I Bought Over 40 Self Published Books On Amazon, Here's Why

About this video

Dale Roberts explains that he bought back over 40 of his own self-published books on Amazon — 45 titles in total, plus five more books about self-publishing — spending over $100 on proof and author copies so he could walk through the story and lessons behind his catalog. He recounts his first book, ‘The 3 Keys to Health and Happiness,’ which he self-edited and later replaced with a professionally edited second edition, and what he describes as his breakout hit in January 2016, ‘An Ultimate Home Workout Plan Bundle,’ which he says led to YouTube and podcast interview opportunities and laid the groundwork for his Self-Publishing with Dale channel, launched in April 2016. He then details three mistakes. First, publishing off-brand, lower-quality DIY work: he designed his own covers (sometimes taking 12+ hours for mediocre results) and handled his own interior formatting and editing, time he says would have been better spent writing or marketing, or on hiring a professional cover designer and editor. Second, over-bundling: as a former personal trainer he repackaged overlapping workouts into many similar bundles, which he calls a little shady, notes may conflict with ACX and even KDP terms, and says mostly created extra work while only one or two bundles sold. Third, not promoting: burned out on his fitness brand around late 2016 to 2017, he stopped doing interviews and promotion, and the brand’s sales slowed to a halt while his attention shifted to this channel. He closes with the Pareto principle — 20% of effort drives 80% of results — saying most of his 45 titles now collect dust while his self-publishing books are the 20% producing 80% of his revenue, so rather than fixing or reissuing the old fitness titles he focuses forward, keeping up only books he can still stand behind.

Key takeaways

• Mistake 1 — DIY everything: Dale says self-editing his first book and spending 12+ hours making mediocre covers himself was a detriment; some jobs (cover design, editing) should be hired out so time goes to writing and marketing.
• Mistake 2 — Over-bundling: repackaging overlapping content into many similar bundles is, in his words, a little shady, may run against ACX and KDP terms of service, and generated lots of extra work for almost no extra sales.
• Mistake 3 — No promotion: when burnout hit around late 2016–2017 he stopped promoting his fitness brand entirely, and its sales slowed to a halt even though the books had previously paid his bills.
• He frames his catalog through the Pareto principle: most of his 45 titles now collect dust, while his books about self-publishing are the roughly 20% of titles driving 80% of his revenue.
• His forward strategy is not to fix or reissue the old off-brand titles but to keep only books he can still stand behind and concentrate effort on the line of books that is actually moving the needle.

Episode details: published September 20, 2021 · 8:17 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.

← Previous: Book Rescue: Author Uses iPhone to Publish Books (S1E1) · Next: Book Rescue: The Secret to Selling More Books (S1E2) →

All Dale L. Roberts videos · Dale L. Roberts profile · Dale L. Roberts on YouTube