Happy Halloween. Please enjoy our list of our top 10 Halloween titles for 2008. Click on the cover to visit the author’s webpage for more info or to purchase.
They all love the Amazon Kindle! On Friday, October 24th Oprah Winfrey declared on her show that the Amazon Kindle was her new favorite gadget, and went on to say it would change everything.
Revolutionize, really.According to the Association of American Publishers, the sale of e-books has grown nearly 56% since 2002. The Kindle, which was announced with much fanfare in 2007, is an integral part of this trend. Unlike previous iterations of “ebook readers,” the Amazon Kindle is easy to operate, comfortable to use, and has many attractive consumer options.
Authors recognize the benefits and the potential of the Kindle, too. “Oprah’s endorsement of the Kindle is going to send sales of the device skyrocketing,” stated Outskirts Press CEO Brent Sampson. “Always on the cutting-edge of the industry, Outskirts Press is excited to introduce our Amazon Kindle Submission Service, which helps our published authors get their ebooks available on the Kindle in time to reap the benefits from this buzz.”
This new marketing option for Outskirts Press authors makes it remarkably easy for authors to present their work in digital format, which customers can then download to the Kindle, Amazon’s popular electronic reading device. The Amazon Kindle edition then appears in Amazon’s search results (along with any other formats such as paperback or hardback editions), resulting in increased exposure of the book’s cover. This brings the book browser that much closer to becoming a book buyer.
ForeWord Magazine is a bi-monthly journal that is delivered to librarians, booksellers, agents, and other industry professionals. Additionally, ForeWord is sent directly to small press buyers at the chains (B&N, Borders, Chapters, Books-A-Million, etc). ABA’s Booksense also requests 500 copies of each issue for delivery direct to their members. ForeWord Magazine also is placed in the hands of agents and editors at larger houses, who may be looking for leads to bring into their fold from the small press sector.
All told, the ForeWord circulation is approximately 85% librarians, 12% bookstores, and 3% publishing professionals.
Now you can reach this influential readership with a Co-Op advertisement. Outskirts Press handles all the details for its authors.
Here’s a sample of the Outskirts Press full page, full color author co-op.
Co-Op Advertising allows you to secure premium, full-color exposure for your book in a high-quality trade publication for a minimal amount of money. Your book will occupy a 2″ x 2.5″ space along with 11 other Outskirts Press titles within a full-color, full-page ad. Your ad space will include a full color cover image, an abbreviated synopsis, the ISBN, and retail price. All books will include retail and wholesale ordering information.BONUS: If you have the Retail Returns Option, your participating ISBN(s) will be indicated as being fully returnable through Ingram — a little tidbit buyers are particularly interested in.
HOW TO ORDER:
To order the ForeWord Magazine Co-Op, sign-in to your author’s center and click on the Marketing Options button to bring up your menu of available marketing services and products. Select the ForeWord Co-Op to add the service to your shopping cart.
Not published with the fastest-growing full-service
publisher yet?
How would you like to introduce your book to 4 MILLION people all at once?
How would you like your book to appear in the very same pages as books published by Random House, Harper Collins, and Viking?
The New York Times Book Review Co-Op is your opportunity!
Your book will appear in a full-page black/white advertisement along with 11 other high-quality Outskirts Press publications.
Outskirts Press is currently seeking 12 books to appear in the special HOLIDAY ISSUE of the New York Times Book Review, to be published on December 5th, just in time for holiday book buying.
The Sunday New York Times reaches an audience of 4 million educated and affluent consumers who love to buy books, including:
2.9 million readers who purchased a combined total of 39 million books in the past year
Consumers who are twice as likely to buy biographies and history titles
Readers who are 93% more likely to buy fiction
1.7 million households with children
Readers who are heavy readers, reading an average of 25+ books in the past year
The Outskirts Press Marketing COACH will be emailing our published authors about this unique opportunity to get your book in front of 4 million holiday shoppers for a fraction of the cost of what it would cost on your own. Your book cover and ordering information, including your webpage URL, will occupy an approximate 2″ x 2″ space.
Speaking of the Kindle, be sure to watch the Oprah Winfrey show on Friday, October 24th to see if the Amazon Kindle qualifies as Oprah’s newest “favorite gadget ever.” Is she talking about the Kindle when she says it will change everything? Tune in to find out, and then when the buzz erupts, be sure your book is already a part of the Kindle library by submitting your published book to the Amazon Kindle with the Outskirts Press Amazon Kindle Submission Service, available for Outskirts Press books.
Speaking of Kindle, what does Amazon have to say about its own device? Look at the Amazon detail page for the Kindle to see how Amazon uses its own knowledge of the features available to highlight its own product. What can you learn from this? Compare YOUR detail page with the Kindle page to see how you can improve your book’s listing on Amazon. For more help, Brent Sampson’s book, Sell Your Book on Amazon, can help.
To order all the marketing services available for Outskirts Press published authors, visit your Marketing Options page from your author’s center. Not yet a published Outskirts Press author? Click here to get started publishing today.
A quick note to draw your attention to something special about the Amazon Kindle. It’s a great platform for fiction. There’s probably little surprise to hear that non-fiction is an “easier sell” than fiction when it comes to books. But the Amazon Kindle is the great equalizer if you’ve written a fiction book. We highlighted our top ten Kindle books is the last post. A full 50% of them were fiction. Regardless of whether you have published a fiction book or non-fiction book, the Kindle edition is a worthwhile addition. But if you’ve written fiction, it’s particularly important. Click here for the Amazon Kindle Submission Service.
The Amazon Kindle introduces a whole new method of reaching new readers. We have recently introduced our new Amazon Kindle Submission Service (for details, click here).
Below are the top 10 Amazon Kindle books from Outskirts Press.
Moonlight by Keith Knapp
Not Manifesting? This Book is for You! by Kathleen Mackenzie
Pocket of Pearls by Merna D. Throne
City Within a City by Sherry Clark Thomas
I WANT TO Make Money in the Stock Market by Chris M. Hart, Sr.
Planting Design Illustrated by Gang Chen
The End Result by Marc Boyajian
West of 16W by Mark Slomiany
The World I Imagine by Debbie Jordan
Dark Day of the Soul by Dave Hart
Not yet a published Outskirts Press author with an additional Kindle edition? Click here to get started.
One of the most important elements to selling your book on Amazon is having a fantastic book sales page on Amazon. The book sales page is the production information page, or detail page. It is the page on Amazon devoted to providing information about your book and motivating a customer to buy it. As closely as possible, your Amazon sales page should resemble any other webpage you may have that is devoted to selling your book. After all, if you have worked hard to develop strong sales copy, you should use it in multiple places.
Amazon’s description field has a character limitation of 4,000 characters, so you should draft your online description (otherwise referred to an a distributor’s annotation) so that it is as close to 4,000 words as possible. People like HAVING access to detailed information, even if they never read it. Then, use that same information on your author webpage or somewhere within the body of your Enhanced Author Website.
Directly below is an example of the content Outskirts Press CEO Brent Sampson has on his author’s webpage for one of his books, Sell Your Book on Amazon. Then, compare it with the content on the Amazon version. They both feature an extensive description of the book that focuses on the BENEFITS for the reader. They both include a book video. (For more details about having a book video created for your book, click here and for details about adding your book video to Amazon, click here.)So You’d Like to… Become An Amazon Bestseller!
Don’t wait. Publishing insider and CEO Brent Sampson reveals revolutionary advice guaranteed to increase your book sales on Amazon. Learn the powerful secrets used by successful Amazon authors every day. This informative and practical “how-to” guide shares new techniques that are proven to work.
Solutions Revealed! Discover step-by-step methods for improving your exposure onAmazon and increasing your authority.
Secrets Exposed! Increase your profitability by learning the secrets to short-discounting Amazon with just twenty percent.
Success Discovered! Learn top-secret tactics that earn authors tens-of-thousands of dollars in royalties every month.
Amazon Approved! Find, understand, and control every Amazon possibility for maximum book sales.
Are you holding a manuscript in your hand that you wish Amazon was selling? Or do you already have a book on Amazon that you wish was selling better? In either case, Sell Your Book on Amazon will help you.
You will experience what I have seen first-hand as the president of Outskirts Press – that marketing success on Amazon can be the difference between hundreds and tens-of-thousands of dollars a month.
You will learn why self-publishing guru Dan Poynter says, “Bookstores are a lousy place to sell books.” In his foreword, he says publishing as if it is still the 20th century is for historians. Publishing in this new millennium is for writers. Are you a writer or historian? Sell Your Book on Amazon shows you how to publish and market your book in the 21st Century.
Amazon provides a phenomenal and gigantic (global) platform from which to sell your book. In fact, the opportunities may seem almost too colossal! But now, Sell Your Book on Amazon unveils it all for the first time. This book provides an easy-to-understand approach to increase your book sales on Amazon by exploring the steps you can take immediately.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Dan Poynter
Introduction: Amazon – A Brief History
Chapter 1: Get Your Book Listed
Chapter 2: AuthorConnect & Author Profile Pages
Chapter 3: The Book Sales Page
Chapter 4: Listmania!
Chapter 5: So You’d Like to… Guides
Chapter 6: Additional Amazon Possibilities
Chapter 7: Pricing & Profitability
Conclusion
Resources
Index
As Penny C. Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts says, “Finally! A book that helps you demystify Amazon. If you have a book to sell, you simply must own Sell Your Book on Amazon.”
Why is increasing a book’s exposure important? Because readers have to learn about your book before they can buy it. Authors who know how to use Amazon’s own system and algorithms to their advantage sell more books simply because more people learn about their books (and therefore buy them!). Once a book finds success on Amazon, it appears higher in the search results, leading to MORE exposure and more sales, and so on. It’s the Amazon “virtuous circle” and the key to unlocking that brass ring is in your hands.
Introducing the exclusive NEW TACTIC RANKING SYSTEM!
Marketing tactics are only as valuable as the profits they generate. Sell Your Book on Amazon ranks every technique so you can quickly and efficiently locate the marketing secrets that will lead to superior results:
***** Highly recommended. Receive the greatest exposure compared to time spent.
**** Very recommended. An acceptable investment is required for a profitable return.
*** Somewhat recommended. Check your profit margin. The expenditure may exceed the benefit.
Do you know how to beat Amazon at their own game? Do you know how Amazon Marketplace listings can offer “55 used copies” of your book when you haven’t even sold that many? Do you know how to remove a 1-star review from your listing and how to get more 5-star reviews?
This book tells you how to do it all, plus so much more. It’s a tremendous value with a wealth of information at your fingertips. Start increasing your book sales instantly by ordering Sell Your Book on Amazon today.
Awards and Accolades:
Finalist – 2007 USA Book News Best Book Awards
Book of the Year – 2007 Royal Palm Literary Awards
First Place, How To – 2008 Readers Views Awards
First Place, Informational – 2007 Royal Palms
Finalist, How To – 2008 Indie Book Awards
Winner, Sales – 2008 Indie Book Awards
Watch the Video:
About Brent Sampson
Brent Sampson is the award-winning author of Self-Publishing Simplified and Publishing Gems: Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer. As the president and CEO of Outskirts Press, Brent is actively involved with the Independent Book Publishers Association, the Small Publishers Association of North America, the Florida Writers Association, the Southwestern Writers Association, and the Colorado Independent Publishers Association.
The Amazon Kindle is America’s revolutionary wireless reading device. It allows its owners to instantly download books and newspapers, but only books that have been submitted to the Amazon Kindle via the required process and in the required format are available for Kindle readers to purchase and enjoy. Kindle editions of books appear on Amazon.com (and now Amazon.co.uk) in search listings just like any other format (such as a hardback edition).
There are several benefits to having your book available in a Kindle Edition.
1. The Amazon Kindle edition will appear as another option to buy on your book’s sales page, which increases the chances of browsers becoming buyers.
2. Sales through the Amazon Kindle are not split with Outskirts Press. Amazon will take their share, as they always do, but your profit will be directly deposited into your checking account by Amazon, without any involvement by (or portion for) Outskirts Press. In other words, your Kindle sales are YOUR Kindle sales.
3. As Amazon is expanding the availability of Kindle editions (offering free Kindle apps for iPhone, Blackberry and Android users as well as PC and Mac users, and now the availability through Amazon.com.uk), Amazon customers and readers are growing every day. While the Kindle is a unique and revolutionary device designed to make reading more convenient, the majority of Amazon customers love actual BOOKS. A Kindle sale is an inexpensive way to offer your book to a potential reader; if they like it, they are more likely to purchase the paperback or hardback edition, too.
HOW TO ORDER THE AMAZON KINDLE SUBMISSION SERVICE
It’s easy! Regardless of whether you are self publishing with Outskirts Press or not, you can conveniently and securely get an Kindle edition for your book by clicking the big green button. We take care of everything for you! It could not be simpler.
This week we’re going to cover a topic that is always of interest to self-publishing authors: Amazon! We’ll begin the week with an article our CEO, Brent Sampson, wrote on the subject of the Amazon Sales Ranking. Brent is the award-winning and bestselling author of Sell Your Book on Amazon.
NAVIGATING THE AMAZON SALES RANKING
First, the disclaimers: Since the algorithm Amazon uses to generate its sales ranking is proprietary, the details contained herein are extrapolated from research and field tests. The resulting consensus finds Amazon’s system to provide marginal sales data at best.
To whit, read Amazon’s own definition of its system, slightly paraphrased from their FAQ: “The Sales Ranking system exhibits how books are selling. The lower the number, the higher the sales. The calculation is based on sales and is updated each hour to reflect recent and historical sales of every item sold. We hope you find the Amazon.com Sales Rank interesting!” This last sentence seems to indicate Amazon’s own perspective on the importance with which the sales rankings should be viewed.
You’re not supposed to find the sales rankings informative or helpful. You’re supposed to find them interesting.
In actuality, the process is somewhat more convoluted than they let on. The ranking does not depend solely upon the actual number of books sold, but rather, on a comparison against the sales figures of the other books in their database (all 5 million+ of them) within that same hour. Simultaneously, a trending calculation is applied to arrive at a sales trajectory. So, hypothetically, a book that held a ranking of 2,000 at 2pm and 3,000 at 3pm, might hold a 4,000 ranking at 4pm, even if it actually sold MORE books between 3-4 than it did between 2-3.
Current projections and historic sales information also play a key role in these calculations. In fact, the predictive nature of the Amazon ranking system is what makes it possible for a newly-released book to outrank an older established title, even though the actual sales figures for the latter far exceed the former.
That said, sales history takes a back seat to current sales rankings. Sales projections and trending take an active role here, which is why a book’s ranking can leap from 900,000 to 200,000 in the span of 24 hours or less. Does this mean the book has sold 700,000 copies in 24 hours? Absolutely not! What it does mean is that recent activity (i.e. purchases) for that book is trending higher than those 700,000 books it just surpassed. But, don’t get excited just yet; since the activity of those 700,000 other books range from slow to stagnant, one or two orders are sufficient to catapult a ranking.
If a book’s ranking breaks into the top 100,000, the sales history calculation starts to rear its head, which is why a “phenomenon” book has a hard time maintaining a high, legitimate ranking. A phenomenon is defined by a book that leaps from the high hundred-thousands into the lower thousands (or better) in the span of 24 hours or less, usually due to some concentrated marketing initiatives. Since Amazon’s sales history for that title doesn’t support the leap, the spike occurs and then quickly drops again.
HOW DOES ALL THIS TRANSLATE TO ACTUAL SALES FIGURES?
Since the data is recalculated all the time, it’s impossible to arrive at accurate, cumulative sales figures, although those figures are applied to the algorithm during the calculation. No, to get a very rough idea of the actual number of books being sold, the sales ranking has to be dissected dynamically, with the same immediacy as the ranking being calculated. In other words, chart the ranking of the book at the same time every hour for 24 hours and then divide by 24 to arrive at its average daily ranking. Do that for seven straight days to arrive at its average weekly ranking. You can do it all month long to arrive at its average monthly ranking. The longer your average timeframe, the more accurately your sales ranking will reflect “reality” (as opposed to a spike or dip in sales).
Bear in mind that this next piece of information is extremely arbitrary, based upon sales ranking/sales figure comparisons and data received from third party sources. In other words, it’s probably completely wrong. But rather than disclaiming this chart until the cows come home, I’ll just say this: It is difficult to make sense of something that doesn’t make sense. But it sure is interesting, and now, perhaps, even slightly helpful.
If the book’s average ranking is:
2,000,000+
Perhaps a single inventory/consignment copy has been ordered
1,000,000+
Current trends indicate total sales will most likely be under 40
100,000+
Current trends indicate total sales will most likely be under 200
10,000+
Estimate between 1 – 100 copies being sold per week
1,000+
Estimate between 10 – 500 copies being sold per week
100+
Estimate between 10 – 100 copies being sold per day
10+
Estimate between 100 – 1000 copies being sold per day
Why is increasing a book’s exposure important? Because readers have to learn about your book before they can buy it. Authors who know how to use Amazon’s own system and algorithms to their advantage sell more books simply because more people learn about their books (and therefore buy them!). Once a book finds success on Amazon, it appears higher in the search results, leading to MORE exposure and more sales, and so on. It’s the Amazon “virtuous circle” and the key to unlocking that brass ring is in your hands.
About Brent Sampson
The Amazon Kindle is America’s revolutionary wireless reading device. It allows its owners to instantly download books and newspapers, but only books that have been submitted to the Amazon Kindle via the required process and in the required format are available for Kindle readers to purchase and enjoy. Kindle editions of books appear on Amazon.com (and now 
