Author Marketing Mastery #11: Ancillary Products to Build Your Author Brand and Bank Account

Over the past few weeks we’ve discussed improving your author revenue with crowdfunding, audiobooks and tapping into additional writing/speaking markets while building your reading audience.

But what about other ancillary products that can come out of your writing, that can contribute to building your author brand and your bank account? Here’s a look at three clever areas where you can unearth additional author resources!

Income from Your Author Website

Your author website may be (or become) a hidden gem of potential income, as so many have done in the worldwide web of online commerce and affiliate programs.

One way is through the most obvious – advertising. But accepting advertising on your website will require you to have a substantial audience, set pricing, do billing, track clicks and all those other pesky things that may take you away from writing and marketing your own books.

The better option for most authors is affiliate marketing. It probably won’t make you rich, but the extra few dollars you’ll earn each month can often pay for your ongoing website hosting and improvements.

Affiliate marketing programs we’ve seen used by other authors include:

AmazonAssociates (You can sell other books/products for Amazon on your site by grabbing their links and/or banners)
Google AdSense (It’s hard to find a site that doesn’t have a Google AdSense feature on it somewhere!)
LitBreaker (Features ads from book publishers, other authors, MFA programs and other publishing related companies on your site)

You might also consider creating your own “affiliate” program, teaming up with others that have similar products/services to sell. Combining forces with fellow authors can help each of you reach a bigger audience, but you needn’t stop with authors.

For example, if you write about style, you may want to team with a boutique, style consultant, personal shopper and/or salon. Look to other authors and bloggers for more examples, such as mommy bloggers with best children’s products, or travel writers featuring a myriad of travel companies.

Keep in mind: Cross-promotion may be a revenue-producer, but if the sites/products you’re seeking to cross-promote are loaded with traffic and yours isn’t yet, you (and they) might be better served by offering them a free banner or link in exchange for a shout-out for your own book and website. Be flexible and explore every potential opportunity to expand your brand, from exchanging blog posts to sharing mailing lists to co-producing an event, seminar or workshop!

Income from Ancillary Products

If you remember our lesson on building author collateral, you may already have an uber-cool cover design, logo, catch-phrase or artwork. You may therefore have the opportunity to sell tee-shirts, mugs, phone or laptop protectors, or anything else you can conceive of that would be of interest to your readers.

These products may or may not be directly related to your book. Example: Anne Rice’s “Dark Gift Book Shop” – an offshoot of the Anne Rice Fan Club that sells tee-shirts, dolls and more. Or, in the case of (pure coincidence) another favorite author of vampire tales, Bruce T. Jones, an entire selection of products dedicated to images from his popular Lost Reflection Series.

Good sources to create and sell these items include Cafe Press and Zazzle. You choose the products and designs, then sell them via a shopping cart you can set up right on their site. Like a print-on-demand book, there’s no upfront cost for inventory; product is generated when a customer places an order and you get a percentage.

Beyond products arising out of your own content, you can explore selling products, either via an affiliate like Amazon or direct from the appropriate manufacturer/distributor that are closely related to your work. One group of authors who penned Drink Wine and Giggle featured wine coolers on their site, for example. What might pair well with your own books? Other books? Stationery? Artwork? Music? Collectibles?

Income from Re-Packaged or Re-Tooled Content

The sky is truly the limit when it comes to repackaging and creating new material from what you’ve already produced. Sure, the obvious streams for books include digital and audio editions, with that elusive but possible book-to-film or TV deal, but you can get creative even before Hollywood comes calling.

Magazines, long dependent on advertising, became expert at doing this (think swimsuit calendars and “best of” books, TV shows, seminars, even licensed products for everything from tools to cookbooks).

Here are just a few ideas we’ve seen other authors explore:

Why not a calendar? This may be a viable option for you, especially if your book has to do with animals or features unique geography or other subject matter from which you could derive twelve incredible photographs. Or, if your book is in the non-fiction, self-help area, maybe one of those calendar decks with 365 pieces of advice, or a weekly calendar notebook or notepad with 52 bits of wisdom.
Have a series? Think about a boxed set. Repackaging material is a common way to increase sales. We’ve seen some prolific authors do their own subscription series, featuring a book a month over a period of 6, 12, 18 months (which can be a great gift idea, too).
Writing non-fiction that features advice? Think about posters or laminated cards that carry lead points of your messaging.
Also in the non-fiction arena – Maybe your book is begging for a workbook mate?
Blog to book? It’s not only possible, it’s been done, and in many cases, with great success.
Writing children’s books heavy with illustrations? Think about accompanying coloring books that feature uncolored versions of the illustrations kids can put their own artistic spin on. (You might even promote a coloring contest for more buzz.)

Obviously there’s no single answer when it comes to choosing the right ancillary product opportunities for your own book(s). But we encourage you to spend some time thinking about what might be possible. A bit of brainstorming could increase your revenue, strengthen your brand, and yes, even result in more book sales!

Have an ancillary product idea for your fellow writers? Have an idea that’s worked (or not) for you? We want to hear about it. Please do share with your comment below!