Writing 101: Sell, Sell, Sell...On Your Blog

Indie authors should always have their own space on the web, and a blog is the easiest option. But if you aren't using it to sell books, you're wasting your own time.

Always Selling

Authors are salesmen (or women). Yes, all of them -- that includes you. It's your job to think about selling books, or finding ways to give them away for free, at all times. You're not doing this to make money, because you're probably not going to make a lot of money so don't waste time on that ambition. You're doing it so that you get read, and that's the ultimate goal of any author. You want people to read. 

To facilitate that, you've got to get them to buy. So use your blog, because it's yours. You've got to pay money for Facebook ads, and you've got to spend a lot of time with Twitter to get big results from that. You put a ton of work into being an indie author because you write your books, and edit them and put them together beautifully. But adding some stuff to your blog to sell more books? That's the easy part. There are lots of ways to do it; use any or all of them. 

• Links: It's the easiest thing in the world to add links to your blog. Create widgets to place them permanently on the page. Make them attractive and colorful. Include pictures of your book covers and other interesting elements. 
• Quotes: If you've got some good reviews, add a few quotes to your blog. After all, if Reader Stacy enjoyed the book, why won't Blogcrawler Molly?
• Shopping cart: Get fancy, and add a shopping cart to your blog so readers may buy the book directly from you. PayPal, Google and many other websites allow you to do this for free.
• Widgets: Many sites, including book-centric Goodreads, have widgets that make it easy for you to add your books to your blog. Amazon and many online bookstores have widgets you can use as well. Explore the options to create a layout that pleases you.

Your blog isn't just or selling your books. It's also for selling yourself. Remember that as an author you are a brand. If you are likable and readable on your blog, readers are much more likely to take a look at your books. All you really have to do is make it easy for them to do so.

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