Having just scored another number one bestseller with his latest Western, C. Wayne Winkle is sitting at the top of the mountain with an excitingly high sales year already in motion. He’s not the only one, as Mike Mackessy, C. Wayne Winkle, William H. Joiner, Dave Sebeslav, Paul L. Thompson, Randall Dale and many others have scored seller after seller this year. But what actually causes an author like C. Wayne or Paul L. Thompson or Mike Mackessy to continuously keep hitting the top spot with each new release? Is there a magic bullet that causes a book to soar?
With April looking like a return to form for Western books, I keep getting asked, “How do you keep making that number one spot with these books? They keep coming out of nowhere and heading to the top! What are the magic ingredients of success? How does an author go from being unknown to being the number one bestseller in the United States, Canada, Australia and such? How does that happen?” How can you do it? First off, there’s no magic bullet. It’s hard work, but it’s the strategy that you really want to know, isn’t it, so let’s go over it once more for ol’ time’s sake.
The first C is Consistency. This is something all authors have to practice. Consistency in book promotion is the only way a book will move. You can’t do one, or two, or three things. You have to consistently promote your book—you have to always be doing something. Always looking to get more attention for your book, always running little ads, or trying to get more reviews, or changing the pattern of your AMS ads, or bringing new forewords to the book, new categories. You have to be like the water rolling around the rocks to find the path of least resistance. You have to be consistent on your journey towards success.
The second C is Commitment. We all have commitments in our lives, and those commitments sometimes seem like a problem. But in reality, a commitment is just achievement in process. As an author, you have to commit to your book and commit to its success. If you don’t commit to your book, you won’t be able to be consistent (the first C), and you will find it harder to be successful. Commitment gives you the grit needed to get the job done. I ask all my clients to be committed to the promotion of their book. I ask them to answer interviewers, to write blog articles, to be involved—because unless you love your own baby, how can you expect anyone else to?
The third C is a very special one. One that a very, very talented author mentioned to me. This C stands for “cool,” and it’s true—you have to be cool to be successful. You have to keep a level head and not become depressed when your book isn’t discovered on day one. You have to be cool when you are interviewed, and cool when you are reading a bad review. You have to keep cool and… be committed… and be consistent.
So if you’re looking for success with your books, you have to try the three ‘C’s’ before you can do anything else. Be consistent, be committed, and be cool, calm and collected. Do not panic, do not worry, just stay committed and consistent. Before long, you may be the next C. Wayne Winkle or Anne M. Grisby or William Joiner, moving thousands of copies of your book each month and hitting the top of the bestseller chart.
Now, on another note, and I hate to be a bore, but I am running short of reading material due to this current crisis the world is facing. If you have a book that you think I’d enjoy, drop a line and let me know about it. I’d love to discover something new. You can contact me through the form below. Three C’s are waiting for you. Now, get to work!
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