KDP Select – Nicole Munoz Consulting

Top 30 Kindle Marketing Tips

It’s one thing to follow a manual outlining perfect procedure for Kindle publishing: It’s another to actually do it and realize there are all these little tips and twists to tweaking your Kindle Marketing even further.

Here are thirty of the best tips for marketing your Kindle ebook.

Start with a Unique, Exceptional Product

If you don’t have a well-crafted product, properly optimized, correctly formatted, and full of original fascinating content, you will not get the most out of any marketing strategy.

Make a Plan

Don’t market haphazardly. Create a plan – and remember to time your plan components so that each maximizes the other. For example, have posts ready to blitz your social media, the instant your free promo begins.

Wait before Announcing

After you’ve finally uploaded your book, wait before rushing to announce its release. It can take up to 72 hours before your book is reviewed by Amazon and appears in the listings. Plus it’s nice if your book can get at least a couple of consumer reviews under its belt before you send the world to its doorstep.

Don’t Put Pricing or URLs on Your ecover

Amazon wants its Kindle books to display tastefully, so avoiding promotional material of any kind on your ecover will help advance your Kindle ebook on its way to approval.

Don’t Leave Initial Reviews to Chance

Have your book club, writing group or forum primed and ready in advance, so that when your book does go live, they are ready to jump in and write your first reviews.

Remember that the Title and Cover of Your Book are Vital

It doesn’t matter how great your book is: If people aren’t intrigued or arrested by the Title – and if your cover doesn’t look professional (“like a real book”) – you won’t get a chance to impress them with reviews, content peeks or your description.

Make Sure You Include a “Look Inside”

Being able to read a few pages of content will not only encourage more people to buy the book, it will pre-qualify your market exactly. If Amazon doesn’t add this to your book within the first few days, be assertive. Contact support and ask them to add it for you.

Consider Offering a Free Promo

Allowing free downloads for the first few days can be a good strategy for a new author, particularly if your book does well. (Plan your free promos and publicize them in advance!)

If you choose the KDP Select program, keep in mind that you can use your five free promo days at any time during your three-month KDP Select contract.

Join the free Author Marketing Club

This is a ridiculously easy way to submit your book to top review and listings sites – and it works!

Join KDP Select

If your book has any activity or sales, consider signing up for KDP Select and letting it be offered for a free period to Amazon Prime members. You won’t make direct sales from the Amazon Prime library, but you will still continue to make regular sales. And do remember that each time your book is borrowed Amazon reads this as a sale. Your visibility – and royalties – will increase.

**Promote Your Book before Signing Up for KDP Select**

Before joining KDP Select, make sure your book is polished, has some sales and has been well promoted. Books with active visibility perform better, and KDP Select can keep your books visible between promotions.

Create Follow-up Promos

Don’t worry if you did everything wrong for your first free promo, and it was a bust. Depending on the KDP options you’ve chosen, you will most likely be eligible for five days of free promo again in three months.

You can spend that time tweaking your book, tweaking your price, tweaking your cover and planning a dynamite promotion campaign for the next round.

Meanwhile, concentrate on getting top reviews.

Realize That Negative Reviews can be Your Best Friend

Nobody ever wants to see a bad review – but if you find you are gathering a few of these, pay close attention to what they have to say. You will always get people who don’t know what they are talking about, people with axes to grind, people who don’t like the fact that you are not an author they prefer, and people who love to pick things to pieces to the –nth degree. Ignore them.

Instead, look for stuff you can use – for example, someone noting that an open tag has made your book hard to read, or who says that Step Five isn’t clear enough.

Fix these complaints – then release your book as a new, updated edition.

Create a YouTube Book Trailer

Do this exactly as you would for a movie: Meaning dramatic lighting, strong graphics, atmospheric soundtrack and memorable taglines: All focused on getting the essence of your book across.

Check out this book trailer for the graphic novel Nowadays to see how it’s done. (Warning: Apocalyptic Zombie Violence. And lots of blood.)

Don’t Compete in Over-Saturated Niche Categories

Find a category where you have less competition. That will leave your book with more chances to become a Best Seller in that niche. (If you are just starting out, under 100 entries in a category catalogue is a good way to test the waters.)

Get Your Book in the Right Category – Even if it’s Not Available

If you’ve noticed that your direct competition is in a category not available when you upload, designate your book as “Non-Classifiable”. Go ahead and publish it anyway.

While it is being reviewed, go to the Self-Service menu on the right-hand side of the publisher Help page and click the yellow “Contact us” button.

Select “publish your book”
Click on “adding or changing book categories”.
Simply tell them the category name(s) you want your book to be in

Dedicate Enough Time to Create Your Book Description

Your book description is arguably as important as your Title and Cover. Once readers have been attracted by these, the next step they may take is checking out your description. Set aside an afternoon or morning to work on creating the perfect, dynamic, keyword-optimized description. Don’t rush yourself – and what ever you do, don’t scramble to write one at the last minute, during upload!

Study the Pros

Immerse yourself in studying and analyzing how best-selling Amazon authors do things. The best lesson is seeing a strong example. Make notes of tactics and tips that work well on you – then see if these would work well for your own books.

Have Your Cover Page Created as Soon as Possible

A finished Cover page can be used in pre-release promotions and posts.

Create a Facebook Page for Your Book

Even if you already have a Facebook Author Page, dedicate a separate page to your new book. And don’t wait until your book is published to do this.

Run pre-release contests
Release “sneak previews”
Share progress reports
Create a buzz

Create a Custom Sign-up or Contest App Canvas for Your Facebook Page

Interactivity is a proven way to increase interest and memory retention about your new book. And you don’t have to jump through hoops – use incentives like a free sample chapter when it becomes available or simply notification of the book’s release.

Don’t Just “Set and Forget”

Marketing your Kindle ebook is not a static process. You need to be doing things like tweaking prices.

The simple formula for this is:

Raise them when your book is selling really well
Drop them when your book is slowing to a stall

Either way, you can use the new price as yet another opportunity for promotion.

Create an Author Account and Dynamite Profile on Goodreads

You can advertise there if you wish, list your book giveaway and participate in its groups and forums.

Be sure to watch the SlideShare presentation at the bottom of the sign-up page.

Create an Author Website!

If you don’t have an author website – or any type of relevant website at all – you are shooting yourself in the foot.

It doesn’t matter whether or not you have a main website. Dedicate one to your writing career – or even to your book, if it’s going to be a signature work.

Be Sure to Include Your URL in Your Kindle ebook

Another missed opportunity for many Kindle authors: Forgetting to include at least one Website URL in their front or back pages.

That’s literally leaving money on the table – by throwing away sign-up opportunities.

Announce Your Book on Amazon’s Forum

Another opportunity that people – surprisingly – miss: Announcing their book on Amazon’s own, free “Meet Our Authors” forum.

Just be sure to pick the right category. (E.G.: “Non-Fiction Authors” or “Western Romance Authors”.)

Price it Right

Pricing is a highly individual thing, but knowing a few tips can help you better assess your market.

The hotter the topic, the higher the price you can command
The more exclusive the information, the higher the price you can command
The more professional your visual production, the higher the price you can command. (Make sure the interior lives up to the promise, however!)
The better your book is selling, the higher the price you can command
The more books you have on the Best Seller’s list, the higher the price you can command

And finally, recognize that pricing is as fluid as your market. Keep actively pricing to sell. (Intelligent pricing leads to more successful marketing!)

Join an Active Writing Group

This works both with online and offline groups. Be sure to choose one where supporting each others’ published works is simply part of the mandate. That way, you’ve got instant reviewers ready to roll!

Reciprocate!

If you want reviews, write them for others – especially for members of your writing group.

And don’t forget to participate actively in forums and networks such as the Amazon “Meet Our Authors” forum.

It’s a case of the more you give, the more you get.

9 Steps to Publish a Kindle Ebook

by Nicole Munoz

Use this guide as a slightly more than a checklist for your Kindle publishing project. Going through all the steps will help you plan it and fit it into our schedule.

It will also alert you in advance to steps you may find especially time consuming or just not up your alley, allowing you to plan for, find and hire the correct outsourcing contractors to complete these particular modules.

Step 1. Write Your Book

Lots of people talk endlessly about writing a Kindle ebook: Not so many do it. If you are writing non-fiction, you need to come up with a hot topic. Checking out magazine stands, best seller lists and the Amazon marketplace itself will help you get an idea of what people are looking for nowadays.

Discount books written by celebrities. Those will be heavily promoted and subsidized, and won’t give you a true picture of what’s currently in demand, topic-wise.

Narrow your topic down to specific Kindle book categories. Come up with a dynamic Title if you can. (Don’t get too hung up on that, however: You can change it later. It just helps you get a feel for the character of your book, if you come up with a strong title at this stage.)

Write an outline. It will help you stay on topic and produce a much tighter, more focused book that feels professional and reads clearly.

Then sit down and start writing.

The Secret to Writing – and Finishing – Any Book

Schedule it. Don’t wait for inspiration. Ruthlessly put aside your feelings. Just give yourself a minimum word count per day that you have to write: Then stick to that minimum.

That’s the magic formula that published authors the world over have discovered.

(The real secret? If you make yourself do this every day, and turn off your Inner Critic, it soon becomes a habit. And that’s when you suddenly catch the wave and learn to surf!

And what a high it is, when you can’t wait to sit down at your computer in the morning (or evening, if that works better for you) and get started.

That’s how books are made.

Step 2. Proofing and Editing

Writing your book is a huge accomplishment for many, but it’s just the raw bones of your finished product. Put the book aside for at least a week if you can, and then come back to it and begin the process of proofing and editing.

Spell-check first, then proof it again for readability. Then proof it again for consistency. Then proof it again for flow. And run the spell checker a final time.

If you’re new to writing and have the budget, hiring an editor at this stage can free you up to continue with other projects and get the book ready for print a lot faster.

Step 3. Create your Ecover Image/Have it Created

Your ebook’s cover image is one of the most important components to getting your book approved by Amazon, being taken seriously as an author – and inspiring people to buy.

If you do not have solid art skills, don’t waste time or cut corners here: Hire an artist experienced in creating Kindle ecovers to produce a polished, vibrant product.

If you do have artistic experience, you still need to be totally familiar with ecover formatting for Kindle. Here are the requirements:

Your cover image has to be in .JPG or .TIFF format
Resolution: 72 D.P.I.
Minimum size: 500 pixels wide X 1,000 pixels
Maximum size: 1,250 X 2,000 pixels
Maximum file size (interior photographs): 127k

Don’t use black and white photography for your Cover unless it is an essential part of your cover photo’s statement and enhances the book’s mood and premise. Your interior photographs will display in black and white on older Kindle versions, but your cover will always be competing with other richly-colored covers on Amazon’s Kindle book site.

Your cover photo should be 100% original. If you hire an artist to produce the artwork only (as opposed to producing the entire ecover) make sure she signs a “work-for-hire” clause, ceding all rights to you. Do this also if you hire a photographer to produce a photograph.

If you outsource through Fiverr, perform due diligence to make sure the artist is not using improperly licensed stock photos. This is the sort of risk you take when you outsource through abnormally low-priced sites – but it can also help you unearth great talent.

If you purchase an image from a stock photo company, make sure you also purchase the correct commercial license. But original is always preferable.

Step 4. Do Your Own Formatting for Kindle/Have it Formatted for Kindle

So your book is ready to upload. Your ecover is also ready. You have a variety of options available as far as formatting tools go, but since you most likely created your ebook in MS Word, let’s take the easiest route – publishing it with KDP Select. Before we even begin to worry about the actual formatting process, however, you have to make sure your manuscript is Kindle format-ready.

If you don’t already know how to format for Kindle and you don’t want to outsource, download Kindle’s own Building Your Book for Kindle guide.

And before you upload your book, make sure you have created and thoroughly tweaked:

Your Cover photo for the book
Your Description

Research and know your keywords too, as well as the categories you’d like associated with your book. Finally, decide on a price for your book.

Step 5. Sign Up or Log Into KDP Select

You may see a message like the one below in the upper, right-hand corner. Click on the anchor text: “Update Now”.

You will be taken to your account screen. Fill in any missing information. Put your real name. You will be able to choose a pen name later, if you’re planning to write for different niches or genres under different pen names.

Step 6. Upload Your Book

If you don’t see the “Update Now” message, simply click on “Add New Title”.

Don’t be intimidated about uploading your first Kindle ebook. You will be able to “Save it as Draft”, and no one will see it until you are ready to publish.

When you click on “Add new title”, you’ll be taken to section # 1, “Your Book”. Beside it, you’ll see # 2, “Rights and Pricing”.

You will also see a window for the KDP Select program. Decide whether or not you want to be enrolled, and either check or uncheck the box accordingly. And if you need to find out more about it before making a decision, click on any of the anchor text links or visit KDP Select FAQs. (You can always enroll later, if you prefer.)

Next, start entering your book details…

As you can see, this phase is extremely easy and self-explanatory. Clicking on the little “What’s this?” anchor text brings up simple pop-ups explaining each step.

If this is a new book, enter “1” for edition number and if you don’t have your own publishing company (something you should definitely explore once you’re comfortable with the Kindle publishing process) enter your own name as Publisher.

Don’t skip clicking on each anchor link: None will take you away from your page.

Don’t enter an ISBN number or Publication date for now.

Notice that Amazon also offers you the option of setting up a series. (And in this screen shot, you can see how the pop-ups work.)

Verify that you have the right to publish your content. If it is in the public domain, you cannot include it in the KDP Select program, and you must disclose its status here.

Otherwise, go ahead and select “This is not a public domain work…”

Next, enter up to 7 keywords (single words or phrases); then click on the “Categories” button to choose the 2 main categories in which you want your work to be located.

When you click on the Categories, a pop-up will open up.

If you can’t find the exact categories you want, you can either enter “NON-CLASSIFIABLE” and contact support while your book is being reviewed, letting them know the exact categories you’d like the book placed within… or pick a similar two categories for now. (You can always change it later.)

Next, upload your book cover. It should be “camera-ready” – meaning all text should be in place, rather than just uploading the photograph alone.

Select “Browse for image” if your cover is ready and waiting on your hard drive.

An alternative is to use Kindle’s brand new Cover creator: However, since your cover is one of the most important selling tools for your book, careful pre-design is recommended.

Once your image is selected and you see your filename in the pop-up, press the “Upload” button.

Next, upload your book. If it contains images, upload it as a zip file.

IMPORTANT: While your book is being uploaded, you will see message asking you to click “Save and Continue”. Resist the urge to click “Save and Continue”, and instead select “Save as Draft”. (This enables you to thoroughly review your book before publishing it.)

After your book is saved, you will see a green “successful” notification, just as you did with your book cover.

You may also see a notice alerting you to possible spelling errors.

Step 7. Preview The Formatted Version

Next, you will be offered the chance to preview your book. If you have prepared it in MS Word, go ahead and preview it online. If you have used formatting tools or prepared it in HTML, you may prefer the second option: To preview it by downloading one of the suggested tools. Once again, pop-ups are there to help you choose the right one.

If you preview online, you will be able to move back and forth between pages. If there are image errors, you will see them.

Since you have saved it as Draft (and even if you didn’t) you can simply go back, correct the errors in MS Word, update your TOC if you need to an re-save as “Web page, filtered”. (Remember to right-click on this file and “Send to” a zip file format after doing so.)

Once you close your Online previewer, press “Back to the Bookshelf”.

You will be taken back to where you started. You will see it displayed as your first Title, along with the status and the option to enroll it in KDP Select.

This gives you plenty of time to troubleshoot any glitches that showed up in the previewer or explore KDP Select further.

Step 8. Rights and Pricing

Once you’ve corrected your uploaded book and are ready to “Save and Continue”, do so. You will then be directed to continue on to the next page, # 2 Rights and Pricing.

Here you will be able to set your preferences for:

Publishing Territories
Price
Royalty Rates

Here’s what Amazon offers you…

In other words, if you’re charging up to $2.98, you are locked into a 35% rate.

If you are charging $2.99 or more, you can choose a 70% royalty rate.

If you have decided to go with KDP Select, check their terms also. You may need to charge a different rate.

Step 9. Get Approved

Once you have made your pricing decisions and published your book, you will have 24-72 hours to wait for Amazon to review it and approve it. (Your actual book will appear for sale after 12 hours – but wait before promoting, because other approvals may not yet be in place.)

Use that time to implement your marketing and promo plan – and be ready to roll when you get the green light!