Welcome to hero TV! Today we've got
Michelle McCullough and I've asked her
to talk to us about how to publish a
book on Amazon because I've just watched
you do that. It was amazing to see. So I'm
excited to have you share that with Hero TV!
Hello! I'm so excited to share with you
some simple tips and tricks about
publishing your book on Amazon. But
before hand, I want to say
congratulations! As someone who has self
coalition also worked with a traditional
publisher, I know how much work goes into
creating a book, whether it's fiction or
nonfiction. So I'm excited for you as you
go to this next step in the process. Now
I'm going to assume that if you're
watching this videos, that you've already
written your book and that you're ready
to get published on Amazon. If that's not
the case, you might want to take some
time to finish your book or finish
working through that last individual
pieces. Getting an editor, whatever else
you need so that you truly can be ready
to publish your book. Now, there are lots
of different options and publishing
directly on Amazon, but I'm going to
share with you two main specific ways.
The first is through createspace if you
have a specific book that you want to
publish. Now I'm talking about physical
publishing. This works for both fiction
and on fiction books, but you can
physically publish using a service
called create space. And I just go to
createspace.amazon.com, I will create a
login, I actually use the very same one
that I used actually buy books on Amazon
so that I don't have to remember to. And
then I login to create space. In there,
there's a whole bunch of different tools
and abilities but there's a great button
called, "getting started" and if you click
on the getting started button, they'll
walk you through every step of the
process to publish your book through
Amazon. Now, through the create space
process, they're going to ask you to
either upload a book, or you'll be able
to design your own front cover. You'll
also be able to upload your manuscript
but the one thing that you might need to
know before you start this process, is
there is a specific file type that
Amazon requires for you to upload your
book to create space or also through
Kindle when we talk about that in just a
minute. If you don't have that file, it's
pretty easy to create using the most
recent versions of whatever word
processor you're using, but if you're
struggling with that and you need help
transitioning that, just ask your friends.
One of your friends for sure has it or
you can use an outside third-party
service, maybe through upwork. Where you
can go in and do that file transfer but
it will not take very long. I got caught
on that for a little while and then I
realized it wasn't that
hard but it should be easy. But just know
that you might not be able to upload a
doc to create space.
Now, as you go
through that process that helps you
every step of the way from creating the
categories that you'll best use so that
people can find your book, through
creating the description for your book
and also for you up to create your own
pricing. There are a few different
options and while I won't go through all
of the options for pricing on your books,
I'll let you decide what's best for you.
My best recommendation in this category
is to do a little bit of research on
Amazon with other books that are similar
to yours in either your fiction genre, or
in your nonfiction categories and see if
you can be comparable based on the
number of pages that you have, the type
of content that you're providing, or the
type of book that you're creating. Now as
you go through this process that start to
sound a little bit like a checklist but
stay with me because I'm also going to
share with you how to make the most out
of selling your book through Amazon. But
once your book is up through create
space, you have the option to print your
own copies, have them come to you, or
they'll just sell them online for you.
Now the Kindle process is pretty similar.
You can go through KDP which they call,
"Kindle direct publishing". Which will give
you the option to both, do both the
printed version, and the Kindle version
at the same time. Some people do 100%
Kindle, some people do 100% physical book,
some people do both. And so you do have
that option through Amazon you'll just
need to specify how that works. Now for
me, I have one book that is a hundred
percent Kindle and I have other books
that are physical as well. I didn't use
create space to publish them in that
case I used Amazon to publish via Kindle
but then I printed through a different
third-party source and then I sell to
Amazon and they sell them that way so
that's also an option. But create space
is super easy. I have done one create
space book that was with a mix and
multitude of authors and so it's been
fun to walk through that process. Now
part of publishing on Amazon is
committing to the long term marketing
process. Which is really where I get
super jazzed. And now that I've produced
my third book through Amazon, I have some
special tips that I'm going to share
with you to make the best of your
experience to being a published
author on Amazon. The first thing that I
want to share with you, is that while it
can be really exciting to get caught up
in the launch
period of your book, know that your book
will live long after your launch. So take
time to create a long term strategy that
will work best for you in your book. If
you plan to create multiple books on a
similar subject, you'll just create a
system for completing that. But that also
might be part of your launch. If you're a
fiction author who's going to have a
trilogy, make sure that you're including
that as part of your overall strategy.
But now I want to share with you some of
my favorite tips in marketing your book
when it's ready to hit go. Now, number
one, just like anything else, I think it's
important for you to create a marketing
plan to publish your book. Sit down and
figure out what you want to accomplish.
How many books do you want to sell? is
being a number one Amazon bestseller in
your category important to you? well that
might take some strategy and planning. So
don't do yourself a disservice.
Where with one of my books after 30 days,
I thought to myself, I should have done
that a different way. But I learned
through that process and so now I'm
going to share with you so that you
don't feel like your first launch was a
waste.
Now, as you create that plan also
consider other people who can help you
and who can interact with you and who
can help promote your book. I recommend
providing some individual copies that
you can do media releases for those who
are willing to review your book upfront.
Nobody likes to feel like a guinea pig
and everybody wants to know if your book
is really good, even your best friends
want to know if your book is really good.
So find some people to read the book for
you and review it in advance,
so that you have some little clips that you
can use as part of your marketing. Either
in physical form, in digital form, or even
as part of a book trailer.
Now some people produce multi-million
dollar book trailers and some people
will just create a little SlideShare for
their book. That can be fun. Truth be told,
I have never done a book trailer. I
probably should have, but I didn't. I did
one informational video about my book
coming out but it wasn't really a book
trailer. But that can be really easy to
do now. You can create your own book
trailer utilizing your phone and maybe
even getting some help through a
third-party source that will help you
put those final pieces together. So a
book trailer can also work. And utilizing
some of those reviews in your book
trailer can be really helpful. But
whether you do the book trailer or not,
just create
content strategy that you can use up
front. So, instead of just saying "buy my
book", tell people why they should buy
your book. Tell people a little about the
story. Or if it's nonfiction, tell them
the kinds of things they will learn by
reading your book. Just like marketing a
business or product or even a service,
you need to create a narrative around
the book that you're producing. And if
it's a story then that becomes a little
bit easier than if it's a nonfiction. But
tell people the story of the book. How it
got started? why it's important? and what
it will do for them? Well, many people
will claim that they're avid readers,
because they are. There are so many books
sitting on their bookshelf. And if
they're anything like me, they've got ten
sitting on their nightstand waiting for
their attention. So what you need to do
is you need to give them the reasons of,
why your book needs to be there next
read. And you can do that through reviews
but you can also do that by sharing with
them, why it's important for them to read
it next. That's all part of the marketing
process as you move forward with your
book. Now, also, here are some little
secrets that I learned
not until I produced my third book with
a publisher. Amazon loves reviews. Now you
probably already knew that. You probably
watch some other videos on this but I
found some magical thresholds that
Amazon tends to use. The first threshold
is 25. If you can get 25 reviews within
the first two weeks of your book being
released and published, well then they
see that that book might have the
potential to become a best-seller. Either
short-term, or long-term. The second
threshold is a hundred. And 100 reviews
are hard for individual publishers. Even
if you have thousands of people read
your book, it's really hard to get a
hundred people to come back and leave a
review. But if you can create a system
for that over time, you'll find that it
will give you the best benefits. I found
that once I hit the 25 review mark on my
most recent book, Amazon increased the
way that they promote my book to people
who had never even heard of me. And
once you hint into the hundred range,
while your book whether it hits a
best-seller or not,
Amazon sees it as a viable book because
they know that reviews are only a
percentage of sales. So make those your
goal and create in advance the strategy
and structure that you'll get
there. Do you want to personally reach
out and invite a hundred people to
review your book for you? or do you want
to hope that your readers will just come
on and grab it? Whatever it is, create a
system or strategy. Now I never recommend
that you pay for reviews, I never
recommend that you ask people to give
you a review at a specific level. In fact,
I'm really careful in my language. If
somebody reaches out to me and says that
they love my book, I'll respond with a
gracious message that says, "thank you so
much I would love for you to share your
experience with other people on Amazon
so that they can make the best buying
decision for them" And I actually say the
words. I'm not asking for a five-star
review. I want your honest feedback so
that every person with their individual
likes and views as they read your review,
will make the best decision for them. So
while I love creating a whole strategy
around reviews just make sure you do it
in a in a good and ethical way because
you would hate to get reported and have
Amazon pull your book all the way.
But that said, reviews can be the fuel that
make your book last well beyond your
initial launch period. Now we didn't talk
about the beginning and we probably
should have. But what is the goal for
your book? For some people, they want
their book to make the millions of
dollars just on sales. For other people,
they want their book to be part of their
platform or something else they do. For
others, it's because they're going to
build a long term fiction authorship
like JK Rowling or someone else that you
love and have followed for many years.
Whatever that is, the purpose for
your book exists as the biggest part
that walks you through every step of the
publishing process. Know your endgame.
Well, I had one book that was out there
purely for income. One of my books serves
purely to get me clients, another one of
my books serves purely at the center to
help me get speaking engagements. And
while I know that the content is great
and I would never write a book subpar
just for another purpose, but if I clear
on that purpose it makes it a lot easier
for me to go through the publishing and
the marketing process. So again, I'll
leave with how I began. Congratulations
as you walk through this and while you
might get a few bumps on the road, stay
committed
because book authorship is really
exciting. And watching your book grow and
help and change and entertain others is
really
rewarding. So I wish you all the best in
this process as you publish your book on
Amazon and hope you'll keep us posted
and let us know. Feel free to leave in
the comments below a little bit about
your book that's either in process are
completed because we'd love to celebrate
and cheer you on there. Have a great day!
Thanks for watching Hero TV today and
thanks Michelle for sharing your wisdom
with us and experience. This is the book.
This is the one that she just launched.
I'll put some details in the description
below so you can check it out. Remember
to live on purpose,
be...
wait.
Be the hero
What was the second one?
Make a difference
and be the hero!