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I made a book and it's selling. I never got this far, so I'm a bit stuck xD

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SEBASTlAN

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Andy Black

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BellaPippin

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This thread is a great example of people preferring to help people in motion. It's not a proclamation thread, it's an "I've done this, now what do I do?" thread.

Looking for mentors? Go do stuff.

It reminds me of the line "Tell me what you've done and I'll tell you who you are."
Thank you Andy that means more than you can imagine. The main reason I’ve been absent from the forum was to take action and come back when I had some thing to show. Ideally I wanted to make the “I’ve made it and you can too!” thread that I see so often and dream of making myself, but I bit my pride halfway and came back with a question because you guys are always the best to me and know way more. Heck even just brainstorming.

I’ll quote Vigilante’s well-known thread to say yes, seeing the orders in the email is like crack. I need more. Even the two or so books I send out a week give me such a self esteem boost. The best antidepressant.

PS: The YouTube videos helped!
 

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AnneC

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Congratulations on your progress!

MJ recommended Amazon, and I’ll throw in my two cents about that. I agree that you need to get on Amazon.

On Amazon, there's the “book route” of Amazon Vendor Central or Amazon Advantage that MJ mentioned and KDP. But there's also the "product route" which would be Amazon Seller Central, specifically the $39.99 professional plan so you can run PPC ads.

You might want to try the "product route" because:
  • Your product is not a typical book, being ring-bound. I don't think it's currently possible to recreate the hardcopy version of your product in the Kindle atmosphere.
  • There's a ton of free training out there on how to use Seller Central. You could get to market much faster with FBA and FBM. You could be selling FBM same day, whereas Advantage may take a while to set up.
  • You can create different product bundles... with pens, with coloring pencils, with the PDF version. And make a simple product insert with an incentive for them to sign up, like a free downloadable PDF if they subscribe to your email list.
If you go this route, I would list your items in "Office Products" vs "Books" category, because the referral fee is $1.80 per item more for "Books." That can add up!

There are pros and cons of Advantage vs Seller Central that you can Google to determine which is right for you. You're not necessarily limited to one or the other in the long-run.
 

Roli

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Absolutely. It kind of how I determine which forum threads to reply to.

This person is taking action. Significant work has been done and now they are looking for guidance.

The, "I'd like to build a mobile app but don't know what to do next" are the type of questions I ignore.

People who like to ask questions about STEP 20, but ignore STEP 1-19 are likely to be dismissed as not serious, and are armed with the wrong set of expectations.

You did this for me and to my eternal shame I took a year to write back to you.

No excuses, I'm sorry, thank you for your time and I'm putting your advice to work.
 

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Back in August I had a flash idea for a drawing book/sketchbook I wanted to exist, so I made it. I proved the concept with pre-orders and eBook sales, so I got 200 from a printer abroad.

Right now sales trickle as long as I'm investing in ads but it's been a learning curve to figure out how to put it in front of people. My plans are to continue advertising online re-investing revenue, find art/book/comic-zine fests to attend, leave it in consignment at stores... I've even sold it to a stranger at a coffee shop without even trying. Lots of good feedback-- so the challenge seems to be putting it in front of the right eyes, consistently and efficiently.

It was easy to get excited and imagine publishing more books, though I know I probably should focus on making the first one successful first (right? right?). I know it sounds silly but I guess I need to confirm with my dear mentors here. Especially because my marketing strategy changes if I promote one particular book to Audience A or promote "books"

Any good sources of info would be much appreciated. I already went through the same dozen of Google articles and I'm reading one book about self-publishing but I still don't feel very grounded. As usual it's hard to know the answers when you can't even ask the right questions.

@MJ DeMarco if you don't mind sharing any nuggets of wisdom... how to get into bigger bookstores? So far I'm trying to hit local ones, but that's not gonna yield a decent order size I doubt. How to build up to that?
Firstly well done. I started writing books approximately 5 years ago in my favourite niche and went straight to Amazon and sell them as Kindle and as paperback books. I also sell on Google Play, Lulu, Kobe and my own website and many more sites. These bring in a passive income 24x7. You need to get professional book covers produced. Heres my website take a look if you need any help just ping me.


Thanks,

Mark
 
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