Completely lost newbee seeks "Kindling" advice

Right Xparte - you've given a lot of information there and I'll try to give you some advice to help you on your way.....I won't get too specific here for the moment but as I see it....

You have an ebook which you would like to sell. You have the product but not the site/traffic or affiliate network to get you up and running.

What I would do is.....
Create a simple squeeze page where you will give away a free report. This can be based on your ebook or something related. Nothing too complicated, you just need something to wet the appetite when the prospects come to your page.

You then need targeted traffic to this page. It's not difficult: Targeted Traffic + Related Offer = Conversions & $$$$ I know you've mentioned Kindle above but I'd recommend you start off with this....

Make a list of all the related Keywords for you ebook. Start to seach for these on Google and you will be presented with millions of related web pages. Many of which will be websites and forums. Now what I suggest is that you make a simple excel spreadsheet and start saving the details of these site owners contact details. (name, email etc.)

This is how you are going to recruit your Affiliates who will drive you Targeted Traffic to your squeeze page. As you mentioned you'd like to sell future books it's important to give away the Freebie first! That way you will be building a Huge mailing list that you can sell to down the line.

Once people enter their details for the free report they will be redirected to your ebook which is for sale. This is the incentive for the affiliates to send you traffic cos they will make a commission off whatever sales they send to you.

That's a very basic overview of the process but I prefer this to Kindle cos you can see big results - fast! Now there is nothing stopping you from doing both but IMO this is where the big money is!

Keep me posted on how you go - Noel.

Hey XParte, sounds like you already have a great plan.

My advice would be to do just a few things:

-Raise your price. Think of the value proposition of selling so many free miles and how much money you can save people. That will get people to not care as much if the price is a few dollars higher.

-Get a professional graphics and ebook editor to give your ebook a cover and a more appealing layout so it's easier and more enjoyable to read

-Work on getting your ebook to the top of Kindle listings. There are plenty of guides here on WF

Other than that, sounds like you're in good shape. Don't stop going til the gravy train arrives!

I would recommend building a website around the author instead of the book. You need to build a brand name around your author, and of course, you can advertise the book on the website, but I would think broader.


Amazon doesn't allow affiliate links in books, and you shouldn't be putting them in there anyway. Because I guarantee you no matter how good your content is someone is going to leave a review all annoyed that you're trying to milk them for more money, and your sales will drop like a stone. The only links in your books should be to your author website, other books in the series, and in the resource section links to useful non-affiliate sites.


People enjoy the chance to feel connected with other folks, and besides it's a great to build a brand and to stay in touch with your friends. I would recommend creating a Facebook Fan Page for your pen name. This will help you build up a readership, and it will make selling any future titles a lot easier.

It sounds like you've given this a lot of thought, just remember that Kindle Publishing is not the same as regular ebook publishing.

hire Di heuser from in here. She is outstanding. She took my product and launched it for with all the bells and whistles attached.

What you should do is to learn from an author who is a proven self made millionaire. One of them is Amanda Hocking. She has a blog (search Google) where she shares much of what she did to market her best selling books and build her brand.

Her free information will blow away any current WSO on how to sell more books. Check it out.

STEP 1: Use squeeze pages to build your marketing list. Building this list is more important than the sales of the book.

STEP 2: After optin redirect the visitor to a sales page for your book.

With the squeeze page provide something of value for free. After optin go for the sale. If they don't buy the good news is you have the contact information for follow up. Remember....many don't buy on the first visit. So goal #1 should be to get the contact information of all your visitors. Goal 2 is selling the book.

I don't know the specifics of kindle publishing and working on amazon, but considering they have HUGE traffic and HUGE search engine credit, once you do get it published and up on amazon, I would do the keyword research that's relevant to buyers for your book and then juice your amazon page, create youtube videos, and repurpose your content in bits (like pages or chapters) and make slideshows, articles, tutorials, etc. There are dozens of sites in every information medium category (videos, file sharing, slides, articles, ebooks, etc) and most of them are free to submit to. They already have the traffic coming to them. This may or may not be above your head, but creating basically free traffic from multiple streams all aimed at hitting your amazon page or list building (squeeze) page will do wonders.

btw, sounds like you have a great product. I'd love to check it out!

Oh, and that's the other thing. Once it's done, you need to strategically make it available to as many affiliates as possible so they can sell it for you.

Wow, thanks guys for all your tips (including the tip to ignore the tips). A few points to piggyback on your suggestions.

1. I thought I had a great title until I checked the keywords and they sucked! So I changed the title to optimize the keywords and now my title royally sucks!!! It sucks to the point that I, personally, would not buy a book with such a lousy title, LOL. I just stared into that screen for like 30 minutes before slamming the goddamn laptop against the wall (nah) What would you do (or have done) in a situation like this? What is really more important?

2. About the squeeze page. In my situation I am thinking on using a two-pronged approach. I want to sell the book, yes, first and foremost, but I also want to build a long-term website as a further communication tool with my readership (hopefully). I am going to write more books in my niche, to make it a series, so I would be in it for a long run. Would it be wise to build a simple page and then convert it into something more serious? Or should I try and do it now before publishing? Or after publishing? What would you do?

3. Orator, I would love not to use any links in my book. Any at all! Unfortunately, that would drastically diminish its usefulness. Since this book is a practical tool more than anything, I have to link to, say, hotels, airlines, and credit cards applications. I basically take people by hand and tell them what to do. Having to use credit cards links is especially troubling, since everyone and their mother knows they pay commissions. What people don't know is that they usually pay commissions only on lousy offers, while I'm going to link to great offers they never pay commissions on. However, here is my dilemma - there are 2 or 3 great credit card offers that still pay good affiliate fees. So, why should I derive myself of this commission, if I'm going to use them anyway? I mean, some people will still think I'm getting paid, right?

Another example (it's not that I'm secretive, just trying to be generic, so you guys don't think I'm pushing anything on you): say I'm discussing one cheap airline which can be a tremendous bargain, but that airline is famous for nickel'n'diming passengers with their baggage fees. So, there is a product on the market that is truly amazing - namely it will hold a lot of baggage, yet it fits fine under the seat. So, commissions or not I will talk about this product and link to it regardless, but why should I derive myself of those commissions if people will still think I'm getting them?

I'm addressing this issue in preface with full disclosure - honestly, not sure whether it's a good idea or not. What would be a consensus on this? Do you think I shouldn't do affiliate links no matter what and tell about it in preface, and if I do, is there a chance they will trust me? What do you think?

4. Marcia, thanks a lot for your suggestions, as well. I'm definitely going to outsource the cover, as well as editing and proofreading. Being that English is not my first language, those things are not something I can do anyway. But I'm a little skeptical that my book would really take off on its own, so I'm still going to try marketing it on the web.

5. Fenixpro, thanks for your interest. I'll make sure to send you a copy after it's finished, but only in exchange for an honest review

Thanks again, everybody. There is lots to learn, but it's a lot of fun, too!

PS. Uhm, how do you thank people here? Sorry for another stupid question.

I just want to put in my 2 cents also. To publish your book on Kindle or Createspace you should consider doing the following:

• Get your book proofread
• Get a good cover
• Choose the right category – you have two choices only
• Make the first line of your description to sell yourself and the book as this is what they see on their Kindle, iPad or iPhone for example - not everyone buys from their PC
• Choose your keywords from Kindle not Google
• Choose a good start price for your book. You can always experiment with this later
• If you want to publish it yourself then have the document in Word, Open Office, HTML or download to Mobipocket Creator first or get someone to do that for you
• Make an Author Page on Amazon and link your book to it
• Make a blog (it can be a free one like Blogger) and list your book and talk about it
• Put a link in your book to the Author Page and your blog
• Get reviews for your book from giving the book away, forums or from friends
• Tweak the description, keywords and book price as you go along

These are the basics to start on the right foot.

Pauline aka AngelTraveler

Thanks again, guys, and btw, I searched how to thank here, and it appears one has to have the "whopping" 5 posts under one's belt in order to "properly" thank people. Before that the button doesn't even show up...

Not to worry, I'm getting there and fast

I missed this thread the first time around, so here's my .02 worth...

> Links. Spend 15 minutes and learn to do redirects from a website you own. That way, if the link goes bad, you can simply change out the destination of the redirect instead of worrying about how to do it in the book(s).

> Links, Part 2. When you set up your website, have a Resources page for each book, with your recommendations broken down by groups (airlines, hotels, etc.). Use anchors within the page (another 15 minute research project), and you can link to specific spots on the page. Again, you only have to maintain the Resource page rather than worrying about changing the links in the book. In addition, many will see the updated and maintained resource page as a value-add most of the other books in your category may not have.

> Website. Since you plan to create a series, you may want a simple blog-type site with categories for each installment. You can also add resource pages, reader surveys and comment forms, squeeze pages, etc. Just keep it useful and simple. You're selling books, not web design services.

Not sure where you are in the process, but I wish you luck...

I've written books that sell weekly on Amazon's Kindle program. Go to the WSO section and search for Kindle products. Read the reviews and find the current programs. They will tell you everything you need to know to go from Step 1 to getting published. Then, work on the website and promoting it.