In You Enjoyed This Book Review on Amazon Page
Exercise y'all know the divergence between having your volume available for auction (listed) on Amazon, with successfully launching your book?
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a free service that allows contained authors to create their own digital books and accept them available to sell on Amazon.com. Publishing your book on KDP allows your volume to be available on any of the other international Amazon platforms at the aforementioned fourth dimension as Amazon.com.
It might seem a bit clinical but once you look at your book as a product, you realize that it takes more than merely manufacturing something and putting it on a shelf for information technology to sell.
1. The Offset Thirty Days of Your Amazon Volume Listing are Cardinal to a Successful Launch
When your book first goes alive on Amazon it starts an unofficial inaugural period of around thirty days. This menses is not listed anywhere on Amazon but it is widely accepted past Amazon sellers.
This initial launch period is frequently referred to in forums as the honeymoon period. Basically, when yous first start selling your book on Amazon, information technology is given an initial chance to get established by the Amazon algorithm.
The Amazon Algorithm and the Technical Stuff
The Amazon algorithm is a mathematical formula that combines various pieces of sales data of your book in social club to give it a BSR (All-time Seller Ranking).
The numerous categories on Amazon are but similar the departments or aisles in any store. From Laundry Detergent and Diapers to Books, every item, in every category on Amazon has a BSR.
During this initial period your books BSR volition commencement off low just if you don't outset to sell books, the algorithm will start to penalize you lot and give you a higher ranking. Y'all are in effect accruing penalty points.
Why a Lower Seller Ranking is better than a Higher One
Terms such as Algorithm and Seller Ranking can seem very technical to first-fourth dimension authors but the bones premise is that the more than sales and success your book gathers, the lower the ranking your book will be allocated.
Visualize your volume's seller ranking like the position in any other competition.
Start place receives a better prize than third place, hence it is better to be ranked with the lower number one (or showtime) than the higher number iii (or tertiary).
Amazon gives preferential treatment to products with a lower BSR by making them more than visible in search results. At present you starting time to see why you should view your book as a product!
two. Schedule and Track Your Launch
Your launch is of import so y'all demand to schedule information technology, manage it and track it.
You lot may have a preference for using Google worksheets, Excel spreadsheets or fifty-fifty just a whiteboard.
Whatsoever tool you prefer to utilize, it is important that you lot prepare your tracking system immediately and continually update this system.
Your Launch Needs Planning Even Before You List Your Book
As an author, you are focused on writing your book and may assume that you tin expect at marketing your book once it's live.
Because y'all only take a limited window of opportunity for your volume to proceeds its initial sales traction, it is important that yous have a scheduled plan in place before your volume goes live.
Well-nigh of your launch activities will require advance planning, such as:
- The appointment your volume will be live.
- The date of your book promotions.
- The date to submit to book promotion websites.
- The engagement to start your kickoff Amazon Advertizement.
There will be lots more activities to consider, so set upward a plan and begin tracking it from the commencement. If yous don't continue a track of your plan information technology can speedily get a mess.
iii. Optimize Your Volume Content, Your Book Description and Your Bio
Check Your Volume Content
Even the most enthusiastic authors can feel jaded by the time their book is ready to publish, this is the time to be diligent with your checks of the terminal text and layout.
Once your book is live, you should be the first to buy and download a copy to your Kindle.
The digital proof-readers on KDP are adequate merely you desire to run into how your readers will experience your book before you starting time promoting it.
Ideally, you may wish to list your book for $0.99 for the kickoff week or then to solicit reviews at this lower price, purchase a copy and at the aforementioned fourth dimension earn your first royalties.
Optimize Your Book Description
The term production listing tin also be used to ascertain the description of any item (including books) being sold on Amazon.
Your book description (or listing) is the data about your book that is listed on Amazon. The Sales funnel for a book starts with the volume embrace and the title and should you manage to catch a reader's attention the adjacent identify they predominantly look is the volume clarification.
Analyzing the book descriptions of some best-selling authors it is credible that their book descriptions contain only a couple of paragraphs of plain text. Every bit these authors accept make recognition their promotion companies can get away with less endeavor on their volume clarification.
As an independent author yous want to use every advantage at your disposal, and so treat your volume description like an Advertizing to get the reader'due south attention.
Assuming Text, Headings, bullet points and white space are all elements that tin make your volume listing stand out.
Don't worry if you lot have no thought how to use HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) or any other computer lawmaking. There are free tools out at that place that allow you lot to input plain text and format it like whatever traditional word processing software and (automatically) provide you with the code to cut and paste into the description box on KDP.
I highly recommend Dave Chesson'due south Book Clarification Generator Tool
You Need 100, 200 and 300 Word Synopses of Your Book
A synopsis of your book is not always the aforementioned as your book clarification
While y'all are writing your book clarification it is a good idea to create several options for the synopsis of your volume (Ideally around 100,200 and 300 words in length).
Creating these synopses whilst you lot are in a descriptive headspace will save you time later, when you need them for book promotion sites. Some sites will automatically draw your description from Amazon just others require a unlike synopsis for their site.
4. Reviews, Reviews, Reviews
Authors like many artists tend to have their own views almost reviews of their work.
If you are writing just for the joy of writing then reviews may not matter to you lot but if you intend to sell books you Need reviews.
Reviews serve several purposes for your book but the two primary points to bear in mind are:
- Nigh readers are looking for validation that a volume is worth the commitment of their fourth dimension and to some extent their money. In a globe full of things vying for our attention, we subconsciously decide whether to give something a 2d glance or to motility on. Nosotros expect to meet reviews before we commit to a hotel or restaurant (or almost any other experience), so seeing a volume with no reviews makes us uncomfortable.
- The number of reviews a book receives is 1 of the elements that the Amazon algorithm uses to determine the BSR.
Amazon Review Guidelines
Amazon relies on customer conviction in their systems and so they have specific guidelines and policies in place. These policies are designed to ensure that their review system is not manipulated past unscrupulous people.
You may accept read lots of scary stories on social media of authors having their reviews ripped off Amazon (or their Amazon list suspended) considering they had violated the guidelines.
Near of the analysis of the reviews are washed past estimator algorithms and although they can make mistakes, if you stick to the guidelines any mistakes in the organisation can usually exist rectified.
Don't be scared to ask for reviews, but abide past the guidelines. Leaving a line in the back of your book such as "If you enjoyed this book delight feel free to exit an honest review on Amazon" is adequate.
Amazons review guidelines country that they don't permit individuals who share a household with the author or close friends of an writer to leave a review. With Globalization and social media, information technology is condign more and more than hard to find people who you have no links with.
Don't get paranoid that someone who is following you on twitter will leave a review and Amazon will pull your book from their digital shelves. Building a tribe of followers or a group of beta readers in preparation for your book completion are typical means of preparing to sell your book.
If you lot already have an e-mail listing or a large social media following then let them know in advance that your volume is on its style and tell them again once information technology's live.
Lots of readers are unsure what to write in a review and so feel free to provide some assistance in your communications Tips for reviewing books.
Optimum Review Numbers
It'south an accustomed fact that reviews attract more reviews simply it tin can become a flake of a craven and egg issue. If you don't have reviews, how can you become reviews and how many reviews practice you lot need to showtime with:
- Assume that not anybody will leave a review (no matter how many times they are asked) and then promote your volume as much as yous tin.
- Apply extra attending to activities to assemble reviews at the early on stages of your launch. Ideally, aim for x reviews earlier you lot launch your promotion but at a minimum attempt to get five reviews.
- Although there is no manufacture standard it is a widely supported theory that multiples of 10 reviews accept a psychological issue on readers.
- Ten Reviews will produce a higher number of downloads from a complimentary giveaway.
- Twenty reviews is the minimum number of reviews you should have for your book before you starting time an Amazon ad campaign on your book.
- The basic premise is that the more multiples of ten reviews your book receives, the more than it will continue to gain more than reviews.
v. Maximize your promotions
KDP Select
Well-nigh independent (indie) authors initially register their book with the KDP Select plan. Although this program ties the writer into a 90 day period of publishing exclusivity (where you can but publish the digital version of that specific volume through KDP), it allows benefits such equally promotions through Gratis Giveaways and countdown deals.
These promotions have the potential to give your new book exposure.
Apply Promotional Websites
Although Amazon allows you lot to setup Gratuitous Giveaways and Countdown deals (on your volume's KDP Select list) the impetus is on y'all to become the word out about those promotions.
Ane of the main ways to let the universe know well-nigh your promotion is through websites and social media platforms.
Nearly of the promotional sites such as askdavid, reading deals, free kindle books offer to publicize your promotion for free. Sites that don't offer a paid option for (a guaranteeing) publicising your book promotion tend to accuse a minimal corporeality.
These sites accept varying criteria for submission of your book promotion, some sites require a minimum number of reviews (commonly v reviews), some sites crave a sure notice period prior to the promotion (ranging from 24 hours to ten days), some sites crave a Book Synopsis (different to the book clarification of the Amazon book listing) and others require a short author biography.
Due to the ever-growing number of promotional sites and the need to get maximum exposure for your promotion it is critical that you use your launch tracker to schedule and monitor your submissions to these sites.
Final Notes and Tying It All Together
As an independent author, the work of writing doesn't cease in one case your volume is published. At that place is a maxim in writing that "once your book is 90% complete, yous are almost one-half the way there."
You have at present created a product and to ensure a successful launch of that production yous need to schedule your procedure in accelerate and track your progress.
You lot need to have a programme and schedule your launch around the get-go thirty days that your volume is published.
Preparing elements such as book synopsis before your book is live on Amazon can save you a smashing deal of stress come the solar day of publication.
If you are unsure of the all-time style to create a book launch y'all may want to read my book on How to choose a Writing coach.
Source: https://www.gedcusack.com/5-successful-kdp-book-launch-tips/