An author friend of mine used a phrase this week I hadn’t heard before: he said I need to make sure “my also-boughts were clean.” If you just drive your friends and family to your book during launch, your book will start showing up next to whatever else they bought on Amazon recently. Also-boughts are huge drivers of Amazon. After …

From page 7, to page 3 in one hour… When I review other authors books on Amazon, I usually point out they need more keywords in their description, title, and even author bio. Why?  Because Amazon is a search engine. If you don’t have any WORDS in your description letting Amazon know what kind of book it is, it won’t …

I keep telling people to make their books free, followed by 99cents, and they keep ignoring me. So here’s a short case study to show how freaking effective pricing hacks can be for dominating Amazon.   Take a look at #2 up there, the “Feel Good Myth.” Prime real estate you couldn’t even buy – top of the bestseller lists, …

I screwed up. Months ago I agreed to be part of a multi-author box set. I usually say no to these, but I have  personal relationship with Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (I even featured it in my PhD Thesis) so I submitted my chapter. The authors all offered a free course or bonus to incentivize preorder purchases, and these …

This post has taken me six years to write. If I sound defensive, it’s because people keep calling me names. I get attacked because I write books that sell, and I do it on purpose. Writing is one of the only professions where people think if you consistently produce high quality work that readers love – and make a living from …

2018 Update: I often share book marketing tactics or “hacks” without fully explaining my entire creative ideology, which can lead people unfamiliar with my brand to confuse me with other authors who are doing unscrupulous things. So first, let me explain that I don’t believe in gifting thousands of copies to “hack” the USA Today or NYT Bestseller lists (those letters …

2018 UPDATES: Amazon has been doing “purges” of reviews and a lot of authors have seen hundreds of reviews deleted. Read this to keep Amazon from deleting your reviews. Also for a while Amazon was displaying the review with the most comments on top, instead of those voted most helpful… but that didn’t seem to stick, so the rest of this …

Most book marketing tips and strategies are for non-fiction authors. When publishing experts are asked, “well what about fiction writers,” the answer is usually, “um, I don’t have experience with that, but it should work too.” Here’s how to sell books: build a platform and an email list. BUT HOW?! Usually by giving away a lot of free stuff or some …

I’ve never really gotten into Pinterest. I’ve started a few times, but I just didn’t “get it.” But today on Facebook I saw a post by John Kremer about how one of his graphics had been repinned by 1,416,972 people and brings over 7,000 people to his website every month. That’s pretty damn amazing for one picture. How it works …

If you’ve read any of my articles on book cover design, you already know I don’t agree with the standard rules most indie authors keep reciting. They say stuff like: use bright, bold colors use big, clear fonts that can be read even as a thumbnail don’t use white covers because they disappear on Amazon Today I’d like to tackle …