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Effrosyni Moschoudi was the very first one to suggest to me this little trick, and I have since used it with all my books. Now, Jonathan Gunson has written a great post with the same easy way to sell more books, as a comment on a presentation by Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler.

In a survey of Goodreads’ 15 million strong membership, he found that the main driver of eBook purchases was, unsurprisingly, ‘referral by a friend’.  But when a follow-up question was put to readers, another powerful sales strategy for authors emerged.

They were asked:  “What do you want to do when you get to the end of a book?”

The telling response was that 83% wanted to see what else the author had written.

Here’s the actual slide from Chandler’s presentation:
Goodreads Readers

How Can Authors Take Advantage Of This ‘Show Me More’ Moment?

If most readers finish books and immediately want to know what else the author has written, then why not give them exactly what they want.

By including a highly visible link to your next eBook right there at the end of your first eBook, you can take advantage of this ‘show me more’ opportunity, and make instant sales. If they click on the link, it takes them straight over to Amazon, where they can buy your next eBook straight away.

Think about it.  There’s no question that a reader will be most susceptible to buying your next book immediately after finishing your first one.  Having enjoyed a fully immersive story experience for several hours, there’s no better time to pitch your next story.

This may seem blindingly obvious, but the reality is that most authors aren’t doing this yet. With an easy link path to follow, and an attractive blurb and cover image right there too, a significant number of readers will click on the link and go across to Amazon to check out your other books.  And if you have a series, this linking strategy might even mean they buy the whole series in one hit.

How To Include A Link To Your Next eBook

On the first blank page at the end of your eBook, put a highly visible link to the webpage where they can buy your next book (or books).  e.g. link to each book’s Amazon page.  You’ll also want to include a decent sized picture of the book cover in each case, as this will act as a highly persuasive promotional billboard.

In addition to this, add an intriguing book blurb with a few descriptive paragraphs about the story, settings, characters and theme. If you do want to include some chapters, then be sure the free sample ends at a cliffhanger point.

Make Sure Your Amazon Pages Do Their Job Too

This ‘hot to buy’ moment at the conclusion of an eBook is another reason it’s crucial to have both your individual Amazon book pages and your main Amazon Author Page up to date and working hard for you.

Readers look at these pages when making decisions, so fill out all the sections on these pages properly.

Make sure your books are in the right categories with relevant tags, put relevant information about yourself on your Author Page, and include  fascinating ‘teaser’ blurbs for your books on their respective pages.

Caveat

Olga pointed out the following:

“Beware if you sell books in other platforms. In general is not a problem, but Apple does not accept any links that it considers advertisements for others, so I ended up adding my links and links to my website rather than to places like Amazon.”

Jonathan Gunson’s original post on easy way to sell more books includes Chandler’s entire presentation, links and other goodies, so be sure to check it out.

You could also remind people of your work at the end of each post. Here’s an example: why not read my children’s book, Runaway Smile, online for free?