No BS, Complete Guide to Book Marketing - Mastering Amazon KDP

About this video

This is a recording of Sean’s weekly Q&A call in his free Facebook group, which he says has over 4,000 members, focused on book marketing. He says Amazon SEO alone can produce some sales, but books must earn page-one placement with sales and reviews, and the first 30 days after publishing are a new-release trial period with extra visibility — without marketing, he says, Amazon will bury the book. He compares three methods: social media marketing (Facebook groups, Instagram shoutouts, Reddit/Quora) as a time-for-money grind; ads, where he dismisses Google Ads as too expensive per click for book royalties, says Facebook Ads mainly work for fiction series where losses on book one are recouped on later books (likening it to Harry Potter/Marvel), and calls Amazon Ads best because clicks are cheaper and shoppers are ready to buy; and email marketing as the top priority, including cross-promotions/newsletter swaps via StoryOrigin and BookFunnel, which he says costs $10 a month. He argues against starting a blog to sell books, citing the time/cost of 100 posts and low conversion from his own blog’s claimed 5,000 views per month. Summarising an 80/20 rule, he says focus on Amazon Ads, building an email list, and publishing more books. Answering questions, he claims 80% of income comes from 20% of books — his old account had about 200 books with the top ten bringing 60-70% of income, and his new account has 21 books that brought in $3,000 last month, mostly from three high-content books, with the first book making about $1,500 a month and the account on track for $4,000. He says the new account is largely an experiment to test strategies for his course, and discusses forecasting winners and the downsides of digital nomad life in Bali.

Key takeaways

• Use the 30-day new-release window: get sales and reviews early or Amazon will drop the book’s ranking
• Amazon Ads are presented as the best ad platform for books; Google Ads are too expensive and Facebook Ads suit fiction series best
• Build an email list as an asset so each new launch gets easier, and use newsletter swaps/cross-promotions to grow it
• Don’t start a blog just to sell books — he says it takes ~100 posts and converts poorly
• He claims the 80/20 rule applies: most income comes from a few high-content books, so focus on Amazon Ads, email, and publishing more books

Episode details: published August 12, 2022 · 37:06 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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