Why Are You Not Maintaining Your Asset

One of the big mistakes I see people make in this publishing business is they neglect their books.

Let me ask you, if you built a house won't you maintain it (clean it from time to time, re-paint it)? If you bought a car won't you maintain it (change engine oil, top the water, change tires when they wear out etc)?

If you are a responsible owner, you will do all you can to maintain your assets and make sure they're in top condition to continue performing for you.

Likewise, a book is an asset..you don't just publish it and leave it there for spirits to maintain. If you want it to keep on earning for you, you need to be a bit more hands-on.

When I wake up in the morning, I go on my laptop, refresh my KDP dashboard and check how much I made the previous day, I take note of it in my spreadsheet to make sure I'm on target to meet my monthly goals.

I then check my ad campaigns to see which ones aren't performing so well. I try to figure out why by testing things.

I check all my books to see which ones aren't doing so well and also try to figure out why and what i can do to make sure things improve.

Like I always say, if you treat this like a serious business it'll pay you like a serious business. If you treat it like a hobby it'll pay you like a hobby

To consistently earn, you need to be more hands-on

Variables you can control

- Is the book description converting well? test it
- Is the price point bringing in enough sales? test it
- Is the sub-title compelling enough? Does it convey your unique selling point? test it
- Is your book ranking on page 1 for its main keywords? if it's not then you didn't niche down sufficiently
- Is the book cover good? Don't be cheap. A bad book cover will affect sales
- Can I afford to run ads to this book?

These are variables you can control and things you can test to see if sales improve.

How To Write A Compelling Book Description

A book description is where you have the opportunity to convince the customer why they should purchase your book instead of that of your competition. It's very important you make it count.

From my experience publishing for over 2 years, I've found the below format to work best.

A = Attention (Grab the customers attention)
I = Interest (Spike their interest)
D = Desire (Get them to desire your book)
A = Action (Ask them to purchase your book)

An example..let's say that you have a book called Backpain - 10 simple remedies you can use to cure acute back pain in 30 days

Attention:

According to a report by the National Institute of Neurological Neurological Disorders And Stroke, About 80% of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lifetimes. If you want to learn how to prevent or manage this problem, read on..


Interest:

Here you lead with a question e.g. Do you have acute back pain? Are you looking for a reliable way to cure your back pain? In this book, Michael (the author) will show you 10 simple ways you can use to cure acute back pain. You don't need any special skills for this.


Desire:

Here you mention the benefits in your book in order to stimulate their desire. Make them yearn to have your book e.g.

In this book, you'll discover:

- What structures make up the back?
- What causes lower back pain?
- What are the risk factors for developing low back pain?
- How is low back pain diagnosed?
- How is back pain treated?
- Can back pain be prevented?
- Recommendations for keeping one’s back healthy

..and much, much more!


Action:

You end with a commanding call to action e.g.

You do not need to be part of the statistics. You deserve better and I implore you to take back your health - Get a copy of this book and you'll be well on your way to developing a healthy back muscle.

Scroll to the top of this page and click the "Buy Now" button

whats the best time to hit the publish button for kindle book

HeliosHay:


1. You can change the title of the kindle ebook but not the paperback version. You can also change the keyword phrases and niches/categories the book is in. However, if the book is not published under a profitable keyword or ranking on page 1 for its main keyword, it'll be hard to get sales (esp if you run no ads).

2. You can't eliminate the withholding tax if you live in a country that does not have a tax treaty with the USA. All you can do is minimise it (I can't reveal exactly how as that information is in the blueprint)

thanks for the info

eliok:
Op you get it

A lil bit but I'll try it, thanks BTW

eliok:
whats the best time to hit the publish button for kindle book

When you've provided all the requirements (book cover, manuscript, book description etc.)

Don't rely on one book

Just like Apple or Samsung don't rely on one phone to maintain (or increase their revenue), you as a publisher don't have to rely only on one book for your income. Try and consistently produce books..especially if you want to scale up.

If you keep publishing the right way, eventually you'll get to a point where you'll be making $1000+ each month without much work.

Are you in it to make money on the front end or the back end?

People in publishing are usually divided into two different camps. Those in it to make money on the front end i.e. they make money solely from the ebook royalties. In this case, it's best to price your books in the 70% royalty rate band (your book has to be between $2.99 and $9.99)

Then you have those in this business to make money on the back end i.e. those that have a bigger priced item to sell to customers they acquired via their book e.g. a real estate agent could acquire a customer through a book and end up making commissions from that same customer when he/she purchases a course or a house through that agent. In this case, you have to sacrifice money on the front end (price your book at $0.99 or $0.00) in order to acquire as many customers in your email list as possible. You then build a relationship with them, gain their trust and then do business with those looking to purchase your other big-ticket items

You need to decide which camp you're in and adjust your strategy accordingly

Opportunities Abound

Given the recent changes made on ACX, if you publish the right kind of audiobook, you're highly likely to make back your investment in less than 4 months.

Publishing at a high level is no longer about slapping content together, publishing them on Amazon and praying to God things work out. You have to be strategic..especially when it comes to Audiobooks

While 90% of people will look at the obstacles put in place by ACX that makes it difficult to publish audiobooks from Nigeria, clever and business savvy individuals know that the higher the barrier to entry, the less competition one faces and the greater the opportunities to make a lot of money....at least until ACX relaxes the rules to allow everyone in.

Those who know how to LEGALLY get past that barrier (shown in the kindle blueprint) will have a competitive advantage...but for how long?

Just crossed 12,500 unit sales in audiobooks (i.e. more than $37,500 in earnings)

Beginner Tips

If you're a beginner looking to maximize the return on your investment and earn as much royalty as possible, it's best to avoid publishing books with a lot of pictures.

Pictures increase the file size of your manuscript and this, in turn, increases the delivery cost Amazon charges you each time a customer purchases your book.

The more pictures you have in your book, the more you pay in delivery cost. This will eat into your profit margin

There is a workaround for this (discussed in the blueprint). But, in the absence of that strategy, it's best to avoid pictures like the plague.

The Book Title

Every good non-fiction takes the form - Title: Subtitle e.g. Backpain For Pregnant Women: 5 Tips You Can Use To Cure Back Pain In 30 Days


The title section is a very concise summary of what the book is about whereas the subtitle section is where you expand more on the topic of discussion.

A good book title/subtitle is supposed to:

1. Identify/Isolate your market/audience
2. Expose your book to as many keywords as possible (via keyword stacking)
3. Be rich with benefits (what's in it for the customer)
4. Highlight your unique selling point (How is your book different from that of the competition)
5. Make your customers curious
6. Make realistic promises etc.

The title section should always contain your MOST profitable keyword..or a niched down version of it.

Once any keyword you identify passes all the criteria shown in the Kindle Blueprint, all you have to do now is stack them to maximise your book's exposure. This will help you rank for as many keywords as possible and give your book that extra edge above your competition

The Launch

You've found a profitable keyword to publish a book in

You've composed a winning book outline (for those looking to outsource to a ghostwriter)

You've got your manuscript back from your writer

You've got the book cover designed

You've got the book formatted (for Kindle and paperback)

You've composed a compelling book description

You've uploaded your manuscript and cover on KDP

You've set the price of your book

You've published your book

...it doesn't end there. You still need to make sure you launch that book. This will help ensure that you get as many people to download your book as possible during the first week or so. The more exposed your book is, the more downloads you'll get.

The more downloads you get, the more your book is able to rank for a lot of different keywords.

As your book begins to rank for different keywords, it's like a new tree developing an extensive root network. The same root network that will support the tree and help it withstand a big storm etc. without falling over.

When your book ranks well, it's more likely to generate good organic sales after your promotions are over.

Strategy 5 in the Kindle Blueprint shows you a strategy (unknown to 80% of publishers) that'll help you increase your book's exposure by as much as 400%. This resource is actually available to publishers if they request it from Amazon KDP but out of ignorance people don't know it's at their disposal.

Strategy 7 and 8 in the Blueprint will help ensure that your book is well optimized to maximise how much royalties you're earning from your kindle and paperback books

Strategy 9 will help you ensure that you're maximising how much royalties you're making from kindle page reads. A lot of people don't even pay enough attention to this aspect of KDP - they leave money on the table

and much, much more.

You owe it to yourself to make sure that, after you've done everything well up to publishing the book, you launch correctly.

Furthermore, while some people spend $280 to have only one book, strategy 6 in the Blueprint shows you how you can get as much as 4-6 books from that same investment.

Like I always say, to scale up quickly, it's not enough to work hard - you need to work smart.

Sales Update

Halfway through the month of June and I am still on target to make over $8000 from kindle, paperback, audiobook and kenp royalties.

In terms of performance, June has been slower than May - most especially KENP as there have been less 2000+ days.

Audiobook has performed better compared to the same time last month given that I have already sold more than 530 audiobooks and we're only halfway through.

Total earning so far (January 2019 - May 2019) - $50,026.81 (N18 million)

The rich don't work for money, their money works for them.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr09kKDGuRw

Reinvesting Profits

Those people that scale up in this business are, more often than not, those with the discipline to save up and re-invest their profit back into their business. This allows you to grow your assets without using a credit card or taking loans from any bank.

Some people make a few thousand dollars and end up going cruising in the Caribbean while others delay that gratification till they're earning more than enough money that allows them to reinvest and still have some money left over.

Which category do you belong in? choose wisely

Rule #11 - Money is your personal army, it should go out and bring back prisoners

Every dollar you have is your personal soldier. Every morning you send them out onto the battlefield. Some will die, some will conquer. Your goal is for more of them to return back home with prisoners.

If you start thinking about your freedom soldiers, you'll begin to be a lot more careful of the troops you give away when someone asks to borrow some of your soldiers.

Every time you give someone money, you run the risk of this person killing your soldiers and never seeing them again - soldiers that would have served you well!

When you have no soldiers you're wiped out - that's the game of life


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_emBcTU0wKo

Made $506.99 yesterday

Expanded distribution sales came in early yesterday with 39 sales. I also had the highest paperback sales day ever - sold 44 paperbacks.

Also managed to sell a total of 29 audiobooks yesterday with a kindle page reads of 2,643.

Across the board (ebooks, paperbacks, KENP and Audiobooks), yesterday brought in $506.99 pushing my estimate for June to over $9000 (assuming this momentum continues).

These screenshots show you what's possible in this business. You've seen my slow days as well as my high days

Expanded Distribution

Expanded Distribution can help you reach more readers through bookstores, online retailers, libraries, and academic institutions.

Booksellers and libraries purchase paperbacks from large distributors. If you enroll your paperback in Expanded Distribution, Amazon will make your book available to distributors so booksellers and libraries can find your book and order it.

Amazon KDP currently work with US distributors, but booksellers and libraries outside of the US may purchase books from these US distributors. It's free to enroll your paperback in Expanded Distribution, and it allows your book to be made broadly available outside of Amazon.

How To Enroll your paperback

- Go to your KDP Bookshelf.
- Find the paperback you want to enroll.
- Under the Paperback Actions menu, click the ellipsis button "…"
- Choose Edit paperback rights & pricing. For published paperbacks, choose Edit print book pricing.
- In the "Royalty and Pricing" section, check the Expanded Distribution box for each available marketplace.
- When you finish setting your price, click Publish Your Paperback Book.

yea..i'm interested

dd12345:
yea..i'm interested

Interested in what?

Hello, How about Pascal! What's the update on his progress and earnings so far?
Thanks for sharing this info BTW.

jenykaris:
Hello, How about Pascal! What's the update on his progress and earnings so far?
Thanks for sharing this info BTW.

You're welcome.

Paschal still has only 1 book and cannot afford to run ads to it so all his sales are currently organic. I no longer have access to his account but he tells me he made $21 last month.

What Most People Do Not Realise

If you don't have money to do this business properly, don't bother getting started (or at the very least manage your expectations when you do get started).

Most books need some sort of marketing in order to continue making sales sustainably. After your book is published, if you do things properly with regards to keyword research and subsequent free promotions, Amazon will take over and promote your book for the first 30 days - it'll push your book to page 1 and give it ample exposure.

Those first 30 days are very crucial as the Amazon algorithm is testing to see how well your book is received and if your book will sell well. If after 30 days your book has good sales history, it'll more than likely continue to maintain it's spot on page 1 of its most relevant keywords. If it doesn't have the sales history to back it up, your book will fall off into oblivion where no one will find it.

Know this - the Amazon algorithm is ONLY interested in making the most money for Amazon. That means pushing relevant books that customers are MOST LIKELY to buy. If it gives your book the chance to shine and it doesn't impress, it'll dump it for another book.

That's the reality of Kindle publishing and why it's important you do things properly instead of winging it and then hope for the best.

So many people make this mistake..they get so excited and rush in without having the necessary financial resources to give it a good go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcCG_zdAu6Q

Normal Publishing v Strategic Publishing

When you've been in this publishing business long enough, you'll realise that what works on Kindle may not work as well on Paperback and Audiobook.

While most people pay no attention to royalty optimization, a few others make it a big part of how they publish.

To maximize the royalties you earn from each book, you need to think strategically. You need to ask yourself:

- What factors affect royalties on kindle, paperback and audiobook?
- How can I optimize these factors to ensure that I am making the most money with each version of the book?
- What is the sweet spot in terms of pricing for the niche i am in?
- How can I adjust my word count to ensure my book isn't too short or too long? too long and you sacrifice too much royalty, too short and you risk customer backlash (complaints that its a booklet not worth the price etc.)
- How can I price my book to ensure I increase my chance of getting plenty of expanded distribution sales?

and much, much more!

These are things savvy publishers pay attention to before they delve in. People that consistently earn a lot from publishing don't just rely on luck. There's always a method to the madness.

They pay attention to DETAILS.

Royalties in Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners' Lending Library

You're eligible for royalty payment from Kindle Unlimited (KU, or Abonnement Kindle in France) and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (KOLL) for pages an individual customer reads in your book for the first time.

A customer can read your book as many times as they like, but Amazon KDP will only pay you for the number of pages read the first time the customer reads them. It may take months for customers to read pages in your book, but no matter how long it takes, Amazon still pay you once it happens. This is true even if your KDP Select enrollment period has expired, and you choose not to re-enroll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppUx4J3J9FY

HeliosHay:


You're welcome.

Paschal still has only 1 book and cannot afford to run ads to it so all his sales are currently organic. I no longer have access to his account but he tells me he made $21 last month.

y

Thanks for the update, I hope to be mentored by You ASAP!

@helioshay...trust you are doing well financially and otherwise.....you know, each time I come across your progress reports, I sincerely wish and hope that was me as well...I know a few of us (speaking for others as well in ghostmode) would like you to show us the ropes and mentor us on this path but for the financial implication in addition to other outsourcing tasks and amazon ads that would be financially demanding (for great and "sellable" books). I would appreciate if you could consider some of us who are very well interested with your services by reducing the cost implication of your mentorship, I know you have stressed so much on this but I nevertheless thought to still bring it up. Another promo as your previously did would go a long way in helping those of us that are very much interested (especially those of us who missed the previous promo). Kindly think through this and the good you would also be doing to most of us out here...in the end, its in your power to reduce or not reduce the cost without flinching.

Thanks in anticipation of your positive response.

charlsy:
@helioshay...trust you are doing well financially and otherwise.....you know, each time I come across your progress reports, I sincerely wish and hope that was me as well...I know a few of us (speaking for others as well in ghostmode) would like you to show us the ropes and mentor us on this path but for the financial implication in addition to other outsourcing tasks and amazon ads that would be financially demanding (for great and "sellable" books). I would appreciate if you could consider some of us who are very well interested with your services by reducing the cost implication of your mentorship, I know you have stressed so much on this but I nevertheless thought to still bring it up. Another promo as your previously did would go a long way in helping those of us that are very much interested (especially those of us who missed the previous promo). Kindly think through this and the good you would also be doing to most of us out here...in the end, its in your power to reduce or not reduce the cost without flinching.

Thanks in anticipation of your positive response.

I'm doing alright @charlsy. Hope you are too?

I'll discount the price of both the mentorship and blueprint until the end of June

Mentorship is now available at N100,000 (33% Discount from N150,000)

Kindle Blueprint is also available at N15,000 (25% Discount from N20,000)

Note - At this discounted price, the blueprint will not be free to those who purchase the mentorship package.

Both will return to their usual price on June 30, 2019 11:59 GMT

jenykaris:
y

Thanks for the update, I hope to be mentored by You ASAP!

You're welcome JenyKaris.

Feel free to shoot me an email when you're ready to begin.

Royalty Update

So something interesting is happening. As we approach June ending, my paperback sales have taken off - I've had 9 consecutive days of 20+ paperback sales as well as selling just over 900 audiobooks so far this month!

Today my royalties for June just crossed $8000 (across ebook, kenp, paperback and audiobook) and I'm estimating I might hit $10,000 again if this momentum continues for the next 6 days.

On a sour note, my royalty earnings have sort of plateaued around $8000 - $10,000 per month for a while now. It's a bit disappointing but that's business for you - some books do great one month and then slow down the next. You just have to keep producing. That being said, I'm planning to launch a few more books next month so things are really looking exciting.