Discovering (hopefully) how to make a killing on Kindle: part one - Lynne Garner


As a small indie publisher trying to sell eBooks via Amazon I'm always open to new ideas on how to increase sales. So when a writing friend suggested I read 'Make A Killing on Kindle' by Michael Alvear I decided to download it.

This is the first book I've read that does not advocate using social media to sell books. Instead the author suggests using the tools available to the writer on Amazon. Realising the only thing I would lose would be the 18 hours he states it takes to implement his steps I decided to give it a go.

So I picked one of my books I felt was under achieving and started to follow his suggested steps. I updated my author profile, tweaked my book, changed the title slightly and redesigned the front cover. I also spent time researching terms I could use in my book's search engine profile. I know SEO is important in ensuring your book shows up in searches but I hadn't realised that such small changes could make such huge differences. To demonstrate what I mean below I've included a little of my research:

Note:
Numbers quoted are how many times a search term has been used globally over a period of a month on Goggle.

Terms I had used in my book's search engine profile:
  • childrens short stories = 90,000
  • myths and legends = 2,400
Similar terms I researched:
  • short stories for children = 201,000
  • myths & legends = 823,000
As you can see the difference in results are huge. Needless to say I have made a few changes.

My next step is to obtain some positive reviews.  Unfortunately it doesn't matter how good your book is without reviews people won't take the chance on it. To get reviews you have to encourage people to read your book. So today Anansi Spider - Trickier Than Ever is available for free download; follow this link if in the UK and this link if in the US. I'm hoping if you enjoy my book you'll leave a positive review. However if you don't rather than leave a negative review please contact me (lynne@madmomentmedia.com) and if it something I can tweak and improve I will.

Lastly you may have noticed the title to this post is 'part one.' I am half way through the steps Michael Alvear outlines in his book. So between this post and the next I plan to complete further steps plus test and measure. The results I'll share with you in my next post.

Lynne Garner

P.S.
Also available FREE today are Anansi - The Trickster Spider (a collection of 8 short stories) and one of my picture eBooks The Best Rabbit.

For UK download of Anansi - The Trickster Spider click here.
For US download of Anansi - The Trickster Spider click here.
For UK download of The Best Rabbit click here.
For US download of The Best Rabbit click here.

Follow me on Twitter @lynnegarner


Other group blogs I contribute to: Awfully Big Blogging Adventure and The Picture Book Den

Comments

Stephanie Zia said…
Great cover! All good luck with it, looking forward to the results.
I've read this book too, and found it very interesting - good luck with it all - hope it works and you DO make a killing!
madwippitt said…
Good luck - I'll be interested in hearing about how you get on!
ABE said…
Thanks for reminding me about Michael Alvear's book.

I bought it months ago, gave it a cursory reading, and stored it for when I'm ready to publish - which won't be for two years (at least not formally).

Your numbers on the two examples you posted, especially the one on myths showing over 340 TIMES the number of search term uses by the change of 'and' to '&', really drives home your use of his method. That's truly amazing - I hope what you learns gives you a LOT more exposure to the market, and many more sales.

I will look forward to Part 2, and to seeing which of his ideas you implemented successfully.

Thanks for sharing.
Lynne Garner said…
Many thanks for the positive comments. Just by plugging here, Facebook and a forum I'm a member of so far 300 books have been downloaded. Have already started with the second part to this post - so will let you know then how it went.