Marketing is the process of promoting your brand or product. Selling is giving a product or service in exchange for a reward, usually money. So in a nutshell, selling is a result of marketing.

If your book is on Amazon, you want to market or promote your book while Amazon wants to sell it. Which is a result of your marketing efforts. IE: you put up social media blurbs to let people become aware of your book and refer them to Amazon to purchase it. The caveat is Amazon does nothing to sell your book except act as a conduit for your efforts.

The page your book is represented on is your opportunity to participate in the selling process. They have listed the selling price and you have the sales job. To consummate the sale you have to supply ad copy that sells your book. First and foremost is the cover and title. Both in conjunction must intrigue a prospective buyer and push him or her to read your ad.

The synopsis on the page closes the sale. It must sell something the buyer wants. Excitement, love, emotion, fear. Try to appeal to their five senses.

1. Sight. The cover and title. It’s the only tangible sense you visually address.
2. Smell. If you describe a raging forest fire, you want people to recall that putrid smell from their memory or create a new one.
3. Hearing. Taxis littered the street during the midtown rush hour. The constant honking and screaming elevated my head throb well past normal migraine levels. People relate to manic rush-hour traffic and headaches.
4. Taste. If you properly describe a food that people are familiar with, they can actually taste it.
5. Touch. The buyer cannot touch your product, but you can touch their mind and feelings. Emotions run deep from our life experiences.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak! coined by Elmer Wheeler, 1920’s

So how do you market? If you buy a bus sign, you’ve wasted your money. 99.99999 percent of the people that even see the sign isn’t your customer. The only answer is target marketing. First, you have to define your market. Know who your book was written for and reach out solely to that segment. IE: Say you write romance novels. Research readers that buy that genre. Scour book clubs, sites, and authors who are successful. There’s no quick or down and dirty formula. Don’t give up, every lead is a forefront to the next.

Do not hire a marketer that promises the moon. There is no such person. There are people that specialize in your genre. You have to find them. It takes time and effort on your part. I believe if you’re willing to do the research to find that person, you might as well do the research to find buyers instead.

Electronic marketing is an ever-changing field. Today, email marketing is the buzz word. Develop a dedicated email list and use it. There are plenty of sites offering free advice on this subject.

The slowest, but most effective way to grow a business is word-of-mouth. Be patient, ask for reviews, seek out readers that will be your champions.

Good luck and much success.