What IS a best-selling author?
You have to answer that in your own mind.
Technically, it's any book that makes it into the Top 100 list at ANY online or offline bookstore.
However, what does it mean to you?
Is it someone who sells 300-500 books in a day through online bookstores like
http://Amazon.com and makes the top 10?
Is it only the person who makes it to #1?
Is it the person who sells their book from their own website and makes $10,000 in a few months?
Or does it have to be a specific list... like the New York Times best seller list?
What does it mean to you?
It's a tough call. But you CAN have it all.
Selling your book through an online or offline bookstore will mean less money for you upfront, but will provide you far more leverage in the long run.
Selling your book from your own website and taking your own orders will mean far more money in the bank for you initially, but you'll have to work a little harder on the back-end to get the recognition you deserve.
Both ways work. Neither way is right. It's really what's right for you.
Let's talk about the steps necessary to make your book a bestseller whether you want to do it through an online bookstore or from your own website.
1) Pick the specific day you want to become a best seller.
Focusing on a specific day is what provides you the leverage to sell a large amount of books quickly. Selling 500 books over 6 months is not as impressive as selling 500 books in one or two days.
2) Create your "what's in it for me?" offer.
Your book is a valuable resource for your clients. But selling it alone puts it up against all the other books already on the market for your subject. I don't like those odds.
What you need is something "extra" something that really let's the perspective buyer know that you want to help them.
If you were to sell your book (for let's say $20) and then offered everyone who purchased your book on the specific day you decided on in step 1 around $200 in bonuses from experts... do you think they'd be more likely to buy? And buy on that day?
Of course they would.
This is the step where you stop thinking about you and start thinking about the group of people you want to help by writing this book in the first place. Think of everything you can possibly offer to add value to your book and build a powerful arsenal of tools and resources.
When the potential buyer asks, "What's in it for me?" (which they always do)... give them TONS of answers.
3) Use the 12-step method to create a promotional sales letter.
Now that you've answered the "What's in it for me?" question, use the 12-step process to build a sales letter site for your book that explains it to the potential buyer.
They have a problem in their life. Your book is going to give them a solution for their problem... and a whole lot of "extras" if they buy on the specific day you've selected.
Tell them