British writer Louise Voss had a hard time selling her novel Catch Your Death to literary agents, so she decided to self publish her book in the Kindle UK Store. Hoping to attract readers to an unknown author, Voss priced the eBook at the low price of £0.95. The low price helped Voss’s book climb the Amazon charts which soon caught the eye of a major publisher.
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I saw this pattern developing when one of my clients, Vincent Zandri, was on tour with us. Not only did Vincent become an Amazon bestseller in the Kindle store when he lowered his price to an almost ridiculous amount, but he ended up selling thousands.
He and I argue about this. He says it’s because of the virtual book tour and I tell him because he’s written a damn good book. But, there’s more to it. You can write a damn good book, lots of authors write a damn good book, but with all the competition out there, who’s going to notice? That’s where you need to woo your fans way before the book comes out. If you’re just reading this now and your book is already published, start NOW so that when the next book comes out, you will have built up your contact list with these adoring fans who are yelling, “I can’t wait for your next book!”
John Locke, another self-published author who put his book into the Kindle book store sold 1 million dollars of eBooks in just 5 months and was the first self-published author to do so. Ever. He also became a NY Times bestselling author because of it.
And I’m sure everyone is aware of the success of Amanda Hocking who was actually the first person I heard of who was making a huge success from her self-published ebooks. No wait, Joe Konrath was doing considerably well.
In fact, here’s a list of self-published ebook authors and their sales for one month:
Blake Crouch – 2500+
Nathan Lowell – 2500+
Beth Orsoff – 2500+
Sandra Edwards – 2500+
Vianka Van Bokkem - 2500+
Maria Hooley – 2500+
C.S. Marks – 2500+
Lee Goldberg – 2500+
Lexi Revellian – 4000+
Zoe Winters – 4000+
Aaron Patterson – 4000+
Bella Andre – 5000+
Imogen Rose – 5000+
Ellen Fisher – 5000+
Tina Folsom – 5000+
Terri Reid – 5000+
David Dalglish – 5000+
Scott Nicholson – 10,000+
J.A. Konrath 10,000+
Victorine Lieske – 10,000+
L.J. Sellers – 10,000+
Michael R. Sullivan – 10,000+
H.P. Mallory – 20,000+
Selena Kitt – 20,000+
Stephen Leather – 40,000+
Amanda Hocking – 100,000+
Does anyone besides me see a shift in publishing patterns here? Sure you do. Are publishers eventually going to become obsolete when aspiring authors learn how to self-publish to sell thousands (and even millions) of books through the Kindle Store? I doubt it, but it sure does make you think, doesn’t it?
You will also notice all of these authors are blogging and using the social networks to the max to create “friendships.” These friendships are the very people who buy these authors’ books. You can’t publish anything and have it sell like mad without a fan base. Your mom might buy it, your sister, your cousin’s uncle, but who wants to stop there?
Connect with your audience, build up your fan base, keep a running list of email addresses of those who are sure to buy your book , use the social networks to create the buzz, and blog. By doing these things, you will surely be on your way to become the next bestselling author. Oh, one more thing. Write a damn good book first and know your audience.
Happy selling!
Read more success stories:
Self-Publishers on the NY Times Bestseller List
The New Midlist: Self-published E-book Authors Who Earn a Living
E-publishing Success Stories: Indie eBook Authors Making Good Money
