The Stuff All Authors Should Know and Do...

The Visible and Invisible Elements That Drive Book Sales on Amazon

Back in November, I wrote a couple of forthright articles that caused a little stir. The first was titled ‘Let’s Be Really Honest - Publishing Books is Tough!’, and it's true: being a self-published author is a hell of a challenge. Making a success of it is an even steeper road to walk, especially in today's market, where every author is vying for a piece of the reader's attention.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. There are a handful of proven strategies that do work, which I alluded to in my follow-up article, ‘Don’t Give Up!’. If you're willing to put in the effort, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of success. In this new series of articles, I'll be taking a more in-depth look at the key elements every author should follow to maximize their potential for success, starting right now.

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Lets Talk Numbers - Again

I’ve previously outlined some stark data on why publishing a book - whether through the traditional route or self-publishing - is so damned difficult. It's worth repeating here to put things into perspective. According to a survey from Publisher's Weekly:

• 77% of self-published authors earn less than $1,000 annually.

• Of these, 33% make less than $500, regardless of how many books they’ve published.

It’s sobering, but that's not all. Another statistic I've seen elsewhere shows that the majority of self-published books sell fewer than 100 copies in their lifetime. Yes, you read that correctly: less than 100 copies. We’re not talking telephone numbers here.

Photo by dominik hofbauer on Unsplash

Now, let’s add another disheartening figure to the mix: Amazon, which controls roughly 60% of the ebook market, publishes over 4,500 new books every day. Yes, every day. This amounts to somewhere between 2 and 4 million new books being released annually on their platform alone. Let that sink in for a moment.

2 - 4 million new books.

A.

Year.

Oof.

It’s no wonder that standing out is such a challenge.

Now, I'm sure you've come across plenty of articles promising that if you just "Do This One Thing," your sales will skyrocket. It could be optimising your keywords, writing a compelling blurb, getting a flood of reviews, or designing an amazing cover. Sure, all of these things help, but by themselves, they are unlikely to transform your sales overnight.