My Books Aren't Selling on Amazon: 5 Mistakes on Amazon KDP

About this video

Note: this video’s available caption track is in Arabic; summarized from that track. Dale says he constantly hears ‘my books aren’t selling on Amazon’ from beginners and veterans alike, and notes a beginner with only one book has only one asset to offer, while authors with six or more books have plenty of assets to build around. He then lists five mistakes. First, specialising in an obscure niche — his example mixes shape-shifter bear romance, embroidery and crochet and choose-your-own-adventure elements, scattering the book across topics with no big audience; write where the market is if sales matter. Second, the book cover: readers judge by the cover, and if yours looks homemade it will be ignored amid the flood of information on phones and computers. Third, the book description: after the cover earns a click, readers open the description, and without a compelling reason to spend money and time they move on; he recommends Brian Meeks’s book on mastering Amazon descriptions, especially for fiction, for examples, a strong hook and an explicit call to action. Fourth, keyword choice: keywords connect the ideal reader to the book, belong in the title, subtitle, description and the seven backend slots, and are phrases of two or more words, not single words — instead of ’exercise’, target a phrase such as a home workout plan for men over 40; they increase discoverability but do not by themselves sell books. In a sponsored segment he shows using Fiverr to find cover designers and book-blurb writers. Fifth, marketing and promotion: it is ongoing, ‘publish and pray’ is not a sales strategy, and a tactic only proves unworkable after sustained daily effort — otherwise learn more, and ask peers or hired help for guidance.

Key takeaways

• Writing in an obscure, mashed-up niche with no large audience is the first mistake: Dale says to write where the market is if you want consistent sales, however valid writing purely for art may be.
• Readers do judge a book by its cover amid constant information overload, so a cover that looks homemade will be passed over; in the sponsored Fiverr segment he filters cover designers by a $10 to $50 budget example and seller level.
• A weak book description loses the click the cover won: give readers a compelling reason to spend money and time, include a clear call to action, and study Brian Meeks’s book on mastering Amazon descriptions, which he recommends especially for fiction.
• Keywords are phrases of two or more words, not single words — his example replaces ’exercise’ with a phrase like a home workout plan for men over 40 — and they aid discoverability in the title, subtitle, description and seven backend slots without guaranteeing sales.
• Marketing is continuous and ‘publish and pray’ is not a strategy: Dale says a method only counts as failed after sustained effort, and authors should seek peer feedback or hired help instead of quitting or working entirely alone.

Episode details: published March 24, 2020 · 11:41 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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