What does it really mean if your Book fails to sell?

One of the biggest determinants of Success and Failure is how you interpret your small failures and your big failures

At the moment that you realize your Book is failing to sell, and might be a failure, you have to determine what it means, and how you will interpret it

If you interpret things negatively, you will fall into the trap of thinking

1. Perhaps you should not be a writer
2. Perhaps you cannot write
3. Perhaps you cannot market
4. Perhaps the market screwed you over
5. Perhaps someone put you at a disadvantage

Whereas, the Reality is

1. It is just feedback from the market. Feedback that – at this point of time, for your book in this form, at this level of polish, and with these marketing methods – your book is not convincing readers to part with their hard earned money
2. Do not think of it as the market giving you a tight slap
3. Instead think of it as the market giving you a compassionate hug and gently telling you that you need to give the market something more suited to what sells

That’s really all it is. Feedback from the Market

There is an Infinite Market for The Right Product

The Market is ALWAYS looking for more good books and for more good authors. No reader ever says – there are too many good authors, there are too many good books, I wish there were less great authors

If you want to succeed you simply need to find The Right Market and Produce the Right Product and Get it in Front of the Right Customers. The Market is giving you Feedback that will move you in that direction – LISTEN TO THE MARKET

Back to First Principles and The 3 Core Skills for Authors

It’s best to go back to First Principles and Consider The 3 Core Skills for Authors

Take the feedback from the market under consideration. Some careful deliberation will usually give you a clear idea of what you need to work on

First, let’s look at the 3 Core Skills

1. Knowing What to Write. If your book is not selling the most common reason is that you have written it for a market that does not exist (or is very small). The very first thing to investigate is – Is there actually a market for my book? Are there other books that are selling? How well are they selling?
   1. Almost always, it is a fool’s errand to think you can sell books in a market where no one else is being able to sell books
2. Writing Very Well. If you see that the market has lots of books that sell well, then the next question to ask is – How good is my book, compared to the books that are selling?
   1. If your book is objectively as good or better than the books that are selling, then move on to marketing
   2. If your book is not as good as the books that are selling, then you must improve the quality of your writing and the amount of polishing and rewriting you do
      1. It’s very important at this stage to put aside your Ego, and focus completely on creating a very high quality product
      2. It is a very human quality/flaw to think that 70% of your best, is better than other people’s 100%. However, if you want to sell you have to give your very best. Create the absolute best product that you can create
3. Marketing Very Well. If you have confirmed that the market exists, and that your work is as good (or ideally better) than the books that are selling, then your focus should be on marketing
   1. Are you able to measure the results of your marketing? How many readers find out about your book? How many go to the book page? How many purchase your book? How many review it?
   2. Are you able to measure how your marketing scales? Can you scale up at the same cost per sale generated? Or do prices go up much faster than sales results?

The first (Knowing What to Write) is the most critical

The second (Writing Very Well) and the third (Marketing Very Well) are also critical

All three must be mastered if you want to succeed

If your book is not selling, then missing/lacking in one of these 3 Core Skills is almost always the Culprit

The More You Fail, The More You Will Succeed … Provided You Learn from Your Failures

One of the interesting things about Failure is that Every Failure brings you One Step Closer To Big Success

The Right Mindset is

1. Take the feedback that the Failure is giving you
2. Interpret each Failure as – One Step closer to Success
3. Note down the lessons from the Failure and internalize them
4. Forget about the Failure (keep only the lessons) and don’t dwell on it
5. Press forward with renewed vigor – confident in the reality that you are one step closer to Big Success

These, on the other hand, are all wrong mindsets

1. Thinking Failure is Final
2. Believing you are ‘lacking something’
3. Blaming someone/something extrinsic
4. Thinking ‘The Market is Unfair’ or ‘Life is Unfair’
5. Not taking the Lessons that Failure is giving you
6. Letting Failure affect your happiness and/or energy levels
7. Thinking Failure can be avoided using some shortcuts or paying someone money

Wherever you see someone who is not succeeding, it is usually someone who instead of taking the lessons from past failures, is making excuses

What is the One Biggest Lesson you can Take from Failure?

The one biggest lesson you can take from Failure is

1. Failure is giving you all the data and hints which will lead you to Big Success

Please think about it. Your Failure is telling you Exactly What you need to do, to Succeed. LISTEN TO THE MARKET. Listen to the lessons your failures are teaching you