I love to read and listen to the stories of men and women that have achieved greatness in areas such as business and sport. What I am most keen to hear are the decisons they have made or the opportunities they have taken that led them to where they are now. In some instances, it was 1 key decision that they made. For others, it was sheer determination and a will of never giving up. Perhaps is was an event that occured in childhood, at school or at their workplace that inspired them to make a change? Whatever the situation, I'm always inspired by the growth these people experience and the challenges they have faced, or continue to face to reach the top.
Personally, I am still on a very long journey to achieve 'mastery' in my chosen field. Perhaps I may never reach the top and that will therefore promote lifelong learning and growth? It is important to continue to challenge yourself, bounce back from setbacks and understand that we are all on our unique journeys...
So, I thought that it may help you to know what have been the 5 Key Decsions so far that have had the greatest influence on scaling my Self-Publishing? Since December 2019, I have sold over 100,000 books and have generated significant ongoing and passive revenue from these titles. Compared to many authors, 100,000 sales is a drop in the ocean, but for me, that is a huge achievement over a relatively should period of time that I am very proud of.
Therefore, let me share my TOP 5 Decisions that have had the most impact on my sales and in no particular order.
Diversification: I publish my books across multiple platforms (excluding No Content Books and some forms of Low Content Books on Ingram and Draft2Digital). These platforms include Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital and I do have 4 audiobooks on Findaway Voices. These platforms provide fantastic exposure to my brand across the globe and will overtime grow my customer base.
Niche Focus: In the beginning, I was jumping from one so called 'Hot Niche' to another. One YouTube video would say 'do this' and another would say, "no, do that". What I found was that if I spent some quality time researching profitable niches and then focused just on that niche for several months, it made a huge difference! It's not the size of the niche that counted, but the quality of the books I created and this therefore attracted quality reviews and increased sales.
Marketing and Advertising: When I first started on KDP, I thought that Amazon would promote my book! In reality, Amazon don't care about your book unless it sells! I therefore needed to invest in different forms of free and paid marketing such as Amazon Ads, Facebook and Google Ads. I also created a website (www.globalselfpublishing) to direct customers to. Regardless of your budget, you MUST focus on marketing/advertising and do whatever you can. There is NO EXCUSE including having $0 budget to market your book. There are always ways and it just takes effort and confidence in your book.
Buidling an Audience: The easiest way to sell more books is through exisiting customers. These customers are more likely to buy again if they loved their initial purchase. From about July 2020, I started to include a free giveaway inside each book. The giveaway may take 2 - 3 hours to create but it would be a digital download or PDF document with something 'EXTRA' that was related to the book. I was therefore able to build my audience and a loyal customer base that I could reach out to for each new book launch. I've created a course about how I do this if you are interested. Check it out here on Udemy: https://bit.ly/3s8Cp4z
A Positive Impact: I must admit that for the first 8 - 10 books I created/authored, the quality wasn't up to standard. I was just trying to create some books, launch them and see if I could get some sales. The moment I made the switch to provide a 'Positive Impact' to my customers be that as a gift for someone else, a children's educational workbook on how to learn how to write, or even deveoping incremental habit change (The Habit Switch), my book quality improved, my reviews were stronger and my sales therefore grew significantly.
Well, I hope the above 5 points have helped you in some way? Remember, opportunities are always passing and it is up to you to recognise those opportunities as they pass by. Some will work out, others may not, but soon enough, one opportunity or decison you make could completley change the direction of your life!
Kind Regards,
Romney
Romney Nelson is an international Best-Selling Author and Best-Selling Course Instructor on Udemy. Romney is the Founder of Global Self-Publishing, where he is committed to empowering individuals with the tools and resources to Self-Publish.
Visit all of Romney’s Best-Selling Udemy Courses on Self-Publishing here:
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