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eBooks by non-established authors don't usually sell because..

by Domain 1
9 replies
..nobody hears about them - and if they do want to buy, it is likely they'll go to Amazon.

I read this somewhere as a reply in a forum when someone mentioned they were going to start selling their ebook from their new website.

But surely in order to get known you have to start somewhere? I mean what does one do prior to selling their ebook from their site to "become established".

Thanks.
#authors #ebooks #nonestablished #sell
  • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
    Let me just tell you that there are probably hundreds of people here (I may even have the order wrong) who are completely unknown, in terms of being established authors, and yet are happily selling ebooks every day.

    You don't have to be 'established' to sell; you have to convince people that you have the answers to their problems and then actually provide them - easy enough really, though a lot of people seem to get it completely wrong.

    Will
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    • Profile picture of the author Craig Fenton
      Hi Domain 1:

      Hope all is well today.

      Good luck on your project and I hope you sell a million copies.

      From experience I can tell you what I did when I first started out and wrote my first Rock & Roll book.

      Getting positive reviews is advantageous. If you also know of somebody in the industry you are writing about that would give an endorsement that goes a long way too.

      Try to offer something in the book that is unique. Many authors and or creators of products sell something that is good but it isn't any different than what Jane or John Doe is doing.

      In my first book I had thirty-three interviews included with musicians that were in the band I wrote about or associated in some way.

      See how your price point is against the competition. Get to know the competition.

      Once you find out look at what they do right with their book and marketing and what could be improved.

      An active website, blog, and YouTube Channel all cross promoting each other can help. Certainly posting on forums (not spam) with helpful contributions can be beneficial.

      Excellent customer service is imperative and a forgotten art. I made it a point (to this day as well) that any email received from the fans of the book or if they had questions was always and is still answered the same day.

      Have a great day,
      Craig Fenton
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  • Profile picture of the author Slate Marketing
    You can definitely sell lots of books without being well known, I've seen many people do that over the past few years.

    I will say though, the key difference between an author making a small amount of money and getting rich is definitely their branding, marketing and positioning, without a doubt.

    You can build up your name if you want to, but you certainly don't "have" to. Either way, you can have success selling books on Amazon and elsewhere.

    Good luck and kick some butt!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bish
    It can also depend on the strength of competition in a specific niche. Smaller niches with less competition are easier to dominate. You do this by building a foundation and branding yourself or your product as the go to solution which makes selling your product easy, even if nobody knew who you were a couple of months ago.
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  • Profile picture of the author Leonhart
    Banned
    I don't understand why you think you have to be 'established' in order to sell? Many of us here on WarriorForum are not established authors but are selling e-books daily.

    It's not about how established you are in the end, it's about the value you provide in your e-books or whatever you're selling.. If you can solve their problem, they'll buy, simple as that.

    Now, how you market is a different story..

    The more copies you sell, the more people you help; the more testimonials and positive feedback you get. That's how you become an 'established' author.
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    • Profile picture of the author mpluto
      I LOVE buying ebooks from "unestablished" authors when they sell quality.
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  • Profile picture of the author troy23
    I've sold hundreds of ebooks from my website and I am an unknown author.
    People get to trust you if you build some kind of relationship with them either by having a half decent website with valuable content or by following up with them by email.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    You can become quite known by writing many articles, creating videos, etc. You don't need to be a super star to be considered someone who can sell ebooks, but the truth is that you have to prove to your potential customers that you can be trusted.

    This is the hardest part because there is fierce competition in all fields.

    It seems that you have better conditions to become known at Amazon if you will create a Kindle ebook (than anywhere else) because the readers go there looking for ebooks and Amazon helps you with the promotion.

    I didn't publish my first Kindle ebook yet, so I’m not able to help you more. I decided to add more pages and make it more interesting, so that I may sell it for a price that will make me happy because the prices there are too low and I still have to deal with the difference between euros and dollars.

    You can sell your ebook for a good price if you are giving real knowledge to your readers, but if you are a beginner it’s a good idea to be humble with the price. Non fiction in general terms is selling for $2.99.







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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Whisonant
    When I buy a book either physical or electronic I have NEVER even once looked at the author name until after I bought it and started reading it. Sometimes even then I still never noted the author name.

    I buy books by the subject matter. Not who wrote it. May just be me, but that's what I do.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
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