible.

At least, one person thinks I do. One of the reviews posted on Amazon this week said good things about the book and then gave it a 4-star review. They said the reason it didn't get a 5-star review was that no book gets five starts except the Bible. I guess I can't argue with that.

Book Promotion

Writing a book is only half the job--maybe not even that much. You also have to do a lot of promotion. I started the promotion for my most recent book Secrets of RVing on a Dime and a Dream this week. If you subscribe to my Tip of the Week, you know that it was free on Amazon on Tue. and Wed.

I gave away 2,359 eBooks and so far 16 reviews have been posted on Amazon. I understand that a lot of people haven't had time to read the book yet. I expect to get about 25 to 30 reviews total by the end of next week. That means approximately one person out of 100 who downloaded the book will take the time to post a review. That's about average I think. Anyway, I'm happy with those numbers.

Amazon changed their rules recently and they won't let anyone post a review if they haven't spent at least, $50 buying things from Amazon during the last 12 months. They have a few other rules too. Their goal is to only show honest reviews, and I guess they want reviews from people who have bought enough books (or other items) during the last year to know a good book from a bad one. That makes sense.

You can't just write a book and hope people will buy it

No one wants to read a book unless it has a reasonable number of good reviews. Of course, you can't get reviews until people start buying the book. It's like the old chicken and egg dilemma. That's why it's a good idea to give away some copies of a book when it's first published.

I wrote the book below shown on the right almost a year ago and published it in Oct. of 2017. I didn't do any promotions and as of today, it has only 3 reviews--and very few sales.

I actually thought it would sell better than my latest book shown on the left. It might have if I had done some promotion. There is some valuable information in the book, and I'm going to get busy and make it successful. In other words, I am going to start promoting it.

I don't think Abraham Lincoln was talking about book sales when he made the following statement (but he could have been): He said. . .

"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle." ~ Abraham Lincoln

One other thing: When a book becomes a #1 Best Seller, that really makes the sales take off. Two of my books are usually #1 Best Sellers.

Bottom line: I don't think the old saying that states that if you build a better mousetrap, people will beat a path to your door holds true in the Internet age--if it ever did. Whether it's a book or some other product, you have to convince them that it's a great product, and nothing convinces people more than hearing other people say that it's a great product.