What are the mistakes to avoid on Amazon KDP??
Dos & Dont's and Mistakes to Avoid on Amazon kdp publishing
DO:
• Complete your Amazon author page:
Your Amazon author page is a separate page from the book’s page. This is a good way for readers to learn more about you, and it also keeps all of your books available on Amazon in one central location. Give the same amount of attention to your author page as you did to your book page.
• Consider a KDP ebook:
• Consider a KDP ebook:
It can be incredibly beneficial to publish an ebook through KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). This will allow you to run ads through the program, allowing you to directly reach your readers. For more information on how (and why) to use KDP, explore the resources offered on evergreenauthors.com. Wise Ink’s Marketing Director took the Amazon Masterclass for Authors and learned important tools and tricks to optimize an author’s Amazon presence.
• Actively seek out reviews:
• Actively seek out reviews:
Because of Amazon’s algorithms, reader reviews are incredibly important to making your book easier to find. Most readers click through both positive and negative reviews before purchasing a book, so reviews are also important in convincing people to purchase. Don’t be afraid to ask for reviews or interact with people who have left reviews on your Amazon page. Do what you can to make sure your book has reviews.
Perfect Your Book Description:
A good Amazon book description is crucial for your book to do well. Your book description gives readers a taste of your writing style and tells them exactly what to expect when they buy your book.
Your book description should look and sound professional. A poorly written description hurts your credibility before anyone ever reads your book. Run your blurb through a grammar checker like ProWritingAid to check for mistakes, style, and readability.
Aim for a genre-appropriate, keyword-rich (but not keyword-stuffed) blurb that is crafted carefully and professionally. We’ll talk more about keywords in the next section.
You can also format excerpts and review quotes. You're not limited to plain text. Amazon KDP uses HTML formatting for descriptions.
Research Long-Tail Keywords:
One of the most important aspects of Amazon self-publishing is the keyword boxes, which allow you up to forty-nine characters. A keyword is a word or phrase that people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. Readers on Amazon will search for keywords to find books they want to read.
Aim for specific long-tail keywords. Instead of “regency romance” (a broad, short-tail keyword), you might enter “regency romance widowed heroine” (a specific long-tail keyword).
You can research these using a keyword research tool, hiring an expert in KDP categories and keywords, or simply using an incognito window to search for yourself. Look for keywords that only give you a few hundred results, not thousands, to decrease your competition.
Request Extra Categories:
Kindle Direct Publishing has preset categories for books, and it's hard to select the best one for your work. When you upload your print or ebook manuscript, you can select two Amazon categories.
Often, your book might fit into multiple categories. You also enhance your chances of being a bestseller in a category when you're in more of them.
The good news is, you can add your book to additional categories with a bit of extra work. If you call KDP customer service, KDP will allow you up to eight more categories for a total of ten!
Invest in a Quality Cover:
The first thing potential readers see is your book’s cover. A quality book cover can make or break a potential sale.
There are a lot of factors that influence whether a book cover is appealing. Different genres have different expectations. A generic cover does not take into account genre trends and expectations. A nonfiction book should not look like a YA fantasy book and vice versa.
Unless you're an experienced graphic artist, avoid using DIY book cover makers, like the one offered by Amazon. Find experienced cover artists who are familiar with your genre and look at their portfolios. Reach out to other authors for recommendations or browse Instagram and Twitter to find artists who work with independent authors.
Hype Your Readers with Pre-Orders:
If you want to have a successful book launch and be a bestselling author, you must offer pre-orders. Those pre-orders count toward your launch day's sales. With enough pre-orders, you can jump the line and end up a top seller in one or more of your categories.
When you self-publish through Amazon, you can allow pre-orders 90 days before your release. Don’t worry—you don’t need to have your manuscript completed when you start pre-orders. You can upload the final manuscripts 72 hours before launch.
Use those three months to hype up your readers and get them to order your book in advance.
Focus on Interior Formatting:
The quickest way to a one-star review is an ugly book. When your print books or your ebook format are a mess, you turn readers off before they get past the first page.
Don't gloss over this step. There are several programs, like Atticus, Vellum, or Kindle Create, that allow you to format your book and make it look professional. It's also affordable to outsource your formatting to an expert.
Adjust Your International Pricing:
When you publish a book on the Kindle store, you set the price. Prices that end in .99 sell better: people think they're getting a bargain. But that same marketing psychology isn't just for the American markets.
KDP automatically adjusts the currency amount for other markets. You can manually change your international prices, however. Add a .99 to the end of each price for each currency. Just be careful that whatever change you make doesn't affect your royalty rates. Monitor the pricing boundaries for 35% and 70% royalties for each currency.
Determine Your Distribution:
Amazon offers you access to the KDP Select Program when you self-publish. That means you get access to Kindle Unlimited, a paid membership for readers to read free books. If you publish with Kindle Unlimited, you’ll get paid for the number of pages of your book that Kindle Unlimited users read.
The KDP Select Program can be a great option for certain genres and authors who may not want to publish on other platforms outside of Amazon. However, when you enrol, Amazon gets exclusive access to your ebook for 90 days at a time (and it defaults to re-enrol you automatically every 90 days.)
If you choose to enrol, you can't sell your ebooks anywhere else during that exclusive access period, including Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Books. You can also get in trouble for offering that ebook for free in your newsletter, Patreon, or website.
If you want to go wide, avoid enrolling in KDP Select. Going wide also allows you to publish to library services like Libby and Hoopla.
Become an Amazon Affiliate:
There is one way to make more than 70% royalties on your books. You can become an Amazon Affiliate and use affiliate links for your book!
Use your affiliate link on your website, social media links, and anywhere else you link to Amazon. Your affiliate link allows you to earn an additional 4% on the selling price of your book. It's not much, but that additional 4% can add up quickly with enough sales. Keep in mind you only get this income when someone buys through your link, not from searching Amazon themselves.
DON'TS:
Perfect Your Book Description:
A good Amazon book description is crucial for your book to do well. Your book description gives readers a taste of your writing style and tells them exactly what to expect when they buy your book.
Your book description should look and sound professional. A poorly written description hurts your credibility before anyone ever reads your book. Run your blurb through a grammar checker like ProWritingAid to check for mistakes, style, and readability.
Aim for a genre-appropriate, keyword-rich (but not keyword-stuffed) blurb that is crafted carefully and professionally. We’ll talk more about keywords in the next section.
You can also format excerpts and review quotes. You're not limited to plain text. Amazon KDP uses HTML formatting for descriptions.
Research Long-Tail Keywords:
One of the most important aspects of Amazon self-publishing is the keyword boxes, which allow you up to forty-nine characters. A keyword is a word or phrase that people type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. Readers on Amazon will search for keywords to find books they want to read.
Aim for specific long-tail keywords. Instead of “regency romance” (a broad, short-tail keyword), you might enter “regency romance widowed heroine” (a specific long-tail keyword).
You can research these using a keyword research tool, hiring an expert in KDP categories and keywords, or simply using an incognito window to search for yourself. Look for keywords that only give you a few hundred results, not thousands, to decrease your competition.
Request Extra Categories:
Kindle Direct Publishing has preset categories for books, and it's hard to select the best one for your work. When you upload your print or ebook manuscript, you can select two Amazon categories.
Often, your book might fit into multiple categories. You also enhance your chances of being a bestseller in a category when you're in more of them.
The good news is, you can add your book to additional categories with a bit of extra work. If you call KDP customer service, KDP will allow you up to eight more categories for a total of ten!
Invest in a Quality Cover:
The first thing potential readers see is your book’s cover. A quality book cover can make or break a potential sale.
There are a lot of factors that influence whether a book cover is appealing. Different genres have different expectations. A generic cover does not take into account genre trends and expectations. A nonfiction book should not look like a YA fantasy book and vice versa.
Unless you're an experienced graphic artist, avoid using DIY book cover makers, like the one offered by Amazon. Find experienced cover artists who are familiar with your genre and look at their portfolios. Reach out to other authors for recommendations or browse Instagram and Twitter to find artists who work with independent authors.
Hype Your Readers with Pre-Orders:
If you want to have a successful book launch and be a bestselling author, you must offer pre-orders. Those pre-orders count toward your launch day's sales. With enough pre-orders, you can jump the line and end up a top seller in one or more of your categories.
When you self-publish through Amazon, you can allow pre-orders 90 days before your release. Don’t worry—you don’t need to have your manuscript completed when you start pre-orders. You can upload the final manuscripts 72 hours before launch.
Use those three months to hype up your readers and get them to order your book in advance.
Focus on Interior Formatting:
The quickest way to a one-star review is an ugly book. When your print books or your ebook format are a mess, you turn readers off before they get past the first page.
Don't gloss over this step. There are several programs, like Atticus, Vellum, or Kindle Create, that allow you to format your book and make it look professional. It's also affordable to outsource your formatting to an expert.
Adjust Your International Pricing:
When you publish a book on the Kindle store, you set the price. Prices that end in .99 sell better: people think they're getting a bargain. But that same marketing psychology isn't just for the American markets.
KDP automatically adjusts the currency amount for other markets. You can manually change your international prices, however. Add a .99 to the end of each price for each currency. Just be careful that whatever change you make doesn't affect your royalty rates. Monitor the pricing boundaries for 35% and 70% royalties for each currency.
Determine Your Distribution:
Amazon offers you access to the KDP Select Program when you self-publish. That means you get access to Kindle Unlimited, a paid membership for readers to read free books. If you publish with Kindle Unlimited, you’ll get paid for the number of pages of your book that Kindle Unlimited users read.
The KDP Select Program can be a great option for certain genres and authors who may not want to publish on other platforms outside of Amazon. However, when you enrol, Amazon gets exclusive access to your ebook for 90 days at a time (and it defaults to re-enrol you automatically every 90 days.)
If you choose to enrol, you can't sell your ebooks anywhere else during that exclusive access period, including Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Books. You can also get in trouble for offering that ebook for free in your newsletter, Patreon, or website.
If you want to go wide, avoid enrolling in KDP Select. Going wide also allows you to publish to library services like Libby and Hoopla.
Become an Amazon Affiliate:
There is one way to make more than 70% royalties on your books. You can become an Amazon Affiliate and use affiliate links for your book!
Use your affiliate link on your website, social media links, and anywhere else you link to Amazon. Your affiliate link allows you to earn an additional 4% on the selling price of your book. It's not much, but that additional 4% can add up quickly with enough sales. Keep in mind you only get this income when someone buys through your link, not from searching Amazon themselves.
DON'TS:
• Don’t approach Amazon from a place of resignation:
For some people, Amazon can be intimidating. It’s difficult to fully understand the website’s algorithms, and you want your book to stand out from the rest of the books on the market. Don’t approach your time on Amazon as a chore that needs to be completed; remember that this is another platform for you to spread the exciting news about the incredible book you published.
• Don’t let Amazon be the only part of your marketing plan:
It’s dangerous to rely on any one marketing strategy, and Amazon is no exception. Although Amazon is very important, it can’t be your only marketing strategy. Make time for other (potentially more personally engaging) marketing strategies.
• Don’t rely on any marketing strategies that don’t feel right to you:
Authors are sometimes told to ask every friend they have to buy their book at the same time and leave 5-star reviews, or even told to pay a company to work behind the scenes to make their book rise on Amazon’s rankings.
While these things might have value, especially if it’s important to you to become an Amazon Bestseller, think about both the ROI and your sense of ethics before you take that route. These could be good strategies, but check in with yourself before you do anything that might potentially make you uncomfortable or might not pay off financially in the long term.
• Wrong Grammar and spelling check:
Wrong grammar is a red flag to your buyers. Remember you are selling to the US audience.
They don't joke with the English language. So you must do your grammar check before publishing. There are tools you can use for that which of course will solve it perfectly.
• Wrong pricing:
Some independent publishers make the mistake of pricing their books too low or high. I want to make it clear that pricing your books too low won't guarantee you sales. Yes, you heard that.
And pricing too high won't also guarantee you sales. The best is to always give an average price for your books. There's also a tool for this. Make use of it.
• Bad interior designs:
For those into low content or No content books, bad interiors will give you poor reviews that's if you have a good description, keywords, and pricing already.
So do your best to create neat designs for your interiors or pay an expert if you cannot do that.
• Low keyword research:
Keyword research is one of the most important things to consider before even creating a book.
Your keywords should determine the kind of book you create yes! You don't go ahead and create a book before searching for keywords. Since you're into passive selling you need the best keywords that will keep you above the millions of sellers out there.
Unless you're a brand name known to the US audience then you can create anything with your name and you'll sell.
• Inconsistency:
Some people into Amazon Kindle direct publishing came with a wrong mindset of making $1000 in one month without considering doing what it takes then they give up after their first or second books without sales. No! It's wrong.
Amazon KDP is just like all other businesses out there that require some works to get paid. So instead of dwelling on your two books that are not selling why not go as far as creating more books? Do it while going through your course over and over. Sometimes you discover new things after a second to third look at your course.
• Too fast to publish a book without checking:
I know you want to make some $$$ but please calm down. Amazon is not running, you're not running. You will not die tomorrow. So calm down and go through your course, practice and take your time while uploading your books.
• Inability to reinvest in your KDP business:
Investing in your business here is underrated by most newbies and of course, you are new and I won't advise you to start investing immediately when you have made some dollars out of it. Try and invest.
This is what I mean if any book starts selling faster run an Amazon ad on it to milk all you can from the US audience. The sweetest is Amazon charges after a click on your ad.
• Use of brand names and copyrighted images:
Amazon frowns at these and you shouldn't indulge in it. It can get your account terminated for life and you won't take part in KDP again.
So don't use brand names on your description, title or subtitle even in your interiors of low or no-content books.
Don't also use it on your book cover. Don't use it.
• Failure to master a niche:
Jumping niches is one of the things you need to stop if you have been doing that.
When you create a brand and it sells well. People will be searching for your name instead of titles so take your time and niche down and dominate it
• Bad category selection:
This is also as important as keyword research. Make sure you search for the perfect categories for your books before trying to publish.
You can get a notepad on your phone and write them down (keywords, categories, title, subtitle, price, and description).
Writing them down helps you to copy and paste while uploading if your phone has a low Ram
Amazon gives you two categories for your book when you're uploading them but when it goes "live" do well to add eight categories to it.
• Not using the 7 keyword options:
Some make the mistake of leaving some keyword slots empty. Amazon gave you 7 spaces to put your best keywords and you need to utilize them even though they made them optional.
Don't make the mistake of repeating words in the keyword spaces. You're helping yourself not to sell.
• Using fake reviews:
This has led to the termination of people's accounts. Amazon frowns at fake reviews of course you don't think they won't know they were fake.
They will and buyers will know too. So they will be the ones to report your book(s) and you will be penalized for it.
• Using competitors' book titles in keywords:
When you hear model a best-selling book please understand the meaning and don't use your competitor's titles. Don't copy!
If the book you're creating has the best-selling book already on Amazon, using the book name in your keyword will give a bad customer impression and that could get your book blocked.
And once blocked they will be monitoring you. Any slight violation of their terms and conditions gets you kicked out.
• Bad book cover:
Many people complaining about not making sales should check their book covers.
Your book cover is one of the most important aspects of your book that will prompt a buying decision from your customers.
If you cannot do that yourself get a graphic designer to do it for you. You will always get a good ROI (return on investment) if done well.
• Poor book description:
After your book cover comes your book description. These are what sell your book when your keywords are good.
Make sure there are no spelling or grammar errors in your description.
• Wrong titles and subtitles:
You are competing with a lot of people in the same business and you don't need to just be careless with your title and subtitle.
Someone that is an authority in the US market can name his book anything and people buys it but you that is not popular should ensure you use keyword research pattern while choosing a title or subtitle.
Gain access to THE ULTIMATE SMARTPHONE WEALTH CREATION COURSE here 👇👇
https://selar.co/q1z9
View our business profile on Google here(Kindly give us a nice Rating and Review) 👇👇
https://extra-mhile-academy.business.site/
https://maps.google.com/?cid=6534999524700862628&entry=gps
Follow our Facebook page
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Subscribe to his YouTube channel 👇
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Follow our Blog website
https://extramhile.blogspot.com/
• Wrong Grammar and spelling check:
Wrong grammar is a red flag to your buyers. Remember you are selling to the US audience.
They don't joke with the English language. So you must do your grammar check before publishing. There are tools you can use for that which of course will solve it perfectly.
• Wrong pricing:
Some independent publishers make the mistake of pricing their books too low or high. I want to make it clear that pricing your books too low won't guarantee you sales. Yes, you heard that.
And pricing too high won't also guarantee you sales. The best is to always give an average price for your books. There's also a tool for this. Make use of it.
• Bad interior designs:
For those into low content or No content books, bad interiors will give you poor reviews that's if you have a good description, keywords, and pricing already.
So do your best to create neat designs for your interiors or pay an expert if you cannot do that.
• Low keyword research:
Keyword research is one of the most important things to consider before even creating a book.
Your keywords should determine the kind of book you create yes! You don't go ahead and create a book before searching for keywords. Since you're into passive selling you need the best keywords that will keep you above the millions of sellers out there.
Unless you're a brand name known to the US audience then you can create anything with your name and you'll sell.
• Inconsistency:
Some people into Amazon Kindle direct publishing came with a wrong mindset of making $1000 in one month without considering doing what it takes then they give up after their first or second books without sales. No! It's wrong.
Amazon KDP is just like all other businesses out there that require some works to get paid. So instead of dwelling on your two books that are not selling why not go as far as creating more books? Do it while going through your course over and over. Sometimes you discover new things after a second to third look at your course.
• Too fast to publish a book without checking:
I know you want to make some $$$ but please calm down. Amazon is not running, you're not running. You will not die tomorrow. So calm down and go through your course, practice and take your time while uploading your books.
• Inability to reinvest in your KDP business:
Investing in your business here is underrated by most newbies and of course, you are new and I won't advise you to start investing immediately when you have made some dollars out of it. Try and invest.
This is what I mean if any book starts selling faster run an Amazon ad on it to milk all you can from the US audience. The sweetest is Amazon charges after a click on your ad.
• Use of brand names and copyrighted images:
Amazon frowns at these and you shouldn't indulge in it. It can get your account terminated for life and you won't take part in KDP again.
So don't use brand names on your description, title or subtitle even in your interiors of low or no-content books.
Don't also use it on your book cover. Don't use it.
• Failure to master a niche:
Jumping niches is one of the things you need to stop if you have been doing that.
When you create a brand and it sells well. People will be searching for your name instead of titles so take your time and niche down and dominate it
• Bad category selection:
This is also as important as keyword research. Make sure you search for the perfect categories for your books before trying to publish.
You can get a notepad on your phone and write them down (keywords, categories, title, subtitle, price, and description).
Writing them down helps you to copy and paste while uploading if your phone has a low Ram
Amazon gives you two categories for your book when you're uploading them but when it goes "live" do well to add eight categories to it.
• Not using the 7 keyword options:
Some make the mistake of leaving some keyword slots empty. Amazon gave you 7 spaces to put your best keywords and you need to utilize them even though they made them optional.
Don't make the mistake of repeating words in the keyword spaces. You're helping yourself not to sell.
• Using fake reviews:
This has led to the termination of people's accounts. Amazon frowns at fake reviews of course you don't think they won't know they were fake.
They will and buyers will know too. So they will be the ones to report your book(s) and you will be penalized for it.
• Using competitors' book titles in keywords:
When you hear model a best-selling book please understand the meaning and don't use your competitor's titles. Don't copy!
If the book you're creating has the best-selling book already on Amazon, using the book name in your keyword will give a bad customer impression and that could get your book blocked.
And once blocked they will be monitoring you. Any slight violation of their terms and conditions gets you kicked out.
• Bad book cover:
Many people complaining about not making sales should check their book covers.
Your book cover is one of the most important aspects of your book that will prompt a buying decision from your customers.
If you cannot do that yourself get a graphic designer to do it for you. You will always get a good ROI (return on investment) if done well.
• Poor book description:
After your book cover comes your book description. These are what sell your book when your keywords are good.
Make sure there are no spelling or grammar errors in your description.
• Wrong titles and subtitles:
You are competing with a lot of people in the same business and you don't need to just be careless with your title and subtitle.
Someone that is an authority in the US market can name his book anything and people buys it but you that is not popular should ensure you use keyword research pattern while choosing a title or subtitle.
Gain access to THE ULTIMATE SMARTPHONE WEALTH CREATION COURSE here 👇👇
https://selar.co/q1z9
View our business profile on Google here(Kindly give us a nice Rating and Review) 👇👇
https://extra-mhile-academy.business.site/
https://maps.google.com/?cid=6534999524700862628&entry=gps
Follow our Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/extramhileacademy?mibextid=ZbWKwL
Subscribe to his YouTube channel 👇
http://youtube.com/@extramhileacademy
View SIR KALUSHA'S Udemy profile here 👇👇
https://www.udemy.com/user/alhassan-mohammed-amin-3/
Follow our Blog website
https://extramhile.blogspot.com/
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