Self Publisher Masters Amazon Bookselling Tactics

by Kevin Joseph
(McLean, VA)

The Champion Maker

Self-published authors frequently complain about being denied shelf space and book-signing opportunities at bookstores, even in their hometowns, simply because they aren't published traditionally. This ostracism by booksellers, coming on the heels of rejections from agents and publishers, is often enough to shatter already-fragile egos and end the marketing campaigns for many self-published books. I understand this frustration, having seen my novel, The Champion Maker, victimized by the self-publishing stigma. But what if I told you there's a nondiscriminatory bookstore with sales outlets in every town in the United States and many foreign countries? A bookstore that will offer you equal shelf space with John Grisham and Stephen King. Wouldn't you be foolish not to take full advantage of this opportunity?

Amazon.com is just such a bookstore, producing seventy-percent of all Internet book sales and ranking as the single largest bookseller in the United States. Yet few self-published authors are taking full advantage of the free marketing opportunities that Amazon offers.

Amazon's equal-opportunity approach to bookselling arises not from altruism but from simple economics. By providing virtual shelf space to millions of titles, Amazon takes advantage of The Long Tail phenomenon better than any other company in the world. What this means is that Amazon is incredibly adept at matching its products with consumer interests, no matter how obscure, realizing that small quantities of sales from millions of products tally up to big total revenues.

Amazon's approach benefits you as a self-published author, too, since your title will enjoy a perpetual stream of sales once it earns a place in one of Amazon's niche groupings. To earn this right, however, your title must prove itself by selling a certain number of copies to buyers who have viewed and bought other similar titles.

The Champion Maker, a thriller centered on the impact of gene doping in professional running, provides a good example of how Amazon will wire your novel into the niche that is most conducive to sales. My novel's Amazon page currently displays 45 other books and movies under the heading "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" and 32 products under the heading "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed." Just about all of these products are running-related. Many of them display my novel prominently under these two headings on their Amazon pages, making The Champion Maker just one click away from those shopping for multiple items to take advantage of Amazon's free shipping offer on orders over twenty-five dollars. Getting linked into other similar products also makes your book come up on various Amazon pages that make recommendations to customers based on their past purchasing and viewing habits.

All of this translates into ready-made connections with your niche audience whenever they visit the world's largest bookstore, yielding piggy-back sales opportunities. While these tie-ins alone will not make your book an Amazon bestseller, they will yield predictable sales that will get your books in the hands of those who want to read it most, sales that may actually increase over time as a word-of-mouth following develops. And as long as people are buying your book, it has a possibility of landing in the hands of an agent, editor, screenwriter or movie producer who may spot its true potential.

To get your book linked into other products on Amazon, you will need to generate sufficient customer views of your Amazon page as well as a certain number of Amazon sales of your book to buyers of similar products. I can't tell you how many views and sales are required to develop these critical links, but following are a few simple and proven things you can do to achieve these benchmarks and earn the right to make the world's largest bookseller work for you...

Continue on to Kevin's recommendations.