Hi YouTube! Author Stefanie Newell and this is The Life Of A Writer channel.
Today's video 'How To Make Money Writing Books.' So if you want to connect with
readers and sell more books make sure to subscribe and get new content to your
inbox every Tuesday. But in this video I'm
gonna be sharing the strategy for writing books that actually make money.
So as most of you guys know my Youtube channel is geared towards first-time
writers. So it's for people who have never written a book before, they have no
experience with writing or publishing or marketing. So this video I really wanted
to do with you in mind. These tips will help you so that you are able to make
money from your book. So let's get started with tip number one. Write a book
that caters to your target audience and genre. Now of course I say this in almost
every single video I feel like, but I really want you to think about this from
the perspective of books that you have really loved and also from the
perspective of books that you have gone on to recommend to other people. What is
it specifically about those books that you loved? And why did you feel the need
to share it? So usually what you'll find is... is that there was something about
that book that really resonated with you. If it's you know something such as a
nonfiction book is gonna be something in there that really resonated with you or
if it's a fiction book it's usually gonna be that it really met your
expectations for that genre. So knowing your genre really well and giving your
audience exactly what they want and what they expect from that genre is really
gonna put you in a position to make money from your book. Now that seems like
a simple answer but it definitely is. You want to know your target audience really
well! You want to understand your genre really well so that when you're writing,
you're writing with your target audience and genre in mind!
Tip number two - start marketing your book while you're writing and once you
publish, consistently market your book! So the reason why this is such an important
tip in order to make money as a writer is as first-time writers we usually
don't have anyone that's going to be looking actively looking for our book so
you want to start to market to your audience on whatever social media
platform you choose and you want to start to get them
interested in the book so that when you get ready to publish your book you
actually have someone to sell the book to. And then you also want to
consistently market your book! Now that's important and that's one of the biggest
mistakes that new authors make. So usually what ends up happening is... is
that once the book is published there's a big marketing boost and there's a lot
of effort being done on the marketing end and then once three or four months
goes by the marketing starts to wane and then the question is why is my book not
selling? The reason why your book is not selling is again you're a new author! You
don't have a lot of readers at this point so you need to consistently market.
Now what does consistently marketing mean? It just means that you need to be
active on whatever social media platform you're using. You want to be doing book
signings or going to book conferences... in some way you need to let people know
that you have a book and this doesn't mean it needs to happen every day. For
example, I don't necessarily market every day but by doing YouTube videos on a
weekly basis that's drawing more attention to my brand and also drawing
attention to my books. Tip number three choose one social media platform where
your audience is and build a communities. So to put this all in
perspective when I first started writing my social media platform of choice was
Twitter. It never felt comfortable and never really felt like where I needed to
be. So while I was posting on a regular basis I really didn't have a lot of
engagement because it really did not feel like a comfortable social media
platform for me. So I moved my social media platform over to Facebook and I
had a lot more success there but honestly my social media platform of
choice is YouTube and this is where I spend a bulk of my energy because my
community is here. Now that does not mean that I don't still have a Twitter or
Facebook and Instagram. I do use all those social media platforms but when
I'm talking to my clients and I'm talking to you I really want to
encourage you guys to choose one social media platform where you put the
majority of your focus so that you can grow a community that you can engage
with. Once you have that community now you have someone that you can market
your book to. By me getting on YouTube every week and sharing my experience
with you guys and sharing tips you guys search out my books on your own so when
I say find one social media platform I don't necessarily mean that you need to
be on your social media platform saying buy my book, but share your experiences,
share things about your writing journeys, share things about questions that may be
around the subject matter that you're writing on so that you grow a community
and you have someone to later market and sell your book to. Down in the comment
section below share with me what social media platform you plan to use in order
to market your book. Be optimistic but realistic! So what do I mean exactly by
that? So obviously all of us want to become millionaires from writing our
books we all want to be on the best sellers list but honestly we have to
look at it realistically. First of all it takes time in order for that to happen
so usually that's not going to happen from a first book. We're gonna have to
continue to write. There's a saying in the publishing industry that goes nothing
sells book 1 like book two and nothing sells book two like book three. So
essentially what that means is keep writing. So the more you write the more
books you have out there the more ability you have to make more money.
The other thing you want to consider is that your book also opens doors for you
to do other things. So initially I started off as a fiction writer. I
transitioned into nonfiction writing that allowed me to do coaching and
speaking engagements which also allows me to make money. So be realistic in your
goals but also be optimistic and think about other ways that you can continue
to make money from your books. If you want to connect with readers and sell
more books make sure to subscribe but in the meantime check out my previous video
Earn Money Writing Books. As always all of my social media links will be in the
description box below if you're looking to hire me as your writing coach you
will find that information there as well and I look forward to talking with you
in my next video!