3 Amazon secrets every author needs to know

By Rob Eagar

Amazon is more than a website. It’s become the most powerful book-selling machine ever invented. Consider these mind-blowing statistics:

• Amazon sells nearly 50 percent of all print books in the U.S.
• Amazon sells more than 70 percent of all e-books in the U.S.
• Amazon is the largest sales account for almost every publisher in the U.S.

If these facts don’t get your attention, allow me to make things very clear:

Amazon sells more books than anyone else.

If you want to sell more books, then you must

learn how to sell books on Amazon.

You may not be able to control Amazon’s dominance over the publishing industry. But, it’s possible to use Amazon’s power to your advantage if you use these three little-known secrets.

Secret 1: Amazon will help identify how to find your target audience.

Authors constantly wonder who their readers are. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t share customer contact information, so you never know who actually buys your books.

However, there is a secret way to identify your target audience.

Go to your book’s detail page on Amazon and look at the section called “Customers Also Bought…” This information reveals titles and authors that are similar to you and your book.

How is this data helpful? It explains where to direct your advertising efforts on Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub.

For instance, if you see “Author X” frequently displayed on your “Customers Also Bought” list, then you should advertise to people who like Author X.

Why? Because Amazon verified that people who like Author X also like your books. This information can help save a lot of time and money determining the best way to maximize your advertising budget.

Secret 2: You can grow your author email list using Amazon’s huge audience.

Amazon attracts more book readers than any other resource on the planet. Did you know you can convert those readers into email subscribers for free?

It’s possible when you use Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) service to set up a permanently free e-book that drives readers to your author email list. I call this free resource a “Bait Book,” because it serves as appealing “bait” that attracts new readers to you.

Here’s how it works:

• Create an e-book using KDP and offer it as a perma-free Kindle download.
• Add a special offer inside the book for more free content that gives readers a link to a landing page (a single-purpose web page) where you make the offer and collect emails.
• When they go to that landing page, they can join your email list to access the bonus content.

Once you set up your Bait Book, it will run nonstop on Amazon’s website to help build your email list while you write your next book.

The best part is that you can create everything for free. Plus, you can purchase inexpensive Amazon ads to help promote your Bait Book and make sure the right type of reader sees it.

Secret 3: You can change your book’s marketing copy at any time for free.

Language is the power of the book sale.

If your book’s marketing description looks bland on Amazon’s website, your sales will be stunted. But, if your marketing copy sizzles, your sales can skyrocket. It’s imperative, then, to make your book appear as enticing as possible to shoppers on Amazon.

While many authors believe that description is locked into place forever, they’re wrong.

Whether you’re a traditionally-published author who is disappointed with the marketing text your publisher used or you self-published with a company that set up your page, you have more control than you think.

Using this third secret, you can make important changes to your book’s marketing copy when you want to change your description or you receive a new endorsement, win an industry award, or hit a bestseller list.

Here’s that third secret: Amazon offers a hidden “back door” into its website that lets authors update their book’s marketing text whenever they desire.

All you have to do is set up a free Author Central Account. Once you’ve done that, you gain full control over your marketing text, editorial reviews, and author bio. This puts the power in your hands to make sure shoppers see the best version of your book on Amazon.

Want to learn more about selling more books on Amazon?

I hope you will take advantage of these three secrets to sell more books on Amazon. There are several other ways to increase your sales at the world’s largest retailer, too.

Please join Build Book Buzz’s Sandra Beckwith and me to learn more in a free webinar on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 2 pm ET (calculate for your time zone). This one-hour event will feature additional instruction, an opportunity to ask questions, and an inside look at my popular online training program, “Mastering Amazon for Authors.”

We’ll also offer a special money-saving discount code that’s exclusive to webinar attendees, and Sandra tells me she has a surprise in store, too.

Don’t miss this exclusive Amazon event. Register here today: https://www.startawildfire.com/webinar-registration

What do you want to learn about selling books on Amazon? Tell us in a comment! 

Tip of the Month

I like to share a “Tip of the Month,” a free resource or tool for authors, on the last Wednesday of the month.

This month it’s the free Amazon training webinar described above.

Join us on Wednesday, May 6, 2020, at 2 p.m. ET (calculate for your time zone) to learn:

• The difference between a good and bad Amazon book page
• Why self-publishing a book with Amazon makes sense
• The benefits of using Amazon ads to promote a book

Can’t attend live? Not a problem! We’ll send the replay link to everyone who registers.

Grab your spot now so you don’t miss out! Just click on this link: https://www.startawildfire.com/webinar-registration

What’s one of the most important things you can do to support your book during the COVID-19 shutdown?

It’s maximizing your book’s presence on Amazon.

That’s why I hosted a free Amazon training webinar last month.

Today, I’m reviewing a book that outlines many steps you can take immediately to support your book on that powerful site — and on other retail sites, as well.

What’s covered in this book?

It’s worth noting that the book I’m reviewing, The Author’s Guide to Marketing Books on Amazon (2020 Update), isn’t new.

It was originally published in 2018 and updated in 2020. While most media outlets prefer to review new or new-ish books, bloggers often have fewer restrictions. In my case, I’m more interested in the book’s topic than its publication date.

View this book as a training program or course in book format.

Author Rob Eagar presumes that you understand why mastering Amazon is important to book sales. Instead of dwelling on that, he provides detailed instruction on all things Amazon, including:

• Writing the best book description possible (and offering a template you can use for yours)
• Understanding the power of your Amazon Author Central Account
• Why and how you need to secure reviews
• How Amazon ads work and how to set them up

Think you know all of this already? Read the book anyway.

Content applies to all publishing models

One of the book’s strengths is that it applies to authors using different publishing models. Anyone from a traditionally published author to one using a hybrid publisher or an individual who has gone the DIY route will benefit from Eagar’s wisdom and experience.

That might be one of the book’s weaknesses, though.

For example, in Chapter 2, “Four ways to Get Amazon Customer Reviews for Free,” Eagar’s first tip is to contact your email subscribers and social media fans to remind them to review your book.

This presumes that you have an engaged list or following that includes many, many people who have purchased your book already. For most self-published authors, this simply isn’t the case. You will be better served by using your list to recruit a launch or street team — which is his second method.

In reality, most authors are going to have to give away copies of their books to their ideal readers to get reviews.

My favorite gems

Here are a few of the specifics I think you might find especially useful.

Chapter 1 not only provides specific instructions on how to write a killer book description, it includes templates for both fiction and nonfiction books.

In addition, the author offers the same advice I’ve provided here and elsewhere: Study how the pros do it.

One of the best gems from that chapter, though, is for novelists: “Don’t tell people about the story. Tell people about the conflict.” That should be a light bulb moment for many.

In Chapter 3, “Maximize Your Amazon Author Central Account,” you will learn how to get your book listed in 10 categories, not the three you’re offered.

I especially like Chapter 4, “Amazon’s Secret Marketing Back Door.” Among other things, it explains how traditionally published authors without access to their book’s account information can go around their publisher to make necessary changes on their book’s detail page. (“Ohhh SNAP!” as the Young People would say.)

You’ll see what I hope is a now-familiar message in Chapter 5, “Understanding the Amazon Best Sellers Rank.” It’s that becoming a category best-seller isn’t the big deal so many think it is. Contorting that category status into marketing copy that touts you as a best-selling author is misleading and perhaps unethical.

But becoming an Amazon best-seller? That is something to cheer about!

I recommend this book

I can’t think of a single author who wouldn’t get a few “ahas!” from The Author’s Guide to Marketing Books on Amazon (2020 Update)

At a minimum, you will use it to review every aspect of your book’s sales page to make sure you’ve done everything he recommends.

You might feel like you want more in-depth guidance on some topics covered, including how to secure endorsements and testimonials (blurbs). Even so, I think that after you’ve read this book from cover to cover, you’ll feel like you’ve just received a gift.

I highly recommend it.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Tell us in a comment.