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ebooks

Sell More Books – 7 Incredible Insights for Authors

April 16, 2020 by Arun Leave a Comment

Nothing is more pathetic than working hard on your book and publishing it only to find out that no one is interested in it.

In this article, we will see 7 important mindset shifts to help you sell more books and earn better from your writing. Although these are best principles for Authors who write their own books, some concepts can also help if you are re-publishing a public domain book.

Contents
 [hide]
  • Research Before You Write
  • Importance of platform awareness
  • Understanding the technical side of ebooks
  • Expect Less
  • Connecting with readers
  • Delivery Costs
  • Content Seeding
  • Bonus Tip to Sell More Books:

Research Before You Write

If you want to sell books, then we need to understand from the very beginning that sales is directly proportional to the number of people who will be interested in whatever you want to write.

Studying the market even before you write, and doing some research on keywords, surveying what people in your field really want – will all go a long way when you finish writing and start selling. In fact, these could pave the way to sell your books even before you start writing. KDP also has ‘pre-order’ sales options available to its authors.

This way, we can distinctly divide the entire process into three parts:

  1. Research
  2. Write
  3. Promote

All these three steps are important and go hand-in-hand to ensure you sell more books.

Tools such as Publisher Rocket help in finding approximately how many people have bought similar titles in your genre, what is the typical download count per a period, and more such useful metrics for you to decide.

Another treasure trove is the book reviews, ratings, and comments section for similar titles that others have written. – You can easily find what your potential audience have loved and hated from their comments and then use that intel to enhance your writing exponentially.

If you are interested in learning more tactics, I highly recommend reading Pat Flynn’s ‘Will it fly‘ book – I will provide the link below so you can give it a shot.

Download a mind map version of this article.

Importance of platform awareness

Having different versions of the books you’ve written is great, but if you are just starting out, focus only on your Kindle version.

More books are sold on Kindle than in print!

This way you can first focus on establishing a place for yourself in the world of writing. After you see some traction in your ebook sales, you can move on to publishing them in print editions.

Not just that, there are more avenues in the eBook world and Kindle is not the end – we have leanpub, Kobo, Google Play Books, Smashwords, iBooks and so on so you can cater to different types of people.

They are all people reading ebooks but the devices they carry in their hands are different and you are losing out on lot of money if you don’t tap into that diversity.

That’s why it’s all the more important to be platform aware and start focusing on the eBook market in your first month of selling eBooks before you exhaust all the options and then step into the print versions.

Understanding the technical side of ebooks

A simple shift in the mindset regarding the technologies we use to self-publish takes you really far in making the work you do to stand out from your competition.

An eBook is really just a web page, written in HTML. Learning some basics of HTML and CSS can really help in formatting the ebooks the way you want. If not nothing, consider using the services offered by professionals who charge very less in platforms like upwork or fiverr. They are experts in using HTML, CSS who can format your ebook the way you want with all the designs and formatting specifics.

Expect Less

Your first published book is no-doubt a bestseller in your family circles, but it will not be a super-hit out in the world from day one onward.

There are exceptions and I will consider myself lucky if it happens to me. If you are just beginning to write and sell books as an author, then try writing something short but valuable for your target audience and learn all the technicalities involved in self-publishing your first book.

Publish more often applying the knowledge you’ve gained from the first book. Unlike olden days where people used typewriters to type their manuscript, and publishers who used big printing press machines, writing books need not take years with hand-held gadgets, cloud based apps, and self-publishing resources available for free these days.

Learn this business, forget the expectations, gain the experience and eventually you will ride on easily with increased revenue because this is all just science and the process works the same way for everyone.

Connecting with readers

Some authors just share their ideas in their books and leave it at that. The book stands in isolation without any action items for the readers, so they just move on after reading and you have lost a potential fan because there is no way to connect with you for them.

As an author, connecting to your readers is an important opportunity to ensure they also read your next book. CTAs or Call to action inside your books are vital to building a following for your works.

Turning that into a loyal following group depends on your consistency in engaging the audience with what they ask for. Here are some ideas that could bring your readers to know you better and get closer to you.

  1. Introduction page – where you can tell more about yourself,
  2. Contact page – Creating and linking to your website and other social media channels.
  3. Offering a supplement to your current book and letting them sign up for your Newsletters or other free accompanying downloads called as Lead Magnets.
  4. Creating a Facebook community and making it exclusive access to your followers.
  5. Doing an AMA or “Ask Me Anything” chat sessions on Twitter, Reddit, or Gitter (https://gitter.im)

Delivery Costs

Size of the eBook increases delivery costs from Amazon, thus leading to lesser royalties.

This is something that all the authors who are self-publishing using Amazon to be aware of.

I created a dedicated video to address this issue and how you can resolve it. The primary culprit is the images you use in the eBook and in this other video, you’ll learn how to compress them effectively without losing the quality. Links are provided in the description below.

Content Seeding

The core principle here is repurposing the content you’ve already written. Almost every book you write can take another birth of its own as a podcast, blog article, video, a slideshow, a course, a checklist (for non-fiction works), an infographic, or any other mini PDF that can be created out of the original work you wrote first.

No book should be left in isolation and must be reborn in one or many of these forms.

Bonus Tip to Sell More Books:

sell more books

For all those of you who are still reading, I have a bonus tip. Well, it’s actually a no-brainer but not EVERYONE realizes it. So, I thought I will share it, anyway.

Hyperlinked Table of contents:

In case your books don’t have this, it’s time you edit and re upload your eBooks after creating a table of contents – and if you already have the TOC on your eBooks, then pat yourself on your back. This is because TOC section provides a great reader’s experience on eBooks. Some don’t use it and some misuse it by placing it at the end of their eBooks – this not only is a poor reading experience but also makes Amazon think that you are cheating its algorithm by letting the system think that the reader has fully read your book by reaching the end of the eBook. This is usually manipulated to tap into the KENP page read count related royalties. So, use the TOC within the starting sections only and use it to link to your main chapter and sub-chapter headings. Again, I have another video which talks about creating Table of Contents.

So, those were some pointers to keep in mind on your writing journey. I hope this was useful and let me know if you have any problems or questions on Amazon KDP below.

Cheers and good luck!

Arun

Filed Under: Amazon KDP Tips, Blog Posts, Paperback Publishing, Self- Publishing Tagged With: ebooks, guides, Kindle, Resources, tools

What to Include in the Front Matter of an eBook

April 1, 2018 by Arun Leave a Comment

There is a significant amount of material that can go in the front matter of an ebook.

Many authors get overwhelmed or easily confused how much is necessary and also what to include in what order.




After reading this guide, you will be an expert in adding front matter to your eBook. All the sections we see in this video are also available as a FREE Word Template, which is just a click away – all you have to do is just simply go to the downloads page to get these templates for free.

If you would like to view this blog post as a video, you can watch it here. And for all those who want to continue reading, just continue reading 🙂

Now, how much or how little front matter is needed, is a question that you need to answer yourself based on your readers or ebook. There is no hard and fast rule to include everything you see in this video, but choose wisely what you include, as there are sections that are vital to protecting your ebook, like the copyrights page.




Please also keep in mind that if there are too many sections or pages that form part of your front matter, then the preview available through the ‘Look Inside’ feature of Kindle ebooks will only show your front matter and very little actual content of your ebook. So, choose your sections wisely.

Front matter of an eBook

I have included examples from my book, Frugal Blogging, in the above video, which can be purchased from Amazon.

1. Praise for your ebook: if at all your book or the contents of your book is already praised by your readers through samples, test readings, or for whatever reason, you could include them at the beginning, after the book’s cover. Many authors include not just their current book’s praise but also the praises received from previous books. If you have none yet, feel free to skip to the next section.

2. TITLE page – this is where you include your book’s title, subtitle, your name as the author name, any logo – all centered and BIG enough to catch the eye of the reader. Nothing else goes in here. Don’t clutter this page with any extra items, or text. The less text on this page, the better.

3. Copyright page: it’s good to include the copyrights page RIGHT after your title because it’s something that 99.99% of the readers will skip reading as it’s all just legal talk. But it’s also wise to keep it here because we can say upfront about any disclaimers here so readers can take caution if at all they read this text before they proceed to read the main chapters in your ebook. you will also have the opportunity to mention your edition year here, so if there is any book series or editions that you want to quote, you can do so here in this copyrights section.

As a reminder, if you want a free template in WORD format for the copyrights page and everything else from this video, simply download it from this URL, which is also just a click away in the video description.

4. Next comes the Dedication page. Here’s the manuscript of my ebook Frugal Blogging with more than 250 pages- I have dedicated this book to my parents, by the way, and it has just a line of text in italics and center aligned. You can do something similar here, but it’s an optional section. If you have none to dedicate your book to, feel free to skip this part.

5. Next in the order can be some optional sections – in my book, I have used this space to insert some more disclaimers related to the content of my ebook – which is followed by my own bragging. I mean, “about the author” section and why somebody should read my book – this is a place where if you have already written more books, you can link to it. I do this twice in my book – once here on the front pages and then again at the end of my ebook as a CTA – call to action. So, after all, if a person read my book till the end, which is almost 260+ in word format itself, and obviously it will be more in Kindle format coming to around 330+, then I will safely assume the reader will be interested in reading my other books as well. This is your opportunity to entice your readers to become more interested in your author brand.

Although fiction writers can skip sections like ‘what this book covers’, ‘why to read this book’, etc. non-fiction writers can include them here. but again these are not hard and fast rules, and if you feel these must be before your first chapter, go ahead and do so. No harm there.

6. Then comes the Contents section. A table of contents is a very important section, especially when it comes to ebooks. a clickable TOC is vital because readers cannot simply flip pages like we can do while reading a paperback or a hardbound hard copy book. Ebooks are displayed on just one plain screen of an electronic device staring at our readers – thus a clickable TOC is a must. Be it fiction or a non-fiction ebook. This can be easily achieved if you have been using STYLES in Word, so when a TOC is inserted, the heading tags will be picked automatically forming part of your Table of contents. Just make sure NOT to include page numbers in your contents page.

7. Next, in the list is Acknowledgments section – if at all you need to thank some people or acknowledge them for their contributions made so you could finish your book, then it’s here.

8. Next, if you have any Foreword, Preface, or Prologue, they can be placed here, right after your Acknowledgments section but before your first chapter.

You can download this list ALONG with the FREE Word Templates by going to the Tech Library TV website’s Downloads section.
If you haven’t already created your free account there, please do so NOW to get this as well as an unlimited access to get all the future reading materials that are not available elsewhere on the website.

Thank you for reading!

Like what you just read? Check my Gumroads page and get unlimited access to all my downloads.

Filed Under: Self- Publishing, Amazon KDP Tips, Blog Posts Tagged With: ebooks

25+ Most Amazing Websites to Download Free eBooks

March 4, 2018 by Arun Leave a Comment

In today’s amazing blog post, we will see 25+ lesser-known websites to download FREE eBooks.

These could be used to simply read ebooks for leisure, to learn and to expand our knowledge, OR we can also use some of the websites given here to get your public domain ebooks that are sometimes totally FREE to even publish on Kindle.

I have obviously not included famous ones like the Project Gutenberg as many already know about that website.

Go ahead and download this list in PDF format from the downloads page, to find out some new websites along with some bonus tips at the end of this FREE report.

Download PDF (350 KB)

As you will see in the above FREE PDF report, there is no shortage of websites that let you download and read books for free. If not already done, make up your mind to start reading to become better in anything you are doing.

Readers are, definitely Leaders. If not for others, this at least can help you “lead” a better life.

If not already done, simply download the free PDF report by clicking on this link NOW.  And you can refer to it anytime in the future.

Filed Under: Self- Publishing, Blog Posts, Listicles, Technology Tips Tagged With: ebooks

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