Wheatmark Author Interview

James Best, one of the Wheatmark authors, has taught us a lot about being awesome. Not only is he a fantastic writer and a savvy book marketer, but he's an all around cool guy.

That said, the word is spreading. Here's a link to a recent interview with him on whohub.com where they talk to him about his storytelling skills and what makes him tick.

Check out the interview here.

Best Series: The Rest of the Story

There were a few things that Jim Best wanted to highlight at the end of his presentation.

The first thing was that Amazon keeps adding features to help you sell more of your product on their site. An example is the new Author Stores. So make sure you keep your eyes peeled for new strategies. Along side their new features, he noted that Amazon was bit slow to propagate a few areas and that patience was needed:

• Discounts
  
• Look Inside
  
• Pairing
  
• Exploring Similar Items
  
• Also Bought/Also Viewed
  
• Key Phrases
  
• Amazon Staff Reviews
  

One of the most interesting things that Best presented, aside from his Top 10 Tips, was his lists of what did and did not work for him as an author trying to push his book in a very busy industry.

What Didn't Work on Amazon

• Amazon Associates
  
• Amazon Communities
  
• Amazon Contests
  

What Didn't Work Anywhere

• Adwords
  
• Traditional Media Review Requests
  
• Western-themed Organizations (Best's books are western fiction)
  
• Contests
  
• Unsolicited article queries
  
• Webring
  

What May Have Worked

• Advertised for 3 months in True West
  
• Distributed over 2,500 cards and bookmarks
  
• Published 2 websites: jamesdbest.com and stevedancy.com
  
• Published author's blog
  
• Email campaigns
  
• Shopkeeper Book Trailer (230 views)
  
• Independent bookstores
  
• Internet communities
  
• Mailed over 120 promos to True West respondents
  
• Sent 6 packages of books to soldiers in Iraq
  
• Left copies at OAT ship library
  

I'll leave you with the final Jim Best quote of the presentation:

"When you do nothing--nothing happens."

Well, that about hits the nail on the head.

For those of you who are ready to get busy, check out our FREE book marketing workbook that is a great way to map out your book selling campaign!

Best SeriesTip No. 10: Keep At It!

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 10: Keep at it

"Until you become the next Nelson DeMille, it's a long, hard slog."

Book marketing isn't a turn-key business. You can't just wave your flag and declare, "I wrote a book, read it!"

Self-publishing gives authors so much flexibility and control over their final product. Many, however, aren't ready for the continued job driving demand to their book.

The most important thing, after getting your book published, is to really work hard on your marketing campaign. It can be frustrating, feel futile, and it is a lot of work.

But, your goal is to sell more copies each month than the month before. Even if it's 1 or 2 more, you are succeeding.

Keep at it! If you've followed the steps in The Best Series, you have an excellent book that looks professional, you've got your platform started, and you are managing your Amazon life in a professional and useful way.

Like they say, never give up.

Up next The Best Series Conclusion: what worked, what didn't work, and other bits that didn't fall into a tip.

Best Series Tip No. 9: Be a Good Amazon Citizen

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 9: Be a Good Amazon Citizen

• Always polite
  
• Your writing is being judged
  
• Don't fake it
  
• Be a little edgy
  
• Professional in communications with Amazon
  

Some would say this is obvious, but if you've ever watched someone have a meltdown at a cashier counter over, say, a price reduction, you know that we aren't all on our best behavior when dealing with the public.

I once heard it said that you should always act as if you are being filmed for television. (Now considering the state of most network reality show programs, this is no longer the helpful governor of etiquette it once was, but just forget about the Seacrest juggernaut "Mama's Boys" and the painful-albeit-entertaining sluttiness that commenced and think "Hey, I shouldn't pick my nose on TV.")

This is good advice for the virtual world as well. It is very easy to feel as if you are in a safe bubble and that your interactions online are with your monitor and not an actual human on the other end. It is simple to fire off an angry email laced with offensive language to some faceless drone.

The reality is that you MUST be polite. You must be calm. You MUST BE A GOOD CITIZEN.

Every review, blog, forum query, etc., that you compose is being judged and reflects you as an individual.

This doesn't mean that you can't have a personality. Even Miss Manners was a bit snarky. In fact, it was her sarcasm that made her readable. You can have some edge in your writing. Just remember that you never know who is reading what you are putting out there. You don't want to alienate potential book buyers.

The other set you don't want to alienate are the "faceless drones" at Amazon. They can be really helpful when you have problems, need something, or would like your book to continue to be for sale on their site. 

Remember, despite sometimes cantankerous problems you may face with the giant megastore (glitches happen, ya'll), Amazon can be your greatest ally.

So don't poke the bear. 

Be smart, be prepared, be polite and your Amazon book empire will continue to grow!

Next tip: Tip No. 10! Keep At It!

Best Series Tip No. 8: Drive Demand--to Amazon

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 8: Drive Demand--To Amazon

• Author websites and external blogs
• Join organizations focused on your genre or specialty
• Give books away to opinion leaders
• Book fairs and signings
• Book cards
• Email campaigns
• Selective advertising
• Google Adwords

One of the great things about Amazon is that you can get your book listed there. You don't need an agent, a publicist, or anyone else trying to schmooze your book's way onto a brick-and-mortar store's shelf space. All you have to do is get it distributed on Amazon and you're in business.

But in order to get your book to begin to sell, you have to make your buyers aware that it exists. You need to drive the demand. There are lots of ways to do this, most of which are fairly inexpensive to free: they just require some (OK, a lot) of elbow grease and access to the Internet.

Like a mighty river starts with a trickle, so must you begin your Amazon book campaign. One of the best ways to drive demand for your book (which is for sale on Amazon!) is a website or blog--an external one, not the one on Amazon (since, you know, if they are reading your Amazon blog they know your book is there). Your blog should be about you the writer and about your book. It should also mention somewhere, with a link, that you can purchase the book on Amazon.

But how do they find your blog? You find groups and organizations online (or in real life) that relate to your book's genre. You comment on their blogs and mention your own links. You become a fount of information and goodwill and they check out your blog. Even if they don't read every word you write, they'll hopefully notice your link to your book and will click on it. If all the spheres are aligned, they'll buy your book.

Other ways to drive demand are to give copies of books to opinion leaders: newspapers, bloggers, radio personalities, speakers, etc. If they like your book, they'll be a great mouthpiece for it, which (fingers crossed) they'll mention is for sale on Amazon.

Other ways to drive demand to Amazon is through book fairs and signings. You'll find you are asked a lot, "Is your book on Amazon?" Why, yes. It is! Then hand them a business card, book mark or other type of media that has your book's information on it so that when they get around to ordering, they won't have to try to remember who that nice lady with the book was at the signing.

After you've built up some contacts, a nice way to keep everyone in the loop (and drive demand to your Amazon page) is an email campaign. Even if, again, they don't read every word of your email talking about your upcoming signings, interviews you've done, or any of that other hard-won publicity you are likely to write about...they'll still be reminded that you have a book. Where can they find that book? AMAZON!

The last two points we'll mention are actual paid advertisements. These can be helpful, if you have the budget, in selling books, but in the end may not be worth the price. Buying a print ad in a magazine that deals with your genre can be helpful. Also, using Google Adwords isn't a bad way to go. But if your budget is very small, don't worry that you're missing your audience. Simply using the online venues available to you will be enough to begin the stream of interest to your Amazon page.

One question that comes up frequently about selling on Amazon is royalties. Many authors have done the math and have figured out that by purchasing inventory and selling the books themselves, they make more money per book. Should they drive demand to Amazon where the book is discounted? Won't they make less money? Jim Best's answer: By all means, drive the demand to Amazon.

Not only will Amazon take care of the ordering, shipping, and over all customer interface with the product, but more people will have access and will feel more secure ordering from tried-and-true Amazon. It makes good sense that if more people are will to purchase your book on Amazon (even at a discount), then say, the few who order from you (where you have to package and ship the book as well as deal with sales tax and keeping inventory on hand) you'll end up making more or the same money in the end!

Next tip on the horizon: Be a Good Amazon Citizen

Best Series Tip No. 7: Review Amazon Products

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 7: Review Amazon Products

• Product reviews


• Listmania


• Customers who bought this item also bought
  

Selling books on Amazon is a popularity contest. Fortunately in the virtual world, you don't have to worry about being the fastest or best-looking. Well, a little bit, but since kickball isn't in the mix, it's a lot less athletic. It is important, though, to be well-liked and to be EVERYWHERE.

What does that mean on Amazon? It means to be actively involved in the sale of your book and other quality items for sale there. Find a great toaster on Amazon? Tell people about it. Slowly you'll have a bit of a following as a good guy on Amazon.

Besides reviewing other products (particularly books), using Listmania, and also use the "also bought" function.

Best offers a few rules to abide by while becoming a prolific Amazon user:

1. Never review something you haven't read, used, or watched.
   
2. Never knock a competitor
   

It can be time consuming being Amazon Popular, but in the end you'll reap the rewards of being out and about ... and thought to be a nice, informative community member!

Next up: Tip No. 8 is Drive Demand ... to Amazon

Best Series Tip No. 6: Publish a Blog on Amazon

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 6: Publish a Blog on Amazon

• Amazon has few restrictions on author blogs
  
• Keep it professional and well written
  
• Make it interesting
  
• Add relevant links
  

Amazon isn't just a place to put a picture of your book and then have people buy it. The savvy author will also realize that it is a place to interact with your readers. One of the things that Amazon offers (and doesn't put a lot of restrictions on) is a free blog on the book page.

Part of your job as an author marketing a book is to be creating a concrete author platform. Your author platform is like a club that talks about you, your books, and also buys your books. It would stand up to reason then that the bigger your club, the bigger a success you will be as an author.

A blog on your Amazon page is an entry point into the club. It keeps people on the page longer, giving them more time to decide to buy, and also it allows you a way to get your message onto the sell page. Bad review? Address it in your blog post! Working on a new book? Start your marketing early by talking about it in a blog post on your already published book!

A few tips on writing an Amazon blog:

Keep it professional and well written.

This is your chance to show people what you and your work are all about. This is not the place to start introducing poor grammar, typos, and it is for sure not the place to rant on using obscene language about how no one is buying your book.

Your blog posts should reflect your skill as a writer (you know, 'cause, like, you're trying to sell your book which is, like, totally your culmination of skill as a writer, duh). If your entries are well written and include delightful wit and insight, you are more likely to persuade someone to put your book in their cart because they'll want to read more of it!

Make it interesting

Your Amazon page blog is not the place to discuss what you had for breakfast (unless you've written a cook book) or where to discuss how your dog just destroyed your couch (particularly bad if your book is about dog training).

So what should you write about? You should write about you the writer and also about your book.

Here are some suggestions of topics:

How you came up with the idea for you book.


The most trouble you had writing your book was blank


Your favorite thing you've heard from a reader


Ideas you're working on for your next book

Relevant links

Amazon is not too restrictive about blog content like they are about other pieces of your page. In your blog you can (and should) include external links to your website, other websites that talk about positively review your book, your external blogs, and even to your book trailer on YouTube.

Blogging on Amazon is a great way to keep your potential buyer on the page and to help reinforce their decision to buy your book. By blogging, you have an active way to talk to your buyers and help bring them into your author platform. As more and more options become available to buyers, it is the personal connection that will put your ahead of the rest. Your blog is a great way to establish that feeling of familiarity and to help sell those books!

Next in the Best series: Tip No. 7: Review Amazon Products

Best Series Tip No. 5: Get Lots of Tags

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 5: Get Lots of Tags

• Customer Tags--Determines Hierarchy in Searches
• Add every relevant tag, but only relevant tags
• Get friends and relatives to vote for all your tags
• Amazon Tags--Submit Relevant Tag Requests
• Write a top-notch description

A tag is a way for Amazon to categorize your book. Adding tags that will help--and then getting several votes for those tags--will add weight to your book for Amazon searches.

When a book browser goes on Amazon and searches for "Western fiction," they're tapping into the power of tags. When your book, if it is a Western fiction book, is tagged with those same words and multiple people have agreed those were adequate descriptions, your book will begin to come up when customers search those keywords.


The tag list is viewable if you scroll down the page. You can add tags, vote for tags, and search for tags here.

When you add tags, make sure they are relevant to your book. If your book is about pirates, you may not want to have a tag for gardening. For example, on the Amazon page for The Shopkeeper the tags include adventure, cowboys, historical fiction, Western fiction, Nevada, etc. These are all searchable terms a book buyer can use to find it on Amazon.

Ask friends and family members to go on your book pages and vote for your tags to help validate them. The more votes, the better!

You can also submit relevant tag requests to Amazon Tags to help you have even more street credibility.

One of the things that you should also keep in mind is your book description. By having a top-notch description that includes many of the words you've used for tags, you'll make it easier for the virtual Amazon path to lead to your book's door.

Your goal is to help people find your excellent book, tags are the breadcrumbs you leave for them to find you!

Next in the Best series: Tip No. 6: Publish a Blog on Amazon

Best Series Tip No. 4: Get Customer Reviews

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

Tip No. 4: Get Customer Reviews

• Get Real Reviews--People Spot Phonies


• Ask Early & Follow Up--People are Busy


• Make Sure They Like It--Otherwise, Mum's the Word


• Manage Helpful Votes--Keep Selling Reviews on Top

When getting ready to purchase something, how do you determine whether the product is one of quality? Most people do research, they read up on the item and weigh the pros and cons from the reviews the item has received online.

If you were to go on Amazon.com and look up, say, weed whackers, you are not likely to purchase the model that received zero stars and horrible reviews. Books are the same way. You need reviews and you really, really want good ones.

Reviews help to entice people to make a buy decision. Having reviews that talk positively and intelligently about your book will help persuade your buyer to put your book in their shopping cart.

How do you get reviews? You ask for them.

The majority of your first book sales will most likely be to people you know. Ask them to review your book on Amazon. That is, if they liked it. If they didn't, ask them to stay mum about it. You don't want them to pretend they liked it either. You also don't really want to go on there and write your own glowing review. Readers can spot phony reviews fairly easily.

Although you don't really want a negative review on your page, a well-written lukewarm review won't necessarily hurt you. Often a not-quite a rave will realistically portray your work and often will have nice things to say about it despite a low-star rating.

It is often easy to get people to agree to review your book. It is even more of a battle to get them to follow through. People are busy. You need to ask early and follow up. You'll probably have to follow up with them several times. Despite your discomfort in "nagging" them, in the end, their excellent review could make the difference in a sale. So keep pushing. Don't threaten their kneecaps or anything, but gentle pushes reminding them to log on and review your book won't likely break a friendly relationship.

If you do receive a negative review, well, that's life. Find someone who likes you and likes your book to put up their positive review soon. As the favorable reviews stack up, you'll be able to push that negative review lower on the page and it will have less weight to the buyer.

What if no one likes your book? The truth is difficult sometimes. If no one likes your book and the reviews are going badly, it is time to look at your product. Take the feedback into consideration and get ready to go back to the drawing board. You may need to consider some revisions and more professional editing.

Remember, having an excellent book is tip No. 1.

Another thing you might want to consider is who you are giving the book to. It might not be fruitful to give your sci-fi erotica novel to your Aunt Mona, whose views make the mother in Carrie seem lenient. Get reviews from readers who are familiar with your book's genre and can accurately review it.

Upcoming in the Best Series is Tip No. 5: Get Lots of Tags.

The Best Series Tip No. 3: Publish a Second Book

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

James D. Best's Tip No. 3: Publish a Second Book

• Established readers buy second book, first-time buyers go back for first book
• Amazon pairing helps sell both books and it looks professional
• Build credibility
  Nonfiction: image of expertise
  Fiction: image of success

In order to leverage your marketing efforts, one of the best things you can do is publish another book! (Stop sighing and making skeptical faces. It isn't a gimmick. It really works.)

Think about it. As readers, most of us are likely to seek out another title by an author of a book we enjoy or find informative. When you think of your favorite authors, don't most of them have multiple titles in their pocket? Why shouldn't you?

By publishing a second book, you reap several benefits.

One benefit is simply that Amazon, for many readers the go-to place to buy books online, will automatically pair your first and second books on the same page so that readers will see your marketing efforts on both books' pages.

A second benefit is that readers will often go back and buy the second book or first book depending on their enjoyment of the one they've already read. Sometimes they'll buy both in one wallop just based on your reviews and product description. Wouldn't it be better to bring them in and offer them options?

Another benefit is that, as an author, having multiple titles gives you the appearance of credibility. For example, if you've written a book on sales techniques and it is up for sale on Amazon as a lone wolf, you'll sell some copies, but you are competing with many, many titles. Now you write a second book on management techniques as a follow up to your first book. Not only will you have paired books on your page, but you'll look successful and like an expert. Buyers will feel more confident in your ability to instruct them because your expertise is obvious: you've written TWO books!

Finally, it is time-consuming to build your author platform. You write blogs, read other people's blogs, you update your Facebook account and are constantly tweaking your Amazon page. With a second book, you aren't just working to market one title. With two or more titles, you'll be working just as hard as you would with only one title. It would be to your advantage to do the same amount of marketing, but potentially reap more sales from multiple products!

Having a second excellent book helps you look like a bestseller!

Up next, Tip. No. 4: Get Customer Reviews.

The Best Series Tip No. 2: Look Like a Bestseller

The Best Series is based on a presentation by Wheatmark author James D. Best, author of The Shopkeeper, The Shut Mouth Society, and the upcoming release Leadville. Best has offered 10 tips on how to use Amazon to sell your book and we'll look at each tip in depth in a series of blog posts.

• Look Inside (or Search Inside)
  
• Kindle
• Editorial Reviews Section
• Profile Page
• Customer Images
• "Also Bought" and "Also Viewed

Now that you've followed Tip No. 1 and have an Excellent Book to distribute through Amazon, you need to make sure that your book looks like a bestseller.

Check out the best-selling books in Amazon. Look at their Amazon pages and check out all the bells and whistles they have going for them. Then get those bells and whistles for yourself.
Best is a firm believer in the Look Inside option for books on Amazon. It allows potential buyers to peek at the book and see if they like it. The Da Vinci Code has it, why shouldn't yours?

Another thing that Best did to make his book look like a bestseller was to have a Kindle version made. The reason? Plain and simple. The bestsellers had Kindle flags on their pages. In order to get a Kindle flag, you need a Kindle version. The great part is that he now sells Kindle versions of his books as well!

Another point he made was to keep the writing as professional as possible. In the Editorial Reviews section, the content should represent the quality of the book it is selling. Remember to edit it well. Sneak over to other book pages and find ones you think are really well done and mimic their content. Most authors won't have reviews by Publisher's Weekly, so in many cases the Editorial Reviews will be information about the book that you've written yourself.

One of the nice things about Amazon is that other authors have come before you. You don't need to break new ground, you can crib the brilliance of others!

Several other elements that are often skipped by the self-published author are pieces like the profile page. But don't neglect it! One month Best said he had more than 400 views on his profile in December alone. Entry points that support the call to action to buy the book help underscore credibility and allow multiple ways to bring your message to your buyer.

The last point with tip No. 2 is the "Also Bought" and "Also Viewed" link to your book. There isn't much you can do to manipulate this except to ask people you know to buy a second book while they are in there buying your book. However, Amazon will automatically pair your multiple titles if you have them. So you don't need to suggest buying your own book!

To build a winning image, you need to have a book that looks like a winner. By creating an Amazon page that looks professional and mimics the same techniques as the bestsellers, you'll be in the game with your excellent book.

Next tip: Publish a Second Book