Marketing Tips From Bruce The Book Guy
What author doesn’t want to sell thousands of books on Amazon? I would love to brag about doing that, but I like many authors have had some trouble connecting to my audience. Bruce the Book Guy has made $322,650 selling his books on Amazon. His new book, How I Made $322,650 Selling Books on Amazon is available for download. I was so eager to learn about his great tips that Bruce and I did a Zoom call (see below) where he provided some useful insights.
Bruce the Book Guy Tip #1: Write and Publish Lots of Books
Bruce is the author of more than 50 books. Only 3 or 4 books sell 1,000 copies a year, less than a dozen sell 200-300 copies a year, and the rest only a few copies annually. Publishing numerous books has helped him make thousands of dollars on Amazon. Bruce is following the strategy of publishing companies that have hundreds of books in their catalog with only a few making mega sales. Publishing companies do this because they are always out for the next best thing and the revenue they generate from their top sellers more than make up for losses.
Bruce the Book Guy Tip #2: Do Your Research and Test Your Material
Authors have to know what readers want and Bruce regularly checks his analytics on his website, Google, and Amazon listings to determine what is selling. He pre-publishes PDFs on www.gumroad.com, a website where people can post PDFs and music files for sale. He sells the unedited pdf for a nominal price and checks if people will download the material. These beta PDFs reveal important data on what people will buy.
Bruce the Book Guy Tip #3: Break Up Your Content, Post It On Your Blog and Include Ads for Your Books on Those Pages that Link to Amazon
Bruce is a big fan of breaking up content and posting it on his blog. He says that both fiction and non-fiction authors can do this. The photos and other content from his earlier books on guitar chords are posted to his blog, www.brucethebookguy.blogspot.com. Google has posted this content in Google Images, Pinterest, and other websites. The high ranking he gets from this content brings people to his blog. Bruce has ads for his books all over the blog posts and running down the side. He says the biggest mistake people make is not including the Amazon link on your book ads. He knows from Google Analytics that many users click on these ads that take them over to Amazon where they can buy his books. (Please check out Image 1a for an example.)
Bruce the Book Guy Tips #4: Include a Resource Page On Your Blog
Bruce has found that his resource pages get a lot of traffic as people are looking for ways to publish and market their book. He suggests starting small and regularly adding to it. He makes sure that his book ads are prominently displayed on the page, so when readers are looking for self- publishing and book marketing tips, they will see his other books.
Bruce the Book Guy Tip #5: Include Your Contact Information and Social Media Handles in Your Books
A lot of readers who enjoy your book may want to reach out to you. Bruce makes it easier for users to connect with him by including his contact information and, over the years, he has received suggestions from readers about what he should publish. It is also a good idea to include a link to your website and your social media handles as a way to build your mailing list. Having a large mailing list is a way to market directly to people who have expressed an interest in your books.
Bruce the Book Guy Tip #6: Use Youtube.com, Google.com, and Amazon.com to Find Keywords
Bruce says all authors should put in the name of their genre into a search on Youtube, Google, and Amazon to see which keywords come up. These keywords should be included in the book description because they are what people are searching for. All social media platforms use keywords, and knowing which ones are associated with your book can help readers find your titles.
Bruce the Book Guy Tip #7: Create an Open Facebook Group
Connecting with readers and those interested in the topic you write about can help an author sell books. Bruce has almost five thousand members in his Facebook Group, How To Publish Your Book. He has an open group which means that people can see his content and ask to join. Bruce said that is it important to monitor your group and remove people who are not contributing beneficial content. He encourages people to participate and when he has a new book out he shares information and links for people to purchase.
I hope you have enjoyed reading these tips and listening to the interview I did with Bruce. Feel free to leave a comment on what book marketing you have used to sell books.
Candace Waller is a Christian fiction author. Her novel, What Goes Around Comes Around can be purchased on Amazon. Her new book Good Things Comes, a sequel to What Goes Around Comes Around, is available for preorder on Amazon.