Best Seller Authors

Book Marketing, Publishing, Author Resources

What’s the Secret Trick to Becoming an Amazon Best Seller?

I just received an email from an author hoping to drive his book to best seller status on Amazon.

This is a common question I get.. Authors learn that sales on one day can boost them to best seller status, the know that best seller on Amazon will add to their credibility and give them one more advantage in all the other promotion and marketing for their book.

Just how many books do I have to sell?

http://www.colinthompson.com/graphics/Prints/bookshelf.jpgThe simple answer comes from Amazon.. Sell one more book than the highest ranked book that didn’t make the list. #1 sells more than #2, which sells more that #3.

On some days, and in some categories, there are thousands of copies of a book sold. Others categories, especially over longer periods of time, result in less books sold, and the best sellers are books that continually promote.

If you book is not selling well, going to Amazon with some sales from one day will not make for a good marketing program. By itself, the rank won’t change your unseccessful book to a success.

You spend months, or years writing and getting to the point where you have a published book. Congratulations on that accomplishment. If that’s what your goal was, you should be proud that you have a published book.. most of the authors and writers I talk to are still stuggling to get to that point.

The real questions should be Why did you write the book? and What do you want to accomplish now that you’ve become an author?

If your goal is to say that you are a best seller.. Our best seller campaigns will get you that. But I suspect that when you think about it.. you really won’t be satisfied with that as your end goal. I suspect that you are like the clients I’ve worked with.. success as an author is not your primary goal life.. You want to get your message out to more people who need it, attract business leads from people you can help, and boost your career as an author.

Most authors never make money from their books.. especailly their first book. Most successful authos make more money, advance their careers and spread their message to wide audience by leveraging the process of becoming a best seller. They follow the advice of mega best seller Mark Victor Hansen of the Chicken Soup series:

“Getting the book published is 10% of the work an author does.. The other 90% is promoting the book and author”

To be a best seller, first look at book marketing and promotion as a means to an end. Getting to your real goal.

Our authors tell us that a best selling book is the best thing they ever did for their business. The payoff comes in many ways, but rarely in the form of a royalty check for books sold. The differnce is.. successful authors have a book marketing strategy

Think about your long term strategy?

Here’s a hint: If it’s “to sell as many books as possible” you may want to think beyond that. Decide what selling a lot of books would allow you to do. If that is anything other than “cash big checks and maybe write more books” you have a good chance of getting it.

Easy Way to Learn Internet Marketing Without Investing a Fortune

My friend Ross Goldberg put on Internet Marketing seminars.

I’ve spoke at Ross’s events before, and seen how he delivers three action packed days of training.

Many of my readers have been to the Master’s Seminars, but others have said that the time away from home and expense of traveling makes it difficult to attend.

So you’ll be glad to know that Ross has a new way to experience this exclusive traing for under $10

Read about the virtual seminar deal and grab a seat before Ross sell this out.

I’ll be speaking on what it take to get your own book and online social marketing program as part of the program.

Best Way to Get Great Reviews of Your Book on Amazon

Most authors today depend on Amazon for a large part of book sales.

You will sell more books when you have your book reviewed on Amazon. Here’s some tips.

Build your network on Amazon.

Set up a profile, add a blog, make sure you have a photo and links to your email and web site. The more people who know you, the more opportunities there are to cross promote and build readership. People don’t just buy or read one book, and the ones who buy the most are already networking with author authors like you.

Review other good books in your niche.
Add a review of books you read, expecially for authors you know. There is a link on each book page (Here’s the link for “Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing is Changing the Way We Do Business & Market Online”). You need to be logged in to Amazon, then

  1. Click that you are over 13 (I’ll assume you are, but answer truthfully)
  2. Clcik on the number of stars you want to give the book. (I almost always choose 5 stars because I only pick books I love)
  3. Enter a Title. This is the headline, so make it interesting. One key point, with keywords, or maybe a question
  4. Write your review. You can upload a video. This have tons of “search engin cred”.. make sure you write to readers sharing an honest point or two about how the book will benefit them
  5. If appropriate, put a link to your book, or any other product on Amazon. No hype, no sales pitch.. but a link will let people read more
  6. Add Tags.. VERY IMPORTANT put the keywords that will help readers find this book, and the link to your profile

You CAN Judge a Book by it’s Cover

Best of 2008Amazon is talking about the Best Books of 2008 has an interesting list you may not have seen before.

The Best Cover Designs of 2008

Authors want to believe that the old adage “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover” means that they can overcome a lousy cover with great content inside.

Of course it’s true that the best writing, best advice, compelling story and secrets to a great life may be in a book with a mediocre cover… it’s also true that many books never get read because of the cover.

We teach authors that the cover, the distribution plan and above all, the marketing and promotion done by the author will largely determine whether anyone ever gets to read the material inside the book.

As an author, reader and publisher, I wish I could tell you different. I wish that worthy books, with important messages got out despite being ignored by the market. Sorry, that’s usually not the case.

Many great books never sell well, but the good news is that many authors, especially those with a sound book marketing strategy and online promotion system in place tell us that a book is the best thing that ever happened to them

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Be “The Author Who Cares” to Set Yourself Apart in Your Book Marketing

Roger Parker asked me to speak to his private group of guerrilla marketers about book marketing and self promotion using social media.

I’ve been a fan of Jay Conrad Levinson and member of the Guerrilla Marketing Association, but I wondered about doing this as publicity. After all, there wasn’t a link I could share and promote the call to my mailing list or social media friends.

Roger is a friend, so of course I said yes and thought of it as a favor for someone that may connect me with resources later. Following the Law or Reciprocity I knew that I did not need to track this to immediate sales, I give where I can and know it wilil pay of in the long run.

I got more than I bargained for.

Roger did an excellent job on the interview and helped bring out some vital information for his group. Then he blogged about one tip I gave him about using Amazon in a new way. I linked back to that and tagged Roger’s site on social media.

I have been doing several interviews a day for my new book Twitter Revolution, so I’ve not been working the online promotion for book marketing as much. But today, I had a moment to search on my name (I recommend this for all authors in my free course at http://BookMarketingStrategy.com).

#1 is still my named site. #2 out of 30,000+ links was Roger Parker’s Blog

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