7 Tips to Overcome the Fear of Selling

Congrats! You finished your writing project and you’re proud of it! But now you have to do something that many creatives fear- sell your work!

Here are 5 quick tips to help you get over the fear of selling:

1. 1. Identify the source of your fear. Are you afraid of criticism? Afraid of seeming pushy (nobody wants to be like a cars salesman except cars salesmen- sorry grandpa )? You cant truly tackle this fear until you understand what it stems from. Dive deep!
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3. 2. Change your mindset. Many writers view selling as pushing their book/convincing someone to buy their work. Instead, view it as sharing your passion and think of how you will better the life of your readers. No, you don’t have to write self help to better their lives. Do you write horror? You’re offering people a thrill! Do you write fantasy? You are offering escapism to a fantastical world. Romance? You’re offering heart-warming feels.
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5. 3. Learn to handle criticism. I will be writing a more in depth blog post on this in the near future. Ultimately, you have to make peace with the fact that not everyone will love your work. View criticism as a chance to learn and turn it into something positive. Also, realize that sometimes a reader is not your target audience. Read more about identifying your target audience here on Reedsy.
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7. 4. Create a social media marketing schedule conducive to the 80/20 rule. Studies show that social media marketing works best when only 20% of posts are promotional. The rest should be “useful” for your followers- you should entertain or educate. I’ll be creating a free 2023 social media content calendar for writers soon to help with all this! Nevertheless, by creating a marketing schedule, you are forcing yourself to commit to *selling*! The more you create promotional posts, the less awkward it will feel for you.
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9. 5. Have fun! Writers are creative- use this to your advantage. The more creative you can get about promoting your books, the more fun it will be for you. Some of my favorite things to do are giveaways and Q&A’s! Some things I’m going to try for my upcoming book, Throne of Whispers is a quiz for people to find out which character they are and a fan art contest! Do whatever tickles your fancy!
   
   
10. If you need suggestions for marketing your work before my content calendar is released, be sure to follow me on Instagram where I will be sharing some ideas for 2022 holiday marketing!