My Ebook won't take off

57 replies
Hi,

Yesterday published a short 50 page Ebook on Amazon KDP which is my first one.

I read on so many blogs how people get 200 lends/sales on their first day. Then I looked at their book and you could tell they didnt put much effort in it. Most of the books had a non-appealing cover and most didnt even have a table of content.

My Book looks "alright" i think and it is on page #1 for all of my keywords on amazon. - My sales/lends after one day: 0.

I have put a link to the main site in the book that is clickable from the amazon preview. Yet there is no traffic from that link so I think people dont even look at my book.

By tomorrow my book will be available for $0.00 until friday. I also posted in 12 facebook groups without results.

What am i doing wrong?
#ebook
  • Profile picture of the author Dave Kash
    Hi
    You need to get traffic to your Ebook. But you need to get the traffic yourself. There are many ways yo an do this.
    I will give you 2 of the best ones.

    1. Create a squeeze page selling your ebook and buy traffic (Facebook ads/solo ads) to your squeeze page.
    (Very fast and you will see results almost immediately).

    2. Start a website / blog and related to your ebook. find low competition keywords and provide great content on your website. As an advertisement on your site you will promote your Ebook with a picture or a keyword.
    Once your website is done, then regularly and consistently post backlinks (Link to your site) from other high ranking websites to push your website up the search engines so that more and more traffic comes.
    (This takes much longer than 1. and you will need a lot of patience before you see results).

    Hope that helps, let us know if you need more help
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      hi,

      I dont want to buy traffic, I'd rather build it myself. But as I need more traffic bad: is there a way to spend a small amount just to get the ball rolling? Where would I buy travel related traffic?

      I started I facebook campaign once just to test it out. I had to wait a whole day until I got my first Like from a user. One click cost me 0,50$ which is an CPT of 22$.... I cancelled the campaign immediately. The guy who clicked legitly wrote on his profile that he just got out of jail....wtf.

      @ 2.: I already have a quality blog! I update it everyday. two weeks ago I submitted it to 54 backlink directories that are all dofollow - No backlink received yet.

      I'm stuck here, it sucks.
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      • Profile picture of the author agmccall
        You probably want to seek out kindle forums and blogs you will probably get better information from them. There are also lots of Kindle facebook groups

        al
        Signature

        "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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        • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
          I am submitting the book to every ebook site I can find right now.

          Is this way of advertising better than buying traffic?
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          • Profile picture of the author deessell
            IMHO Amazon is too difficult these days in the Non-Fiction section for newbies. There are so many books being published daily. I only started getting decent sales when I changed to a newbie friendly genre.
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            • Profile picture of the author agmccall
              Originally Posted by deessell View Post

              I changed to a newbie friendly genre.
              What exactly is a newbie friendly genre???

              al
              Signature

              "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." Thomas Edison

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              • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
                My book is ranked very high. If it wasnt for the paid ranking from companies it would be #1 on amazon rankingwise.

                is getting a paid review from fiverr worth it?
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                • Profile picture of the author ezb1
                  Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

                  My book is ranked very high. If it wasnt for the paid ranking from companies it would be #1 on amazon rankingwise.

                  is getting a paid review from fiverr worth it?
                  OH GOD NO!!!! Buying reviews is against Amazon TOS. It will get your account banned and get you kicked off Amazon.
                  DO NOT BUY REVIEWS!!!
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              • Profile picture of the author EelKat
                I'm gonna ramble on a bit here. It may or may not help you, because I don't know your genre or if you are doing fiction vs non-fiction. So what I say, may apply to you and your situation or it mat not. Every genre and every niche in every genre has different results.

                The first thing I need to comment on is this:

                Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

                No. If one of these gurus sells 1000 ebooks a day why shouldnt I be able to sell 8? Or 10?

                That was my thinking. But it aint that easy.
                Do have any idea how many authors sell 1,000 books a day? Not many, and certainly not any self published on Kindle. Stephen King does. J.K.Rowlings does. E.L.James does.

                A book selling 8 or 10 books a day, is going to be ranked around 100,000 sales rank. That is VERY high ranked on amazon and it's REALLY hard to do.

                Amazon has several of my books listed as "best seller" for their genres, and most are ranked top 3 to 8 in the top 100 of the genres in question, but here's the thing: those same books RARELY sell more then a single copy a WEEK, and they have a sales rank of 1,000,000 - they are bottom feeders, and that means the 90 lesser ranked ones on the 100 lists of those genres are selling under 1 copy a month AT BEST.

                The Amazon "best seller" tag is very deceptive, because it only means, that I sold 3 copies this month, while everyone else in my genre sold 2 copies or fewer this month.

                When I first started publishing on Kindle I used to see all the "Amazon best seller" tags and I thought it was like NYT Bestseller where they are selling ten of thousands of copies... then my books started out ranking the "best sellers" after only selling 3 or 5 copies and I was like: what the heck? It was a real eye openers for me once I realized that being a best seller in a genre on Amazon meant diddly squat. I used to read all the blogs and see authors say "best seller in blah, blah category on Amazon" and I got all excited over it. Then I started publishing on Kindle and saw what it ACTUALLY meant. I went through the whole "why is my book not selling" thing too, then I realized, all the hype on those blogs was just hype and nothing more.

                So I stopped reading author blogs and pretty much anything claiming to give advice about Kindle. I started realizing the only way to learn it was by doing it, and testing things out and figuring out what worked for me and my books.

                A quick thought: the average author will not see an income that is equivalent of part time minimum wage ($7.50 an hour for 20 hours a week or $7,800 a year) for AT LEAST 3 years after the publication of their FIRST book, and rarely will see anything close to a full-time minimum wage income ($7.50 an hour for 40 hours a week or $15,600 a year) until after the publication of their 30th (yes: THIRTY) book is published.

                Another thought: there are EXACTLY THREE (3) Kindle authors who have ever made a million dollars, and according to Amazon's public release of their IRS tax records, fewer then 10 (TEN) Kindle authors have ever earned more then $300k a year, and fewer then a thousand (1,000) have ever earned a 6 figure ($100,000) income in a single year, with more then 800,000 of then earning UNDER five thousand ($5,000) income per year.

                Yes that DOES include all the tens of thousands of Erotica authors who run around FALSELY CLAIMING to make a 6 figure income on Kindle. They are not anyone can find that out by reading Amazon's public release of their tax records which list what they pay to who. All those authors claiming they are making 6 figure incomes in Erotica are lying so they can sell a book on how to make money selling Erotica. Don't believe them. it's a load of hype.

                Don't believe any body claiming to tell you how to become a "Kindle Millionaire' either. Because there have only ever been exactly THREE Kindle millionaires. The first one was a 14 year old kid who used his "spare change" to take out a $12k full page add in The New York Times, and he made his first million, not on book sales, but on movie royalties.

                The second "Kindle Millionaire" used the $25k in spare savings, to buy several hundred thousand fake 5 star reviews.

                Leaving only 1 (ONE) single, solitary, Kindle Millionaire, who actually wasn't a millionaire before writing her book. And she wrote 8 vampire novels, and and published all 8 of them the same day: conveniently, a week after Twilight ended. Three months later she became the FIRST and ONLY self-made Kindle Millionaire.

                It's a pretty big eye openers to know the actual facts, behind the hyperboil.

                Go back and look at those numbers, and then think about this: Amazon only has a little over 800,000 Kindle authors, and yet, 800,000 authors are listed by Amazon, in their tax records, as earning under $5k a year.

                All those books hyping you into thinking you can make lots of money fast on Kindle, are just that: hype.

                Hype is just a fancy word for a lie.

                Those books are lying to you and Amazon's tax records prove it.

                Do not believe the authors running around bragging that they are getting loads and loads of sales. Every time I see an author saying that, I go look at their amazon account and check the sales ranks of their books.

                Did you know that a book ranked at 200,000 is considered to be a best seller in MOST of the genres categories on amazon. Do you know how many sales it takes to rank at 200,000 on Amazon? 2 to 3 sales a week. Or about $6 income if your price at $2.99, or about .90c income if you price at .99c.

                Guess what. I have a how-to write book, that sold only 1 copy and it out ranks, the top 8 "best sellers" below it, including the 4 top selling "how to write Erotica" ooks, every one of which written by an author with no Erotica on their author profiles and yet claiming to tell you how to make thousands a week/month writing Erotica. WHERE is their proof?

                Okay, you say you keep hearing authors talk about 200 sales day one. Ask them to prove it, by looking at the sales rank of that book.

                I had a book that did sell 198 copies day one. I'll tell you how I did it, but you ain't gonna like it, because I guarantee, you won't be able to repeat it. That book, ranked 4,000 on Amazon, for about 12 days. It now, a year later, sells 1 to 30 copies a week and ranks 200,000 to 800,000 depending on if it sells 1 copy or 30 copies that month.

                How did it sell 198 copies the first day, 114 copies day 2, and then taper down to only a few copies each week after that?

                I wrote in 2007 and published in on fanfic .net. Over the years it was read by about 7,000 people. In 2011, I deleted it off the internet, in preparation to publish as an actual book. It originally was going to be released on Kindle in 2012, but unexpected long term health issues (including being paralyzed from a back injury for 5 months and then several more months relearning to walk) put it off. All my fans from fanfic .net (all 7k of them) follow me on Twitter, FB, and/or Tumblr, and so I update them daily on my life and book progress, and in August 2014, I announce that, that the long awaited book was about to be released, and that for the first 2 days it would be .99c and then on day 3 raise to $7.99. I told them the release date, and on September 1st 2014, they were on Amazon, screaming fangirls, buying that book like crazy.

                I have never before or since been able to duplicate that sort of day one sales rate.

                170+ books on Kindle and ONLY 1 ever sold 100+ copies in a single day EVER, and only 2 ever sold more then 12 copies the first day, and MOST didn't sell more then a dozen copies their first month.

                I can also tell you that it's highly unlikely that any of my books will ever sell more then 7k copies total in their lifetime, because, I have almost exactly 7k fans and I don't promote my books to any one but them. And I do that by posting the announcement to Tumblr, which pings it to Twitter, which pings it to FB. (So 1 post gets posted 3 times)

                I do no promotions, I don't post on FB groups and I don't do paid ads. I do use Twitter as a chat room and am daily hitting Twitter's 100 posts per hour limit. I NEVER post links to my books. I simply tell my followers "I published a new book today", half the time I don't even tell them the title. If they want to find it, they have to go to Amazon, hope they remember my author name and then, look for the newest release day.

                And it took me close to 20 years to build up that fan following (I wrote in print since 1978, and I've been publishing fanfiction online since 1997.) So, my having a book that sod just under 200 copies day one, was a result of several decades of building up a fan following and inadvertently sending them into a frenzy, by a delay in the book release. But that was the only time I've ever had a book start out lie that, and it wasn't my first book, and it was the reprint of something I had written a decade earlier, so it already had fans waiting for it.

                Originally Posted by agmccall View Post

                What exactly is a newbie friendly genre???

                al
                Usually when you hear that term, it means "I started writing Erotica"


                Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

                I am just beginning to build my email list, I cant really expect anything from it yet. Thanks for the insight that a lot of sales come from a newsletter list, I suspected that.

                Is it true that these leads have the highest conversion rate?
                I don't have an email list.

                I don't have a newsletter either.

                So this is one of those: it works for some and not for others, sort of answer.

                Perhaps the way I use Twitter is similar to this concept?

                Would I have more sales if I added an email list and started writing a newsletter? I don't know. Maybe. I never tried. I'd probably just have the same 7k followers I already have, so it'd be a waste of my time.

                The other question would then be: but do I need an email list? Or is writing a newsletter just a waste of my time because it is me writing something that is not a part of my next book?

                I am of the belief that more important then marketing your first book, is the act of writing your second book. And then once your second book is out, more important than marketing it, is writing your third book.

                I set my goal at publishing no fewer then 1 book a month and strive for 1 book a week. My best week was 5 books in a single week.

                (Note: I'm a full time author, I've been doing this for 28 years, I had secretary training and type 91 words a minute [5,000 words an hour], and I write for 8 hours a day [averaging 20 to 30 thousand words a day], 5 days a week, all year long. It takes a long time to be able to publish that many books that fast - think of typing like any other exercise and don't over do it when just starting out, your can pull the muscles of your fingers same as a baseball player can pull a leg muscle - I know, been there, done that, it is not fun having your fingers in a cast for 12 weeks. DO NOT try to publish multiple books a week/month early on in your writing career - build your finger muscles before typing for long periods of time.)

                On Amazon, if you are publishing frequently (meaning a new book at least every 90 days) Amazon is always going to be promoting your book in the new release section.

                The books that get the highest rate of promotion on Amazon's new release page, is the direct to Kindle Unlimited new releases, which Amazon promotes the heck out of for the first 5 days. This may or may not equal more sales depending on the genre and time of years.

                Amazon has two other new release sections: Released in the last 30 days, and Released in the last 90 days (they used to have a 60 day list as well, but it was recently done away with and no word if it'll return). You book will come up in these lists as well.

                Here's where the write, publish, write, publish, write, publish, write, publish, write, publish, write, publish, repeat method comes into your favor: The more books you have in the new release sections, the higher ranked your AUTHOR PAGE becomes on Amazon and the more likely you are to get sales.

                So if you have a book released every 30 days (I'm releasing a 190 to 230 page novel once every month) you will always be in both the 30 day list and the 90 day list.

                And if you have a KU book released every 7 days (I'm releasing a 25 to 45 page short story or novella weekly) you will always be in both the KU 5 day list.

                IMPORTANT: Don't spam Amazon with useless "empty" 10 page $2.99 books. (They'd been flooding Amazon in droves the past few weeks) It's a recent trend that has been flooding Amazon, authors trying to game the new release system (and KUs 10% reader pay out, but forcing Amazon to pay them just for a reader opening the book [1 page opened = 10% of a 10 page book read]. Amazon has wised up to that scam and all of us authors are being punished for it - they are lowering the payout and changing out the payouts are determined.) If you start flooding Amazon with lots of spam booklets, you'll just end up with your books blocked and you isp blocked from creating more books on Amazon. Do make sure your books are REAL content and not "fluff". Amazon has been cracking down hard and heavy on the super short spammy fluff booklets lately.

                This works better for fiction then it does for non-fiction (I write both)

                I think, my success comes from the fact that I have no interest at all in making money. I have Autism, my concept of money is somewhat "warped" I am old enough to be the parent of my caretakers and yet I require 24 hour adult supervision. My caretakers do all the handling of money and buying and stuff like that, because I can't. I couldn't tell you one bill from another. The concept of money is somewhat beyond my abilities.

                So you see, I'm not trying to make money. I write what I enjoy writing. I write Unicorn P-o-r-n and s-e-x with Dungeons and Dragons style Elves and wizards and, weird stories with talking cats and you know, really not mainstream stuff. I write Bizarro and Monster P-o-r-n. It's just plan fun to write. And I write it wither it makes me any money or not.

                And that's the thing right there:

                Because I am insanely in love with the stories I write, I'm able to just write tons of them. One after another. I'm not stopping to think: "Is this going to sell?" or "Is there a market for this?" or "How am I going to write the blurb so it's SEOd best?'

                All I do it write things that I enjoy writing about (ie sex with monsters) and publish it, the write the next onem, publish that, and write the next one, and so on. I'm not thinking about target audiences, marketing, SEO, or anything else. All I'm thinking is: "OMG! I just thought of another hot super smexxy monster! I must write a story about him!"

                In other words: write the think you love. Write what you are passionate about. Just take your favorite thing and run with it and write as much of it as you can. Just write and write and write and write, and keep on writing and in between writing, publish every single thing you write.

                Eventually you are going to reach a time when, you've written so many things, that, something is going to sell every day, and once someone buys one book, they'll come back for the next one and they'll tell their friends and their friends will buy it too, and it'll just snowball from there.

                But like I said... this is what worked for me and everyone's different, so it may not work for you. I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there and maybe, something I say will help you out in some way.


                Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

                Of course, you would. We've had this conversation before and you have already made it very clear that you don't care how long people suffer at being unsuccessful, before kindly suggesting that they might be better served to make a shift in their direction. Obviously you prescribe to the personal dictum, 'Lets beat that dead horse until it gets up and runs.'
                Yes, this, is the thing I always worry about.

                On the one hand, I too say keep going, because that's what I do, but then on the other hand, I'm writing something that I'm gonna write with it succeeds or fails. I don't care one way or the other because I'm not writing it for the money, I just love writing it. It's fun to write.

                Because I'm not marketing and I'm writing genres that really aren't popular, most of my books are seriously low ranked bottom feeders. I'm only making a full time income off them, because I have so many titles that it only takes selling 1 or 2 copies of each title a week, to total a livable income. I'm not rich, but I pay the bills and have money left over for my hobbies.

                My definition of success, is being able to do what I love and get paid for it. I'm doing that. But I know several authors have come right out and sad to me, that I don't match their definition of success, because they want the big house, the big boat, a million dollars, whatever. Me? I don't want those things. I build art cars in my spare time and I grew roses and I collect comic books and I make enough money to feed that hobby. So I see myself as successful, because I reached the goals I had. maybe my goals aren't as extravagant or as lofty as the goals others have, so because I set my goals on a lower level, I was able to feel successful, by my definition of success, faster.

                So, I would say to someone: keep going, but then... if their goal was writing for money, well, to keep going may not be in their best interest. There are hundreds of reasons why this could be the wrong career, wrong genre, or wrong niche for them. I don't know them or their life or what they write, so I don't know if their book is a good fit for them.

                I want people to succeed, and well, if their definition of success is money, and their book isn't making money, then, something has to change. Maybe they are priced wrong, maybe the book cover is off for the genre, maybe there are too many books in the niche already, maybe the niche is so small that they will never reach readers without heavy duty marketing, who knows.

                But yes, I agree, I do think is requires a lot of soul searching to figure out if it's better for you to stick with it until you can make it succeed or toss it aside and try for something else. Some will choice one way and others will go the other way. Everyone has different goals and reasons for what they are doing so, there's no simple answer here.

                If you are not enjoying the path you have to take, then you should choose a new path, at least, I would. I believe that enjoying what you do on your road to success, is more important then finally reaching that success. If you are not enjoying your road to success, it may simply mean you are on the wrong path for you.

                Maybe writing just ain't your thing. Nothing wrong with that. Everybody has a few things they are good at and lots of things they can't do as well. Some times it's just a matter of trying out lots of new things until you find the one that fits you best.

                I used to dream of being a ballet dancer. Then I started trying to dance. Didn't take me long to realize, that was not gonna happen. Ballet was not my thing no matter how much I tried to make it work.

                In the end: Do what's right for you. It's really the only thing any of us can do.
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  • Profile picture of the author talfighel
    Maybe you should find a course here in the forum or outside the forum that talks about doing well with your Amazon Ebook.

    Just because you put your Ebook for sale there does not mean that people are actually seeing it.

    Find a way to get it ranked high.

    Each day that passes, you will learn something new. Don't let setbacks and challenges ruin your day. You will find a way to sell your Ebook to others. Never quit and never give up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    A resource that may be helpful is Content | Self Publishing Questions Take a look and see if you can get some ideas to get unstuck. There are several courses available on the forum too but I think I would start at the link I gave then go from there.

    You can list your ebook here when it becomes free.

    Those that sell a lot on the first day, normally already have a presence and a pre-launch series of marketing activities. It's not like they uploaded it and the next morning they had 200 lends without doing anything else. Anyone that says otherwise is a liar - it just doesn't happen like that. Of course, just like playing the lottery, one guy may get lucky but it's not an everyday occurrence.

    Mark
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

      A resource that may be helpful is Content | Self Publishing Questions Take a look and see if you can get some ideas to get unstuck. There are several courses available on the forum too but I think I would start at the link I gave then go from there.

      You can list your ebook here when it becomes free.

      Those that sell a lot on the first day, normally already have a presence and a pre-launch series of marketing activities. It's not like they uploaded it and the next morning they had 200 lends without doing anything else. Anyone that says otherwise is a liar - it just doesn't happen like that. Of course, just like playing the lottery, one guy may get lucky but it's not an everyday occurrence.

      Mark
      Aha! Thanks.

      Where do I find the courses on this forum?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
    One I've reviewed and really liked is: http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...-discount.html

    This thread talks about two of the other big courses that many people like: http://www.warriorforum.com/internet...pylarinos.html

    Then there is the private forum run by Bryan Kumar (actually a subforum of the Warrior Forum) that many people like: http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-book-club/

    Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author Andre Slater
    Shoot your way ahead of the curve...

    You have a book finished and up what is your issue?

    You know you wont get rich on day 1

    You just have to promote your book

    Every interaction online for you should be promoting your book.

    1. Find a audience who likes whatever topic your book is about.

    2. Find out what their problems and concerns are.

    3. Offer advice, help them, and offer your book as ultimate solution.
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      > 1. Find a audience who likes whatever topic your book is about.

      This is quite hard even if you provide quality content.
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      • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
        Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

        > 1. Find a audience who likes whatever topic your book is about.

        This is quite hard even if you provide quality content.
        Maybe this is your problem. Maybe you have a book with a great cover and a great blog that no one wants. Is that possible?

        Mark
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        • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
          Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

          Maybe this is your problem. Maybe you have a book with a great cover and a great blog that no one wants. Is that possible?

          Mark
          No because I know people who have 5k traffic per day with generic/almost c&p posts who brag me for guest posts.

          Im good at seo and i think I would benefit from SE more if I got more backlinks. Is there a course on that here too?
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    Is getting a paid review from fiverr worth it?
    I wanna be honest with you. There are certain dangers such as losing your account on amazon. Still, most authors who are starting out will pay bloggers to do reviews. I believe the blogger must report that they got the book for free as a review copy. Still, here we are.

    It is kind of like a prostitute asking me. Should I hang out near the dock when ships are in port. Should I dye my hair blonde. Should I wear a short red mini skirt and high heels. These are question only you can answer.
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  • Some people send traffic via email to their list to their no appealing cover crapy ebook and outsell you 100000% did you send an email to promote your ebook like they did?
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      I am just beginning to build my email list, I cant really expect anything from it yet. Thanks for the insight that a lot of sales come from a newsletter list, I suspected that.

      Is it true that these leads have the highest conversion rate?
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

    What am i doing wrong?
    Travelguyharris,

    You sound like you're at the end of your rope . . .

    yet, you just published your new ebook yesterday? Internet marketing, every kind that I know of, takes extended effort over time to become successful and profitable. This is not a get rich quick industry (even though some unethical sellers couch it in those terms.)

    You haven't done anything wrong.

    What you're not realizing is that many experienced eBook publishers work very hard BEFORE they actually publish in order to get quick sales and traction that help to propel the launch of their book. You haven't done that so you shouldn't compare your apparent lack of quick success with those who have been "priming the pump" well before releasing the product.

    IMO, a number of things you are doing will provide very marginal success in your marketing effort.

    Posting in FB groups is marginal unless you're a well-established authority in the niche that you have chosen. If you're new to the group it will be very obvious that you joined in order to spam the group with your product.

    You say you need more traffic but you don't want paid traffic because of the expense. If that's the case, you can't expect traffic from free sources to respond as quickly as paid traffic. Free traffic and SE rankings take time.

    Submitting backlinks to directories is very marginal. Read all the threads in this forum about the lack of results from doing this type of marketing.

    You once started a FB ad campaign, but shut it down the next day. Do you expect instant success without testing, tracking, and tweaking ad campaigns? If so, if you think you will have a winner right out of the gate, you're life as an IMer will be very short lived.

    You're asking about paid reviews from Fiverr. Not only is that no allowed by Amazon . . . it's a very, very marginal way to build up the reputation of your book or you as an expert in a niche.

    You have no mailing list. Certainly, that's not a sin . . . every business needs to build one or more from scratch. But to expect the same results from your marketing as others that already have a targeted list and can market to them is just not realistic.

    I know this post sounds very negative . . . but to be honest, you need to have some patience, forget all the tactics that will not really help you to sell your book, and treat this effort like a real business doing marketing that will make a difference in the long run. Use the resources that Warriors have given you who are experienced and don't expect instant results.

    The very best to you,

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      I think I over valued some of the youtube videos I saw.

      Actually, I expected it more to be abit like Ebay where you will get people to bid on your item, almost no matter what the item. So my thinking was that if I provide quality content my sales/downloads would skyrocket automatically.

      I do agree that directories are useless for backlinks.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
        LOL

        Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

        I think I over valued some of the youtube videos I saw.
        Did you never question the motives behind those videos?

        I'll bet they were videos about a product that explains how easy it is to sell your ebook on Kindle - probably replete with screenshots of traffic/sales figures. I would also wager that they were made either by the Kindle book author... or an Amazon affiliate.


        Now that you have experienced, first hand, the value of making a YouTube video to sell a product... have you considered making one of your own to promote your Kindle book?
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        Sid Hale
        Coming Soon... Rapid Action Profits (Pro)

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  • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
    No. If one of these gurus sells 1000 ebooks a day why shouldnt I be able to sell 8? Or 10?

    That was my thinking. But it aint that easy.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mark Singletary
      Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

      No. If one of these gurus sells 1000 ebooks a day why shouldnt I be able to sell 8? Or 10?

      That was my thinking. But it aint that easy.
      1. Most of them don't no matter what they say. And those that do, do it differently than they claim to (uploaded it and got hundreds of borrows the first day but didn't tell you they had been working on the prelaunch for 6 weeks)
      2. Typical mistake believing this that we have all been through. Don't beat yourself up.

      Have you decided which direction to go to try to figure this out?

      Mark
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      • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
        Originally Posted by Mark Singletary View Post

        1. Most of them don't no matter what they say. And those that do, do it differently than they claim to (uploaded it and got hundreds of borrows the first day but didn't tell you they had been working on the prelaunch for 6 weeks)

        THIS.

        I am building backlinks right now. Organic seo traffic is best.
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        • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
          Banned
          I hate to break in with a bit of reality, but just because you wrote an eBook, that in no way guarantees that anyone on the planet has any interest in reading it, regardless of the topic.

          Your statements seem to indicate that you are expecting sales, simply because you wrote it. If that were the case, please tell me who wouldn't be writing books?

          Cheers. - Frank

          P.S. Follow that 'never give up' BS. Let us know how many sales that generates.
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          • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
            Banned
            Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

            P.S. Follow that 'never give up' BS. Let us know how many sales that generates.

            Lol. Ultimately, if his ebook isn't successful (after an adequate amount of promotion/advertising) then I would definitely advise OP to keep going.

            People can't be successful at IM if they give up too soon.
            Signature
            "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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            • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Jonathan 2.0 View Post

              then I would definitely advise OP to keep going.
              Of course, you would. We've had this conversation before and you have already made it very clear that you don't care how long people suffer at being unsuccessful, before kindly suggesting that they might be better served to make a shift in their direction. Obviously you prescribe to the personal dictum, 'Lets beat that dead horse until it gets up and runs.'

              No need to restate your beliefs. We get it. :-)

              Cheers. - Frank
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              • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
                Banned
                Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

                Of course, you would. We've had this conversation before and you have already made it very clear that you don't care how long people suffer at being unsuccessful, before kindly suggesting that they might be better served to make a shift in their direction. Obviously you prescribe to the personal dictum, 'Lets beat that dead horse until it gets up and runs.'

                No need to restate your beliefs. We get it. :-)

                Cheers. - Frank


                Well, fair enough. : )
                Signature
                "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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          • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
            Banned
            Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

            I hate to break in with a bit of reality, but just because you wrote an eBook, that in no way guarantees that anyone on the planet has any interest in reading it, regardless of the topic.

            Your statements seem to indicate that you are expecting sales, simply because you wrote it. If that were the case, please tell me who wouldn't be writing books?


            Frank has made a good point there. Even the most successful books had to be promoted before people were interested in reading them. In fact, Steven King himself was thinking about giving up being an author altogether because he was tired of rejections. My advice would be to look into promoting your eBook. Maybe it's a winner, maybe not. However you will never know until you try.

            Good luck.
            : )
            Signature
            "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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        • Profile picture of the author zdebx
          Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

          THIS.

          I am building backlinks right now. Organic seo traffic is best.
          Hey, yeah yeah yeah I'm building backlinks, Google will send tons of traffic to my website very soon....Can't wait for it!

          Seriously? It's really sad to see that newcomers don't realize that Google is just so unreliable and inconsistent as a traffic source and you shouldn't be wasting your time/money on building backlinks, doing SEO and some other "follow Google's guidelines" crap.

          Not sure what's the topic of your ebook, but is there actually any demand for the information you're selling or planning to sell?

          I don't know if you've done your market research before you've written the ebook, but you should gather as much data as possible about the niche you're in, so then you can decide whether it's worth focusing your efforts on launching a business in that segment or not, depending on the niche volume, competition and commercial intent.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

    I read on so many blogs how people get 200 lends/sales on their first day.
    Stop reading a ton of blogs with idiots claiming they sold 200 in their first day. I just seen a dude on this forum ask how to market his blog, and in his sig he's promoting his internet marketing ebook, with a message that says he's finally "made it" with online business.... and now you can too.

    People suck. Do you, and be logical. And don't rely on Amazon/Kindle for your life earnings. Learn how to make money with your ebook on your own website.
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  • Profile picture of the author nazninshetu
    Carry on, you will reach to success. Amazon Kindle is the largest site for Ebook. To be success in this field, your Ebook cover should attractive & write should be error free. If you content is good, you will reach to your destination soon. I found already you are using the Social media site, it is a good way to publicity. Best of luck. Thanks
    Signature

    Hi

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    • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
      Banned
      Originally Posted by nazninshetu View Post

      Carry on, you will reach to success. Amazon Kindle is the largest site for Ebook. To be success in this field, your Ebook cover should attractive & write should be error free. If you content is good, you will reach to your destination soon. I found already you are using the Social media site, it is a good way to publicity. Best of luck. Thanks
      Posted by an obviously successful eBook author.

      Cheers. - Frank
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  • The only way to get traffic from your ebook is to rank it in the #1 or #2 positions for your keywords in your book title on amazon.com and the kindle store.

    Top 10 rankings don't get eyeballs to your book without you promoting it on other websites also.

    So get your book to rank in the number 1 position for your keywords in the kindle search results, and you will get the respect you deserve, and the traffic that comes from the credibility of being ranked #1
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  • Profile picture of the author Fingertips
    Dave Kash gave a great simple answer which I agree with - do you own promo. I usually give away my eBooks free as a way of engaging people on my blog, so I can start to build a relationship with them, Maybe you could give away a free 5 page report by way of telling people what is in the paid version? Tell everyone several times a day on Twitter with re-worded Tweets, Facebook and anywhere else you can think of. Do an awesome FB post, and pay $30 to promote the post to a targeted audience with a FB Ad? That can work

    Good luck with it
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      Breaking news: I got 4 sales!

      albeit no revenue, it's from the kindle promo give away day.
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      • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
        Banned
        Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

        Breaking news: I got 0 sales!.
        Corrected for accuracy!

        Cheers. - Frank
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        • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
          How do I block somebody on here?
          Edit:done.
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        • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
          Banned
          Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

          Corrected for accuracy!

          Cheers. - Frank


          Well let's give him (and his ebook) a fair chance. (He hasn't even started yet.)
          Signature
          "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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          • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Jonathan 2.0 View Post

            Well let's give him (and his ebook) a fair chance. (He hasn't even started yet.)
            What does that have to do with accuracy of info posted? It's bad enough when people believe BS posted by others, but when they start to believe their own BS, there is no hope for them.

            Why do you choose to act as an enabler for bad behavior? lol

            Cheers. - Frank
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            • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
              Banned
              Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

              Why do you choose to act as an enabler for bad behavior? lol


              Just here to offer people "support" where I can. : )
              Signature
              "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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              • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
                Banned
                Originally Posted by Jonathan 2.0 View Post

                Just here to offer people "support" where I can. : )
                At the risk of repeating myself: "It's bad enough when people believe BS posted by others, but when they start to believe their own BS, there is no hope for them."

                Cheers. - Frank

                P.S. Infuriating, ain't I? lol
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                • Profile picture of the author Jonathan 2.0
                  Banned
                  Originally Posted by BigFrank View Post

                  At the risk of repeating myself: "It's bad enough when people believe BS posted by others, but when they start to believe their own BS, there is no hope for them."


                  Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
                  : )
                  Signature
                  "Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity."―Joseph Sugarman
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                  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
                    Originally Posted by Jonathan 2.0 View Post

                    Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
                    Jonathan, that quote's not quite right. It should be . . .

                    "Everyone is entitled to my opinion."

                    Steve
                    Signature

                    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
                    SteveBrowneDirect

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                    • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
                      Banned
                      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

                      Jonathan, that quote's not quite right. It should be . . .

                      "Everyone is entitled to my opinion."

                      Steve
                      Actually, I prefer, "Everyone is obligated to adopt my opinion." :-)

                      Cheers. - Frank
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      • Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

        Breaking news: I got 4 sales!

        albeit no revenue, it's from the kindle promo give away day.
        As the old saying goes. "You can market a piece of crap correctly, and you will make some sales, but even if you have the best product in the world and don't market it correctly, then nobody will hear about your product or the many benefits it will provide the purchasers of your great product."

        Marketing is key in selling any product, online and offline. Where you choose to market your products, will determine the amount of sales you make.

        Join travel forums and help the members of the forum solve problems you have already overcome relating to your niche. ADVERTISE on travel forums. I mean PAY FOR ADVERTISING. This is the only way to get instant traffic from people in your niche.

        Find out where people have bought books or products in the past 1 to 3 months similar to the one you are selling, and promote your book to them.

        Give free copies of your book away to your blog readers in exchange for book reviews, and offer free fast action bonuses on your blog to your blog readers when they buy your book from the kindle store before 'father's day' or some other special day etc.

        always be MARKETING your book both ONLINE & OFFLINE.
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      • Profile picture of the author Fingertips
        Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

        Breaking news: I got 4 sales!

        albeit no revenue, it's from the kindle promo give away day.
        Well done you! Doesn't it feel nice to get responses?

        My advice now would be to leverage your success. Do a blog post about it - something like "Here's how I just made the first 4 sales today with this product..."etc. Link it in on Twitter - with a bit more explanation. Also a FB post.

        And on here but put it on your own Warrior Forum blog with a link to your own blog...

        Good luck
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        • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
          Banned
          He made 0 sales. The book was downloaded on free on a promotion.

          I guess that can make you feel good, but should it? All it shows is that people think your book is worth nothing since that is all they are willing to give you for it.

          I will never understand false success and the joy it can bring people that have never experienced true success. lol

          Cheers. - Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author moneymagneto
    I self published a book for a client and spent months marketing it. The subject was history, and sports. Was a huge challenge. Don't waste your money on Facebook. Total waste.

    Here is what you do, work on the Blog - give it at least 6 months. My client expected 200K copies sold in 3 months which was a joke.

    You need to market the damn book yourself, and get out in front of people and do some public appearances.

    If you can get a big writer to write a review that's a big plus as well. It's hard, and you need to be persistent. You can't expect much to happen in a short period of time. Build your BLOG like crazy, do some YouTube Vids, be all over Social Media BUT DO NOT SPAM. Spam just pisses off FB Groups and they will ignore your promotions.

    My 2 Cents.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Well, you just started yesterday. Make sure to give it more time.

    Also, you might want to invest in writing a SOLID book description.
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    • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
      Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

      Well, you just started yesterday. Make sure to give it more time.

      Also, you might want to invest in writing a SOLID book description.
      Description is key. Amazon only allows a handful of html tags.
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      • Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

        Description is key. Amazon only allows a handful of html tags.
        Is a link to your free offer in your ebook below your table of contents?

        It's time your start thinking like an internet marketer first, before you think of your self as an author, or publisher.

        You book or ebook is a website that drives traffic to your high ticket back-end products/services or your actual websites. You should be writing many of them to drive quality traffic that has been through the 'know, like and trust' phase that your book takes your readers through.

        Unless you can rank your book in the #1 position in the kindle store search results, it won't stand out from the rest of your competitors books in the amazon kindle search engine. So write many of them to establish yourself as an authority in your niche.

        Also remember to include the link to your email signup form after your book's table of contents.
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        • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
          Originally Posted by Internet Trillionaire View Post

          Is a link to your free offer in your ebook below your table of contents?

          Also remember to include the link to your email signup form after your book's table of contents.
          Yes and Yes. This is crucial.
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  • Profile picture of the author travelguyharris
    wow dude, you just wrote anther Ebook: "15 lies blog authors tell you about their Ebook sales on Amazon"

    lol, seriously though, you share some good insights. I can confirm on the sales numbers. I was #3 in my category with 13 sales a day which werent even sales but promo giveaways.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shana Walters
    Originally Posted by travelguyharris View Post

    I read on so many blogs how people get 200 lends/sales on their first day. Then I looked at their book and you could tell they didnt put much effort in it. Most of the books had a non-appealing cover and most didnt even have a table of content.
    Where did you read that information?
    You might have been reading the wrong blogs this whole time.

    Best Regards,
    Shana Jahsinta Walters.
    Signature
    Write until my fingers fall off. LOL!!!
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