Monetizing Your Backlist: Fresh Profits from Old Titles

Your backlist is a goldmine. So why not monetize it?

Those books you've poured your heart and soul into, the ones that may have faded from the spotlight, are still valuable assets. They represent knowledge, stories, and characters that resonate with readers.

It's time to let readers rediscover your backlist and tap into its potential.

Let's see how to use it for fresh profits.

A. Relaunch a Book

Never say no to a relaunch, especially if it also celebrates a milestone. For instance, here is how Rupi Kaur celebrated her 10th year anniversary of bestseller book Milk & Honey.

Your relaunched edition could have hardcovers with a fresh font design and extra elements for that extra special feel:

• diary entries,
• new chapter written in the meanwhile,
• personal annotations,
• snapshots of your everyday life at the time you wrote it,
• small notes from your most dedicated readers.

Whatever elements from the list above or others you choose for your relaunch, you can tailor the marketing approach to address your initial buyers, as well as new readers.

Pair your relaunch with other marketing materials featuring backlist titles. Readers love to discover evergreen titles.

B. Optimize Your Online Presence

Self-published authors need a strong online presence to be competitive. Your website acts as your home base: it showcases your work, connects with fans, and acts as a central hub for everything you do.

If you decide to sell direct through your website, chances are you'll increase your profit margins.

Show off your books

Highlight your backlist and their covers, then link each book to a dedicated page on your website where readers can find compelling descriptions.

Since your aim is to sell, guide your readers with clear call-to-action buttons to encourage purchases. Keep your author website updated with fresh content and promotions related to your backlist.

If you blog regularly, consider crafting little pop-up ads with titles from your backlist that relate to your recent activity – blog post topics, social media presence, recent book launches, and world events.

Understand the technical parts

• Link building

There are two ways to get people to find your website. The ideal one is when people specifically look you up online. But when that doesn't happen as often as you wish, here is how to speed up the process: get other sites to link to yours.

This means finding blogs or book review places that might want to share your writing. If you wrote a blog post about things relevant to your niche, find other writers who share your passions and ask them to link to your post. This is called link building, and it helps more people find your website.

• SEO

You also want to make sure your website is easy for search engines to understand. Add content regularly to your site, and make sure to update it whenever necessary. This helps search engines know how your site is organized and that it is reliable. Websites that are easy to understand show up higher in search results so that more people will see your stuff.

Plus, do keyword research and add them to your website and book descriptions. There are several ways to identify keywords:

1. think of what terms a reader would use to describe your book since those are the words they would be searching for when looking for their next read
2. look carefully at how other authors in your niche describe their titles
3. be as detailed as possible; for instance, instead of romance novel, you could be more specific (eg. historical romance set in …)
4. use a research tool [free or paid]: Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs.

Coordinate email send-outs

Send emails to people who bought a book to tell them about your other books. It's even better to set up automatic emails. If someone puts a book in their shopping cart but doesn't buy it, send them a reminder.

C. Improve Your Books' Metadata

Metadata represents all the information related to a book, including title and subtitle, author, contributors (co-author(s), editor, translator, book illustrator or designer), categories, and ISBN.

Think of book metadata as a bridge between readers and your book. It tells retailers and libraries where to shelve your work and helps readers discover it online through searches. The more accurate and compelling your metadata, the higher your chances of finding your ideal audience (and boosting sales).

You can review your metadata periodically to adjust categorization, or you can employ an AI assistant such as PublishDrive's Book Metadata Generator to help you achieve viable metadata at industry standards and some other marketing tools, such as blurbs.

D. Diversify Your Marketing Approach

Marketing is never over, the sooner you grasp this, the better. While you are busy crafting your next work, your backlist titles will continue to generate income if you continue to support their discoverability and sales.

Here's what you can do:

1. Do backlist book sales

This is the oldest trick in the book but a highly effective one when it comes to managing your backlist.

Reducing pricing strategically introduces forgotten books to new readers and reignites interest in existing fans. To spotlight different books, rotate sales periodically. This gives your other titles a chance to shine. Do a promo stack to kick sales and get some spotlight within your niche.

Keep a good track of your sales to evaluate the performance of each of your titles. It speaks volumes of your readers' interests and can guide you further, not only in your promotions but also in your writing.

💡Note: a title with substantial sales over a longer period of time might be your queue for a fresh book cover design and a relaunch.

2. Offer sample chapters

Offering free books is proven to entice readers. You can mention this on your website together with the details on how to get the promised freebies (usually as a trade-off for their email addresses).

Share a taste of your work to pique curiosity and build anticipation for your new releases. For book series, this is a great way to hook your readers.

Think of this as a double gain, as sampling works well when combined with email capture. In exchange for a free chapter or a free book, ask readers to provide their email address and expand your email list.

Your email list is a gateway towards an audience that loves your writing or reads your genre. Your fanbase is the ideal crowd to speak to about your news.

Remember to add a call to action to your emails that leads readers to your backlist.

3. Get social

The key to getting your backlist noticed on social media is picking the right spots. Create a bunch of eye-catching posts with your book covers and a clear way to buy them.

You can use these posts to keep your books in front of your followers. By sharing these regularly, you remind your fans about your older books and, as your following increases, in front of new readers.

If you want to speed things up, you can pay to show your ads to more people.

4. Join (or start) a book club

Book club discussions increase your book's visibility and sales, help you get glowing reviews, and speed up word-of-mouth recommendations.

Identify book clubs that align with your genre and reach out to their organizers. Offer free copies of your book to the book club members; this will entice them to give it a try and then buy other titles.

If you cannot find a book club that fits your writing style, start one. Read here how to do it.

Wrapping up

So there you have it! Follow these steps to transform your backlist from a forgotten collection of books into a steady source of income.

💡Remember, it's all about making your books easy to find and irresistible to readers. With a little effort and the right strategies, you can unlock the full potential of your backlist and reap the rewards.