More often than not, when we think about selling books, we think about sales copy, pitching and marketing. We think about ensuring that our book is the only book that gets a mention in our article or advert, and that they get full coverage, exposure and are submerged in the glow of the spotlight.

But what if I told you that that was not the most effective way to sell a book? There are better, more effective and cheaper ways to convince people to buy your merchandise, and they do not rely on exclusive marketing, tricks or lies. What am I talking about? Using a book comparison in order to get your book known amongst its competition. That’s right, comparing your book with others in an honest and insightful review is the best way to go about promoting your work.

By the way, for all you bloggers out there? This works for you too! Book comparisons generate a high amount of traffic, and do much better than simple book reviews. The comparison hits a very sweet spot for your readers, and is sure to deliver the best of both worlds.

A great example of this is the ASTB study guide comparison list from the Military Flight Tests website that was written a little while ago that looks at all the different ASTB and flight study guides out there and compares them all to each other.  Instead of just creating a book review for each and making the reader cypher through which ones were the best, the Military Flight Test author took all the data on the different tests and created a super easy to read comparisons of the different ASTB study guides. This list does several important things:

1. It speaks to a focus group of readers

It speaks to those hoping to pass their flight aptitude test. These are students who are determined to pass no matter what, and gives a good area of development to work with.

2. It is specific

It is a very niche topic. Small enough so that you don’t have an influx of people writing about it, but big enough that you will get views. So whether you are hoping to promote your book, or simply get a bigger readership, this is definitely the way to go.

3. It’s concise

It doesn’t waffle on an on, but rather explains each book in short easy to understand paragraphs, while highlighting the pros and cons in easy to understand language.

4. It’s informative and helpful

It offers something of value to the reader, by saving them time, giving them options and summarising the books in question. This makes it very valuable and helpful.

5. It’s knowledgeable

If you want readers to trust your work, you need to make sure you do your research and ensure that you understand what you are writing about in an intimate way. Everyone can tell a fraud, and you need to be legitimate.

So basically, it is important to ensure that you write honestly, write about well-researched content and offer something helpful to your readers. In this way, the use of a comparative list if the best way to go, as it ensure that the readers get a variety to choose from, and feel informed, instead of simply feeling like they are reading sales copy (which they get enough of through paid marketing). So give your readers, and yourself, a bit of a break, and use informative, comparative lists. I promise you that it will pay off.