Saturday, April 16, 2011

Are you willing to take a cut?

Today I learned a very valuable lesson while at an event to promote and sell copies of my book, "Foolish". I watched as another author sat waiting for book sales because she was not willing to take a cut. Sometimes, you may have to cut your customers a deal in order to get them to buy your books. I call this a sale. And what I do is I look at the venue and the surroundings to determine if I will sell my books for the full price, or offer a one time discount, a special price good for that one day only. Customers like to feel like they are getting a bargain and in doing so, you may actually end up making more money than you thought in the end.

I look at it like this: I would rather sell a few books for let's say $6.50, rather than not sell any books at all. But, at the same time, I may be having a raffle of a gift basket or something that people pay a dollar to enter. If the gift is nice, and it's something that people really want, in the end, you could still end up making the same price you would have charged for the book in the first place because if the prize is right, you will more than likely sell more than one ticket at a time.

I never have to lower the price of my book in order to get the people's attention, but I do find that if I give away a few copies first, it draws customers to me because they want to know what this book is about and how can they get one.

I did this today. I gave away three books and sold twelve in the process. If you are not willing to give, you really can't expect to get anything.

So my question you is, are you willing to take a cut? What are you willing to let go in order to bring customers to you? Maybe you could give a one time discount, or hold some sort of sale where if people buy your book on a certain day at a certain time, they can get the book for $2.00. This leaves plenty of room for you to get creative. Maybe you could have a contest where people have a chance to win an autographed copy of your book. You don't have to go insane, but let people see that you are willing to give. Giving is like a magnet; when you give, you get in return. In this case, your giving could result in you getting more income.

Until next time,
~Sandra~

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