Do You Want To Profit From Self-Publishing Your Book?
Do You Want To Profit From Self-Publishing Your Book?
You’ve prepared your manuscript for publication and you’ve decided that you’ll publish it on Amazon.
The finishing touches to your manuscript have been completed; it’s been edited and formatted; it has a stunning cover; and, and it’s got a great title.
Now that moment has finally arrived. You are ready to actually publish your book and to launch it out into the big wide Amazon world.
Listing process
Before you hit the Publish button you must start the listing process into the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) submission form.
As you list all the details pertaining to your book you are asked to provide information that describes your book. This information is used to create your book’s detail page on Amazon.
This information is known as metadata.
The listing process appears to be easy, and it is fast too, so you’ll have your book ready to publish within minutes.
But be ready for that moment of panic because it’s time to hit the Publish button.
But before you do, let me ask this question: do you want to join the ranks of thousands of authors who fail at self-publishing on Amazon and who do not make sales and who then complain that self-publishing on Amazon doesn’t work?
You are wrong if you think that you can simply hit the Publish button and become successful. You can’t just publish, hold your breath, and wait to see what happens.
This is where so many newbie self-publishers make the mistake thinking that they can quickly complete all the fields for entering the details of their book and then hit the Publish button. Yes, it is so easy to publish your book.
I’ve done that too and made that same mistake.
Learning to select the right metadata
As a self-publisher, your job when listing your book is to give the right metadata to Amazon and to help readers find your book so that you can make sales.
Metadata includes such things as title, keywords, categories, book’s description, price, author name, cover, reviews and so on.
As a self-publisher you have to optimise your metadata and doing this can be confusing even for the experienced.
Making simple choices and tweaking your metadata can result in hundreds of visitors to your book’s detail page and this can equate to more sales.
Crafting a title and sub-title, choosing the right categories and keywords, writing and formatting your book’s description – these things are fundamental to marketing your book on Amazon.
If your metadata has not been optimised you risk being lost forever in the Amazon system. Metadata that is accurate and that has been optimised for the Amazon algorithm is how readers are able to find what they are searching for.
If your metadata is not strong and it hasn’t been optimised your book won’t be found. If it is not discovered it won’t sell.
Keyword research
Like it or not, doing your keyword research to find the best keywords and selecting the right categories can make or break your book. One of the ways to accomplish this is by completing the keyword and category fields.
You need to think about categories and decide which categories readers might browse to find your book. Your book has to be positioned accurately.
While in the listing you are asked to select two categories you can actually select another eight.
Choosing the right categories
Choosing the right categories takes considerable research. This is so important because categories influence whether or not your book becomes a best seller.
Like categories, keywords are just so important too. Again they can make or break your book.
In keyword research, you need to choose keywords with low competition and the way you discover this is to have a keyword with high search volume and a low number of search results.
Get your metadata right and Amazon will drive thousands of new customers to buy your product. Get it wrong and Amazon will relegate you and your book to obscurity.
Amazon gives priority to books that sell.
In conclusion, the struggle is about turning what you write into something that makes a profit and this is where you must develop mastery.
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Marji Hill
Author and Coach