Warning: Big, bold audacious claim coming up… If you’re selling Kindle books but not using these tips, you’re losing money. It’s that simple. Why? Because these tips work wonders to increase your sales and even build your mailing list.
Get your Kindle readers onto your mailing list. Inside your book, offer a bribe so tempting your readers will leave the book, go to your website and give you their email address in exchange for the bribe. You are now building a list of buyers with whom you have instant credibility because you are the author of a book they read.
Get your Kindle prospects onto your mailing list, too. When a prospect views your Kindle book on the Amazon website, they can read the first 10% of the book online without ever purchasing. If you offer your bribe within this first 10%, you’ll get plenty of people who never purchase your book to sign up to your list to get the bribe. And if you’re really more interested in building your list than you are in selling books, then your bribe can be the audio version of your book. Thus people can get your book’s content without ever buying it.
Use a combination of the above two tactics. A list of prospects is great, a list of paying customers is even better, and a list of each is best of all. In the beginning of your book, let them know you’re offering TWO amazing bribes – one you’ll divulge right then and there, and the other one will be revealed at the end of the book. Describe both in delectable detail. This way non-buyers still go on your list, but they have a great incentive to buy your book to get your second bribe.
Email your lists when your book is free. If you use the technique of offering your book for free for a few days when it’s new, then email your lists and let them know about it. You’ll build up goodwill and your download numbers will skyrocket, making your book much more likely to appear in search results for your topic.
Use your books to advertise your books. If you’re writing several books in a series on the same subject, then inside each of your books have a section where you tell them about your other books. Don’t get too wordy on this – say just enough to get them interested to go look at them on Amazon. Then every time you write a new book, update all of your other books to include it.
Bundle your books. Take two or more of your books and bundle them into one money-saving offer.
Beef up your author page. Put plenty of great content on your author page. The more people can read about you and especially about your topic, the more likely they are to see you as the expert that can help them. Or if you sell fiction books, consider adding a book excerpt to the author page, or reviews that do or don’t appear on your Amazon listings, etc. Little known fact: The longer you can keep your prospect on your author page, the more likely they are to buy your book. Also, add an author video. Again, people are typically more likely to buy your books after they watch your video.
Make your book really stand out. People really do judge your book by its cover. In fact it’s the very first thing a prospect sees when they land on your book’s sales page. So how does it look? Does it convey professionalism and trust? Or does it appear to be someone’s first attempt at graphic design? Is the title clear and easy to read? What about the subtitle? Do the graphics or artwork go well with your topic, or do they merely confuse the viewer? Take a look at the current bestsellers for ideas on how to make your title and cover stand out and look like a ‘real’ book – not something thrown together by a newbie.
Don’t settle for just Kindle – do paperback and audio, too. Kindle books are great, but let’s face it: “Real” books lend an air of credibility to your work. So use CreateSpace to make your book into a paperback, and ACX for audio books. Then price your paperback and audiobooks at $9.99 or better. This will make your Kindle price look like a steal by comparison.
Get your fee in book sales. If you perform some kind of service like writing, speaking, consulting, coaching and so forth, you can waive your fee in exchange for them buying a certain number of copies of your paperback or hardcover book. This works especially well if you’re in the business niche and work with companies, since they can hand your book out to their employees. And if you get several companies to make their large purchases on the same day or week, it can propel your book to the bestseller list, too.
Once you make ‘bestseller,’ be sure to tell prospects. Change your book cover to add your ‘Amazon #1 Bestseller’ status as well as adding this information in a prominent place in your book description.
Drive traffic from your Kindle books to your website. We’ve already talked about building your list, but you can do more than that. Because you can insert clickable links into your Kindle books, you can send traffic to any pages you like, including your blog, your squeeze page, your social media pages and even a sales page.
Bottom Line: Using these simple methods can greatly increase your Kindle sales, build your mailing list and help you grow your online marketing and publishing empire faster!
