Making huge sales and profits from book publishing has never been easy! There are some hidden secrets and tactics that you must comprehend and apply if you really want to make a huge sale from your books you published at any online store like Amazon and Createspace. You can publish and market your books in various formats like kindle, paperback and print book. Many amazon Authors don't know about Createspace which is a subsidiary of amazon.
Also, there are some mistakes you must avoid as an Author. Amazon is infact the largest online book store with billions of customers and millions of Authors. So to succeed as an Author is not a very easy task. But it can easier for you if you are shown these tactics behind amazon book publishing and marketing!
There are many reasons why you should publish your book on amazon. I shared my reasons for choosing amazon as my book publishing platform out of other available publishing platforms.
Your book cover speaks a lot about your book. That is the more reason why you should endeavour to use professional cover designs for your books no matter the platform you publish your book.
Here are some features of an un-recommended or unprofessional book cover design:
I can always help you design professional book covers both for your amazon Ebooks and your Paperback or Print book. If you need my book cover design services, just write to me through my email.
Here are the screenshots of some of my ecover designs:
Another tutorial medium is youtube. It has all the video tutorials you need to become a photoshop professional.
This means that optimum prices for different categories of books vary. Normally, optimum price for fiction novels are lower (around $0.99 to $2.99) than that of non fiction books which is mostly around $3.99 to $4.99.
Another way to find the optimum price of a particular book category is to compare the prices offered by the first ten best sellers in that category. But this approach should be carried out wisely!
The highest mistake I made in my earlier book publishing stage at amazon and createspace was to set very high prices for my book. Then, I sell an average of one book per two days. After I discovered this, I reduced the price of my PowerPoint textbook from $18.99 to $12.99 and I sold ten books within two days! I did the same thing for the same book on amazon and sold 6 books per day!
Don't ever make this mistake! Instead, you should initially tag your book at a lower price for example around $0.99 to $2.99, then when the book has become very popular, you can increase the price between $3.99 to $4.99.
I further discussed this strategy in one of my articles on the step by step guides to setup and self publish your books on amazon and for CreateSpace.
Before you start writing your book or choose a topic to write on, make sure your book content and arrangement provides solution to the following challenges:
The best keyword that potential buyers will use when searching for your book or product.
The secret behind the success of some of your competitors.
What your competitors did not get right and how to put it right in your book.
What your potential buyers are looking for.
Only a proper SEO and market research can help you tackle these challenges properly. I recommend Merchant Word Keyword Research Tool for you. It shows you rank of each keyword by country and the categories they best fit in. It is not only used for amazon keyword research.
Your book title and sub title are very important because they are the first thing that a potential buyer will read when your book comes out from a search engine keyword search. There are two main ways to caption your book:
Short title strategy in which you use a total number of character not more than 80 and long title strategy in which you can use up to 200 characters.
Both yield good result when the keyword placement is done properly. Always insert your main keywords before the 80th character count because most search engines truncate titles at the 80th character count. Most Authors use the short book title and sub title strategy. But I prefer the long book title it gives a clearer pre-description of your book even before an audience reads your book's description. If you wish to use this second method, avoid making it too long. Which ever method you intend to use, make sure that your keyword insertion sounds natural and do not jam pack them.
Another section you can add some of your keywords is in your book's description. Always construct an enticing description for your book because your book description is largely responsible for converting interested browsers into buyers of your book. There are two parts to your description: the first 3-4 lines that are always visible, and the rest of it that is only revealed if someone clicks the “Read More” link.
Ensure you add your other main and minor keywords within the first 3 to 4 lines of your description. A greater percentage of your buyers never read more than the first 5 line before they make up their minds. Do not make your book description sound so persuasive. Just give your buyers many reasons and benefits why they should buy your product. Also use ball points to list the unique features in your book. Also tell your customers the problems that your book or product has solution to. Then use an adequate call to action to direct their next action!
Another point mist Authors get wrong is putting their books in the wrong category. Amazon kdp allows you to choose a maximum of two categories for each book you publish. The easiest way to find the best two categories for your book is to search for similar highly selling books published by other authors and checking their categories. Your book's category can make a lot of differences especially in terms of getting to the right audience.
In summary, a professional book description or blurb should following sequence:
Also, there are some mistakes you must avoid as an Author. Amazon is infact the largest online book store with billions of customers and millions of Authors. So to succeed as an Author is not a very easy task. But it can easier for you if you are shown these tactics behind amazon book publishing and marketing!
Many new book Authors always ask the following questions:
- How do you market your book on Amazon?
- What is Amazon select?
- What is a perma free book?
- How do you market a book?
- How do you market your book on Amazon?
- How do you market your book?
- What are the techniques of marketing?
There are many reasons why you should publish your book on amazon. I shared my reasons for choosing amazon as my book publishing platform out of other available publishing platforms.
My First Experience As an Author at Amazon was very bad because I started and learnt about Amazon marketing all by myself. I made a lot of mistakes which I will not allow any new Author that comes across my path to experience. That was what prompted me to write this article. It took me three weeks to make my first sale in my first book.
My sole aim in this article is to reveal all the strategies that I have been implementing in my books as an Author that yielded a positive result in terms of sales.
You are very privileged to have come across this article!
Success Guidelines For Amazon And CreateSpace
Before you plunge into any business, it is always advisable that you first understand how the platform of the business works. This will help you adhere to the DO's and avoid the DON'Ts of the business. When I started publishing on amazon and createspace, I was not aware of most of these rules. Here are some some tips and guidelines that will help you succeed as an author in Amazon and CreateSpace.
You should first understand the gender and age range of a greater part of amazon and createspace customers. Women between the age of 30 to 50 years make up about 80% of the total population. Knowing this will help you to know the type and categories of books to write. Books in categories like: cookbooks and recipes, health, romance novels, computer tutorials, etc. sell well on the platform. Do not be tempted to write a book just because you know more about the book title. Research and discover books that sell well. I was once tempted to do this when I first started on amazon and createspace.
Check out these 5 Best Amazon Keyword Research Tools for Sellers
Check out these 5 Best Amazon Keyword Research Tools for Sellers
Ten Ebook Marketing and Promotion Guides for Every Self Publisher
The increase in the demand for ebooks also demands a lot of strategies in the part of the Author or publisher. This ten marketing guides have been tested and proven for any online book publishing platform especially Amazon and Createspace. Study each guide carefully!
1. Always Use A Professional Cover Design
Your cover design gives a potential buyer the first impression about the entire content of your book. Buyer can only make a move of looking into the content of your book only if your book cover tickled their fancy!Your book cover speaks a lot about your book. That is the more reason why you should endeavour to use professional cover designs for your books no matter the platform you publish your book.
Here are some features of an un-recommended or unprofessional book cover design:
- So many texts in the cover
- Very Long Titles
- Poor Background
- Poor Colour Combination
- Low Quality Images
I can always help you design professional book covers both for your amazon Ebooks and your Paperback or Print book. If you need my book cover design services, just write to me through my email.
Here are the screenshots of some of my ecover designs:
Non fiction books:
Fiction book
Recipes
Another tutorial medium is youtube. It has all the video tutorials you need to become a photoshop professional.
2. Utilize both Amazon Kindle, Paperback and Createspace Print book Formats
Most times, Amazon frowns at Authors who publish their books in other online book stores. Amazon now has another book publishing platform called Createspace. This platform is mainly for hard copies of books and they reach out to other book publishing platforms and infact this platform is not as strict as Amazon KDP when it comes to book review.
The book publishing requirements of Amazon Kdp and Createspace are very similar. I normally utilize this advantage whenever I publish a book at Amazon KDP in kindle and paper back format. All I do is to simply do a little reformatting of my book to meet Createspace book publishing standard and then submit it to Createspace for Publishing. With this strategy, all my books will now be available in kindle format, paperback format (at amazon kdp) and print book format (at Createspace). So which ever format of my book that my customers demand will be available.
Another advantage is that when customers demand your book from other book platforms that your book is not available, they will be directed to Createspace. Some other book retailers like Kobo, Apple Barnes and Noble rent book from Createspace. This strategy boosts my monthly earnings from my books up to 50%.
3. Discover the Optimum Price that Produces the Highest Ebook Sales
Tagging a very high or low price for your book is never the best strategy to increase your profit. Although a low price most times increases the number of sales, but there is a specific range of price that are optimum in the sense that they don't only yield more money or profit per book sale, they also increase the number of books you sell. Optimum price is that price that most buyers will consider very adequate and are willing to pay after weighing the content of your book or product.This means that optimum prices for different categories of books vary. Normally, optimum price for fiction novels are lower (around $0.99 to $2.99) than that of non fiction books which is mostly around $3.99 to $4.99.
Another way to find the optimum price of a particular book category is to compare the prices offered by the first ten best sellers in that category. But this approach should be carried out wisely!
The highest mistake I made in my earlier book publishing stage at amazon and createspace was to set very high prices for my book. Then, I sell an average of one book per two days. After I discovered this, I reduced the price of my PowerPoint textbook from $18.99 to $12.99 and I sold ten books within two days! I did the same thing for the same book on amazon and sold 6 books per day!
Don't ever make this mistake! Instead, you should initially tag your book at a lower price for example around $0.99 to $2.99, then when the book has become very popular, you can increase the price between $3.99 to $4.99.
I further discussed this strategy in one of my articles on the step by step guides to setup and self publish your books on amazon and for CreateSpace.
4. Apply SEO and Market Research Properly Before You Publish Your Book
This strategy is where most Author make a lot of mistakes. Adequate Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very important as it goes a long way to determine the amount of sales your book can generate and should even be carried out before you decide to write a book in a particular category or even finalize on your book's title. Proper market research will help you find the most searched keyword to use and how to apply them in your book's title, sub title, description, etc.Before you start writing your book or choose a topic to write on, make sure your book content and arrangement provides solution to the following challenges:
The best keyword that potential buyers will use when searching for your book or product.
The secret behind the success of some of your competitors.
What your competitors did not get right and how to put it right in your book.
What your potential buyers are looking for.
Only a proper SEO and market research can help you tackle these challenges properly. I recommend Merchant Word Keyword Research Tool for you. It shows you rank of each keyword by country and the categories they best fit in. It is not only used for amazon keyword research.
Your book title and sub title are very important because they are the first thing that a potential buyer will read when your book comes out from a search engine keyword search. There are two main ways to caption your book:
Short title strategy in which you use a total number of character not more than 80 and long title strategy in which you can use up to 200 characters.
Both yield good result when the keyword placement is done properly. Always insert your main keywords before the 80th character count because most search engines truncate titles at the 80th character count. Most Authors use the short book title and sub title strategy. But I prefer the long book title it gives a clearer pre-description of your book even before an audience reads your book's description. If you wish to use this second method, avoid making it too long. Which ever method you intend to use, make sure that your keyword insertion sounds natural and do not jam pack them.
Another section you can add some of your keywords is in your book's description. Always construct an enticing description for your book because your book description is largely responsible for converting interested browsers into buyers of your book. There are two parts to your description: the first 3-4 lines that are always visible, and the rest of it that is only revealed if someone clicks the “Read More” link.
Ensure you add your other main and minor keywords within the first 3 to 4 lines of your description. A greater percentage of your buyers never read more than the first 5 line before they make up their minds. Do not make your book description sound so persuasive. Just give your buyers many reasons and benefits why they should buy your product. Also use ball points to list the unique features in your book. Also tell your customers the problems that your book or product has solution to. Then use an adequate call to action to direct their next action!
Another point mist Authors get wrong is putting their books in the wrong category. Amazon kdp allows you to choose a maximum of two categories for each book you publish. The easiest way to find the best two categories for your book is to search for similar highly selling books published by other authors and checking their categories. Your book's category can make a lot of differences especially in terms of getting to the right audience.
In summary, a professional book description or blurb should following sequence:
- Hook (catches and hooks up your buyer's fancy)
- Synopsis (for fiction books)
- Problems your book solved and the outcome (mainly for non fiction books)
- What qualifies You or moved you to Write the Book
- Unique Benefits and features in your book
- Lastly, a Call to Action (very important)
Do you wish to learn the in and out of Amazon book publishing?
Check this kindle book: How to Make Money Self-Publishing Kindle Books for Beginners.
5. Remind Your Customers to Leave a Review of your Book After Purchase
Books with many positive reviews rank high and as a result, attract more sales because very few people like to be the first one to something new. Everyone else wants to know what other people think of things first simply because they are afraid to risk their money in an uncertain item.The more reviews you can get for your book, the more you can give social proof that other people have bought, and hopefully liked, your book. And with that, it becomes easier to turn an interested visitor into a book buyer. Positive book reviews attract more customers because customers trust more on other people’s opinion than on classical company advertisement.A good opportunity to get reviews for your book is during the free promotion period ehen you give out your books for free or on count down deal. Always remind your visitor to drop a review after purchase.
A strategy that I always implement in my books is to remind my customers at the concluding part of my books. This will help those who might have forgotten to drop a review when they bought my book to do so! Try it out in the next book you release.
6. Utilize Your Book's Free Promotion Period: Use free give away sites
Here are a few popular sites where I nomally give away my new books for free:Amazon gives you two promotional strategies or types for your book:
You either use Five free days which allows customers to download your book for free within these specified days or Seven Count down deal period during which your book selling price starts from a lesser amount until it reaches the actual price. During this promotion period, your book ranks high in the FREE BOOK category which helps your book ranking after the promotion period.
During this promotion periods, blast the amazon links to your book in different online platforms. An article at Adweek reveals the 15 Best Places to Promote Your Book for Free.
7. Utilize Relevant Facebook Pages, Groups and Twitter Handles, Ads and Other Social Media to Promote Your Books
Facebook and Twitter are the two most popular social media worldwide. Entrepreneurs now utilize these media to boost and promote their businesses. You can get and build your potential customers through these media. You can create a Facebook page or group for your book and even join Groups related to your book's category. You can also create a twitter handle and follow some popular Authors in your niche. This will help you locate your customers and as a result boost your sales in any online business especially in book marketing. Always design a professional banner for your facebook pages, groups and twitter handle.I also discovered how powerful facebook, twitter ads and even google adword especially in the free promotion periods of your books on amazon. All you need to do is to use the right keywords.
In my previous posts, I revealed How to Create A Professional Facebook Page To Promote Your Business and How To Turn Your Facebook Page Into A Shopping Mall In 10 Minutes
An article at Michaelhyatt revealed How to Use Twitter to Promote Your New Book (or Other Product).
When it comes to Free Kindle promotions, there are tons of different Facebook groups and Twitter handles dedicated to featuring free books to their audience. These are perfect places to promote your book.
An article at Tckpublishing gave the List of Sites To Promote Your Free Amazon Kindle Books.
There other awesome social media that you can utilize, like LinkedIn, GoodReads, etc
8. Advertize Your Books Through Your Personal Blog and Submit Guest Posts
Amazon and other online book publishing platforms encourage Authors to create websites or blogs to promote their books. Creating a website or blog for your books is an effective, long term strategies to increase your book sales. Always make sure the website's niche is related to the category of the book you intend to promote through it. For example, if you wrote a cookbook, then you should create a blog where you give free food recipes and through which you can promote your cook book. The best way to increase sales is to offer freebies to your visitors!You can create a blog easily with blogger or even wordpress. The main thjngs you need are a domain name and a hosting plan which are usually renewed annually. For a blogger blog, you only need a domain name because google provides hosting. You can buy a domain name (which costs around 10 to 15 dollars) and a hosting plan from Godaddy.com. There are other good hosting companies and domain registrars like hostgator.com, bluehost.com, etc.
The first page you’ll need in your website is a home page which can also be referred to as landing page because it’s likely to be where your visitors land when they first come to your site and therefore needs to be very professional and attractive. An article at leadpages.net reveals the five things you need to build a highly converting landing page. Another important page to have on your website is your book sales page, where you tell your reader about your book and provide them the link to buy it.
Another powerful strategy is guest posting which entails writing a related article and publishing it on top blogs or websites. At the end of the article, you leave a link to your book on amazon. This may cost you some bucks but it worths it!
9. Build a Strong Subscriber and Email List
Another long term strategy to increase your book sales is to build or setup a very large and active subscriber and email list. An email list helps to develop your target audience. On your site, you should include a form that lets visitors sign up for your email newsletter. This helps you build your platform by collecting a list of subscribers from your target market. That target market consists of people who’ve already read your book and other people who would be interested in reading a book like yours.Always bear in mind that you will need to offer them something in return for signing up to receive emails from you. You can offer a free version of your book.
With a large list of active subscribers, you can email them and tell them more about your book, as well as any future books you write. It can increase your earning up to 30% if properly used!
10. Experiment and Try Out New Strategies and Reward Your Early Audience
Experiment is the best way to find out new profitable strategies. Never be afraid to try out a new plan because "there is no harm in trial". It just requires consistency and time. Don't only base on your old ideas and knowledge. Try out something new until you see a positive change. Take your time to apply these ten tested strategies. It has been helping me and I strongly believe that it will also help you increase the number of sales you make on your books and you’ll start earning more money from your books.Always reward your early and former audience who know, enjoy and support your work by giving them a great deal. These people are likely your blog readers, social media followers, email subscribers and friends. These are people who will give your book the first set of awesome reviews! When lots of people purchase your book at once, Amazon's algorithm picks up on your book and promotes it, exposing it to more potential buyers and helping your book to rank high very fast.
1. By tagging your book at a lower price at the release date.
2. By setting up and giving out coupon codes for your book, about 10% to 20% off the price of your book.
There are other strategies you can check out. Noah Kagan shared the Ten Marketing Tactics He Uses To Boost His Amazon Book Sales.
Conclusion:
Here is a breakdown of the strategies to increase your book sales:- Always Use A Professional Cover Design
- Utilize both Amazon Kindle, Paperback and Createspace Print book Formats
- Discover the Optimum Price that Produces the Highest Ebook Sales
- Apply SEO and Market Research Properly Before You Publish Your Book
- Remind Your Customers to Leave a Review of your Book After Purchase
- Utilize Your Book's Free Promotion Period: Use free give away sites
- Utilize Relevant Facebook Pages, Groups and Twitter Handles, Ads and Other Social Media to Promote Your Books
- Advertize Your Books Through Your Personal Blog and Submit Guest Posts
- Build a Strong Subscriber and Email List
- Experiment and Try Out New Strategies
Implement them and tell me your experience. I will like to here from you in the comment box below.
SEE: HOW TO SETUP & ADVERTISE YOUR KDP BOOKS & UNDERSTAND YOUR SALE REPORTS
SEE: HOW TO SETUP & ADVERTISE YOUR KDP BOOKS & UNDERSTAND YOUR SALE REPORTS
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