If you’ve been wondering how to maximize your sales potential on Amazon KDP, well, wonder no more. I’m going to give you some game-changing tips to sell more books on KDP.
It doesn’t matter if you write fiction, non-fiction, or you create low content books. These insights will work for you.
Not only that, I’m certain that I have some new tips you’ve never heard.
Let’s jump right in to realizing your sales potential on Amazon KDP.
Table of Contents
Front and Back Matter
If you’re not familiar with the front and back matter of a book, I’m talking about the pages towards the front like
the title page, copyright page, table of contents, and that type of stuff.
The back matter includes things like about the author, references, etc. This is the area with the most valuable real estate for you to sell more books.
The first thing I recommend is using it to build your email list. It doesn’t matter what platform you use, include a link to your sign-up form so you can get your readers away from the Amazon platform and into your universe where you can promote more books to them.
Keep it simple with a call to action, inviting them to join your newsletter. This is the only way to convert them into your customers instead of Amazon’s.
The next thing is to make sure you’re putting a sample to promote other content whether it’s another book in the same series or something from your back catalog. I usually place this in the back matter, but it can go in the front matter as well.
Don’t overcomplicate it, but keep in mind that you don’t want to sample more than 10% of any other book in your current work.
Drop your links in one or both places. If you’re wondering how to include links in your print books, the answer is QR codes. Readers can scan QR codes with their smartphones and are taken to the links via their browser or other appropriate apps.
These are great because you don’t have to worry about them trying to remember your URL. You’re probably thinking, “Great, Dale, but how the heck do I create a QR code!?”
I got you! Visit https://dalelinks.com/QRcode. That will take you to a tool to create your own QR codes made by Dave Chesson, the Kindlepreneur. It’s 100% free and you can even put a little picture of your book in your code.
Don’t forget to ask for reviews in your back matter. This is the perfect opportunity!
Why are reviews so important?
This is a statistic that I learned from the Amazon Advertising Certification Course, which is 100% free and available to everyone inside their Amazon Advertising Dashboard.
91% of customers who make a purchase read reviews first before clicking that buy button. Amazon recommends that in order for your product to be retail-ready, it needs at least 15 reviews at 3.5 stars or better. So, getting reviews is important.
I’d never recommend that you focus on reviews and then quit, but you should definitely make them a priority.
All that being said, I do recommend that you prioritize selling your next book over reviews.
I used to say that as soon as it says “The End”, go over and ask for the review, but if you want more sales, send them over to the next book instead.
Then, ask for the review!
Prioritize what makes the most sense for and to you.
Reach Out to an Amazon Influencer
There aren’t many people talking about this one. The Amazon Influencer Program has been out for several years and they have what’s called Shoppable videos.
These are videos that appear just above the reviews on a product’s sales page in a little carousel.
What you can do is find an influencer and contact them. Give them a copy of your book for posting a video review of your book.
That’s really going to help you out and also the influencer because they get a 4% commission if someone buys your book after watching their video for at least 30 seconds.
Of course, you still get paid the same, and the customer isn’t charged more. That 4% comes out of Amazon’s pocket.
It’s kind of a win-win for everyone.
By the way, this is great for low content books. A lot of low content book publishers are wondering how to get more reviews, well this is one of the greatest ways to get more interest in your books.
Influencers aren’t too difficult to find. You can find them on other pages in your niche. If you click on the video and it says “Earns commissions,” you’ve found an influencer. If it just says “customer review,” it’s just a customer.
Other than that, there are free and premium sites designed to help you get more reviews. Do your due diligence and make sure any review site you use is not violating any terms of service.
If you pay for Amazon reviews, you and the reviewer will get into hot water.
You can pay for Editorial Reviews. You post these on your book sales pages through Amazon Author Central.
Amazon Author Central
Speaking of Amazon Author Central, it’s a free service provided to authors from Amazon and gives you a profile on the platform where you can claim all your books.
Amazon Author Central puts everything in one spot that is easy to share everywhere.
It’s a great way to further index your content through an author profile and an editorial review section. Why do you want your content indexed?
Well, indexing is when the Amazon algorithm catalogs your work so it’s ready to be served to browsing customers on the Amazon website.
PRO TIP: Create a unique author bio relevant to each of your books so you have that extra piece of content for each individual book. Work in some related keywords naturally and organically. It’s just another way to increase your discoverability on Amazon.
If you don’t have a website, an Amazon Author Central page is the next best thing to act as a one-stop shop for your full catalog of books.
Here’s a big tip you probably haven’t heard. Ask people to hit that Follow button on your Author Central profile.
Each time you release a new title, your followers will get notified via email. This is similar to email marketing except you’re not having to lift a finger. All you have to do is ask folks to follow you on Amazon.
Setting Up a Series Page
If you have a number of books in a series, you can set up a Series Page to index your content and have a whole new way for potential customers to discover your books.
Let’s say you have a series with 3 books. That’s 4 opportunities to sell those book. You have each of the 3 book pages and then you have a Series Page that showcases all three books in one location.
You create a new description for the series making the content unique and discoverable in a new way. Take advantage of those when you can! You build them out right inside your KDP dashboard.
A+ Content
A+ content is the very first thing visible in the From the Publisher details section on your book’s product page. On desktop, it’s just below the description and product carousels.
This is super valuable real estate because if you create text-based modules with images, Amazon Advertising actually said that it indexes your content and makes it more discoverable because the more findable you can become, the more opportunity you have to sell more books.
I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely going to leverage that!
I believe you can have up to seven A+ content sections per product page. Go buck wild, but do it tastefully. You don’t want your product page to look like a flea market.
Here’s all the information you need to know on A+ Content directly from Amazon.
I use the new Book Bolt Studio to create my A+ Content graphics. While Book Bolt is the most comprehensive low content book publishing software on the market today, it can be used for so many other parts of your business.
Using Book Bolt to Create A+ Content
Log in to Book Bolt. Use my code DALE20 to get 20% off your plan at https://dalelinks.com/bookbolt.
Click Research and select Create from the drop-down menu.
Click Book Bolt Studio in the left navigation.
Type the name of your project and click Create Project.
Fill out your project as follows:
You can always come back later and create more pages in a separate file.
From here, I can upload an image or select a royalty-free image from Pixabay or Unsplash which are integrated with Book Bolt.
You can keep it simple by adding a background, your book cover, and a simple quote or create something more elaborate like this.
Export PNG.
Now all you have to do is log into your KDP dashboard and click the Marketing tab.
Choose the A+ Content region you want to upload your file to.
That’s it. It really is that simple. You can get access to my preferred low content book publishing software, Book Bolt! Get 20% off your plan with my code DALE20 at https://dalelinks.com/bookbolt
Amazon Advertising
A lot of folks are hesitant to mess with paid advertising. I get it. It’s intimidating.
If you’re new to Amazon Advertising, the first thing I would recommend is taking the Amazon Advertising Certification Course which is 100% free inside your Amazon Ads dashboard.
Choose Sponsored Products for your campaign type.
Start with Automated Targeting for your specific type of book.
Keep your daily budget around a dollar to $10 per day. You can have your cost-per-click (CPC) as low as you’d like, but I’d recommend starting at around 35 cents.
Check on your ads at least once a week at a specific time. For example, I check mine on Thursdays.
Adjust your bids every week on the Targeting. It’s going to depend on your performance for the previous week.
Let’s say you don’t have any impressions. Kick up the bid for your targeting. If you’re not getting any clicks, adjust your bid or your targeting. If you aren’t getting any sales, adjust your bid down or off for targeting.
The area you want to pay the most attention to is the Search Terms report.
Open another tab on the campaign level. Add poor converting or irrelevant target from the Search Terms report to the Negative Targeting section. I do this on the campaign level so any new ad group will not target any of these keywords either.
Give your ad group at least 14 days to work.
Did You See a Change in Your Sales Potential on Amazon KDP?
We’d love to hear about it in the comment section below!