How to Self Publish a Book & Become a Best Selling Author

About this video

Roberts uses his brother Walt Roberts’s short read ‘Live Streaming Kit’ as a case study for becoming an Amazon best seller without a big following or ad budget. Roberts says the book, put on pre-order on October 27, 2019 and pushed over Black Friday to Cyber Monday, reached number one best seller in five categories, number two in one, number three in three and number four in one, and hit 8,892 in the Kindle Store Best Seller Rank. His method starts with categories: choose the two browse paths allowed in the KDP dashboard carefully, use Publisher Rocket with a relevant root keyword to find proven, relevant categories rather than obscure ones, then request additional categories through KDP support for up to 10 browse paths per publication. The pre-order gap gives time for that research and for building a marketing strategy and buzz. Before promoting, he advises setting up Amazon Author Central to track rank instead of repeatedly visiting the product page, saving best seller list links, and using a clean Amazon link ending at the ASIN. For the launch push he made a list of interested people and influencers in advance, priced the book at 99 cents during the push (accepting the lower royalty bracket) before raising it to $2.99 at full launch, and reached out gradually because, he says, the Amazon algorithm loves consistency. Roberts says the November 25 push produced 25 sales in the US, four in Canada and one in the UK, for $10.50 profit that day, which he presents as proof the title is about bragging rights and exposure, not income.

Key takeaways

• Roberts says Walt Roberts’s ‘Live Streaming Kit’ hit number one in five categories and 8,892 in the Kindle Store with, Roberts says, 25 US sales, four Canada sales and one UK sale on the main push day
• Choose the two KDP browse paths wisely and request additional categories through KDP support — Roberts says you can have up to 10 browse paths per publication
• Use a pre-order period to create distance before launch for category research, marketing strategy and building buzz, ideally timed to a high-traffic or niche-relevant date
• Price low for the push — Roberts used 99 cents for this short read — then raise to full retail ($2.99 in this case) at launch
• Reach out gradually to a pre-built list of interested readers and influencers rather than blasting everyone at once; Roberts frames this ‘phone a friend’ tactic as a one-time-use card

Episode details: published November 28, 2019 · 22:15 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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