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Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Less, Sell Without Hassle, and Double Your Profit (or More) With Print on Demand and Book Marketing on Amazon.com (Paperback)
by Aaron Shepard
| Category:
Self-publishing, Publishing, Writing, Self help |
| Market price: ¥ 170.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Brilliant and empowering, this book is simply a godsend marketing guide for self-publishers. |
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Author: Aaron Shepard
Publisher: Shepard Publications
Pub. in: January, 2007
ISBN: 093849743X
Pages: 174
Measurements: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01178
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0938497431
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- Awards & Credential -
A must-read for self-publishers. |
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- MSL Picks -
Archimedes said, "give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum upon which to place it, and I shall move the world." For aspiring self-publishers, Aaron Shepard's book, Aiming at Amazon will be you lever and fulcrum to move the publishing world.
This is one of the most useful books ever written. I have read it though innumerable times, completely marked it up, and I carry it around in my briefcase so that I can quickly refer to it. It is a true reference book that has guided me through the self-publishing maze. From steps on how to start your publishing company, to who to contact for book contacts and what to say to them, and even how to design the text. Shepard's companion book "Perfect Pages" picks up where this one stops with more detail on book design.
This book opened my eyes to a whole new world to publish my book, one that required less start up cash (no need to buy boxes of books), and it teaches an efficient way to market books to a target audience (through Amazon). Aiming at Amazon should be in the hands of anyone who is getting started in writing books and self-publishing.
(From quoting Terry Sprouse, USA)
Target readers:
Writers, publishers, people aspiring a writing career, language students, journalists, university lecturers, corporate communication professionals and whoever else interested in getting his own books published.
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Aaron Shepard has been making his living from self publishing for years and loving it. On the side, he is an award-winning children's author with numerous picture books from major publishers. He is also the author of Amazon's #1 bestselling children's writing guide, The Business of Writing for Children, as well as the popular guide to book design with Microsoft Word, Perfect Pages.
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From Publisher
There has never been a self publishing manual like this.
Aiming at Amazon is NOT about getting your book into bookstores. Instead, it lays out an innovative approach focused almost entirely on sales at Amazon.com. It tells exactly how to make a nonfiction book sell well online, with tips never before offered in print.
This book is also NOT about working with a "self publishing company." It introduces the printer/ distributor used by almost all those companies themselves - the one they keep secret so they can be middlemen and charge you double.
Forget bookstores. And forget self publishing companies. Let Aiming at Amazon reveal to you the NEW business of self publishing.
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FORGET BOOKSTORES
Yes, I said it: Forget bookstores.
The first principle of a system that aims at Amazon is probably the hardest for aspiring authors and publishers to accept. If you're like me, you love to visit your local bookstore - chain or independent - and wander the aisles, delighting in the sheer presence of so many enticing volumes. That love probably sprang up in your childhood, and will likely last the rest of your life.
But guess what? The feeling is not mutual.
In general, bookstores do not love self publishers. It's nothing personal. If the staff at that store sat down and read your book, they might like it very much. They might even make an effort to promote it. Perhaps you can convince two or three local stores to do just that.
But for most bookstores, your book simply isn't worth the effort. The book business is a well-oiled machine that runs in broad and well-worn channels. Bookstores deal with sales reps and suppliers that can deliver dozens of titles at a time to their doorstep. Unless you already have a runaway bestseller, it's simply not efficient for them to deal with someone hawking one or two books. And to tell the truth, it's usually not worth your time to try to get them to.
Luckily, you no longer need to. With only minor effort and cost, you can get your book carried by one bookseller that handles maybe 20% of the trade book business in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. You can get your book on Amazon.com.
What's more, on Amazon the playing field is much closer to level between you and any other publisher of whatever size. By aiming at Amazon and exploiting its capabilities to the fullest, you can outmaneuver large publishers that may know less about its workings than you do and that have their main attention elsewhere.
Take the example of my own lead seller, The Business of Writing for Children. For many years of its publishing life, this book has been the biggest selling children's writing guide on Amazon. It's currently competing against guides from both the For Dummies and the Complete Idiot's series - and it has been outselling each of them by an average of 2 to 1.
Is it a better book than those others? I wouldn't make that claim. But by a combination of persistence, dedication, savvy, ingenuity, and skill, I've been able to outmaneuver all comers and stay on top in Amazon sales.
In fact, by aiming at Amazon, I've been able to sell close to 30% the number of copies sold by one of these nationally-distributed competitors including its bookstore sales. And because the profit from my publishing system is so high - about 50% of the list price - I've been earning about twice as much in total as that author would make with a normal royalty.
Once you accept the premise "Forget bookstores," it's amazing how much murkiness is instantly cleared out of the business of self publishing. Consider these:
- You don't have to persuade anyone to stock your book.
- You don't have to design or commission a slick cover that will look good on a bookstore shelf.
- You don't have to accept returns.
- You don't have to provide the discounts that retailers or middlemen try to dictate. (I'll tell you how to avoid that for Amazon sales.)
- And best of all, you don't have to sit alone behind a stack of books at a tiny table in a busy bookstore and try to look like you want to be there.
Now, this doesn't mean that your book will never be sold in a bookstore. It will. When you aim at Amazon, some sales trickle down to bookstores as customers go there to request your book. What's more, if you follow my system, it will be easy for those bookstores to get it. But when they do buy your book, it will be on your terms, not theirs.
Sound good? Keep reading, and I'll show you how to do it.
CREATE A "REAL" BESTSELLER
Before I tell you what's important to do on Amazon, I want to mention one thing you won't find here - though some of you no doubt expect it. I will NOT tell you how to create an "instant Amazon bestseller."
In case you haven't heard of this scheme, it's based on a campaign to get a good number of people to buy your book on the same day, pushing the book briefly into Amazon's top 100. Book marketing experts write about it, laud it, and even charge thousands of dollars to help you do it.
Wake me when it's over.
It's certainly possible to make this happen, but what exactly is the point? Will vaguely calling your book an "Amazon bestseller" really lead to greater sales? Perhaps it would when Amazon was new and anything "Internet" had a golden aura. But those days are past.
The attempt to create an instant bestseller is generally the desperate effort of a self publisher who has no real idea how to build sales on Amazon. For example, one of the biggest proponents of this method practiced it on one of his own books with great hoopla and, yes, did reach Amazon's top 100 - but three years later, that book is not even in Amazon's top 500,000. (To his credit, he told me he's no longer so enamored of the idea.)
Creating an "instant Amazon bestseller" is an almost complete waste of time - and if you pay someone to manage the campaign, a very expensive one. Instead, aim to build steady, sustainable, and significant sales, year in and year out - not a flash in the pan.
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Steve Weber, author, The Home-Based Bookstore, USA
<2008-02-23 00:00>
Solid gold advice... This book will give you the benefit of years worth of hard-earned experience.
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Morris Rosenthal, author, Print-on-Demand Book Publishing, USA
<2008-02-23 00:00>
Aaron Shepard has been more successful selling through Amazon than any other self publisher I know.
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Jeff Lippincott (MSL quote), USA
<2008-02-23 00:00>
What a story! What a book! It used to be that a consultant or coach would seek out a publisher to put his "credibility piece" before the masses to see and read. Now a consultant or coach can still do that, but they would be foolish to do it often after reading the instant book. By reading this book you will hear the author's story regarding how he became successful (and what he did) as a self publisher using print on demand resources and focusing his efforts at using Amazon's Web site as a key marketing tool. He recommends that bricks and mortar bookstores should not be sought as distribution channels for his (or your) texts. And after reading the book I understand why.
The instant book is an example of what a print on demand (POD) book looks like since it was written, produced and sold using the very techniques described in it. It's not like the reader of the book is reading about theory - he is holding an example of what he is reading about.
The book is divided into four parts:
1. Publishing for Profit
2. Building Your Book
3. Meeting the Market
4. Finessing the Future
I cannot say I had a favorite part. I liked them all equally because I am not well-versed on the publishing industry. Therefore, I learned a great deal about putting together a book not intended to be sold in digital format. I also learned that it is not all that hard to put together a great self published book and have it be successful. The author seems to want to publish his works in order to profit primarily from them. I think that is great, but I highly recommend anyone who wants to publish their works to boost their consulting or coaching practice get a copy of this book and study it. In many ways it is easier to create and market a book for a consulting practice than to market the practice itself. And a successful book or books tied to a consulting practice can make that practice very lucrative. I'm going to have to read it at least one more time for it all to sink in. The book was packed full of content. 5 stars! |
Jon A. Pastor (MSL quote), USA
<2008-02-23 00:00>
First, many kudos and immeasurable gratitude to Aaron Shepard for writing (and, of course, publishing) AIMING AT AMAZON: my copy currently has more tape flags in it than it has pages, and I am referring to it for every detail of my soon-to-be publishing company.
His book is worth twice the price just for the collection of indispensable URLs - the rest of the information is a thick layer of luscious butter-cream frosting, capped by two scoops of lovingly softened Häagen-Dazs vanilla, smothered with dark Belgian chocolate fudge, a dollop of crème fraiche, and a fresh Queen Anne cherry, all sitting atop an already irresistible, meltingly-moist, velvety cake.
[Okay, that was a bit over the top - but did I mention that I just ordered my first set of ISBNs? I can say with 100% certainty that this would never have happened if Aaron hadn't given me a badly-needed kick-start, and all the information I needed to make fantasy into reality. I'm grateful, and I'm *stoked*!]
Second, more kudos for the comprehensiveness of the text and his almost-fanatical attention to detail. The fact that he anticipated virtually every question that occurred to me as I read along makes it immediately and undeniably clear that he knows what he's talking about, and can be trusted implicitly. I'm a skeptic at heart, but I can tell BS from nutrient-rich manure (to switch metaphors in mid-stream).
Finally, Aaron writes in a way that an aspiring author/publisher can emulate with pride: clear, concise, well-structured, professional but colloquial without being cute or overly chatty - and, most importantly, *correct*: it's rare that I don't find a typo in a newspaper article, let alone an entire book, and I can't recall a single one in AIMING AT AMAZON. No un-parallel constructions; no slip-ups in usage; no grammatical faux-pas.
This may not impress you in these days of universal spelling- and grammar-checkers, but software is unreliable, and careful visual/manual checking appears to be a custom honored more in the breach than the observance: only visual checking would catch the two blatant errors in the sentence "I never trust an author whose talking about writing, but who's own writing is lackluster, awkward, ungrammatical, and/or full of errors in spelling, usage, or mechanics."
In short: if you are considering self-publishing, do yourself a big favor and make sure that this is one of the first books you read. You'll probably want to buy it, rather than borrow it, because once you've finished, the odds are that you'll want to refer to it constantly as you navigate the course from "Gee, if only..." to setting your first pub date.
Even if you decide to go with a more conventional distribution channel than the one Aaron describes, there is a rich trove of essential information here - and I started with a pretty good working knowledge of the publishing industry, because I worked in bookstores for many years. If AIMING AT AMAZON was able to teach *me* things I needed to know about publishing, but didn't know to ask, it'll do the same for you.
P.S. If you decide to become a publisher, take heed of Aaron's guidance on ethics and professionalism. Aside from ruining things for people who play the game by the rules, sleazy marketing practices and unprofessional behavior will hurt you in the long run in the publishing industry (witness several recent high-profile scandals).
Producing and publishing books is not a way to make a quick, easy buck: it's a labor of love. AIMING AT AMAZON will not eliminate the myriad challenges standing between you and your listing on Amazon, but it *will* show you a path by which you can navigate through, around, and between them smoothly - a path whose potential for success is demonstrated by the very product you hold in your hands. |
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