Author J Steve Miller & his book SELL MORE BOOKS!

J. Steve Miller loves to write and sell his books. As founder and president of Legacy Educational Resources, he publishes resources that are used by educators in every state and over 30 countries. His book on contemporary church music was used as a text and translated into Dutch, German, Romanian, Spanish and Russian. His book on personal finance has won multiple awards. Steve has spoken from Atlanta to Moscow.  Find him at http://www.jstevemiller.com/ or http://www.enjoyyourwriting.com/ 

 Cherie K. Miller is the founder and president of Wisdom Creek Press and works with the Masters in American Studies program at Kennesaw State University. She is the current President of the Georgia Writers Association, a state-wide nonprofit organization promoting authorship in Georgia. She has published books, written for national magazines and written a newspaper column for a Chicago newspaper. She earned her MA in Professional Writing from Kennesaw State University in 2007.

Can low-profile, not-yet-famous authors get published and sell lots of books? This book says "Yes!" and tells how.

“…a comprehensive guide to marketing a book…[a] well-written, engaging resource that’s loaded with specific tips…. Brimming with creative ideas, Sell More Books! should prove to be a low profile author’s best friend.” - ForeWord Reviews

Writers and publishers will find the latest insider tips on writing and publishing more marketable books. Learn up-to-date information on publishing options, social networking, and "tried and true" book marketing tactics.
Includes hundreds of practical book-selling strategies for both traditionally and self-published authors. Learn which methods may work best for your books and your personality, and which methods might be a complete waste of time. Should all authors blog? Should all authors do Twitter? According to the authors, in some cases these strategies can produce results; for others, they will be a waste of time. This book provides the wisdom to help authors make wise choices.

My Review of  "Sell More Books!"

 If you’re looking for a “hands on” practical guide to promoting your first book – look no further!  Sell More Books! is a resource full of unconventional ways to gain exposure and readership for your unknown book. Regardless of whether or not your book was produced by a traditional publisher or self-published, Sell More Books! is a gold mine of tips, solid research and time saving methods for tapping into new marketing techniques.

I can’t wait to incorporate many of these suggestions into my overall book promotional efforts. My journey as a self-published author has been both exhilarating and frustrating.  Sell More Books! will return some much needed sanity to my overall book selling strategies.  God bless you Steve for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience with others.  We are all the better for it!

Deborah McCarragher

Author of Mission Possible

Tell us a little aout your background

God changed my life as a sophomore in high school and I never got over it. But I did have a skeptical bent and always questioned everything, which led me to research many questions in depth, including the existence of God, attacks on the Bible, etc. This quest took me through three colleges and two graduate schools, where I concentrated on acquiring the tools of research (languages, logic, etc.) and studying important issues.  I suppose my aptitude for writing came from those years of research and writing papers. I never set out to be a writer; but I wrote so much that it became natural to me.  Do you remember Chariots of Fire, where the Olympic runner said that he felt God’s pleasure when he ran? I sense God’s pleasure when I research and write. 

              What inspired you to write your book?

Writing and publishing has been revolutionized through digital technologies such as social networking, the web, and print on demand. Yet, most authors seem confused about how to effectively use those tools to write, publish, and sell their books effectively. I talked to people at the Decatur Book Festival last weekend and was both amazed and heartbroken when authors told me about paying thousands of dollars for services they could have gotten free, or signing bad contracts with the wrong publishers, which made marketing their books very difficult.

There are so many conflicting, confusing voices out there today.  Cherie and I decided to do some serious research into how successful low profile authors are publishing and selling their books, both in traditional and nontraditional publishing. Our discoveries were often counter-intuitive and differed with the majority of advice we were hearing from many of today’s “experts.”   

What kinds of reactions has the book generated thus far?

We just published it this summer, but we have yet to hear any negative reaction. You can pretty much judge for yourself from the Amazon reviews. Readers are delighted to get the information and especially express appreciation that we put it in a very readable and even enjoyable style.

I was afraid that we might have packed in so much information that readers would be overwhelmed, but so far, everyone appreciates out putting all the details in there. Some read it straight through, but others read the chapters that apply specifically to their needs. 

 What's the main message that you'd like readers to take away from it?

If you want to write for yourself, keep a diary. But if you want to write for other people, learn the business of writing. Most authors seem to love honing their craft, but are shocked when they get their book out and nobody buys it. As someone said, “Writing is rewriting; publishing is marketing.” People won’t buy your books unless they first know they exist. I don’t care if your books are on Amazon and in every bookstore in the country. If you fail to get the word out, nobody buys them. So take some time to learn the business of writing, not only from our book, but from meeting with fellow authors, joining writers’ groups, etc.

What’s next for you?

I just wrote a brief (50 page) critique of atheist Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, that’s I put up in beta. I’m offering it as a 99 cent Kindle to help students who read Dawkins and want to get the other side. It’s called Richard Dawkins and His God Delusion: A Preliminary Critique of His Truth Claims. But now I want to stop writing for awhile and concentrate on marketing the books we have. I love speaking to writers’ groups and getting the word out through so many effective ways we have available today.

Any final thoughts you'd like to share?

It’s a great time to be a writer! If you’ve got a book inside of you, there are multiple, affordable ways to get it out there. Cherie and I love writing and publishing. And most of the ways we write, publish and market our books are very, very inexpensive, if not free. Never stop learning about writing and publishing. As Solomon praised wisdom,  “She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares with her.” 

How can our readers learn more about you and contact you directly?

Here’s more information on Sell More Books:

http://www.wisdomcreekpress.com/press_kits_sell_more_books.html

And here’s my writer’s blog:

http://www.enjoyyourwriting.com/
  

Thanks for the interview!

Deborah is the author of a Christian non-fiction book titled “Mission Possible”.  It is written for women who love the Lord Jesus, but their spouse doesn’t share their passion.  It will encourage and challenge the reader to embrace God’s promises for their spouse and future together. 

http://www.godmissionpossible.com/

    

Author J Steve Miller & his book SELL MORE BOOKS!