Marketing Tips from Amazon Bestselling Author – Rick Gualtieri
Experienced writers know that writing the book is only half the battle. The other half is marketing the book. Without marketing, a book will not sell. Online book marketing is good way for writers to reach their audiences, but it is not without complexity. Another drawback is that what worked six month ago may not continue to be effective, as the algorithms on Facebook and Amazon change a lot.
Please check out the video interview I did with Rick how authors can utilize Amazon. He had some wonderful tips.
I had the pleasure of meeting with Rick Gualtieri, a self-published writer, who has sold over quarter million books. He has written more than 30 books, most of them under the categories of “Humorous Fantasy,” “Horror Comedy,” and “Horror Literature and Fiction”. I wanted to know the obvious answer: how did he sell so many books? He says luck has a lot to do with it, but also hard work. Please keep reading for his tips.
Tip #1 Keep Writing
Gualtieri said he first started writing eight years ago for the fun of it. He never expected anyone to actually read his books. He didn’t have a lot of success marketing his first four books and mainly sold them to family and friends. It wasn’t until he wrote his fifth book (The Mourning Woods) that readers started to find him. That book that created buzz and made readers buy his other books. Gualtieri said that readers like book series with at least three books because they often get hooked into characters, and they look for more books that feature them.
Tip #2 Editing Matters
At the very least Gualtieri says that authors should have someone else edit their books. Professional editing is an expensive cost to the author, but necessary to present the best book possible to readers. A book that contains lots of typos and formatting errors will turn off readers. There are different type of editors. There are proofreaders who edit the story for spelling, typographical errors and grammar. The costs for these services can be a few hundred dollars. Development editors help an author craft their story and look at pacing, character development and plot among other things The cost for these type of editors to work on a 50,000 word-manuscript can cost $1500 or more. Gualtieri carefully revises his first few drafts before asking a select group of readers for feedback.
#3 Use Beta Readers
Beta readers are people who read the pre-production book and give the author insight on the story, characters and plot. Gualtieri uses beta readers to gauge the appeal of the story. He asks 10-12 beta readers for feedback and includes examples of the types of feedback he’s looking for. Once he gets the feedback, he looks for trends in the comments to see what’s in needof changing. Finding errors or issues before a book launches can save a lot of heartache later.
#4 Amazon Categories Matter
Gualtieri says the first two books in his Tome of Bill series were originally in the humor and horror categories, where they didn’t find a good deal of readership. He found his niche when he recategorized his books in “Contemporary Fantasy”. Gualtieri says that categories help readers find an author’s book but, the wrong category can impede sales. A reader could leave a one star review simply because the book wasn’t what they were expecting, he explained. Amazon has many categories that an author can pick to associate with their book. The good thing here is that you can test your book in different categories to see where it has the most impact.
#5 Study the Competition
Amazon has a lot of information for authors, if they know where to look. He suggests going into the category an author wants to write and see who the top sellers are. Take a look inside the book, analyze the covers, see if they are using paid advertising and visit their author pages. The author page on Amazon can list information about the author, such as the author biography, website or blog, video and latest blog post. Look at trends and use that information when coming up with your marketing blurb and cover design. Another tip Gualtieri says worked for him was to experiment with Amazon keywords in both KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) and within the book description as Amazon indexes books using those keywords.
Check out Gualtieri’s latest book Everyday Horrors (Bill of the Dead 2) that follows the escapades of Vampire nerd, Bill Ryder who is trying to save New York City vampires from a determined hunter. This book is available at Amazon in Kindle, Paperback and Audio formats.
Book Description from Amazon:
There are reasons we fear the night. He’s NOT one of them.Bill Ryder was a dateless geek, but then he met a girl to die for. So he did. Sadly, that was just the beginning of his troubles. He awoke as a vampire but, fangs or not, he was still at the bottom of the food chain.