How to Make Money on Amazon Selling Books is Easy When You Have a System and a Strategy…
Would you like to make an extra $1000, $5000 or $10,000 per month selling your books on Amazon? Imagine how amazing it would feel to look at your bank account growing every month. Maybe you could even support yourself from your writing. How to make money on Amazon selling books is possible when you think outside the box; in this blog post I’m going to give you my top 5 strategies for making money on Amazon with your books!
Many people dream about being a published author and now with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program, you don’t need to go through a traditional publisher or a literary agent because you can do it yourself. You have the power!
I want to be clear though, becoming a published author, and even becoming a bestselling author is something totally separate from making money with your books. If you want to learn how to make money on Amazon selling books then you need a plan and a strategy to do so.
I run my program at www.bestsellingauthorprogram.com where in the last 2 years I’ve taken over 3 dozen of my clients’ books to the #1 bestsellers list on Amazon. Additionally, I’ve published 5 books of my own and have taken all of those books to the #1 spot on the Amazon bestsellers lists.
Getting a book to the #1 spot on Amazon isn’t easy, if it was then everybody would be doing it, right? It took me over a year to figure out how to do a successful book launch.
Having a #1 bestselling book is important because the bestsellers lists are the most highly searched lists on Amazon. So if you want to be “found” on Amazon, you should set your priority at becoming an Amazon Bestselling Author.
Many of my clients use their bestselling books for lead generation, to attract ideal clients, to elevate their status, to become the go to person in their field, to get media attention, to get more and higher paid speaking engagements, etc. So being a bestselling author has a myriad of benefits.
Here are my top 5 strategies for making money selling books on Amazon:
- Create Multiple Streams of Income from Your Bestselling Book: I have many clients who say they want to create passive income from the royalties with their bestselling book, but there are actually multiple ways you can generate income from your bestselling book. Here is what I recommend: Send the readers (purchasers) of your book to your website for a FREE offer (free ebook, training webinar, checklist, etc. that is related to your book); once they are added to your list, then you will have pre-written autoresponders that go out over a period of time that will give them value and let them know about your products, programs and services; as you develop the relationship with this new subscriber to your list, then you can make special offers for your products, programs and services. In sales you must create 2 things to be successful and those are urgency and scarcity. If you don’t do this, then people will procrastinate. That’s why the “Macy’s One Day Sale” works so well. It forces people to go to Macy’s on that particular day and get the item or items they want for a special price. Macy’s does one day sales all the time because it works! So you can make money from the sales of your books, but if you set up a system, you can make more money on the back end of your book.
- Write a Series of Books Instead of Just One Book: On Amazon, the magic number for a series of books is 3. Write 3 books on a related topic and make sure that each book solves a big problem that your ideal client is having. Then when they finish one book, you always let them know about your other books and how those will solve different problems they may be having. I have both fiction and non-fiction clients that write 3 books in a series and they get a lot of repeat buyers. I am writing a series of 3 books right now on women and self worth and each book creates sales for my other books. The first two books in the series are I Love Myself When and Woman, Take Hold of Your Power. These books have remained on the bestsellers list since I launched them and have both made it to #1 in Hot New Releases! I’m working on the third book in this series now.
- Create a Book Publishing Empire By Publishing One Book Per Month: Steve Scott (who also writes under the name S.J. Scott) used this strategy very successfully. In 2012, he decided to focus his efforts on publishing one book per month on Amazon and now he has 41 books published generating a monthly income between $29,000 and $40,000 per month! In October 2014, I decided because I am a writer and love to write (and can write a book in a day or two) that I would follow along with this strategy and publish a book a month! One thing that Steve Scott has done that I want to point out is that he stuck to his topic of “developing good habits” and has not veered off of that. So he gets a lot of repeat buyers and readers. Moreover, Steve has built a massive email list with this strategy. My email list is growing exponentially since I started publishing more books on Amazon. This method is not for everyone, but if you can write a blog post, you can write and publish a book on Amazon. Right now “Short-Reads” on Amazon are very hot and I tell my clients, you don’t have to write the manifesto on a topic…instead solve one big problem with your book. So for example, let’s say you are a marketing consultant; instead of writing the manifesto on all things marketing…just write one short book that solves a problem about marketing. For example, one book on how to build an email list; another book about branding and logo design; another book about copywriting; another book about paid advertising. A great book that I recommend is Write Short Kindle Books by Nathan Meunier!
- Leverage Radio Show Interviews to Sell More Books: I have a client, Nancy Hartwell, who has kept her book #1 and #2 on Amazon for 2 1/2 years which is a huge achievement since Amazon updates bestsellers lists hourly which means that a book can go up and down from day to day. Nancy, however, found a strategy that works for her and that is doing 2-3 radio interviews per week. We launched Nancy’s book to the #1 bestsellers list in April of 2013 and she is currently earning $2300 to $2800 in royalties per month from her book, Harem Slave. I interviewed Nancy recently for my Amazon Bestseller program and Nancy gave an example of how she did an interview with a radio host on Blog Talk Radio who has a following of over 10,000 people. When her interview aired the next day, her book sold 400 copies! Since her book sells for $5.99 on Amazon and her royalty is 70% which is $4.19 per book, she made $1,676 by doing that radio interview. Not bad for an hours worth of work from the comfort of your home, right?
- Promote Your Book on Your Website and On Your Autoresponders: I know published authors who don’t have a link to their book on Amazon and I don’t understand why. You want your book on Amazon to lead people to your website and your want your website and autoresponders to lead people to your book on Amazon. If you do this, then your book and your website work in tandem with one another. Don’t be the best kept secret in your industry! Also, while you’re at it, make sure you have your automatic signature that either leads them to your book or to your website to sign up for your email list. The money is in the list, so if you don’t have an email list, you don’t have a business. If my websites go down tomorrow, I still have a business because I have thousands of subscribers on my email list through Aweber.
There you have it! How to Make Money on Amazon Selling Books is possible if you diversify and follow my strategies.
Publishing a book is not a “one and done” event. It requires work if you want to build a business with and around your bestselling book.
I’d love to speak with you about your book! If you would like a FREE strategy session with me, then please fill out my questionniare here and we will talk soon about how I can help you become a #1 bestselling author and make more money on Amazon with your book. It’s all about having a strategy, a system, and of course, a great Coach and Mentor!
