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Indie Author's Toolbox: How to Create, Publish, and Market Your Kindle book Kindle Edition
Read this if you want to sell more books, make more money as an author, or rank higher in your category.
Are you having trouble picking the topic for your book? Maybe you’ve finished writing your book, but you’ve got questions about the mechanics of listing it on Amazon – How do you write a compelling description? How do you know you’ve got the right cover? What are keywords anyway, and why do they matter?
Have you just published a new book to the Kindle store, and found yourself wondering what’s next?
You aren’t alone.
Publishing your first book or even your tenth book on Kindle is a daunting task. As an Indie author you’re going it alone, or with limited help, and that means everything about your book is left up to you. You need to choose a topic that’s going to sell; write a compelling story that keeps readers flipping the pages; make sure it’s edited properly – typo free, formatted for a variety of Kindle devices and other e-readers. And, then, there’s the matter of creating book covers, writing descriptions, choosing keywords, and let’s not forget about getting reviews.
Being an Indie Author can be scary at times. That’s what this book is all about, helping you through the maze of publishing your book and getting it discovered on Kindle.
As an added bonus, I'm including interviews with four experts on Kindle Publishing.
- Steve Scott
- Buck Flogging
- Martin Crosbie
- Rob Parnell
If you want to sell more books, Indie Author's Toolbox is your ticket to success.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateApril 21, 2014
- File size1165 KB
Popular titles by this author
Editorial Reviews
Review
From the Author
It is natural for book sales to slow down over time. It is just the way it works.
Summer is a slow time for book sales - period. If your book sales slowdown between May and August you should probably just shrug your shoulders and let it go. Maybe run a Countdown Deal, or feature your book at 99¢ for a few days every month to keep your sales going. If things don't pick up by September then you may want to attempt more drastic methods to resuscitate your book.
After a while Amazon starts shaking up categories, and begins to feature newer books. They don't want their inventory to get stale, and they understand readers prefer newer books. If you're willing to do a little work, you can make this change work for you too. The trick is to bring out a new edition of your book. Revise your book. Add new information. Write a new introduction that summarizes updates in the field since your book was first published.
If you write fiction, open your bag of tricks and add new content to your book. How about appending an alternate ending; providing a character outline; or including additional chapters that bring more depth to one of your minor characters.
Once you've made these changes update your book cover and description to reflect that you have new and revised content available. In the KDP dashboard list this version of your book as the second edition, and change the publication date so it shows the date of your revision. In effect, you're releasing a new book, without all the extra work.
The following case study talks about how I revised and rebranded several of my eBay guides last fall.
Case Study
What do you do when the subject you write about is constantly changing?
Do you sidestep the issues of pricing, fees, and changing policies? Do you concentrate on the basics, because you're afraid to give specific advice that will date your book? Do you dive head first into the fray, and give specifics knowing the information you give will be outdated in six months or a year?
That was the dilemma I found myself in last November. Most of my eBay guides were becoming dated. They still sold well, and ranked in the top ten or twenty books in their category. But, I noticed a lot of new books being published in my niche. They did the same thing. They danced around the issue of fees and policy updates.
I gave it a lot of thought. Many of my reviews said readers wanted to know more about what it costs to sell on eBay. They wanted to know about how eBay's new and changing policies affected their business, and what the changes meant for them going forward.
Over the period of a month, I revised four of my books. I rewrote at least twenty percent of each book, added a new introduction, and had new covers designed for each of them. One of the books I totally rebranded. I gave it a new title, changed the contents around, and rewrote major portions of it.
That one went on to become my bestselling books, eBay 2014.
Another one of my books really worried me.
eBay Unleashed had always sold well. I rebranded it with a new cover, and made minor changes inside to reflect eBay's new policies, but no major changes. The first two months the revised version was out sales dropped by over twenty-five percent. I don't know how many times I was tempted to roll all of the revisions back, but I didn't. From hindsight, I can look back and be glad I waited it out. Sales bounced back, and it's a consistent money-maker, bringing in $800 to $1,000 per month in royalties.
I do not think any of them would be selling this well if I had not taken a chance and revised them.
What else can you do to resuscitate a dead book? Many times a few minor changes can help your book sell more copies. The trick to increasing sales is to monitor your sales, and determine when sales first started dropping off. Sometimes it can mean a competing book entered your niche, and readers are buying it rather than your book. If this is the case, you need to examine that book, and determine why it's selling better.
Does it have a better title? Is the description more enticing? Maybe the content is more up-to-date than yours?
Be honest with yourself. If the problem is a new book in your category, the best thing to do might be to do nothing. Over the last three years I've watched dozens of new books jump ahead of mine in the eBay category. Most of them run their course in a month or less, and slip back down the charts. If the problem is more persistent, take a look at the description for both books. Sometimes if you tweak your description just a little, you can make your book seem more attractive to readers.
Other times, your price may be the problem. When I first started selling my books on Kindle I was able to price them at $4.87. As the eBay category became more crowded I was forced to drop my prices to $2.99 to remain competitive. At one point a number of authors in my category decided to slug it out, and priced their books at 99¢, hoping to reach the number one spot on the charts. I decided to stay out of that battle, and let them give their books away for nothing. I didn't want to be a bestseller that bad.
Sometimes it may be just the opposite problem. If all the other books in your category are priced between $5.99 and $9.99, and yours is selling for $2.99, readers are going to ask themselves what's wrong with your book. Try raising the price a few dollars. That might be all it takes to get your sales going again.
Change your title, or cover. Here is another secret big publishers use.
Have several versions of your cover made up when you publish your book. Run the first cover for two weeks. If sales aren't what you expect, switch it out. See if a different cover sells more books. Sometimes a slightly different background color can increase sales. Other times, an entirely different cover can boost lagging book sales.
The same thing goes for your title. A bad title can tank your sales. I named one of my booksMy eBay Sales Suck: How to really make money selling on eBay. It did ok. Most months it sold sixty to one hundred copies, but I always thought it could do better. After a giving it a lot of thought, I changed the title to eBay 2014: Why you're not selling anything on eBay and what you can do about it. Since that change it sells close to two hundred copies every month.
From the Inside Flap
It is ok. You can admit it. Let me share a secret with you. I did not tell my wife, or kids, or anyone I had written my first book until it had sold over 100 copies. The day it hit number two in the eBay category on Amazon, I finally figured what the hell - no better time than now.
Can I share another secret with you? It is a year and a half later, and none of them have read one of my books yet. I am beginning to think they never will. It does not really matter though. I have written twenty more short books since then and sold over 20,000 copies on Kindle, and another 3500 paperbacks. So I still get the last laugh, there are people out there reading them.
What I am trying to tell you is that if you have got a book in you - let it come out.
Don't worry about what other people think.
If you are really worried about it, you can publish your book under another name while you are testing the waters. Amazon does not care whose name you put on your book.
I recently started two series under different pen names.
It is sort of exciting and even liberating in a way because I can say whatever I want, because nobody is going to know it is me. What I have got to hide, I am not sure. One of my titles is Get Off Your Lazy Fucking Ass and Get a Job Already. Hard to believe, but one of my reviewers started off their review saying "...despite the cursing..."
Here's a thought. Write your book. If you only sell one copy, that is one more than you would have otherwise.
From the Back Cover
Have you ever kicked around the idea of writing a Kindle book?
It is ok. You can admit it. Let me share a secret with you. I did not tell my wife, or kids, or anyone I had written my first book until it had sold over 100 copies. The day it hit number two in the eBay category on Amazon, I finally figured what the hell - no better time than now.
Can I share another secret with you? It is a year and a half later, and none have read one of my books yet. I am beginning to think they never will. It does not really matter, though. I have written twenty more short books since then and sold over 10,000 copies on Kindle and another 2400 paperbacks. So I still get the last laugh, there are people out there reading them.
What I am trying to tell you is that if you have got a book in you - let it come out.
Don't worry about what other people think.
If you are really worried about it, you can publish your book under another name while you are testing the waters. Amazon does not care whose name you put on your book.
I recently started two series under different pen names.
It is sort of exciting and even liberating in a way because I can say whatever I want, because nobody is going to know it is me. What I have got to hide, I am not sure. One of my titles is Get Off Your Lazy Fucking Ass and Get a Job Already. Hard to believe, but one of my reviewers started off their review saying "...despite the cursing..."
Here's a thought. Write your book. If you only sell one copy, that is one more than you would have otherwise.
About the Author
Most of my books can be read in under an hour. The information in them can be put to work immediately to help you sell more books on Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, and in the iStore.
Book marketing is not a mystery. It does not even have to be difficult.
It is really all about getting started.
Many people I have talked with have this crazy fear about writing a book. They want to put the cart before the horse. The go crazy marketing, blogging and building a social media presence before they take care of the basics.
That is where my books come in.
They slow you down and walk you hand-in-hand through getting started. They show you how to find a subject that readers want and need, how to optimize your author profile on and off of Amazon, and how to move beyond Amazon to reach entirely new markets.
My goal is to help you over the speed bumps so that you can be more successful from the get-go.
What are you waiting for?
Let Indie Author's Toolbox help you grow your author brand.
Product details
- ASIN : B00JUEWJ0G
- Publisher : indie author's toolbox (April 21, 2014)
- Publication date : April 21, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 1165 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 184 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,246 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #374 in Direct Marketing (Kindle Store)
- #1,077 in Direct Marketing (Books)
- #1,431 in Writing Skill Reference (Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Nick Vulich writes short, easy-to-read books, covering some of the most important events and people in American history. Many readers have described his writing style as similar to sitting down with a friend tossing down a beer and telling stories around a blazing fire.
No big words. No need to keep a dictionary nearby. Just good information served up with a touch of humor.
Nick grew up in Clinton, Iowa, where he spent more time than was good for him immersed in Max Brand, Louis L’Amour, and Zane Grey westerns. He studied history at the University of Iowa and worked on an MBA at St. Ambrose University.
Now, his greatest pleasure is writing about his old friends from American history and turn of the century crime dramas.
Are you ready to take the plunge into America’s past?
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonTop reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent source of real-world stories from the front lines of self-publishing
I liked this book a lot, especially since I was fortunate enough to randomly find it for free in the Amazon top 100 free books list on the very first day I had ever looked in that list. How strange is that?
The authors writing style is very direct and down-to-earth. He is not scared to state his opinions, and provides reasons why. The book is well-written as far as formatting and grammar are concerned, so no worries there.
The book seemed to have three major sections – one on Amazon Kindle stuff (writing your book, and promoting and using Amazon tools), one on non-Amazon Kindle stuff (CreateSpace, Kobo, Smashwords, etc), and one on interviews with other authors.
I think the biggest strength of the book is the stories that the author tells from the front lines – of his own experiences with writing and updating his books, promoting them with various promotion methods, etc., of other people’s experiences that he has heard of, and of course the four big interviews with popular authors at the end of the book.
I really liked all those front-line stories because they are real-world stories. If it was my book, I might change the title to “Indie Publishing Stories from the Front Lines,” to more accurately reflect what I think is the main strength of the book.
Having said that, a big chunk of the book is devoted to leaving readers through the book sign up and promotion aspects of non-Amazon websites such as CreateSpace, Smashwords, Kobo. This information was appreciated because it educated me about the processes (and sometimes results stories) without investing the time to go to the websites and figure it all out for myself. (Not that I would, because I don’t even have a Kindle book published yet.)
The author was also kind enough to include an annotated list of 10 good books to read for Indie authors. That was also appreciated, because once again it was educational for the readers, save them some time, and pointed them in the right directions.
All in all, I think this book is a five-star book for content and price, despite the loose structure of the sections and topics. I would recommend this easily to any in the author, or person who wants to learn more about the modern self-publishing industry.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2015A very comprehensive book on self-publishing. This book covers everything you need to know about self-publishing. I had downloaded this book for FREE and was already an experienced author in self-publishing but still there were new things to discover. This book also talks about getting your books translated into different languages through a site called Babelcube. After reading this, I openend an account with Babelcube and uploaded all my books. So far two of my books have already been translated into Portuguese. Thank You Nick Vulich for opening my eyes!
- Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2014Even though this book is a competitor to my own book (How to Write, Edit, and Self-Publish Your First eBook), there is room for EVERYONE when it comes to making money with the Kindle. I love the author's style of writing, he is direct and to the point. Buy this book!
- Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2014this book gives truly fresh ideas for selling books and a few original perspectives. This author knows about selling books and shares som very good inside information and tools for improving your publishing business. glad i got it.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016Fantastic book with lots of useful tips and tricks for anyone interested in self publishing.
I would gladly recommend it!
- Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2014Great ebook, great self-publisher resource. Will come in handy when I am ready to self-publish. Easy, helpful read.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2018This book is about as current as can be expected for a topic that changes continuously. The author interviews at the end of the book were insightful, too.
Top reviews from other countries
- RCReviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2014
4.0 out of 5 stars Book Review
I found the book very useful and thought provoking. If you want to slf publish then this is a must read.
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Michael L.Reviewed in Germany on May 27, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars Eigene Erfahrungen verständlich dargestellt
Ich glaube, das ist der erste Autoren-Ratgeber, den ich komplett gelesen habe (und ich bin nur Hobby-Ebook-Autor, und im Grunde ist mein Englisch eher kümmerlich). Das sagt eigentlich schon alles. Nick Vulich gibt keine Empfehlungen, er beschreibt seine Erfahrungen, und das macht sein Buch für mich so interessant. Einige seiner Ratschläge sind in Deutschland nicht umsetzbar zum Beispiel wegen der Buchpreisbindung oder weil Amazon bestimmte Optionen nicht anbietet / nicht anbieten kann. Das mindert den Wert des Buches in keiner Weise.
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RübchenReviewed in Germany on August 2, 2015
2.0 out of 5 stars Eine ziemlich leere Toolbox
Ich kann nicht behaupten, dass mir das Buch sonderlich viel gebracht hätte. Es enthält keine weltbewegenden neuen Ideen oder Innovationen. Vielleicht ist es hilfreich für absolute Neulinge, aber für mich war letztlich nur die Liste mit der weiterführenden Lektüre interessant. Das Ganze “Toolbox“ zu nennen finde ich schon etwas verwegen und der Preis ist für dieses kurze Büchlein schon heftig.