Money, Speaking, and Do-It-Yourself

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To read part one of my book writing & publishing journey go here.

A few things I heard before I wrote Totally Desperate Mom. A few things that have turned out to be true . . .

1. There is not a lot of money to be made being an author.
Most authors do not sell many books, which means they do not make much money or even recuperate costs spent self-publishing. Steve Piersanti, President of Berrett-Koehler Publishers, wrote a great article about book publishing. Check out 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing.

Here is an excerpt from his article:

Average books sales are shockingly small, and falling fast.
Combine the explosion of books published with the declining total sales and you get shrinking sales of each new title. According to Nielsen BookScan – which tracks most bookstore, online, and other retail sales of books (including Amazon.com) – only 282 million books were sold in 2009 in the U.S. in all adult nonfiction categories combined. (Publishers Weekly, January 11, 2010.) The average U.S. nonfiction book is now selling less than 250 copies per year and less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime.

(In seven months more than 1300 copies of Totally Desperate Mom have been sold. Half of them to my mom. Kidding, but she did buy 25.)

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Amazon now allows authors to track their sales. I was shocked to discover when just a few copies of Totally Desperate Mom sell my Amazon Bestseller Ranking goes way up. It can go from 600,000 to 60,000 from just a few copies sold!!

That confirms that not a lot of people are selling books -- self-published or otherwise.

2. Speaking is the most effective way to market and sell your book.

*Photos Courtesy of Becky High Photography

Unless you have a national platform people will not know about you or your book. There have been a few bloggers who have written and successfully sold books. They had a large following of fans who were ready to buy. That is not the case for most people or most bloggers. Yes, I kicked it with Eazy-E and (literally) rubbed shoulders with Ronald Reagan, but that's not enough. And that was 300 years ago.

You gotta get out there and speak and you probably shouldn't suck at it.

As you think about marketing your book you have got to consider: Who is your target audience? Is there a forum where I can speak to that audience? How often will my management team (my husband and kids) allow me to speak? Am I comfortable speaking in front of people?

Before I wrote the book I was asked to speak at a few things at my own church and that led to more speaking gigs. Here is my speaking schedule for the first half of this year if you want to bring me a craft kit.

I would recommend taking a course from Decker Communications. Their awesome training team (including Ben Decker, my good friend since 4th grade and his powerhouse wife Kelly) will improve your messaging and your delivery.

3. With or without a publisher, you've got to do a lot of marketing/promoting yourself.
What's that saying about hiding things like bedbugs under mattresses? Again, unless you have a large following your book will not sell itself. No matter how good it is. While I do enjoying speaking to women's groups, Bible studies, MOPS . . . I don't like "promoting" my book. I don't like "promoting" myself or working to create a brand. But these are things I must do get the books into the hands of fellow desperate mamas with the hope that it will bless them!

I apologize if you get sick of hearing about the book on this blog, but at least I also offer up some awesome home-decorating tips, allow you to showcase your dirty minivans, and share with you stories about my arm nutrients.

I will end it here because I am tired, I have smelly cat on my lap, and my husband will be home from volleyball practice soon. If you have more questions you can email me or comment. Or if you want to help a mother out (including yourself!) you can order the book right now through me or through Amazon.

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