An Amazon self-published author built an audience from scratch and made $9,000 last month. Here are her 9 steps to your first book.

• Sally Miller built a successful career from self-publishing books on Amazon. 
• She made $9,000 in royalties in January, her highest amount to date.
• She shared the eight steps for self-publishing on Amazon, including finding your niche and setting the right price. 
• Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.

Sally Miller worked as a stay-at-home mom, life coach, business analyst, and project manager before starting her latest career: a self-published author.

“It meets my two criteria, which is that I’m making money and doing something I really enjoy,” said Miller, who started this venture as an experiment and has now published and co-authored 15 books. 

Miller built a following through her subject matter, which focuses on how people can make money through various entrepreneurial ventures, like Airbnb and ghostwriting. Her most popular solo title, “The Essential Habits Of 6-Figure Bloggers,” has a 4.5 rating from 316 reviews on Amazon. She made $9,000 in royalties in January, her highest amount to date, according to documents viewed by Insider. 

Miller shared with Insider the eight steps for self-publishing on Amazon, including finding your niche, marketing strategies, and pricing advice. 

1. Start by finding a niche that both you and your audience will be passionate about

Miller’s journey into self-publishing started as an experiment. While working on her first book, “Make Money on Airbnb” in late 2015, she found a passion for writing non-fiction guides. 

To make the new-found hobby a career, she strategized that sticking to a niche would build an audience and loyal customers. “I brainstormed topics that really interested me,” Miller said. “Then I looked at where I’ve got the most connections, most knowledge, what I’m passionate about and what’s going to be the most profitable.” 

Miller recommends considering long-term goals when thinking about self-publishing. If you’d like to build a following, find a genre or topic you can write about in-depth that’s going to generate a lot of buzz. 

If your goal is to solidify your reputation as an expert in your field, publish a book, Miller said. Publishing can also serve as a marketing tool for businesses, she added.

2. Self-published books don’t have to be long

Miller’s books range 20,000 to 35,000 words. She’s built a reputation as an author who covers her subjects without any fluff, she said. While that’s her personal preference, Miller recommends aspiring authors consider a style that fits their goal and writing ability.

3. For the best final product, hire an editor and a designer

After Miller completes a draft, she sends it to her editor, who looks for typos, holes in the content, and issues with grammar. The process can take about three weeks. 

After that, Miller works with someone else to format her book. They use the program Vellum, which arranges the book in the correct format for Amazon’s publishing platform, she said. Miller also outsources her cover designs. 

4. Uploading to Amazon is simple, just write an intriguing description and include all the right category tags

Once those materials are finalized, Miller uploads her book and cover to Amazon’s publishing platform Kindle Direct Publishing. Then, she writes a description that clearly identifies what readers will glean, the pain-points she’s trying to solve, and how her work can help readers.

She also selects the categories that apply to her title, so readers can find her work on Amazon. Think of this as the different sections of a physical bookstore, she said. On which shelves could your book sit? 

Kindle Direct Publishing offers several guides to getting started for new authors, but Miller said the process is simple to follow. After hitting publish, it can take between 12 and 24 hours for her book to go on sale. 

5. Ask people to review your book ahead of its launch to give potential customers more insight

Before Miller’s book is published, she sends an advanced copy to her “launch team,” a group of people who will read and review her title. She asks them to write an honest review and post it around the time the book launches. This can give prospective buyers some insight on what they’ll get. 

Miller doesn’t compensate her launch team for their review, as it violates Amazon’s policies around not soliciting or paying for reviews. However, she recommends other authors consider developing a similar team to independently review the book when it publishes. 

6. Use the tricks of the algorithm to market your book as soon as it launches

Ahead of her publish date, Miller crafts her two-pronged marketing strategy.

The first step is organizing what she calls “a big launch,” which focuses on promoting her title the day it’s released. This includes dropping the price of the e-book to $0.99 — you can’t change the price of a paperback — to create buzz around her title. The discounted price can attract buyers, which moves her book up the Amazon’s charts. The higher it goes on the charts, the more Amazon’s algorithms work in her favor, she said. 

“For new authors who don’t have a following, like how I was when I started out, it’s the easier way to create a big promotion,” Miller said. “Not a lot is going to happen if you do no marketing.” 

7. Prices don’t have to be set in stone

After the $0.99 promotion, Miller initially prices her e-books and paperbacks at $4.99. Then, she increases the price of her books by $1 every few weeks until she hits a ceiling of $9.99.

She’ll tinker with her prices depending on the market for similar titles, sometimes adjusting higher or lower, she said. Miller recommends authors look at the prices of comparable books, titles within their niche or genre, and experiment.

8. Keep momentum up by marketing through multiple channels, such as paid advertising or a newsletter

In the weeks following her release, Miller will implement other marketing strategies to boost momentum. She’ll purchase paid advertising on Amazon and promote it in her newsletter. 

Miller typically budgets about $2,500 a month for Amazon advertising. She only has to pay for an ad if someone clicks on it — this is called pay-per-click advertising. Her advertisements direct customers to her author page, a tactic she monitors to ensure a high conversion rate. 

While she’s tried marketing the book on social media, the response was low and not worth the effort. Other authors may have better luck, she added. It’s all about experimenting with every possible channel and then narrowing your efforts on the ones that provide the biggest return. 

9. Collect email addresses from fans, collaborators, and customers to build an even bigger following ahead of your next launch

When Miller releases a new title, she alerts her fans and followers through her newsletter. Her 7,000 subscribers are composed of people who follow her work, express interest in the market she covers, and have purchased her other titles. She’ll regularly remind these subscribers of the work that’s already published, in addition to new releases. 

“Stick with what works,” said Miller. “Build an engaged audience who will buy from you again and again.” 

Source: Read Full Article