Since I've been putting a lot of focus in to creating a course on publishing lately, you may see quite a few posts on the topic over the next several days. I'm also doing a case study on Udemy in the process. Since my product hasn't been approved through their system yet, I'll have to start doing a bit of teaching on the subject here.
Just to give you an idea of some of the stuff that I'd like to teach in this course, I'm going to make a short list of tips that will help people be a little more successful with publishing.
Tip #1 – Always recreate your books in print. Many people stick to just Kindle and they're leaving a TON of money on the table. I used CreateSpace to quickly and easily create print versions of all of my books. In most cases, my print books outsell my Kindle books. Kindle books with cheap price tags get the initial reviews and sales spike but print books seem to get the long-term sales.
Tip #2 – Get all fiction books recorded as audio books. This also works with non-fiction that doesn't require any pictures. You can either record the books yourself with free software like Audacity or Garage Band or you can hire a voiceover actor on Upwork or ACX.com. Once you've got the audio recorded, use ACX.com to publish the audiobook. They publish to Amazon, Audible, and iTunes.
Tip #3 – Promote your book to your existing list and to your Facebook/Twitter followers. Ask them to leave reviews and let them know that you'd be picking one special winner and giving them a prize. People will leave favorable reviews because they think it gives them a better chance of winning the prize.
Tip #4 – Use your books as lead generators. In the beginning and end of each book, put a link to where users can go to get a special bonus. Have them opt-in to your GetResponse email form in exchange for the bonus (videos / interviews / audio version of book). This will begin building a list of buyers of your book. You will then have this list to promote future products and future books to.
Tip #5 – Do an audio interview with one or two people in the niche you created the book for. You can then get this audio transcribed at Rev.com. This transcription acts as extra content that you can add to the end of the book. The last 20 pages of my existing book contains several interviews from WordPress experts. The audio from this interview can also be used as a bonus to get email opt-ins.
Tip #6 – Get high-quality book covers made. This is very important. People buy book covers on Fiverr and really get what they pay for… Invest a little bit to make your book look as professional as possible. People can tell the difference between self-published and professional. To increase the chance of a lot of sales, make the book look professional.
Tip #7 – Offer bonuses in exchange for bulk purchases… This is something I learned from Tim Ferriss. Make an announcement on your blog, Facebook timeline, Twitter feed, and mailing list… Let people know that if they purchase 10 copies, they'll get X (a personal interview with you, a free audio version, etc)… If they buy 100 copies, they'll receive X (a shoutout on your blog, and gift-card to Amazon, etc.). This won't account for a ton of sales but it can really help kickstart things if you make the right offer.
Tip #8 – Give away a few free copies of the print book early on in exchange for reviews. This jumpstarts the review process on Amazon. Take the best quotes from the reviews you received and add them to the front of your book. This helps justify the purchase when new readers first open your book. You're much more likely to continue to receive favorable reviews from then on out.
Tip #9 – Cross-link books. At the end of every book you make, put the Amazon URLs to all of your other books. I even go as far as updating all my old books whenever a new one comes out. If people enjoyed the book they purchased, they are likely to check out other books from you. This is powerful.
This is just a handful of tips that I can offer for now. I'm waiting for my new course to get approved. I'll show you how I do everything I mentioned and a ton more.
Do you have a book out? What advice would you give?
