Aiming at Amazon the NEW Business of Self Publishing
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Aiming at Amazon The NEW Business of Self Publishing — Aaron Shepard — There has never been a self publishing manual like this. Aiming at Amazon is not about getting your book into bookstores. Instead, it lays out an innovative approach that targets sales on Amazon.com. It reveals how to make a book sell well online, with tips never before offered. And it doesn’t stop there—it gives you a way to publish your book that can double your profit per copy. Avoid publishing plans that handicap you almost before you begin. Let Aiming at Amazon introduce you to the new business of self publishing. “Aaron Shepard has been more successful selling through Amazon than any other self publisher I know, and this is the most comprehensive guide in print or online to marketing your book on the Amazon platform.” Morris Rosenthal, author, Print-on-Demand Book Publishing “Solid gold advice. This book will give you the benefit of years of hard-earned experience.” Steve Weber, author, Plug Your Book! “If you want to learn how to sell more books on Amazon, this is the best book I’ve read on the subject.” Stacie Vander Pol, author, Top Self Publishing Firms “Shepard is considered one of the pioneers of marketing print-on-demand books through Amazon. The model pioneered by Shepard, Rosenthal, and others is proba- bly the best way for a newcomer to enter the world of self-publishing.” Peter Hupalo, Midwest Book Review “Absolutely brimful of technical, hands-on advice.” Michael Allen, Grumpy Old Bookman (blog) “An essential read for anyone having to market a self- published or POD-published book—and has a wealth of information for small press publishers, novice freelance book publicists, and mid-list authors of the larger pub- lishing houses.” Jim Cox, Jim Cox Reports “A truly great book that all of us should own (and actually read!). If your efforts are focused on Amazon, this is the book.” Thomas Nixon, Degree Press and Small Press Blog “A must-have book: pertinent, unduplicated, current, authoritative, and well-written. Has a maximum of use- ful information and a minimum of fluff, all written in an easy, understandable style. Best advice available.” John Culleton, Wexford Press “Revolutionary . A must read for anybody who is con- sidering self publishing without [wanting] too much hassle or expense.” Mayra Calvani, TCM Reviews “Worthy of the confident air with which it’s written. Whether you’re small press or self-published, if you util- ize POD and want to amp up your Amazon sales, you need this book! . Even if you want to work within more traditional methods of bookselling, there’s still plenty of valuable material here.” Lupa, Immanion Press “A well-thought-out and well-researched system that provides a viable alternative . With low up-front costs, and simple procedures that don’t require special- ized software, it’s a method almost anyone can use.” Sheila Ruth, Imaginator Press “Packed with practical techniques for today’s savvy small publisher.” Susan Daffron, Logical Expressions, Inc. “I sometimes wake up cold in the middle of the night, wondering where on earth I would be, career-wise, had Aiming at Amazon not been written. By an author, for authors, in a style that even head-in-the-cloud dreamers with ink in their veins can understand and act upon.” Barry Tighe, Can Write Will Write “An amazing book and one of the most practical I’ve read. If you’ve self-published a book or are thinking about self-publishing, Aiming at Amazon is a must- read.” Tim Bete, director, Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop, University of Dayton “The perfect guide for the first-time publisher, [with] just enough information to inform but not overwhelm. You won’t find ‘fad tricks’ in this book, just solid advice.” Cheryl Kirk, Expanding Books “Without Aiming at Amazon, I simply would not be where I am now. This month, I made what I would have made in six to eight months with the company I used previously for self publishing.” William Linney, Armfield Academic Press “Absorbing. Aaron Shepard is a savvy marketer. Shepard writes simply but skips the chirpiness that mars many self-help books.” Marie Shear, The Freelancer (Editorial Freelancers Association newsletter) “I’ve published ten other books through regular publish- ers, and this route is much more fun and rewarding!” Ellen Hodgson Brown, Third Millennium Press “Dramatically changed my direction in terms of publish- ing, and has turned a money-losing hobby into a grow- ing, profitable business doing what I love the most.” Charles Sheehan-Miles, Cincinnatus Press “Here’s what [it] did for me: It gave me a business plan that was feasible, simple, low-cost and potentially VERY lucrative.” Darcy Pattison, Mims House “What Aaron has done is to identify, analyze, and tweak the key factors that contribute to profitable sales at Amazon.com. It’s a great value for all authors.” Roger C. Parker, author, Looking Good in Print, and Webmaster, Published and Profitable “Life-changing! . I purchased this book in early De- cember. By late December I had founded my own com- pany. I yanked one of my books away from a vanity press, re-edited, revised and republished the title. In its first eight weeks, I made many times more money off this one book than I had in three years of working with POD publishers.” Nola Kelsey, Dog’s Eye View Press “Using the number-of-dog-eared-pages scale, this book should rank much higher than five stars.” James R. Holland, A Bit of Boston Books “More than just a book. It’s an entire system for setting up and running a profitable small book publishing com- pany with no inventory, worldwide distribution, and as little as $100 up front.” David R. Yale, A Healthy Relationship Press “A must read for any progressive self-publishing author.” Dehanna Bailee, author, The ABC’s of POD “The New Testament for the novice publisher. Aaron Shepard shows how to exploit the new paradigm to the full.” Hedley Finger, Hand Holding Press Also by Aaron Shepard POD for Profit More on the NEW Business of Self Publishing (Forthcoming) Perfect Pages Self Publishing with Microsoft Word The Business of Writing for Children An Award-Winning Author’s Tips on Writing Children’s Books and Publishing Them Aiming at Amazon The NEW Business of Self Publishing OR How to Publish Your Books with Print on Demand and Online Book Marketing on Amazon.com Aaron Shepard Shepard Publications Friday Harbor, Washington Author Online! For updates and more resources, visit Aaron Shepard’s Publishing Page at www. newselfpublishing.com Copyright © 2007–2009 by Aaron Shepard Permission is granted to copy or reprint portions for any noncommercial use, except they may not be posted online without permission. Author portrait by Wendy Edelson, www.wendyedelson.com ISBN 978-0-938497-43-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2006907458 Library of Congress subject headings: Self-publishing Books—Marketing Amazon.com (Firm) On-demand printing Note: Aaron regrets he cannot provide private guidance in self publishing. For additional resources, please see the appendix. Version 2.1 2 AIMING AT AMAZON The mind sees this forest better than the eye. The mind is not deceived by what merely shows. H. M. Tomlinson The Sea and the Jungle, 1912 When the bird and the book disagree, believe the bird. John James Audubon Chase two rabbits and catch none. Russian proverb Contents About This Book 9 1 Aiming at Amazon 13 Forget Bookstores 14 Print on Demand 17 Plan Your Route 21 Go to the Source 24 Ignore Amazon 30 2 Optimizing for Amazon 31 Embrace the Possible 32 Research the Market 35 Optimize Your Title 39 Write a Great Book 45 Produce Your Pages 48 Craft Your Cover 53 Stick to a Format 57 Collect Comments 58 3 Accessing Amazon 63 Set Up Accounts 64 Find Resources 66 Make Contact 67 Look Up Your Profile 70 Keep Up with Change 71 Take the Express 72 AIMING AT AMAZON 5 4 Marketing on Amazon 73 Check Your Listing 74 Claim Your Book 79 Make Corrections 82 Add Your Content 87 Submit a Cover Image 93 Share Other Images 98 Consider Inside Search 100 Suggest Tags 104 Categorize Your Book 109 Get Customer Reviews 111 Set Up Your Page 116 Explore More Options 121 5 Monitoring Amazon 131 Watch Availability 132 Watch Sales Ranks 135 Watch Search Results 141 Watch Pairings 143 Watch Rivalries 148 Watch Customer Reviews 153 Watch Tags 157 Watch Other Content 159 6 Pointing to Amazon 161 Channel Your Sales 162 Earn Commissions 164 Tame Your Links 166 7 Updating for Amazon 173 Refine Your Book 174 Refresh Your Content 176 6 AIMING AT AMAZON 8 Globalizing with Amazon 181 Aim at Amazons 182 Optimize for Amazons 183 Access Amazons 184 Market on Amazons 189 Monitor Amazons 198 Point to Amazons 199 Appendix 201 Where to Get Help 202 Amazon Etiquette 203 Kindle Books 204 Publishing Reprints 206 Removing a Listing 208 Rogue Sellers 209 Amazon Vendors 210 Amazon Ref Codes 211 The Book Depository 213 Replica Books 214 Self Publishing Terms 215 Index 217 AIMING AT AMAZON 7 About This Book In recent years, self publishing has become big business. But not often for self publishers. Though self publishing has been around for as long as there have been authors and the printers they could pay to work with them, it got a big boost in the mid-1980s. That was when personal computers, desktop laser printers, and desktop publishing software first allowed authors to compose their own print-ready pages.