Easy fixes and insider secrets to Kindle publishing
If you aren’t already selling lots of books, it’s one of two problems.
#1: Visibility – if nobody ever sees your book, no other factor (covers, reviews, description) is going to matter.
#2: Your sales page
Maybe you are driving traffic, and even doing some advertising, but you can’t sell any books. If that’s the case (people are finding your book and not buying it) it’s almost always a simple fix. People aren’t even reading the book, so the book probably isn’t your problem.
It’s one of these three things:
1. Your book cover is weak
2. You have less than 10 reviews
3. Your description is boring
Usually it’s a combination of all three. If those are your problems, focus on getting the reviews first. It’s the easiest thing. Then hire an editor to help you tighten up the description and make it engaging and exciting (check out Bryan’s service if you need help with that). If you’re still having trouble, it’s your cover.
But let’s say your cover is beautiful, your description flawless and you do have 10+ reviews. Let’s say some people are finding your book, and buying it, and reviewing it positively. If that’s the case, you need more visibility. You need to focus on getting more hits to your sales page, more eyeballs on your book.
There are LOTS of ways to do that
On Wednesday the 16th, I’m doing a webinar with Mike Balmaceda on Doubling Your Kindle Sales. We’re going to focus on some solid Amazon tricks that work; many of them are things I blog about, or I’ve written about in my books, so you may have heard them before, but you’re probably not using them as well as you could be.
Mike is one of the few people (extremely few, like, the only guy I’ve found) who can boost my sales enough to hit #1 in extremely competitive categories even after I’ve tried just about everything I know how to do (and I’m pretty damn awesome at book marketing myself).
A Preview…
The main strategy Mike will discuss is making a book “permafree” – usually the first in a series. This is, without a doubt, the best, easiest and most powerful way to connect with readers and ultimately sell a ton of books (but most authors still refuse to use it… which is why it’s so powerful for the few that understand it). If you only have one book, you need to think of a way to write another, shorter one, maybe a prequel or a short story in the same genre, or a related micro topic to your main book. You need something free on Amazon to be found; then those readers will go on to buy the main/other books. If you hate the idea of giving your books away, consider this: if you’re spending more money on marketing and promotion than you are earning in book sales, you are already effectively giving your books away. And it’s obviously not working. And you’re trying way too hard.
The other strategy is getting more reviews (obvious right?!). But I can’t tell you how many authors have asked me to check out their sales page and they have less than 10 reviews. That’s crazy. Either your book isn’t good enough, or you aren’t trying hard enough to get reviews. For example, since I’m writing a mermaid novel, I checked out the Amazon page for the top ten bestselling mermaid novels and got the contact info from as many reviewers as I could (many of them have a website). I copied it all into a Word document, and now I have about 300 people I know like to read and review mermaid books, and I can go to their website and send them a message asking for reviews. There’s an art to that as well – I hate asking for things, so instead I’ll be creating some awesome giveaways and contests that they can share with their networks. That way I’m providing value that will make them more popular with their followers, rather than just asking for a favor. I’ll ask for a review too, but it will be a postscript, not the main message.
I think Mike will share another strategy I haven’t even heard of in the free seminar. If you aren’t already doing these things, you need to be. You can watch the webinar for free and learn some useful tricks; it’s about an hour long. If you want to learn all of Mike’s Amazon hacking tricks (there are 37 of them), his full course is $197, with a $1 trial.
Extra Free Stuff!
Since I’m new at webinars and courses and still figuring things out, if you come and watch the webinar with me and Mike to the end, I’ll make you a member of DIY Book Covers for free. And if you sign up for Mike’s $197 course, I’ll also give you the first course I’m working on, which is also $197. (You can check it out here, though the page isn’t totally finished).
My course is more about building an author platform, generating your own traffic, building up your email list – long term sustainable things. It’s important, but the stuff you’ll learn from Mike is probably easier to implement and you’ll see more dramatic results, more quickly…
So – if you’re interested, check out the free webinar, and if you don’t want to take it further, you can unsubscribe when it’s over. And if you do decide to get Mike’s full course after the webinar, remember you’ll get my course for free (and it’s awesome).
PS) I’ve put down a deposit for a castle sometime next year and will be giving away 5 rooms for free so you can come and share it with me and talk about books and stuff. If you want a shot at winning, make sure you sign up to my list.
The 3 secrets to book marketing, and a haunted castle tour. Totally free. Get it here.
I’m a philosophy dropout with a PhD in Literature. I covet a cabin full of cats, where I can write fantasy novels to pay for my cake addiction. Sometimes I live in castles.
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