No matter how successful a self-published author becomes, there is one point when that self-published author struggled to make any sales. Just like any other self-published author, there was a point when I struggled to make any sales. During these times, I would be jumping up and down if one of my books made two sales in 1 week.
That is by no means something to live on. As a new self-published author, the process was hard, but there was something that helped me grow. Despite all of the hardships I faced as a self-published author, there was one glimmer of light that ultimately paved the way for my success.
That glimmer of light was the KDP Free Promo. I decided to try out the KDP Free Promo for a book I had just published. I figured I could get about 100 downloads, get some reviews, and then go from there. However, the book didn’t just get 100 downloads. In that 5 day period, the book ended up getting downloaded over 900 times.
The only things I did to promote the book was write a blog post and send out two tweets to about 70,000 followers in 5 days. Unlike my previous books, I paid a professional designer to create the cover for the new book. My book ended up becoming a #1 bestseller in two of Amazon’s free categories.
In addition to having my book become a bestseller in two of Amazon’s free categories, I got more reviews for my book in 1 month than I got reviews for all of my other books combined. After the KDP Free Promo, the book made more sales than any of my other books. For the rest of the month, I averaged 1 sale every day. That’s really good for someone who used to get one sale every week. The KDP Free Promo is definitely something to consider in order to get more people to know about your Kindle books.
Thanks Marc! If someone wants to write an ebook, how do you recommend they get started?
The best thing to do is choose to write about the topics you are passionate about. After you wrote the entire book, create an account on KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) to publish your book on the Kindle (which also appears on Amazon’s main site).
I wrote two books that go into further detail about writing your own eBooks with tips included (Keep The Ball Rolling and How To Publish More Kindle eBooks Faster).