Archives for February 2018

How to Market your Books with Amazon Samples

February 24, 2018 By Ged

When you publish your book on Kindle, Amazon allows readers to download Free sample extracts of your book (Approximately 10% of the book’s content).

This is a great marketing tool and it’s FREE.

Issue

The traditional way for readers to get these samples is to go to your book’s listing on Amazon. The only drawback here is that readers have to be on your book’s page to get the sample. If you need to market your book, readers may not be automatically flocking to your book’s Amazon page.

Solution

Amazon has been kind enough to provide a function, to allow you to share that sample through social media (or on your website).

In the following example, I will take you through the simple steps to share your samples through Twitter:

1 Go to Your Book’s Amazon page

Make sure that you are looking at the Kindle version and Click on the “<Embed> link, under the buy box (the box that you click on in order to buy the book).

2 Copy the URL Link displayed in The Orange Box

Amazon kindly supply the code for you to copy, they put it in a nice orange box, so it is easy to see.
You can also copy and paste the HTML code into a page on your website, by clicking on the button next to the text “embed on your site (HTML)”.

3 Login to your Twitter account

Once you have logged into your twitter account you can paste the code directly into the Twitter text box.

4 Turn your Tweet into an Ad

Pasting the code into the (twitter) text box is like attaching a picture with no text, you need to add some text before the code.
Something as simple as “Try a Free sample of my book how to grow beans” is enough.

5 Send out your Tweet

The Code will automatically display your initial text and an image of (some or all of) the cover of the book.

6 Leave Twitter to do The Rest

When someone clicks on the tweet, it will automatically open up a sample of your book.
In the image above, you see an example of the view on a computer, but the display will match whatever device that readers are using to view their tweets (e.g. a smartphone).
With built-in features such as the orange “Buy” button, the sample even guides the reader towards buying your book.

Use Amazon Samples to Market your Books for FREE Share on X

Voila

You have just used Amazon’s free service to promote your Kindle book, with free samples of your book.

How to Create Review Copies of Your Books for Kindle

February 19, 2018 By Ged

The percentage of Kindle Book readers is fast catching up with the percentage of Print Book readers. Sending out physical print copies of your book (as review copies) is, therefore, becoming less useful.

Indie authors are looking to optimize their budgets and the time and cost of posting out physical Print books makes this less than optimal.

A. How Books & Documents get to Kindles

When someone purchases a Kindle version of a book from Amazon, it is wirelessly delivered to their Kindle device.

Not everyone realizes that each device has its own email address (which can be found under the Device settings on their Amazon account).

Sending documents to that email account adds that document to their Kindle library so they can be viewed on that kindle (or Kindle Apps associated with it). This doesn’t, however, change the format of that document.

B. What are PDFs, Epubs and Mobis

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format that was developed in the 1990’s. The advantage of a PDF file over other document formats (such as an MS Word Docs) is that the formatting is locked in. Locking in the formatting of images and text in a document means that you know where the images and text are displayed on a page when someone opens a book or brochure.
Epub is an eBook format (with the extension “.epub”) that allows you the ability to download the book and read it on tablets, e-readers computers etc. Not used for Kindles
Mobi is an Epub type file that Amazon uses for the books that they distribute for their Kindle readers (and the Kindle App).

C. Option One Convert PDFs or other formats of your Book to Mobi

During the review process, some authors like to download a copy of their book in PDF format to allow them to review it on their computer.

As they already have a PDF of their book, they see it as an easy way to distribute free copies of their book (and may even have this file as a FREE download on their website).

Although you can view different formats of documents on your Kindle, they are not optimized to view and may not read as well.

One of the simplest ways of creating a mobi file from a PDF etc. is to use a free online converter (such as pdf2mobi.com).

Supplying your book in Mobi format can provide a better reading experience for your Kindle reader as it retains some of the features that a Kindle book has. A PDF document converted to mobi will not provide the same quality as a document originally created as a mobi file.

When I’ve converted other people’s books (from PDF format) to mobi, they haven’t fit correctly on the Kindle screen and the reading experience has been erratic.

D. Option Two Download a Mobi version of your Book from KDP

If you are publishing a kindle version of your book through Amazon, then you have access to a mobi copy of your book through the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Platform.

Once you have a manuscript uploaded to KDP you can download it as a mobi file.

When you are logged into your KDP account you can choose to follow this process for any book from your bookshelf:

Click on the option to “Edit eBook content”
Scroll down to the section of the “Kindle eBook content” tab entitled “Kindle eBook Preview.
Click on either of the links “preview on your computer” or “preview on your Kindle device”
Click on the link titled “mobi”.
You will be given the option to save this file and you can choose where to save it (and under what name).
I tend to rename the file with the name of the book, the date of the download and that this is the kindle version of the book. As you start to publish and update your books it is important to have a filing system. To keep track of the various versions of your book.

NB. As you haven’t made any changes to your content, you can just click on the bookshelf link at the top of your KDP dashboard and exit the editing process (without having to complete the book submission process for that book.

E. You’ve done it

You now know what a mobi copy of your book is and why it is beneficial to have that version for Kindle Readers.

This means that your book is easily available to distribute for Kindle review copies.

You can choose to have this as a download on your website or email it to readers direct.

NB. As we are talking about Review copies here, ensure that your file has a review link to the review page for your book.

How to Get More Amazon Book Reviews with Review Links

February 4, 2018 By Ged

Self-Published or Independent (Indie) authors are constantly asking this question: How do I get more reviews, for my book on Amazon?

The first thing to note is that your book is a product, and Amazon has designed their algorithm to put products in front of their customers, that they are most likely to want to buy.

Product reviews are a factor in the algorithms calculation but also a psychological factor in customer purchasing.

A majority of humans prefer not to be the first to try something, if they see that a product has no reviews, they perceive that they are one of the first customers and so they are less likely to buy it.

It’s a Numbers Game

Whatever process or strategy you adopt, to get more reviews for your book, it is a numbers game.

Results will vary but from my own experience and those of fellow authors (I communicate with), the average number of book buyers that leave a review, is somewhere between 0.5% to 2.5%

Personally, I’d say that the 2.5% may be a bit on the high side, so whatever you can do to increase the conversion rate from reader to reviewer should be considered.

Why wouldn’t you want to improve the odds of readers leaving you a review?

Make it Easy to Post Reviews

As an indie author myself, I know the importance of reviews but even I don’t review every book I read.

With our ever-diminishing attention span, statistics show that where someone has to click twice to make a purchase or navigate elsewhere online (that second click is enough that), they are more likely to abandon the journey.

Basically, humans are getting lazier!

One of the benefits that a Kindle book has over a physical product, is that you can actually ask nicely for a review within the book (product) and create a link directly to your books review page.

Remember that the purpose of this link is to make it easier for readers to leave a review.

Getting readers to login to Amazon and find their order and then place a review can seem like too much trouble, for even the most ardent fan. Doesn’t it make sense to have a link that they can click on, while they’re reading your book, taking them straight to that books review page?

Here’s an example Link for one of my books “Gratitude For Happiness” – Gratitude review link

Your Link Needs to Be Universal

Your Kindle book is sold on multiple Amazon sites such as Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.co.au, as well as Amazon.com. You need to ensure that the link in your Kindle book, takes the reader to the Amazon platform where they purchased it.

Lots of Authors create international links to direct buyers to the book on their local Amazon site. Free tools, on sites such as booklinker.net make it simple for even technologically challenged authors. There are other free tools out there that will allow you to create a universal link to your books actual review page.

There are various tools out there to create a link, but one of the easiest ways is to copy and paste your books ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) into a Free tool provided on Russel Phillips UK Site Click Here

Create Your Listing then Upload an Updated Manuscript

You need your book to be live on Amazon before you can create your link, which means that once the book has passed through the review process, you will have to upload an updated version of your manuscript with the link included.

Rather than have to worry about lots of reformatting of your book content, I’ve found the easiest way to add your link is by already having the text in the initial upload.

Basically, include the words “Please Click Here to Review this book” (or something similar and once you have created the review link you can turn the same text into a hyperlink.

For Pre-orders, your book listing will be live but the review page won’t be active until the book is live. Remember to upload the updated manuscript ASAP after it’s live.

Increase Your Odds of Book Reviews, With a Review Link Share on X

Don’t Break Amazons Terms of Service

With all the stories out authors having reviews stripped from their book listing and worries about Amazon stopping your book listing, authors can become paranoid about asking for reviews.

It can be quite confusing trying not to break the rules, rather than try to list all of the terms here, here’s a link to a video (provided by Dave Chesson) which provides some important guidance. Amazons Terms of Service Link

The Key Points

Once your book is live, create a link to its Amazon Review Page.
Ensure the link is universal and add it to the text in your manuscript as a hyperlink.
Upload your updated manuscript as soon as possible.