How to Self-Publish a $1 eBook on Amazon
There are advantages to self-publishing: From creative control to keeping far more of the money your book actually generates, traditional publishing is becoming less attractive to people with already established platforms. Having both traditional (here and more recently here) and self-published books, I can speak from experience on this: it’s worthwhile to do both, if you can.
The purpose of self-publishing, however, is generally not to create some huge waterfall of profits. In fact, nobody should get into writing books to become diabolically rich, because that rarely happens. Even many of my author friends who are NYT bestsellers and whatnot will tell you in their secret moments how they, in fact, lost money in their publishing efforts, especially when it comes to spending on promotion, marketing, etc. At this point, many people are probably aware that bestsellers lists are largely gamed — people buying their way onto those lists through various weaslely methods. Well, it’s true.
I write short, $1 eBooks for two simple reasons. First, to get the word out about some larger project (or projects) I’m working on, and, second, because I have something that I assume people of this great republic will find either interesting or helpful. To the former point, my $1 ebook called Introduction to Kettlebells has become a powerful “attention asset” and has brought many people onto my email list, and, from there, at least for some of them, into my online workout and coaching programs. It’s a lead generator, in other words.
My other $1 eBook is called How to Think About God and is mostly just a re-presentation of material I produced throughout my masters program on natural theology, in which I construct a purely philosophical argument for the God of classical theism. This is largely a passion project but also a way to bring in new listeners (which it has) for the philosophy/theology segments of my podcast, The Pat Flynn Show.
Notably, both of my $1eBooks achieved bestseller statuses on Amazon. Quite remarkably, in fact, my Kettlebell eBook hit #1 across multiple, major categories. Granted, it is not *extremely* difficult to get bestseller status among minor categories (especially if you’ve got somewhat of a following and are only charging $1… go figure.) but hitting #1 in the bigger categories is still difficult even at a low price point. I really did not expect my kettlebell eBook to do nearly as well at launch as it did. I guess I am just that cool.
I was also quite pleased when my How to Think About God eBook hit #1 in certain (though admittedly more minor) categories: metaphysics and philosophy. Again, more than I was expecting, and getting those #1 new release or bestseller stamps does help with drawing more people in.
OK, so here’s the general strategy. I’ll try to keep this as simple and straightforward as possible.
Step 1) Identify a cool theme/problem you can solve, and then write a short treatment on it.
Here you simply need to demonstrate whatever expertise/problem solving abilities you have, and concisely. For my kettlebell eBook, I talked about the basic exercises, how to safely perform them, why they’re cool, and then offered a quick, 14 day “QuickStart” program. I also included pictures and links to relevant videos. For my HTTAG eBook, I introduced the project of metaphysics, trotted out a 5-step argument for classical theism, responded to objections, and considered potential implications for religion.
Again, deliver as much value as possible in the least number of pages you reasonably can. Obviously coming up with a catchy title obviously helps, as well, though the catchiest titles are sometimes the most basic. If someone is new/interested in kettlebells, a simple “introduction to kettlebells” title will grab their attention.
Step 2) Get a cool cover made and the eBook formatted for Amazon.
This is where outsourcing comes in. I always head over to Fiverr.com for that. Just hire someone who can design an eBook cover, and then hire another someone who can format an eBook for Kindle/create space. Just search and you’ll find plenty of people offering these gigs. I wouldn’t recommend doing this yourself, because you can get well designed cover art and professional formatting fairly cheap. And if you’re anything like me, aside from being extremely handsome, you probably have no idea what you’re doing when it comes to graphic design.
Step 3) Make an announcement/prepare a launch team.
If you have an online following, alert them to your upcoming release, and maybe offer some incentive to buy immediately upon release. For my kettlebell eBook I think I had a bonus collection of workouts for anybody who purchased and replied with their receipt — I forget what the exact incentive was, but there was something. I don’t think I had any special incentive for HTTAG, though I should have.
If you have an email list/social media following, there’s your launch team. But also just any friends/family members/associates, etc. Tell anyone and everyone you can PRIOR to release, because if you want a chance at hitting bestseller status in some respective category, then you want a condensed surge of sales as early as possible.
For reasons we’re about to see, it’s hard to time your launch exactly, because it may take more or less time for Amazon to put your title up, so I recommend giving a general but still narrow enough range (say, “sometime this week”) for when your eBook will release.
Keep this announcement to the point: Just write the most enticing description of the book you can, why people should grab a copy upon release, and why you’re making it only $1.
Step 4) LAUNCH
Next step is easy. Just head over to the amazon publishing page (KDP) and follow the instructions to upload your cover and manuscript. Again, I recommend selling for $1. Loyalties are lower, but who cares. Remember, this isn’t supposed to be a money maker, but an attention asset.
Also be sure to write an intriguing description for your eBook, and to emphasize it’s brevity. Make the minimalist presentation of your eBook an attractive selling point. As with anything, you want to set expectations clearly from the start. If people purchase your eBook NOT knowing it’s (say) only 30 – 50 pages long, they may be disappointed. But if you advertise that as a reason TO purchase your eBook, they will be impressed, assuming you deliver the goods.
Step 5) Promote and gather recommendations/reviews.
Once the book is uploaded, remind your audience of it’s release, and encourage them to purchase. If you’re a copywriter, that’ll help. If you’re not a copywriter, consider hiring one to assist with your initial email/social media promotions.
Once the book is out, you should also begin to solicit reviews. Again, your email/social media following is your best bet for that, and honestly, all you really need to do is just ask them to do you a favor. So long as your eBook didn’t totally wipe, most people are happy to review/recommend it to others, especially if they feel they got far more than a dollar’s worth of value from it.