BOOKLOCKER’S 30%-OFF HALLOWEEN SALE IS IN EFFECT RIGHT NOW! Get your book published for $293 off!!! Details and the discount code are RIGHT HERE!

---

“I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had time to make it shorter.”

There is much debate as to who wrote this quote originally. The 16th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal seems to be the leading candidate. But, whoever it was, he or she captured concisely a problem many modern-day authors have with writing a book – it’s just too damn long.

Long books are bad in self-publishing for many reasons:

They are more expensive to print. (There is a direct relationship between a book’s length and its wholesale cost.)

They are more expensive to ship. (Longer books are heavier books, which translates into higher shipping fees.)

They are more expensive to buy. (If it costs more to print, and costs more to ship, the customer pays a higher price.)

They are harder to read. (With loose word limits, authors tend to ramble. The prose becomes difficult for a reader to follow. This can lead to bad reviews.)

They are harder to sell. (It is difficult to get customers to pay $22.95 for a 600-page book. But, you can get customers to pay $13.95 per book for three 200-page books if you market them as a series, and double your potential revenue in the process.)

In fact, if you dissect the strategies of successful self-published authors today, none of them succeed financially by writing one long book. They all have multiple books on the market.

In my experience, 200 pages or less is the ideal length for a self-published book. If your writing won’t fit in 200 pages, then you need to edit it down, or split your book into two or more volumes.

Take Away Points:

1. Short books are best.
2. No financially successful author does it with just one book.
3. Write multiple books if the material won’t fit into 200 pages or less.

RELATED

• How A Companion Workbook Can Increase Sales – by Gary Sturgis
• Reel in Book Buyers! How a Hook Can Boost Sales for Your Self-Published Book By Gary Sturgis
• Building a New Career from Your Book By Gary Sturgis
• Monetizing Your Facebook Page: Sell More Books AND Get Paid for Your Posts!! – by Gary Sturgis, Author of: SURVIVING GRIEF – 365 Days A Year
• NEVER, EVER Buy THESE Book Promotion Products/Services. PERIOD.
• The Author Side of BookTok Offers Lots of Promotional Opportunities! By Paige Lawson
• How I Promote My Blog Without Paying for Ads – by Nadia Sinclair
• Sell More Books Using Online Scavenger Hunts and Interactive Clue Hunts – by Rachel Carrington

Richard  Hoy, a co-founder of BookLocker.com, retired from Booklocker several years ago, and started his own Internet consultancy. He’s been in the self-publishing industry since 1999. Four years before that, he started his career in online marketing (just as it was becoming a formal profession). You can read the whole story of Richard’s career at JoeGrape.com. When he isn’t shelling out online marketing help, he is planning off-road motorcycle trips.

 Richard has more blunt self-publishing advice for WritersWeekly.com readers in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT SELF-PUBLISHING A BOOK?

Angela is not only the publisher of WritersWeekly.com. She is President & CEO of BookLocker.com,
a self-publishing services company that has been in business since 1998. Ask her anything.

ASK ANGELA!

90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book's Daily Marketing Plan by Angela Hoy and Richard Hoy

Promoting your book online should be considered at least a part-time job. Highly successful authors spend more time promoting a book than they do writing it - a lot more.

We know what you're thinking. You're an author, not a marketer. Not to worry! We have more than a decade of successful online book selling experience under our belts and we're going to teach you how to promote your book effectively online...and almost all of our techniques are FREE!

Online book promotion is not only simple but, if you have a step-by-step, day-to-day marketing plan (this book!), it can also be a very artistic endeavor, which makes it fun for creative folks like you!

Yes, online book promoting can be EASY and FUN! Let us show you how, from Day 1 through Day 90...and beyond!

Make Sure Your Marketing is Targeted at the Right Audience