Why Most Kindle Publishers Fail - 3 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid

About this video

Sean outlines three mistakes he says cause most Kindle publishers to fail, beyond the obvious failure to take action. First, publishing into unprofitable keywords: he argues the keyword is close to 90% of whether a book makes money, and a keyword must be a phrase people actually type into Amazon search, have other books on the same topic visibly making money in the results, and be low enough in competition to rank — he says under about 1,000 results is great and a few thousand is still doable. A profitable keyword on Amazon, in his experience, tends to transfer to ACX, IngramSpark, Draft2Digital, and other channels. Second, not planning books in advance: instead of a shotgun approach across unrelated niches, he recommends publishing several related keywords in one niche so the books can be bundled into a higher-priced multi-book bundle essentially for free, recovering costs faster. Third, not focusing on quality: using a real-estate analogy, flipping low-quality books gives short-term money but no passive income once bad reviews slow sales, while a rental-like approach builds long-term income. For nonfiction, a quality book is error-free, delivers what it promises, solves the reader’s researched problem, and is preferably over 30,000 words — around 150 pages — so readers do not complain it is too short.

Key takeaways

• Keyword choice is close to 90% of success in his view: even a great book will not sell in an unprofitable keyword, while a mediocre book can sell in a hot one.
• Validate a keyword by checking it is a real search phrase, that books on the same topic in the results are making money, and that competition is low enough to rank.
• Plan several related books in one niche before switching niches so you can bundle them into a higher-priced bundle essentially for free.
• Enter a niche only if it has enough profitable keywords for a series and bundles, unless a single keyword is extremely profitable.
• Prioritise quality for long-term passive income: error-free writing, delivering the promised solution, and preferably over 30,000 words (about 150 pages) for nonfiction.

Episode details: published December 31, 2019 · 9:22 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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