in this video we are going to see seven things every new Kindle author must know.
in this video we will address seven different aspects that every kindle author must be aware
of to make best use of their Amazon KDP account.
If that's you, then this video will show you some information that might help you to make
better sales and better audience reach.
Number one
categories and keywords - when completing the Kindle eBook details section,
you will notice that only two categories are allowed to be selected.
We must be very careful in selecting these categories for one important reason: which
is that we only have two options and whatever we choose here determines under which category
our ebook will be falling under in the Amazon sales page.
A browse category is the section of the Amazon site where users can find your ebook.
Think of the browse category like the sections of a physical bookstore it could be fiction,
non-fiction, thriller, literature, history, and so on.
Although we have a limited option from the Categories part, which is to select only 2
categories, you would've noticed on any Amazon ebook sales page under the Product Details
section that there are more than 2 categories, like the one shown on your screen now.
So how does this work?
This is where the 'Keywords' do the secret job.
Firstly, we must ensure the title and description of your ebook are aligned with the content
of the book.
This should be written after thorough keyword research.
Secondly, when writing your keywords under the keywords section in your Kindle eBook
Details page, make sure you give absolutely relevant keywords or key phrases.
Above all, don't leave any field blank here and please make use of all the 7 keyword fields.
These Search keywords help readers find your book when they browse the Amazon site.
You can enter keywords or short phrases that describe your book and are relevant to its
content.
The best keywords are those that do not repeat words in the title, category, or description,
as these are already used to help readers find your book.
Some types of keywords are prohibited and may result in content being removed from sale.
To make your book easier to find on Amazon, you need keywords that accurately portray
your book's content and reflect the words customer will use when they search.
Along with factors like sales history and Amazon Best Sellers Rank, relevant keywords
can boost your placement in search results on Amazon.
Here's a pro tip - simply scroll down to any related ebooks in your niche to find a huge
list of keyword ideas.
You can find the keyword rules from this Kindle help topic page.
Get these link from the show notes below.
And this is aspect number two.
Description - it's a cliche, but worth repeating that Amazon
is a search engine and the books get found with the way we title our books and write
our book's descriptions.
In that way, this book description section is often under-utilized by Kindle authors.
In fact, not many know that we can even use HTML tags when writing our descriptions.
Within the limit of 4000 characters, we can use HTML tags such as the Heading tags, bold,
italics, list tags and so on.
This KDP help article has the complete list of HTML tags allowed to be used within the
book description page or the book description field.
Just remember to properly close your HTML tags to avoid formatting errors.
Here's a pro tip again: you can also use my favorite Book Description Generator tool from
Dave Chesson's Kindlepreneur website.
you can find these links in the show notes below.
number three
Price match workaround - KDP offers its authors the option of choosing to enroll in the KDP Select Program
Apart from more exposure of our ebooks, KDP Select also promises us with a couple of free
promotion opportunities that we can make use of.
The 5-day free book promotion and the countdown deals.
This 5-day free promotion can be made use of anytime during the 90 day enrollment period
in the KDP Select program.
The 5- day free promotion works great because, come on, who doesn't want something for free?
But now, this is our next technique.
When you choose the free promotion strategy next, make sure you use all the 5 free days
together planned around holidays and weekends.
I repeat, when you choose your free promotion strategy next time, make sure you use all the 5
free days together that are planned around holidays and weekends.
Here's the reason.
This works exceptionally well when compared to using just 1 or 2 days sporadically spread
out through the 90 days.
I have personally seen this to work well.
And also, just plan the 5 day free promotions as soon as you publish the book and not after
2 or 4 weeks after your publishing date because free promotion can have a snowball effect
when combined with 'new and noteworthy' feature.
Number four.
zero dollar publishing - one disadvantage in my opinion for some authors, although it's
debatable, is that the KDP doesn't allow us to sell the books for free.
Now, I don't want to get into why to sell a book for free in this video, but I definitely want
to share a technique that works when it comes to selling books for free on Kindle.
First, this works on the 'price match' principle of Amazon.
Go to any book's "Product Details" section, and at the end of this section you can find
the text "Would you like to tell us about a lower price?"
- so here' s how we can make use of this feature, not directly, but as an author of our ebook.
First, publish your book on other platforms like Smashwords, or Google Books for free.
Once done email KDP support that the book is available elsewhere for free and to make
your book on Kindle available for $0 too.
That's all.
But beware of two things here: number 1. this goes against you if you already enrolled in
KDP select program and number 2. this action is irreversible in case you want to price
your book again on Kindle, that's why this is known as 'perma-free' on KDP.
Also, while Amazon is under no obligation to honor the price match quickly, or if at
all, many authors have had success with this.
Number five.
author central - even as an indie author, Amazon lets any eBook publisher to create
their own biography page which gets neatly attached to your ebook's sales page.
It's called as the 'Author Central' page.
This page is what people will then see when your name is clicked under your ebook's name.
I highly recommend updating your information for your Amazon Author page with multimedia,
author photograph, blog feeds, etc.
Again, links are in the description section below.
Number six.
now, not all books have the need for including Table of contents, for example, fiction titles
seldom need those.
But for the books that need Table of contents, it's best to include them.
Especially a linked one using heading tags.
If you are not sure how to do this, please let me know in the comments section below
and I can create a tutorial for you on this.
Sometimes, people include TOC at the end of the book by mistake.
However, some authors intentionally keep the TOC at the end because, Amazon treats 'page
reads' and 'page read count' as one feature to determine ebook royalty amount paid to
authors.
So if TOC is at the end, and when people go to the TOC at the end to just have a view
of the book's contents, the automated page read count has the risk of counting it as
book being read fully.
Though this bug is far improved now when compared to few years back, Amazon is still keen on
observing this malpractice.
That being said, please be aware that including TOC at the end of the book to game the system
is against Amazon's policies.
To summarize, just include a TOC, if at all you need them, at the beginning and make sure
you link them appropriately to the chapters.
Number seven.
Paperback titles - add paperback titles in the basket for more reach - serious authors
like you would really want to reach more audience as you can.
Isn't it?
To do that, we must cater to all kinds of readers.
Some are still not okay in reading ebooks on devices and would prefer paperback and
hardbounds.
Some would like to listen to their books while working out in their gym or while driving
their car.
So, make use of Amazon's paperback publishing to reach a more wider audience.
I have created a separate video series on this explaining how to publish paperback books
- just click on the link shown on screen now or get them from the show notes below.
Here's a bonus tip - the "Look Inside" feature.
Sometimes the Look Inside feature may not work like the one you are seeing on screen.
And here's a quick workaround to try when you see this error next time.
You just have to change the Amazon domain to whatever you have to .com
and then see if it works again.
More often than not, this has worked for me as you can see on the screen now.
That's all - hope you enjoyed this video.
If yes, please do like and subscribe for more such videos.
Above all, please let me know in the comments on topics you would want to know more on KDP
or ebook publishing and I will try to create one for you.
You take care and have a great day.
Thanks for watching