07/20/2020
Top 10 Reasons Why You Can't Sell as a Self-Published Author
"Why my book can't make a penny?" Base in my observation, majority of self-published authors undergo of great mental anguish at some point of their lives, or it could be most of the time. Just observing carefully from my very own experience. I've come to the realization why some book can't convert into cash.
1. Competitors
This problem get bigger and bigger since almost everyone can Self-Publish their own work. According to the statistic from September 2016, R. R. Bowker—the ISBN number registrar in the United States—reported that there were over 725,000 ISBN registrations for self-published works.
And it is also become a lot easier for anyone to publish their book since Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) doesn't require an ISBN.
And, as being stated in the Fast Company, there are over 129 million books in the world according to Google estimation.
Simply imagine the publishing world, the noise is everywhere from self-publish to traditional. You are competing from ancient to latest book in the market.
And, that is the common reason why most author can’t sell.
2. Being Naive about the Book Niche
It is crystal clear for any self-published author to have a huge amount of competition. In that case, you must be aware of the genre of your book and position it in the relevant niche of your competitor. So it would become easy for the potential readers to notice your book.
3. Unrelatable Writing
It is shockingly to know that most of the aspiring writers that I’ve had encountered are clueless other perspective. Basically, their way of writing is very narrowed and can’t give a space for other opinions and beliefs. That’s why they can’t sell.
4. Having a Unique Book
As being said above, the reason why the book can’t sell because of its uniqueness. It could be a signal that there is no market into it. The possible reason might be, the readers can’t relate into it or because it is not in trend. As an author, it is a wise move to take a look for the market first. Because the numbers of readers can tell if there’s market or potential buyers into it.
5. Writing without Objectives
If you don’t have an email, blogs, social media, or any form of publicity also known as Author Platform. You’ll be experiencing from second to none sales.
6. Cover Design Issue
As the old saying said, “Don’t judge the book by its cover.” I wish it will work that way. But most of your potential reader will judge your book depend on the design of your cover. For the Self-Publish Author, I humbly suggest to save some cash and hire someone to do the cover for you.
7. Pricing: Too High or Low
Make your price something in the middle. Because if you price your book for $0.99 the potential readers would think about it as a less valuable. But, if you price it too high. Most of them will just passing by and would look for other book to buy in the same category.
8. Unrealistic Sales Expectation
Some Self-Publish Author are disappointed with the results of their sales. Even if it generates sales, their expectation could be based on wishful thinking.
The truth is, the first to five sales of your Self-Publish book is in the circle of your own Family and Friends. And you can’t generate farther than that without the use of marketing. Your old Published Titles could also bring some sales, but be realistic enough to know that it will just move slowly especially if you are starting out to be recognize in the market.
9. Remember the Four-Letter Word “SELL”
Some authors delude themselves into the idea of being artist is enough to generate more sales. Most of the time, the cause of this though is based in fear, arrogance, or ignorance. As an artist as well as an author, you must think that you are also a marketer too.
10. Is your book just bad?
To be honest, many Self-Published Book author are bad at expressing stories through words. But this issue is need to be raise in order for authors to identify which is which. Continues editing, reading, and re-write their work would help them a lot in terms of the quality of the content. Beside it would also help them to improve their writings. In these cases, the lack of sales can be caused of the quality issue. But remember, the life will go on, simply continue and work hard to improve. Also good marketing is a plus.
