WHY BOOKS DON’T SELL: WHY PEOPLE SHUN GOOD BOOKS -BY TAYO DEMOLA

So many authors have wondered why their books don’t sell more than a few copies despite all the efforts they put in writing those books. They spend sleepless nights thinking, drafting and writing these books with all the attendant stress and pain but when they eventually publish them, they discover that people don’t buy these books and those who manage to buy them end up not reading more than the first page. This could be very frustrating for authors because they will feel their efforts are not appreciated.

The most painful part is that when you take a proper look at some of these books, you will discover that they are potentially good books but the author was in a hurry to get the book into the market without consulting a Professional hand to polish it and make it suitable for the market. It is not enough to be a good writer, you need someone who is a Professional to polish your writing and make your work more appealing to your readers.

What you may not know is that as soon as a reader picks up your book and discovers one error in it, he will drop the book and will never return to read it again. Your book may actually be good in content but because it was not edited by a Professional Editor, those errors will make people to shun your book. Every author must have an editor if he wants to go far in his writing. You need someone to look at your work critically: edit, polish and standardize your book so that it can be compelling to read.

All books need editing. Infact, not just books alone but including articles and other write-ups. All categories or genres of books need thorough editing before you publish them. They include drama, poetry, prose/novel, textbooks, motivational books, biographies, autobiographies, movie scripts, children’s books, etc.

To properly edit a book, the editing must generally start from the TITLE to the LAST WORD of the book. The truth is that if a book is not properly edited to have the KEY WORDS that will make it sell, nobody will buy it. 

As an author, you must take the pains not just to write, but to properly edit your book to create credibility for yourself except you’re interested in circulating your book only among your friends and family members. A book that sells only 100 copies because it was not properly edited before publication can sell 1 million copies when properly edited by a Professional Editor! That is what proper editing can do to any book.

But when we talk about editing a book, what are those areas in a book that must be edited? Although it is not the job of authors to edit their books, it is their job to give their books to Professional Book Editors and ensure that such books are properly edited. 

There are so many areas that need editing in a book without which the book will be worthless after publication. I shall hereunder highlight some areas of a book in which we edit. Please kindly note that the areas to edit in a book are numerous and I may not be able to highlight all of them in this article since various books have their peculiarities.

 10 MAJOR AREAS THAT MUST BE EDITED IN A BOOK

1.    GENERAL EDITING – This deals with the general arrangement of the book chapters (for prose), acts & scenes (for drama), verses (for poetry), events, dialogue, etc.

2.    TITLE EDITING –The title must be edited, where necessary, to fit perfectly with the content of the book.

3.     HARMONIZATION –The book must be harmonized to unite various contents of the book to ensure uniformity and avoid any part of the book contradicting the other.

4.    GRAMMAR EDITING – We ensure the grammar of the book is of the right standard that will sell the book in the market. This is so vital to any book such that the grammar used will determine the audience the book will reach.  Your book must be edited with your target audience in mind and your grammar level must not be too low or too high for your target audience.

5.    SPELLINGS AND PUNCTUATIONS –You must ensure the spellings are correct and ensure that punctuations are at the right places. No matter how good your book may be, wrong spellings can do great damage to it and readers will simply drop it as soon as they detect the slightest error in it.

6.    BOOK ORGANIZATION & LAYOUT –You must ensure the layout is superb and excellently presented.

7.    EXTRANEOUS MATERIALS –We edit and delete any irrelevant materials such as irrelevant words, phrases, sentences, etc that may inhibit the message of the book. The message in the book must be clearly presented and articulated.

8.   AUTHOR’S  THOUGHTS CO-ORDINATION –We co-ordinate and arrange the author’s thoughts to be logically correct and acceptable to a logical mind. This will give the book better acceptability and sales in the market.

9.    MATURITY OF CONTENT/MATURITY OF MIND –Where a book requires some level of maturity in explanations by the author and this is lacking, the editor must ensure to advise the author appropriately and infuse whatever is lacking in this regard.

10.                       USE OF CLICHES/PROVERBS –Some books need the infusion of proverbs and idioms. The editor ensures the right cliches and proverbs are used by the author to buttress his point. Where an author is supposed to use a relevant cliche or proverb to explain a point and he fails to do so, the editor ensures the gap is filled.

                CONCLUSION

It is actually possible to sell millions of copies of your book no matter how poorly written it may be! You only need an editor to turn your work into a masterpiece. Don’t just rush to publish your book without taking due diligence to ensure proper editing of such book.

It actually takes time to write and publish a book, so be patient to do the necessary things that need to be done to ensure your book will stand the test of time in the market. Don’t be in a hurry to get published because it is better for your book to get delayed and come out to become a masterpiece and a bestseller than for you to be in a hurry to publish the book and end up publishing trash.

PS:

We edit all categories of books, so if you want us to give your book a professional editing so that it will sell millions of copies in the market, then contact us today and you will be glad you did. Please feel free to recommend us to your friends and family. 

PPS: 
I hope you found this article useful. Please kindly let us know your views, comments, thoughts and suggestions. Use the comments box below to drop your comments.

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