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Making money writing ebooks

by Fendaril
52 replies
I was thinking of writing ebooks and being compensated through amazon.

All the while I keep thinking that my book will botch and nobody will see it.

If I write according to search term popularity in amazon on a low competition keyword would I make a few sales per book?

I have a word processor and will to write(lol).
#ebooks #making #money #writing
  • Profile picture of the author bnorton2010
    If you take your time to do the keyword research, write a quality book, and get some good reviews, you could make good money writing ebooks on amazon.

    I have published multiple ebooks on amazon. My best one makes me about 200 dollars a month, so there is definitely potential.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
      Ok, being a new author and no reviews, could I still make decent sales when my book is first released? Without buying reviews from other sources?
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      • Profile picture of the author johnweyer
        Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

        Ok, being a new author and no reviews, could I still make decent sales when my book is first released? Without buying reviews from other sources?
        There are some good products (WSOs) for getting started in this niche. Personally, I like the Warrior Book Club in the private forums. Kindle is a great opportunity but you must do some promotion yourself. Above all, you must have well written content or people just won't buy your book. Do your research and make a plan.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    You cannot pay for reviews, otherwise they will be removed by Amazon, but there are two programs for the book promotion that can help you get reviews and sell your books.

    There are many posts in this forum about Kindle books, look for them by using the search option – at the top, right side.

    You can also learn everything about Kindle books at kboards:

    Writers' Cafe

    There is a private forum here at the WF for Kindle authors. This is a good way to get reviews.
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  • Profile picture of the author Goran Zinic
    I'm not sure how much do you plan to earn per eBook, but maybe you can consider writing ebooks and selling them with PLR here on WF.
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  • Profile picture of the author bnorton2010
    You'll need to ask people for honest reviews. Your book won't sell without any reviews. And it's unlikely that you'll make many sales right after publishing. You can get exposure and increase your rank in the amazon store by giving your book away for free using KDP Select.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
      Originally Posted by bnorton2010 View Post

      You'll need to ask people for honest reviews. Your book won't sell without any reviews. And it's unlikely that you'll make many sales right after publishing. You can get exposure and increase your rank in the amazon store by giving your book away for free using KDP Select.
      This is what I was thinking.

      So an honest writer who makes a quality book in a decent niche and gives it away for free will make about 5-10 sales a month? At around 50 pages a pop 2.99

      @Goran

      Hmm, im more into self-help and not much of an affiliate marketer. Do those PLR books sell well here?
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      • Profile picture of the author Goran Zinic
        Hmm, im more into self-help and not much of an affiliate marketer. Do those PLR books sell well here?
        Unfortunately, I don't think this niche would sell well around here. If you can write a quality ebook and provide it with PLR, maybe I can promote it to my 38k members list.
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      • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
        Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

        This is what I was thinking.

        So an honest writer who makes a quality book in a decent niche and gives it away for free will make about 5-10 sales a month? At around 50 pages a pop 2.99

        @Goran

        Hmm, im more into self-help and not much of an affiliate marketer. Do those PLR books sell well here?
        There are a lot of variables that go into determining how much you can make. You can make nothing to thousands a month from one eBook. It depends on your topic, how well you promote it etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      My theory on this... if the product you produce is Solid. All it takes is selling one, and the rest will come easy. Write 3 to 5 about the same topic and then you will be in real good shape. ( that's if the topic is relevant to the keyword research you do.
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  • Profile picture of the author bnorton2010
    5 - 10 sales won't be difficult. Each of my books sell anywhere between 20 and 150 copies a month.

    Keep in mind, however, that my first 2 books barely sold at all. It's a learning process. The more books you publish, the better results you will see.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
    Im curious about making ebooks with the purpose of releasing them for PLR purposes. Do you need to upgrade your account to do that here? Do you need to do copy?
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  • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
    Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post


    If I write according to search term popularity in amazon on a low competition keyword would I make a few sales per book?
    Ugh. Forget freakin' keywords already. Don't base your marketing on secondary stuff like SEO! Write for a market and solve their problem. All you need to know it that people are buying solutions. Provide one. Then, when it's time to give the book a title and write a description, you concern yourself with keywords.

    But here's a secret. Almost no one knows this so don't tell anyone, okay? If you know what you're talking about the keywords will naturally be there. You won't have to even think about it. Amazon allows you 4000 characters for your blurb so even a caveman could work in the right keywords. Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
      Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

      Ugh. Forget freakin' keywords already. Don't base your marketing on secondary stuff like SEO! Write for a market and solve their problem. All you need to know it that people are buying solutions. Provide one. Then, when it's time to give the book a title and write a description, you concern yourself with keywords.

      But here's a secret. Almost no one knows this so don't tell anyone, okay? If you know what you're talking about the keywords will naturally be there. You won't have to even think about it. Amazon allows you 4000 characters for your blurb so even a caveman could work in the right keywords. Good luck.
      Hey man I am all for taking massive action and being passionate enough to provide so much value for the world. It shows a level of determination that is becoming more scarce in this world of fly by night riches and TV dinners.

      I can tell you are a wise gentlemen based on your profile picture, so I won't insult you but simply give you my opinion.

      In 2005, before the age of wordpress affiliate site "passive income" riches became so famous, there were people like Steve Pavlina and John Chow who started a blog with no intention on making 7 figures(well maybe not john chow, lol). Now back in 2005 when finding nice search results was very scarce, and nobody really focused on providing massive value, it was a goldmine for someone to step in and just post quality without thinking about SEO or marketing. Those people were way ahead of their time. Steve recalls using blog carnivals and other old,old promotion tactics and slowly becoming a brand. Now in 2014, there are so many people with wordpress blogs and so many people selling themselves as Gurus that the competition has grown to a point where simply posting and not caring about the details is almost impractical. I emailed steve about a year ago and he is so pessimistic about people becoming full time bloggers that he said that %99.9 of people wont make it, and im starting to agree with him because many people do what you said and make giant posts and expect that making 1million posts will eventually get them there.

      The reality is this is an art, and like any art many people are starving despite working very hard producing quality content and not worrying. I want to work and get compensated for it. I want to create a nice side business, and I want to learn how to increase profits while doing something to help people.

      I just dont see myself accomplishing that by taking an arrogant stance and wearing myself out making tons of quality content and hoping that karma will pay me back.

      Im sorry but times have changed and they are changing at an exponentially faster rate. You need to market yourself to excel online, and you need to do it correctly.
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      • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
        Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

        Im sorry but times have changed and they are changing at an exponentially faster rate. You need to market yourself to excel online, and you need to do it correctly.
        I don't think I disagree with anything you've said but somehow have missed your point. I think perhaps we have a different view of the word correctly. For me, correctly means keywords come much later in the process. I've been at this a long time and I have NEVER given them the weight many people do and still find my money sites ranking very well. That's because writing great content for people and not Google will win out every time. Doing that will get you positioning by default.

        My original comment is directed at putting the cart before the horse. In your op you mention finding and ranking for keywords. Okay. Why? I'd say that you're pretty bright and articulate. So why not write about something you know first? When you do the keywords will fall into place naturally.

        If you're looking for profitable niches based on keywords how are you going to address the needs of people with problems? What if you discover that based on certain keywords there's opportunity in alternative medicine? Or home remedies? Easy ranking (ranking has a completely different meaning on Amazon, eBay, and other self contained online ecosystems than it does in the major SEs) keywords aren't going to do you any good if you don't have the knowledge or experience to write credible ebooks that will provide real value for people seeking solutions in that market.

        So how are you going to help people unless you make your primary objective picking something where you have experience to share? That's my point.
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        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
          Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

          I don't think I disagree with anything you've said but somehow have missed your point. I think perhaps we have a different view of the word correctly. For me, correctly means keywords come much later in the process. I've been at this a long time and I have NEVER given them the weight many people do and still find my money sites ranking very well. That's because writing great content for people and not Google will win out every time. Doing that will get you positioning by default.

          My original comment is directed at putting the cart before the horse. In your op you mention finding and ranking for keywords. Okay. Why? I'd say that you're pretty bright and articulate. So why not write about something you know first? When you do the keywords will fall into place naturally.

          If you're looking for profitable niches based on keywords how are you going to address the needs of people with problems? What if you discover that based on certain keywords there's opportunity in alternative medicine? Or home remedies? Easy ranking (ranking has a completely different meaning on Amazon, eBay, and other self contained online ecosystems than it does in the major SEs) keywords aren't going to do you any good if you don't have the knowledge or experience to write credible ebooks that will provide real value for people seeking solutions in that market.

          So how are you going to help people unless you make your primary objective picking something where you have experience to share? That's my point.
          I'm going to start this with a bit about myself. I have been in the content business since the mid 80's going way back to a BBS's running on 300bd modems. I had a for the time huge BBS. at 14 I had a 10 meg hard drive full of pirated software and killer hacker content, all categorized and connected into my BBS. ( Basically a modern day blog ) Monetized through membership I might add.

          Research back then was "Work", unlike today. Today we literally have the world at our finger tips if you #1 know how to use it, and #2 know how to find it. When you are an information junkie, how you find things on the net differ from your 'average' user. I personally am not interested in page one of search engine rankings ( When doing research only haha ) get me down to page 100 or deeper, that's where the good stuff is.

          For me it has been extremely interesting watching Google Hummingbird come into its own. It has made my job as an information researcher easier. I can dang near get what "I want" and not what matches kinda. The "bad" side of this for me personally, is the good deep stuff is now rising to the top.

          So how does all of this apply to the discussion at hand? I research and write all of my own products. I have a library of over 300 modern day e-book titles across the last 15 years or so. As you may figure, I have no understanding what so ever, about the fascination with click bank and the like. I sit right here in front of this screen on a daily basis and ask why?

          There is literally no topic aside from some ambiguous out of left field brain surgery topic, I could not research and write a dang good 40 page report on with in a week. That being said I actually have a personal project I have been working on for years. There are literally tons of articles on the subject, and they all are about the same. Some a bit deeper than others, but nothing as detailed as I want to take it. Someday I will find the answer to a huge question. Its like my Holy Grail

          So I want to write a piece for my list's. I start looking for the question, its a matter of numbers... what question gets asked the most. Its a keyword search. I then will do a ton of research and find "The Answer" Its all ready out there stuck on the 80th page of some search, I just have to find it.

          So for me, do I understand what the OP was saying? Yes. The idea in todays world of doing what you know, is blurred by some. It becomes doing what your audience wants to know. Researching the daylights out of it until you have the answer and running with it. Seizing opportunity when it arises or is found. ( found in this case being keyword search )

          By the way, I just so happened to take a look at your site in your profile. Your articles are uh so correctly SEO'd its not even funny. I do SEO for a living, and I was impressed!
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          • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
            Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

            I'm going to start this with a bit about myself. I have been in the content business since the mid 80's going way back to a BBS's running on 300bd modems. I had a for the time huge BBS. at 14 I had a 10 meg hard drive full of pirated software and killer hacker content, all categorized and connected into my BBS. ( Basically a modern day blog ) Monetized through membership I might add.

            Research back then was "Work", unlike today. Today we literally have the world at our finger tips if you #1 know how to use it, and #2 know how to find it. When you are an information junkie, how you find things on the net differ from your 'average' user. I personally am not interested in page one of search engine rankings ( When doing research only haha ) get me down to page 100 or deeper, that's where the good stuff is.

            For me it has been extremely interesting watching Google Hummingbird come into its own. It has made my job as an information researcher easier. I can dang near get what "I want" and not what matches kinda. The "bad" side of this for me personally, is the good deep stuff is now rising to the top.

            So how does all of this apply to the discussion at hand? I research and write all of my own products. I have a library of over 300 modern day e-book titles across the last 15 years or so. As you may figure, I have no understanding what so ever, about the fascination with click bank and the like. I sit right here in front of this screen on a daily basis and ask why?

            There is literally no topic aside from some ambiguous out of left field brain surgery topic, I could not research and write a dang good 40 page report on with in a week. That being said I actually have a personal project I have been working on for years. There are literally tons of articles on the subject, and they all are about the same. Some a bit deeper than others, but nothing as detailed as I want to take it. Someday I will find the answer to a huge question. Its like my Holy Grail

            So I want to write a piece for my list's. I start looking for the question, its a matter of numbers... what question gets asked the most. Its a keyword search. I then will do a ton of research and find "The Answer" Its all ready out there stuck on the 80th page of some search, I just have to find it.

            So for me, do I understand what the OP was saying? Yes. The idea in todays world of doing what you know, is blurred by some. It becomes doing what your audience wants to know. Researching the daylights out of it until you have the answer and running with it. Seizing opportunity when it arises or is found. ( found in this case being keyword search )

            By the way, I just so happened to take a look at your site in your profile. Your articles are uh so correctly SEO'd its not even funny. I do SEO for a living, and I was impressed!
            I understand and respect what you say. But I'm sure you realize that you're the exception and not the rule. People bop in here all the time looking to employ an absolutely ridiculous formula that is not suited to most beginners and many seasoned marketers as well. Choosing to market a product based primarily on ease of ranking or desperate buyers or a hefty profit margin or any number of items that to most experienced business folks would be secondary or "gravy" type benefits is a losing proposition.

            Why? Because beginners have no idea what to expect as they learn how things work. Because when choosing a product for some ancillary reason they very soon find out how tedious and boring the necessary intimacy with the thing can be. And that most often leads to their failure. So what do they do? They go out and find something else based on secondary stuff like keywords or some other perceived built in magic bullet. And once again they repeat the process of frustration and failure. Then they come here and say they did everything according to the guru code but it didn't work.

            My point here is that when getting started people need to choose something to sell they are at least familiar with. What would be ideal would be to pick something they actually like or are even passionate about. That stacks the odds in their favor because at least now, they aren't dreading the 101 mundane things you've gotta do every day to make it all fly.

            Then once they've had success with something that didn't make them insane with boredom and daily dread and frustration because they have absolutely no interest in the latest fad diet or tooth whitening or reducing man breasts or any other so called hot, profitable niches they can maybe branch out to more "ideal situation" projects based on easy to rank keywords, desperate buyers and all the rest of the "easy money" hot trigger stuff.
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            • Profile picture of the author savidge4
              Originally Posted by travlinguy View Post

              I understand and respect what you say. But I'm sure you realize that you're the exception and not the rule. People bop in here all the time looking to employ an absolutely ridiculous formula that is not suited to most beginners and many seasoned marketers as well. Choosing to market a product based primarily on ease of ranking or desperate buyers or a hefty profit margin or any number of items that to most experienced business folks would be secondary or "gravy" type benefits is a losing proposition.

              Why? Because beginners have no idea what to expect as they learn how things work. Because when choosing a product for some ancillary reason they very soon find out how tedious and boring the necessary intimacy with the thing can be. And that most often leads to their failure. So what do they do? They go out and find something else based on secondary stuff like keywords or some other perceived built in magic bullet. And once again they repeat the process of frustration and failure. Then they come here and say they did everything according to the guru code but it didn't work.

              My point here is that when getting started people need to choose something to sell they are at least familiar with. What would be ideal would be to pick something they actually like or are even passionate about. That stacks the odds in their favor because at least now, they aren't dreading the 101 mundane things you've gotta do every day to make it all fly.

              Then once they've had success with something that didn't make them insane with boredom and daily dread and frustration because they have absolutely no interest in the latest fad diet or tooth whitening or reducing man breasts or any other so called hot, profitable niches they can maybe branch out to more "ideal situation" projects based on easy to rank keywords, desperate buyers and all the rest of the "easy money" hot trigger stuff.
              I think there is a disconnect into the ability of the OP. Granted I am going to make an assumption ( which I don't like doing ) but I am assuming you saw the word "Start" in the OP and off and away you went. I personally looked at what they were wanting to do, and saw that they had a process in doing so. Does not sound so "starter" to me.

              It is OK to have advanced discussion on the this forum. We don't have to trudge around looking to answer the same question over and over.

              I do hear what you are saying though. I personally have a blog about Halloween. I think I could write on this blog forever. Its actually kind of silly how easy it is. Part of it has to do with the level of participation from my viewers though. but yes, write about what you know in most cases is very sound advice!
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              • Profile picture of the author Nick Logan
                That id definitely doable. But just a good content is not enough, lot of competition there. You have to do a good keywords resarch and than firmly market your product.
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                • Profile picture of the author donhx
                  Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

                  You are a writer correct? If I pay you to write about a subject you will correct? How do you do that if it is a subject not of interest to you? do you decline the offer for work? Or do you research my moneys worth and produce a high quality product?
                  This is exactly the case, Savidge. I have been a professional writer for 30 years and I decline the offer of work I think will bore me. I am a curious person by nature, have expert research skills that extend beyond Google, but I reject jobs that don't excite my interest. Not everyone is so desperate for work that they need to take every job that comes to them. An affinity for the topic, on some level, results in a higher quality product.


                  Originally Posted by Project View Post

                  That id definitely doable. But just a good content is not enough, lot of competition there. You have to do a good keywords resarch and than firmly market your product.
                  With respect, Project, you believe this since you are in the keyword business. Good content is enough, and ebooks can be marketed in many ways without keywords. The reason Google had to institute Panda/Penguin/Hummingbird, and drive so much penny-per-word content off top rankings is because of keyword-centric sites. They want the quality content to get top rankings, not keyword driven junk.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
                    Originally Posted by donhx View Post


                    With respect, Project, you believe this since you are in the keyword business. Good content is enough, and ebooks can be marketed in many ways without keywords. The reason Google had to institute Panda/Penguin/Hummingbird, and drive so much penny-per-word content off top rankings is because of keyword-centric sites. They want the quality content to get top rankings, not keyword driven junk.
                    I think there is a disconnect here.

                    I can easily produce quality content, and I am a firm believer in providing value.

                    The thing is good content is not enough anymore. Its a fact. There is just too much competition out there. I won't change this stance until someone shows me a case study where someone ignores keywords and started a blogging/ebook business from scratch.

                    Keep in mind that I have things that I like to write about, but I am not an expert in any particular topic and I cannot solve and pressing concern which isn't already solved by the 1,000 other people with filled author bios and proven track record.

                    Point being, I don't exist anywhere on the internet, and nobody is going to take me serious without knowing where I am located.

                    It was a hard bullet to swallow, but good content alone with no focus on marketing or customer acquisition will keep me where I am now, without a business, and jumping from one shiney opportunity to the next.

                    I am really tired of hearing this advice, because its the advice given by people who already have large followings, and its not helpful.

                    What other methods for marketing are there besides being and expert and spending hours on forums for the sole purpose of getting people to download your book.

                    Maybe I should go on facebook and try my like there.
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                    • Profile picture of the author donhx
                      There probably is a disconnect Fendaril, because the question with Project was about keywords, not the issues you mention.

                      Content is King. SEO and all the rest of the IM methods are the Pawns. Keywords, if any, should serve the content, never dictate it. Good content is enough, but good keywords are not enough.

                      There are hundreds of methods of getting visibility for an ebook without resorting to the typical IM methods. Hundreds of millions of books were sold before the Internet was invented. And there has always been fierce competiton in the publishing world, particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries.

                      Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen made a fortune in self publishing before the Internet really matured (1993). In the last couple years, Amanda Hocking did not use keywords or other IM tactics. She wrote quality stuff and built a following with what she says was a sketchy, poorly written blog, but nothing else. There are many hundreds of such case histories if you know where to look.

                      I see you just signed up here yesterday, but it takes time to grasp it all. You probably won't find the alternatives here because this is an IM-centric site. Lots of good stuff here, but not all the answers.
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                    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
                      Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

                      I think there is a disconnect here.

                      I can easily produce quality content, and I am a firm believer in providing value.

                      The thing is good content is not enough anymore. Its a fact. There is just too much competition out there. I won't change this stance until someone shows me a case study where someone ignores keywords and started a blogging/ebook business from scratch.

                      Keep in mind that I have things that I like to write about, but I am not an expert in any particular topic and I cannot solve and pressing concern which isn't already solved by the 1,000 other people with filled author bios and proven track record.

                      Point being, I don't exist anywhere on the internet, and nobody is going to take me serious without knowing where I am located.

                      It was a hard bullet to swallow, but good content alone with no focus on marketing or customer acquisition will keep me where I am now, without a business, and jumping from one shiney opportunity to the next.

                      I am really tired of hearing this advice, because its the advice given by people who already have large followings, and its not helpful.

                      What other methods for marketing are there besides being and expert and spending hours on forums for the sole purpose of getting people to download your book.

                      Maybe I should go on facebook and try my like there.
                      I hear the cry for sure. I personally have bases. But with each one I start I am starting new. Not until recently did I try to use the leverage from one platform to boost the new one. That being said, again I used to start each one fresh off the ground from square one.

                      without a location IE a website you never will be or have anything that is the most basic building block in the quest for making money online. To be honest, you don't have to know what it is you want to do, but to have that base to start with is again the first step. yourname.com is really a good place to start.

                      The more you do this the more you understand what "Branding" is and what it can do for you. Having to do this all over again... I would have started with myname.com and all of my adventures and expansions would have been centered off the one platform. I am by no means scrabbling, but little by little I am bringing ALL of my online interests into one place. Bringing all of my product and blogs and all of that under one roof, or a centralized brand. There are MANY benefits to this.

                      Just by starting a blog, start writing about the many things you are interested in and can write about. you don't have to be an expert. That in itself is the wonder of it all. you can simply share YOUR experience. I have a client that is a uh avid shopper. she buys all kinds of stuff and her blog is posting reviews on the products. We are talking down to a new brand of celery her local grocery started carrying. All the way up to her replacing her refrigerator a few months ago and she posted her assorted shopping experiences in different stores, then laid out details on the one she actually bought.

                      That lady, my client, is also my mother in law. just your average middle American house wife with the kids out of the house and nothing better to do. She doesn't pay for traffic, I set up her pinterest account to start working for her, she uses facebook and twitter, ( like 300 followers between them ) the normal house wife kind of stuff.

                      She gets 15,000 ish unique visitors to her blog a month. Its flat out silly. But the reality is she is writing about her every day average American mother experiences on a daily basis. The point is SHE IS DOING IT. and you are not.

                      She didn't even know what monetizing was. she knew people made money with blogs, but she never really was interested in it. All she knew about what I do, is I spend a lot of time on the computer, and answer e-mails til I am blue in the face. That was her perception of it anyways. I monetized her site last year. She now after just short of 12 months has a 5 digit mailing list, and she makes more online than her husband a well paid professional makes.

                      She is an out right selling machine! Her 1 blog out performs any 1 have, and in most cases any 2 or 3 combined. Is she an expert on anything? no not really.. but go look at her blog and see that there are 400 responses to her choice of one brand of celery over another and it makes you think twice! ha ha

                      The point is you cant sit there and complain whoa is me if you have not even taken the most basic of steps. Just start! build a site, start blogging about the same exact stuff you talk about on facebook. once you have 10 posts up or so, invite your facebook friends over to look. Not only would you now have a online home, but you would have a source of traffic.

                      Its just that simple!

                      Hope that Helps!
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                      • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
                        Ok, im sorry for getting heated.

                        Savidge, can you tell me how she went from no visitors to 15k visitors? Does she just talk to her friends on facebook?

                        My issue is I have no friends on facebook. I would have to build a prescence on facebook first, cultivate relationships, and than get the word of my blog out.

                        All complaining aside, I have no clue what im doing or if it will work. Im the type of person to spend all my freetime for a few weeks and getting pissed seeing 0 visitors and nothing. Im super attached to progression.

                        its complex to describe.
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                        • Profile picture of the author savidge4
                          She has been blogging for 4 years now. It is the monetizing that started only a year ago. by the end of her first year and 700 blog posts she was well on her way to the traffic she has today. It was not until last year that she started a mailing list and monetizing her efforts. I brought up her facebook and twitter numbers to show that is not where her traffic comes from. ( I get on her about this all the time haha ) She gets 100% pure no nonsense free traffic from search engines. In my world she is a friggin fluke. but in the world at large, this is not uncommon.

                          All this work and no results... You have to look at some factors here. You start a website/blog. you start writing. It can take google 3 weeks to in some cases 12 weeks for your site to get listed. Bing I have seen it take 4months, and Yahoo, well they are on a time frame all their own. Just because it gets listed, does NOT mean has been ranked. so there maybe another delay there. In the meantime you are dropping content in on a daily basis. your "REACH" will grow, but it is by no means an over night thing.

                          So where is the point that you take concern? its literally in the 6 month category. Its a friggin long time before you know if what you have done is doing what you want it to.

                          But this is what I always suggest to look at. #1 you are doing something that YOU like to do. #2 aside from the expense of the domain name and 1 year of hosting, you at this point have no other expenses. #3 You may call it a waste of time, but what else could you be doing? It comes right down to nothing ventured nothing gained! This is in theory a business. Your blood sweat and tears come at the expense of your keyboard and mouse. THATS IT. How to start a business with little or no money down? well there it is!

                          There are 2 factors that I feel take any one of us from a failure to a success. those two factors? Consistency and Determination. Consistency, treating this like a business and following through with the things you need to get done on a daily basis. When you first start is consistently working on the structure of your site. Once that is done then consistently working on blog post.

                          Determination. know that what you are doing is going to succeed. When consistency starts to fail, let your determination kick and get YOU back on track! Determination with out a doubt will be the factor that keeps you focused while you are waiting for results. Determination is what will keep you on the consistent path to developing more content. That is what success looks like, and that is what success is.

                          Like you said earlier all those shiny things... have any of them worked for you? We all know the answer is no. You would not be saying what you have it it had. The shiny thing is what you have inside. its your story its your experience its your desire and determination to see it through Your shiny thing is the consistency that you are going to give this effort to change the pattern in your life.

                          If you want success you just need to sit around like my little ol 65 year old client / mother in law, and post about celery and refrigerators, and some goofy pair of shoes that are 600 colors.

                          But that in itself is the point, there is no one thing that will bring success. She fell on HER shiny thing. She had no clue. each and every one of us have our own path and our own story to tell. Focus on that! Commit to consistency, and move forward determined!

                          Hope that Helps!
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                  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
                    Originally Posted by donhx View Post

                    This is exactly the case, Savidge. I have been a professional writer for 30 years and I decline the offer of work I think will bore me. I am a curious person by nature, have expert research skills that extend beyond Google, but I reject jobs that don't excite my interest. Not everyone is so desperate for work that they need to take every job that comes to them. An affinity for the topic, on some level, results in a higher quality product.
                    I stand corrected. Yes I will agree totally that even the slightest interest does lead to a better end result.
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                    • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
                      Ok now this case study on your relative is having my eyes open a bit.

                      Did she do any SEO or just blog for the hell of it for a year and just get traffic?

                      Did she just make a journal blog about her shopping and have it work out?

                      I'm into self-help things.

                      Like the effect the law of attraction has on achieving your goals type of thing.

                      If your relative just posted everyday and didnt care about money or SEO(presumbly) I should be able to replicate that success.
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  • Profile picture of the author aprilm
    Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

    I was thinking of writing ebooks and being compensated through amazon.

    All the while I keep thinking that my book will botch and nobody will see it.

    If I write according to search term popularity in amazon on a low competition keyword would I make a few sales per book?

    I have a word processor and will to write(lol).
    That's exactly what you want to look for. Topics that are in high demand, with low competition.

    One way to do this is check the categories of the Best Sellers. So, choose a topic, check the lowest tier of the category that best matches your topic, then check the sales rank on the first, fifth, and tenth book. If the sales rank on the first book is 5000 or below, that's a good sign. It means that book is selling well, and there is a lot of potential in that sub category. Then go on to check the sales rank of the fifth book and the tenth book. If those sales ranks are on the low end as well, this would be a green light to enter this niche in my opinion.

    BTW, the lower the sales rank on Amazon Kindle, the better the book is selling. Sometimes that is confusing to people. For example, say book A has a sales rank of 1000 and book B has a sales rank of 1,000,000. This means that book A is literally mopping the floor with book B…..selling WAY more copies than book B.

    I think Kindle publishing is really fun and easy to break into, so I say go for it!

    Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author donhx
      Good advice here. I certainly agree with travlinguy--don't even think about SEO-style keywords at Amazon. Write a great book and watch it sell. I have written many print and ebooks. Some sold, and continue to sell very well. Others die like a dog even though they are well-written and were on evergreen topics. I don't listen to the so-called Kindle gurus anymore. Some of my ongoing bestsellers have few reviews.

      The real money is in writing high quality ebooks on contract for other people. They are not expecting to make a million dollars with the ebook, they use them to assert their expertise in their business and leverage that. I have several cases where an ebook led to my client getting big contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars because their client liked what they had to say in their ebook. I'm the ghostwriter, but they get the professional and economic benefit of being the author.

      My advice to any writer is to avoid the race to the bottom. By that I mean stop trying to compete on price alone, and stay away from the PLR bone-yard. Instead, be a talented writer and compete on quality and service.
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      • Profile picture of the author CShark
        Originally Posted by donhx View Post

        Good advice here. I certainly agree with travlinguy--don't even think about SEO-style keywords at Amazon. Write a great book and watch it sell. I have written many print and ebooks. Some sold, and continue to sell very well. Others die like a dog even though they are well-written and were on evergreen topics. I don't listen to the so-called Kindle gurus anymore. Some of my ongoing bestsellers have few reviews.

        The real money is in writing high quality ebooks on contract for other people. They are not expecting to make a million dollars with the ebook, they use them to assert their expertise in their business and leverage that. I have several cases where an ebook led to my client getting big contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars because their client liked what they had to say in their ebook. I'm the ghostwriter, but they get the professional and economic benefit of being the author.

        My advice to any writer is to avoid the race to the bottom. By that I mean stop trying to compete on price alone, and stay away from the PLR bone-yard. Instead, be a talented writer and compete on quality and service.
        That's good advice put together on a platter. Well said. Quality and service alone can set you apart from competition. You cannot get that from day one, you need to give it time and work at it, consciously.
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Originally Posted by donhx View Post

        stay away from the PLR bone-yard. Instead, be a talented writer and compete on quality and service.
        There are a lot of people here at WF who would be very reluctant to heed your advice to "stay away from the PLR bone-yard ". Lots !
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  • Profile picture of the author Ofthingsmanmade
    Here is my advice to you, sir:

    Write your ebook to the best of your ability, format it correctly, the publish it on KDP. (Kindle Direct Publishing)

    Those who are saying your book won't sell without reviews are correct; however, Amazon allows you to offer your book for free for 5 days out of a 90 day period. What does that mean? You set your free period, and during this time, you promote the living shit out of it.

    Twitter, Facebook, Free Kindle Submission sites, possibly even a few paid ads here and there, etc., etc.

    Hopefully you'll garner enough attention during your free week to both gain reviews and move up in the rankings for your keywords.

    Again, this is just my two cents.

    Best of luck!

    Jonathan Howard
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  • Profile picture of the author Romeo90
    Or consider this:

    Create a website to specifically sell one eBook. Market it on forums associated with the niche or subject area that your eBook is written in.

    In just over 2 years, one eBook has seen earnings of $16,000 alone. A simple one page sales page, buy button, automated delivery - all earnings are mine, not governed by Amazon etc.

    Easiest way I have promoted it is on forums - 5 minutes a day helping people for free on the forum, getting my sig exposed.

    Then, giving out free reports. Of course, advertising the product heavily in that free report, but still making the report a quality one, and in depth enough to be seen as an authority in the area (which by the way, I am - I practice what i preach).

    I have never sold on Amazon yet, so can't help you specifically on that.

    All I do know is that writing my own, quality eBook has been one of the best things I have ever done.

    Good luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author Superior Content Creation
      Originally Posted by Romeo90 View Post

      Or consider this:

      Create a website to specifically sell one eBook. Market it on forums associated with the niche or subject area that your eBook is written in.

      In just over 2 years, one eBook has seen earnings of $16,000 alone. A simple one page sales page, buy button, automated delivery - all earnings are mine, not governed by Amazon etc.

      Easiest way I have promoted it is on forums - 5 minutes a day helping people for free on the forum, getting my sig exposed.

      Then, giving out free reports. Of course, advertising the product heavily in that free report, but still making the report a quality one, and in depth enough to be seen as an authority in the area (which by the way, I am - I practice what i preach).

      I have never sold on Amazon yet, so can't help you specifically on that.

      All I do know is that writing my own, quality eBook has been one of the best things I have ever done.

      Good luck.
      5 minutes a day? 16,000?

      Nice work, but it sounds to me like you ought to be spending more time on forums...
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  • Profile picture of the author skeetermcgee
    I've learned that no matter what business model you decide to go with, there's always a fear of it flopping and your efforts being for nothing.

    This is one of the main things that held me back for so long from taking any real, continuous action with any given method.

    Once you get past that, just make sure you're in a profitable market, and work until you succeed.

    Just expect from the start that there will be problems, and you'll have to learn how to solve these problems, and as time goes on, you'll become an expert at what you do. That's when you start making money!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tommy Turner
    Amazon can be a good way to go, but it is more about the strategies you use.

    You need to make sure that you create a few books in the same topic so that you build a following. Also, create some free give away eBooks that will link back to your kindle books.

    like anything there are allot of strategies to making money on Amazon...

    I suggest you start by creating some products and do a WSO... It is a great way to make some nice extra money and build your list.

    Best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author JRJWrites
    The trick is to write on stuff you actually know about ... not on just anything.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by JRJWrites View Post

      The trick is to write on stuff you actually know about ... not on just anything.
      You are a writer correct? If I pay you to write about a subject you will correct? How do you do that if it is a subject not of interest to you? do you decline the offer for work? Or do you research my moneys worth and produce a high quality product?
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Logan
    I recommend you a great eBook: Kindle Money Mastery - you will get it here I believe!
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Don't write based on keywords. Don't write Kindle books based on niche. Instead, focus on what you're good at. If your content is QUALITY, your work will gain traction. Focus on quality instead of shortcuts.
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  • Profile picture of the author dndoseller
    If you write a really useful high quality ebook that helps people - you will do well on Amazon and also you can promote and sell it in thousands of places online.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wizardofwisdom
    Do you want to be a writer who happens to get paid sometimes? Or are you more interested in fast cash?

    If writing is your passion, then write about what you love - don't worry about "low competition keywords" - your passion will come through. If the subject is a low search volume, then you'll have a few fans and some pocket money.

    On the other hand, if money is the main goal, (and either way is just fine - you just need to get clear about it), then you need to write for the hot topics and study ways to get promoted through the Amazon and/or Kindle market places.

    However .... the WORST thing you can do is worry about whether your book will "botch" or not. That way, you'll never even start writing.

    Be bold. Start with something that floats your boat. Just write. Unless you're the only person in the world with that interest, there's bound to be some customers. (You can always find a Facebook group who share your interest and tell them about your book - just one hot tip there! )

    Good luck!

    Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

    I was thinking of writing ebooks and being compensated through amazon.

    All the while I keep thinking that my book will botch and nobody will see it.

    If I write according to search term popularity in amazon on a low competition keyword would I make a few sales per book?

    I have a word processor and will to write(lol).
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  • Profile picture of the author dsuitor
    It's very over saturated so just Make sure you write something original... If you are a good writer ( copy writing ) there are a lot of companies and people that will pay you BIG money

    If your good !!!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Fendaril
    Well the promotion tactics that I see in almost every blog post operate on the assumption that you have a group or list of friends on Facebook who would welcome your link to your book.

    I don't have a group on facebook, and I'm not going to spend money advertising a fan page since I was already banned there without explanation when trying to attach my debit card which had sufficient funds on it.

    Im also a little hesitant on free directories, since I imagine it would have the same result as publishing a free article on ezine and expecting a ton of visitors to your site.

    Have there been any case studies done on people who didnt just send a link to their friends and family on facebook to get reviews for the purpose of advertising?
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  • Profile picture of the author elmo033057
    If you can target an audience to a particular niche, you have a much better chance of being able to sell what you have to offer. I chronicled my own experience in this in a post I wrote today, believe it or not.

    In my article I sight a resource by writer Bob Bly which I highly recommend. You can get his books very cheaply from Amazon.

    God Bless,

    ELMO
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  • Profile picture of the author constructor
    Finding the right niche is important i believe. Write something that people would love to read even by spending some $'s for it!!
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  • Profile picture of the author gumilarfardhani
    I think you must gain popularity about yourself first. Maybe some badges like "established writer" or something like that will raise your image. So I think at first you could let your e-book free at first, so you will gain enough popularity to sell a paid one.

    I wish for your success.

    gumilarfardhani.wordpress.com - fantastically free business training blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author schttrj
    Originally Posted by Fendaril View Post

    I was thinking of writing ebooks and being compensated through amazon.

    All the while I keep thinking that my book will botch and nobody will see it.

    If I write according to search term popularity in amazon on a low competition keyword would I make a few sales per book?

    I have a word processor and will to write(lol).
    I think you have got what you need the most.

    The WILL to write.

    Now just get on to it before it wanes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aroon
    If you would like some help writing and just learning about ebooks and how you can create your own, check out this site. The best part of all, it is totally free. Publish on Amazon Kindle for Cash
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  • Profile picture of the author aronax
    If you need some good reviews just search google for verified book reviews and you'll find a site with the same name that helps authors that are in a pickle with their sales. I've purchased only amazon reviews but I see they've expanded to goodreads, barnes and smashwords as well...

    Well worth looking into if you need help in adding some positive reviews to drive the sales or push that malicious one further enough to the second page of reviews...
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  • Profile picture of the author Edward W Smith
    It sounds like you are doing a good job of thinking through the issues before writing your eBook. You are way ahead of the pack by doing that.

    I have some ideas you might consider, most of which will take you outside the realm of focusing on Amazon, even though that is where you plan to sell your eBook.

    I suggest you write an ad for the book before you write the book. You will never use the ad but by thinking through the points that would attract buyers you will probably put those points in the eBook and thus make it more appealing.

    As for marketing the book, I urge you to think outside the Amazon box even though that is where you will sell it. Put together a publicity program to get on TV, radio, in print, etc talking about some element of your book that would appeal to the audience of certain media outlets. Then send targeted focused emails to just those outlets. This way you avoid paying for press releases and your marketing costs are zero.

    Don't talk yourself out of approaching media outlets because you are unknown and not "wired in" or a "big guy". The media does not care about book reviews, they want fresh interesting guests who can talk about something their audience is interested in. The media has fresh space to fill every day and make a real attempt to avoid running the same old material and guests, they need you as much as you need them.

    OK, good luck and keep thinking.

    Edward Smith
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