How to Sell Your Book on Teachers Pay Teachers
If you know us, you know we’re all about finding new and “out of the box” ways of getting your book in front of the right audience.
One of the resources that has been really incredible for me, has been Teachers Pay Teachers.
If you are unfamiliar, Teachers Pay Teachers is a website where educators can share their lesson plans, activities, and ideas with other educators.
Some of the content is free, some is individual paid content, some is bundled at a specific price point.
TPT is a treasure trove for teachers short on time (which they all are) and short on energy (which they all are, too).
When I have told authors over the years that TPT has been my most lucrative sales platform for my book, The Tireless Teacher Toolkit, they immediately want to jump on board.
They quickly find ways to justify their book’s relevance there, and create a profile that very afternoon.
Not. So. Fast.
Here are three essential things you need to know about Teachers Pay Teachers before you dive in:
1) You need to be 100% sure that your book will be something helpful to them in their profession.
You are selling books to busy, underpaid, overworked teachers. My book is a book of lesson plans for teachers. It’s perfect for that platform.
Your book about self-care or your fictional story with a main character who is a teacher will not work.
2) Educators are coming to TPT for lesson plans.
If you know your book is great for the classroom, it’s not enough to just sell your book there.
Teachers usually have access to tons of amazing books to teach—more books is not the problem.
That means that if you can bundle your book with a lesson plan, it will be much more attractive to the teachers looking at it to purchase.
3) Lesson planning is an art form.
If you have never planned a lesson before, it’s much more complicated than simply writing a paragraph of ideas teachers can implement if they taught your book.
There are lots of examples of this online, but Scholastic has a nice one geared towards new teachers.
Of course, if you have a background in education you’re going to be at an advantage here. But you don’t need to be a teacher to sell your book on TPT.
You do, however, need to have an understanding that teachers have core standards they must adhere to in the classroom.
This means that if you can link your book to those standards they are teaching to, your book is going to be much more attractive to the potential buyer.
The very best thing you can do for yourself if you think your book would be a good fit on Teachers Pay Teachers is to spend some serious time on the platform.
Look at the profiles of some of the biggest sellers and look at the content available.
For example, if your book is a children’s book teaching certain skills or lessons, look to see what’s out there on TPT, what is selling, and get inspired to create your own lesson.
Or if your book is geared toward older kids, how can you create a lesson around it that will keep them engaged for a 50 minute class period?
If this is foreign to you, don’t be afraid to hire this out!
You could certainly find a teacher you could pay to create a great lesson plan for your book. Just ask!
If Teachers Pay Teachers is the right fit for your book, here are three great reasons to list your book there:
1) You can set your price for your book to whatever you like.
I have played with different price points over the years for my book, and actually listed it for free for the first few months of the pandemic as a way of being helpful to teachers and parents who found themselves having to suddenly homeschool their kids.
2) You don’t have to worry about shipping.
I set my book as a digital product—a downloadable PDF. No shipping charges, no delays.
3) Promotion is simple on Pinterest.
You know we love Pinterest as a “bonus” search engine site, and teachers LOVE Pinterest.
Most of the pins for The Tireless Teacher Toolkit on my Pinterest site lead people to my TPT page as opposed to Amazon.
I can’t stress this enough: you need to be sure your book is a good fit for any platform before putting it there.
Teachers Pay Teachers is a perfect example of that.
Take some time to really think through whether or not your book would be valuable in the classroom.
If so, have fun creating helpful lessons for the hard-working educators who might choose to teach it!
