How to Use Book Marketing to Grow Your Business (a Less Common But Powerful Strategy)

[MTF]

My book has a separate listing for Kindle and paperback - is that normal? I notice most authors have just one page with the available formats.

You should link them. If it didn't happen automatically for you then you need to email KDP support, send them ASIN for your Kindle and paperback and they'll link them and turn into one listing.

 

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[OnePercentBetter]

What are your results like with BookBub? How many sales compared to other channels like AMZ and own audience?

 

[hisamats]

Awesome awesome @MTF, very likely back with questions at a later point!

 

[MTF]

What are your results like with BookBub? How many sales compared to other channels like AMZ and own audience?

During a book launch I usually get at least 400-500 sales from BookBub Ads, from my audience maybe 200, and the rest comes from other promo sites and organically from Amazon.

 

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[valuecreator]

very good info, thank you.

 

[Datingafter35]

How Do I Even Self-Publish a Book?

The easiest way to publish a book is through Amazon KDP, the biggest platform for independent authors. You sign up at Self Publishing | Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, provide a few details and you’re ready to go. There are countless freelancers who will turn your Word document into a properly-formatted ebook and it's all relatively easy.

Unless you decide to publish a hardcover book (that requires publishing it via www.ingramspark.com) you don’t even need to apply for ISBN as Amazon can provide you with a free ISBN for your paperback (no ISBN is necessary for a Kindle version).

If you need an ISBN because you want to have a nice hardback version of your book, you’ll have to buy it through www.myidentifiers.com (that’s for those who are US-based, other countries have different suppliers and in some countries ISBNs are even free).

If you decide to publish your book as an audiobook, too (and you should), then you also need to sign up at www.acx.com, an Amazon-owned company, that distributes audiobooks to all major platforms including Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play. That’s where you can also hire a voiceover artist who's knowledgeable about the ACX submission requirements.

If you want to have the widest reach possible, you should also publish your book on iTunes, Barnes&Noble and Kobo. You can also do that through www.draft2digital.com which takes a small cut in exchange for easier distribution to multiple platforms at once. Google Play is another important player. You can sign up here: Google Play Books Partner Center

If distributing to several platforms sounds too difficult, just ignore it for now. Amazon will be responsible for 90%+ of your sales anyway and if you’re mostly interested in ordering author copies and distributing them yourself, it’s not worth your time to worry about other distributors.

What about cover design? You can find a professional designer on many freelancer platforms. My current favorite is www.Reedsy.com, a marketplace where you can hire freelancers for every single step of working on your book (ghostwriters, editors, designers, marketers, publicists, and people who will help you get book reviews).

Great stuff. I trade forex and want to sell what I know. I'm not a full time trader. I'm a small time trader. How can I justify making an audio book when there is so much technical analysis that needed to be seen as an image?

Regards

 

[MTF]

Great stuff. I trade forex and want to sell what I know. I'm not a full time trader. I'm a small time trader. How can I justify making an audio book when there is so much technical analysis that needed to be seen as an image?

Regards

You can sell an abridged version of your book as a quick way to revise the main concepts. It doesn't have to be exactly the same. There are plenty of lessons, even in Forex, that you can teach without using images. Your readers will still appreciate a different format. They can read your book first and then listen to the audiobook on their way to work.

 

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[consignia]

I'm curious. Is it possible to sell a signficant amount of books on amazon (say a book about money) without any publicity? Just by having a lower price or you need to have a follower base?

 

[MTF]

I'm curious. Is it possible to sell a signficant amount of books on amazon (say a book about money) without any publicity? Just by having a lower price or you need to have a follower base?

I'm sorry, I haven't seen this before.

A low price alone will not generate sales. It was much, much easier to get a lot of organic sales with a low price a few years ago. Today, it's mostly pay to play. Everyone is selling books for 99 cents so you won't stand out with your low price.

 

[julienfromfrance]

great post, very instructive

 

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[julienfromfrance]

@MTF I completely agree with you. the book is a great way to be credible in the eyes of an audience

I already had the idea of writing a book
I thought I would do it later, because I'm afraid that it will compete with my business idea
let me explain.

I am creating a website to help people improve their relationships
if i write a book, talking about my method, how could i sell services next?

I can talk about the other methods (already known) with their limits, briefly describe mine
But this approach is dubious from an ethical point of view
And it may be that I frustrate my readers, because I do not provide a solution to their expectations
I would have to help them in a certain way thanks to the book, but reasonably
and that I explain to them that my method available on the website is even simple

What do you think?
What approach do you recommend?

Thanks
Julien

 

[MTF]

if i write a book, talking about my method, how could i sell services next?

A book doesn't replace the experience of your service. You can share all that you do in your book but even then, there will be people interested in hiring you because they'll want more.

For example, I can read videos and articles about surfing but it still doesn't replace a surf coach who can see me and correct mistakes right at the spot.

Same for you - you can teach people how to improve their relationships but it's not the same as you providing feedback specific for their situation. People don't pay for a service because they expect super secret knowledge. They pay for your personal involvement to make sure that they do everything right. A book is only a single direction type of learning, while services is a two-way experience (and that's why it's so much more valuable).

 

[CareCPA]

@MTF I completely agree with you. the book is a great way to be credible in the eyes of an audience

I already had the idea of writing a book
I thought I would do it later, because I'm afraid that it will compete with my business idea
let me explain.

I am creating a website to help people improve their relationships
if i write a book, talking about my method, how could i sell services next?

I can talk about the other methods (already known) with their limits, briefly describe mine
But this approach is dubious from an ethical point of view
And it may be that I frustrate my readers, because I do not provide a solution to their expectations
I would have to help them in a certain way thanks to the book, but reasonably
and that I explain to them that my method available on the website is even simple

What do you think?
What approach do you recommend?

Thanks
Julien

You may be overthinking it. Different people prefer to learn by different methods.

I know a guy who has a fairly successful blog.
He then took a collection of his blog posts, cleaned them up a bit, and turned them into a book. He flat out told people that the book is just a collection of blog posts, and that they can still read the posts for free.

Last year he made more in book royalties than most people I know make at their job.

 

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[julienfromfrance]

@MTF thank you, for your clarifications
I understand the approach better
the 2 can be compatible, I'm reassured

@CareCPA yes, I thought about the different options to get started in the right direction
you are right, it is true that some people will prefer one method to another
thank you for this relevant remark

interesting the story of the book
I plan to do this once I have published enough articles
but finally, the book will arrive first, to make itself known

let's go, I start writing a book!

 

[df1992]

Wow this thread is a goldmine - thank you!

 

[MTF]

Bump and a quick update.

These days launching books/guides on Gumroad/other services seems to be possibly a better option than Amazon. You fully control the price, you can sell it for way more than $9.99 (or easily set it for free), you get much better marketing tools and reporting, you can add upsells and stuff, you get emails of your customers, and no competitors are shown on your product page.

But of course, for Gumroad etc. you need an audience as there's little to no organic traffic when selling there. But Amazon doesn't really help much new authors these days so makes little difference.

Difference in status? Maybe, as on Amazon you can sell print books which many still consider to be the "real" books. But if you want to publish a book to promote your business, would you rather get more leads or more status?

 

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[hisamats]

Great hint, will check it out. Haven’t heard of Gumroad yet

 

[klaipeda]

In one of the courses, Mitch Harper, suggests this approach to writing a book:

1. Write down the title and then chapters of the book
2. Record yourself talking about one specific chapter. Talk for 30/40 minutes and do that only once per day.
3. Repeat step 2 until you record all the chapters. (e.g. 10 chapters / 10 days recording)
4. Use a service like rev.com to transcribe the audio to text
5. Find a book editor on Fiverr/Upwork to take care of the transcribed text
6. Once the text is ready, find on Fiverr/Upwork someone to make the digital book

 

[Woosah]

This is great - thank you.

 

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[Woosah]

Question:
How do pre-orders on Amazon come into play in your promotion strategy?

Do sales on pre-orders get counted on the day of launch? (How does this impact Amazon's algorithm for getting that top3 position?)

 

[MTF]

Question:
How do pre-orders on Amazon come into play in your promotion strategy?

Do sales on pre-orders get counted on the day of launch? (How does this impact Amazon's algorithm for getting that top3 position?)

They don't count on the launch day. I never used them. Most authors think that preorders make sense for big names only who have a long prelaunch period.

 

[bossadolfo22]

Great post. I'm going to use it for my business. I will check if some of those tools can be found in Spanish. Thanks.

 

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[pk0815]

How Do I Even Self-Publish a Book?

The easiest way to publish a book is through Amazon KDP, the biggest platform for independent authors. You sign up at Self Publishing | Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, provide a few details and you’re ready to go. There are countless freelancers who will turn your Word document into a properly-formatted ebook and it's all relatively easy.

Unless you decide to publish a hardcover book (that requires publishing it via www.ingramspark.com) you don’t even need to apply for ISBN as Amazon can provide you with a free ISBN for your paperback (no ISBN is necessary for a Kindle version).

If you need an ISBN because you want to have a nice hardback version of your book, you’ll have to buy it through www.myidentifiers.com (that’s for those who are US-based, other countries have different suppliers and in some countries ISBNs are even free).

If you decide to publish your book as an audiobook, too (and you should), then you also need to sign up at www.acx.com, an Amazon-owned company, that distributes audiobooks to all major platforms including Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play. That’s where you can also hire a voiceover artist who's knowledgeable about the ACX submission requirements.

If you want to have the widest reach possible, you should also publish your book on iTunes, Barnes&Noble and Kobo. You can also do that through www.draft2digital.com which takes a small cut in exchange for easier distribution to multiple platforms at once. Google Play is another important player. You can sign up here: Google Play Books Partner Center

If distributing to several platforms sounds too difficult, just ignore it for now. Amazon will be responsible for 90%+ of your sales anyway and if you’re mostly interested in ordering author copies and distributing them yourself, it’s not worth your time to worry about other distributors.

What about cover design? You can find a professional designer on many freelancer platforms. My current favorite is www.Reedsy.com, a marketplace where you can hire freelancers for every single step of working on your book (ghostwriters, editors, designers, marketers, publicists, and people who will help you get book reviews).

would you suggest to publish under a pen name or your real name?

 

[MTF]

would you suggest to publish under a pen name or your real name?

Depends on the goal. If you're doing it for recognition/authority then under your real name. If it's a self-publishing business and you plan to publish multiple books in different niches then use pen names.

 

[pk0815]

Depends on the goal. If you're doing it for recognition/authority then under your real name. If it's a self-publishing business and you plan to publish multiple books in different niches then use pen names.

The book should just be the beginning of a business. Like you mentioned it in the beginning of the thread.

The focus of the business is to help others with their financials. So the service would be teaching courses, consulting on various financial topics and 1:1 coaching.

So my question is can the business grow with a pen name?

Thanks for the great content!

 

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[MTF]

The book should just be the beginning of a business. Like you mentioned it in the beginning of the threat.

The focus of the business is to help others with their financials. So the service would be teaching courses, consulting on various financial topics and 1:1 coaching.

So my question is can the business grow with a pen name?

Thanks for the great content!

In this case you should use your real name.