Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival: "How to sell more books"
Last week was the Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival, held in Bowral. I was thrilled to speak on a panel on “How to Get Published”, along with fellow panellists Carol George (Commissioning Editor at Penguin Books) and Laura Greaves (author of Be My Baby). Moderated by journalist and author William Verity, he suggested that the title was a misnomer. After all, these days anyone can “get published” when you consider that self-publishing has become very easy and is also extremely affordable.
William said that the more pertinent issue is probably “How to Sell More Books” and that brings in a whole raft of questions about marketing your book and yourself. The bottom line is that you might have the best book in the world, but that’s a moot point if no one knows about it. It may as well be still sitting in your bottom drawer!
What followed was a lively discussion on what you need to do in order to give yourself the best chance at increasing your book sales – and thus the amount of your royalty cheque.
