Guys: Kindle is the Ticket!

[GringoMonkey]

Hi Gringo, thanks for your response.

I've read that you outsource different pieces of the puzzle, and you essentially collaborate everything together. That seems like a good system!

Is creating the story idea/outline something you create yourself, or is this something you outsource too? Having never written fiction, I have no idea how to "plan" a good story, and I don't know how much detail an outline would require. Any tips on this? If you do outsource it, what is the going rate for a good outline? It seems step 2 is the one step missing from my non-fiction system, and it's the one I'm least knowledgable about!

Thanks, you and Pinger are both inspirations!

I create my own "story world" is perhaps the best way to describe it. I decide upon that in my research in step 1.Then depending on how good the writer is I give them more freedom. The more control you have over every little detail of the story, the longer it takes you to plan it.

Step 1 of my process enables me to identify a genre.
Step 2 is where I develop my own USP in that genre.
That is where the real value is of your books - if you get these two correct you will have a good selling book / series.

I spend all my time doing steps 1 and 2. The remaining steps are just production, so I outsource that - though sometimes I do the editing as well.

 

[theconscience]

Who are the best Ghostwriters on Fiverr?

 

[surfbay]

Hi

Are you talking about article ghostwriters or perhaps you speak of ebook ghostwriters.

I have had no success with ebook ghostwriters on Fiverr. I really wish I had.

Seems getting an ebook done on Fiverr is a big deal - sorta making a mountain
out of a molehill.

 

[dennis_797]

Thanks for the tip Gringo.. That does sound like the most valuable part of the process, so I will have to learn how to do this myself. Do you think it's possible to outsource this, or is this something that you really need to do for yourself?

Apologies for all the questions, but this was a topic I don't think has been discussed: Amazon results page for search terms. My book is fully optimized as far as I can tell for my key search term, and is the bestseller in the niche, yet it is quite far down the results page for the search term. There are some professionally published books that occupy the top spaces, which is fair enough, but recently I've seen some crappy 10 pager books with no sales jumping right to the top of the Amazon SERPs for my keywords.

I have no idea how they've done this, as they can't be more optimized than me, and their sales are lower (I understand sales to be a key factor influencing search rank). Any thoughts on this? Is there something I'm missing?!

 

[Carepolice]

My book is fully optimized as far as I can tell for my key search term, and is the bestseller in the niche, yet it is quite far down the results page for the search term. There are some professionally published books that occupy the top spaces, which is fair enough, but recently I've seen some crappy 10 pager books with no sales jumping right to the top of the Amazon SERPs for my keywords.

I have no idea how they've done this, as they can't be more optimized than me, and their sales are lower (I understand sales to be a key factor influencing search rank). Any thoughts on this? Is there something I'm missing?!

Dennis,

I'd like to lend a hand here as this is something we specialize in at Zon Sidekick. Would you be kind enough to shoot me a PM with more information? I'll need to see the full picture in order to leverage our software to get you outranking those low quality books.

Cheers!

 

[theconscience]

Yeah

Ebook fiction writers

 

[lion1978]

I think $0.99 is the lowest? And ...who knows how high is the highest. But if it's less than $2.99, you only get 30% of the profits. Which, on a $0.99 book (which the majority are, it seems) is just a TERRIBLE profit margin. My lowest books are $2.99. From that, and any price above, you get 70% profit. Not too shabby.

Not exactly true from 099$ to 9.99$ you get 70% and amazon gets 30% if you price your book above $9.99 you only get 30% and amazon gets the 70%

 

[GringoMonkey]

Thanks for the tip Gringo.. That does sound like the most valuable part of the process, so I will have to learn how to do this myself. Do you think it's possible to outsource this, or is this something that you really need to do for yourself?

Apologies for all the questions, but this was a topic I don't think has been discussed: Amazon results page for search terms. My book is fully optimized as far as I can tell for my key search term, and is the bestseller in the niche, yet it is quite far down the results page for the search term. There are some professionally published books that occupy the top spaces, which is fair enough, but recently I've seen some crappy 10 pager books with no sales jumping right to the top of the Amazon SERPs for my keywords.

I have no idea how they've done this, as they can't be more optimized than me, and their sales are lower (I understand sales to be a key factor influencing search rank). Any thoughts on this? Is there something I'm missing?!

You can outsource anything so yes You just need to decide where you want to focus your efforts, on the making money part or the creative part.

As carepolice says if you want pm me with the book details as it is difficult to answer your question without having the details.

 

[GringoMonkey]

Not exactly true from 099$ to 9.99$ you get 70% and amazon gets 30% if you price your book above $9.99 you only get 30% and amazon gets the 70%

You actually get 70% on books priced between $2.99 and $9.99 and on all the others 35%. But on your 70% books Amazon hits you with download charges.

 

[Nino2011]

Kindle was and still is a good way to make some cash and even build a business.
I still have books that i've posted years ago and still make a couple of dollars every now and then.

Here's a tip: Write them as a soap tv show, in multiple parts.

 

[dsavior]

Thanks for the tip Gringo.. That does sound like the most valuable part of the process, so I will have to learn how to do this myself. Do you think it's possible to outsource this, or is this something that you really need to do for yourself?

Apologies for all the questions, but this was a topic I don't think has been discussed: Amazon results page for search terms. My book is fully optimized as far as I can tell for my key search term, and is the bestseller in the niche, yet it is quite far down the results page for the search term. There are some professionally published books that occupy the top spaces, which is fair enough, but recently I've seen some crappy 10 pager books with no sales jumping right to the top of the Amazon SERPs for my keywords.

I have no idea how they've done this, as they can't be more optimized than me, and their sales are lower (I understand sales to be a key factor influencing search rank). Any thoughts on this? Is there something I'm missing?!

This is actually very incorrect. Amazon does not show the books with the top sales at the top. By default books are showing by relevance, so the Amazon is calculating how relevant your book is based on a number of factors. My best theory is that they use CTR and % of impressions to sales/borrows in combination to keyword and description to determine relevance. It's possible they might even read into the % of read through as well. Even if you get ranked very very high, you still many not show on the first page for a keyword search with the default by relevance. This is why older books with low rank still show at the top for certain keywords.

You might show up under "New And Popular" with a keyword search as well, so try testing your rank with that drop down. Trying to rig your keywords to get high position for a particular keyword is a losing battle IMO. I've found many of my books will naturally rise to the top over the course of a couple weeks if I've written a good book and I've added the keyword to my keyword list. And they are very very sticky.

I'm actually surprised at how well I dominate certain keywords with no attempt at optimization... I do however optimize my covers if I feel that my first version wasn't that great.

 

[GringoMonkey]

This is actually very incorrect. Amazon does not show the books with the top sales at the top. By default books are showing by relevance, so the Amazon is calculating how relevant your book is based on a number of factors. My best theory is that they use CTR and % of impressions to sales/borrows in combination to keyword and description to determine relevance. It's possible they might even read into the % of read through as well. Even if you get ranked very very high, you still many not show on the first page for a keyword search with the default by relevance. This is why older books with low rank still show at the top for certain keywords.

You might show up under "New And Popular" with a keyword search as well, so try testing your rank with that drop down. Trying to rig your keywords to get high position for a particular keyword is a losing battle IMO. I've found many of my books will naturally rise to the top over the course of a couple weeks if I've written a good book and I've added the keyword to my keyword list. And they are very very sticky.

I'm actually surprised at how well I dominate certain keywords with no attempt at optimization... I do however optimize my covers if I feel that my first version wasn't that great.

I think dsavior is confusing in his ranking description. We are talking about #1 in a category I think he is talking about #ranking in the whole of Amazon. That ranking is less important, the lower it is the more you are selling.

BUT Amazon does determine relevance by sales - they assume a book is relevant to the category if it is selling well in that category. A book that is not selling consistently will be deemed not relevant to that category even if you think it is and start to slip down the charts. The better it sells the higher up the ranking it will go. So books that sell consistently over time aggregate more sales, hence go higher up the rankings as Amazon deems them relevant to that category.

Amazon uses the categories and keywords you select when uploading to determine which category your book should be placed in and you should be aiming to get to the first page of your category chart / keyword searches by ensuring these are relevant.

 

[theconscience]

So what can a top 100 kids seller expect to make in sales monthly?

Also about Ghostwriters nobody can really be your imagination can they!
Because mine is way out there.

 

[GringoMonkey]

So what can a top 100 kids seller expect to make in sales monthly?

Also about Ghostwriters nobody can really be your imagination can they!
Because mine is way out there.

Depending on your category / sub category you can make $3000+ with 1 book if you can get it up the category rankings.

As to your imagination, you have to decide if you want to write the stories you want, in which case do so or outsource numerous books that sell. It is upto you and what is more important to you.

 

[dsavior]

I think http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/members/815288-dsavior.html is confusing in his ranking description. We are talking about #1 in a category I think he is talking about #ranking in the whole of Amazon. That ranking is less important, the lower it is the more you are selling.

BUT Amazon does determinesearch results relevance by sales - they assume a book is relevant to the category if it is selling well in that category. A book that is not selling consistently will be deemed not relevant to that category even if you think it is and start to slip down the charts. The better it sells the higher up the ranking it will go. So books that sell consistently over time aggregate more sales, hence go higher up the rankings as Amazon deems them relevant to that category.

Amazon uses the categories and keywords you select when uploading to determine which category your book should be placed in and you should be aiming to get to the first page of your category chart / keyword searches by ensuring these are relevant.

Nah... This is wrong. Amazon does not determine search relevance by sales. I don't know where you are getting this info. If this were the case the book with the most sales would show up in the first position during a search for every keyword they have entered. This is NOT the case by any means.

The ranking in a category is linked to overall ranking. You want to be lower in both. That part is pretty straight forward. This guy above however is talking about the search results page.

The position you show up for a keyword during a search is an algorithm of it's own. Simply having the keyword in your list and having a high ranking in a category or a great overall ranking will not get you the best position during a search. Books with bad overall ranking and overall category ranking can still show up #1 for a particular search due to visitor behavior. Things such as CTR during those particular searches, reviews, and possibly sales are factored to some degree. I have a good feeling that author rank and read-through rate is factored as well.

As a basic exercise to prove my point, go to the Kindle Store and type "Thriller" ... You'll noticed several books with poor ranking with more relevance than the #1 best seller in thrillers. This is the most rudimentary example... I have monitored my own books over the course of long periods and watched how their positions change over time for particular keywords. I don't want to give all of my secrets away, but there are natural ways to boost your search relevance for a books that does not involve keyword research or changes. Keyword research is only good if for some reason you don't know what keywords are relevant to your book. Otherwise, you should just add the most relevant keywords and then focus on optimization of your actual book.

 

[GringoMonkey]

Nah... This is wrong. Amazon does not determine search relevance by sales. I don't know where you are getting this info. If this were the case the book with the most sales would show up in the first position during a search for every keyword they have entered. This is NOT the case by any means.

The ranking in a category is linked to overall ranking. You want to be lower in both. That part is pretty straight forward. This guy above however is talking about the search results page.

The position you show up for a keyword during a search is an algorithm of it's own. Simply having the keyword in your list and having a high ranking in a category or a great overall ranking will not get you the best position during a search. Books with bad overall ranking and overall category ranking can still show up #1 for a particular search due to visitor behavior. Things such as CTR during those particular searches, reviews, and possibly sales are factored to some degree. I have a good feeling that author rank and read-through rate is factored as well.

As a basic exercise to prove my point, go to the Kindle Store and type "Thriller" ... You'll noticed several books with poor ranking with more relevance than the #1 best seller in thrillers. This is the most rudimentary example... I have monitored my own books over the course of long periods and watched how their positions change over time for particular keywords. I don't want to give all of my secrets away, but there are natural ways to boost your search relevance for a books that does not involve keyword research or changes. Keyword research is only good if for some reason you don't know what keywords are relevant to your book. Otherwise, you should just add the most relevant keywords and then focus on optimization of your actual book.

The model I and others use is based on you starting your book search under the category "Kindle best sellers" (which I am pretty sure that is to do with how many they sell!) then selecting a niche you want to write in from that.

It appears dsavior disagrees and has a different research method other than keywords etc. Please would you outline your book research model as I and no doubt other readers are always keen to see new angles?

 

[danieledwards]

hey gringomonkey

I just started kindle as a side project with what I normally do to make money online. Anyway, what are your thoughts on setting the book price at 0.99$ and then relying on the KU downloads to make the majority of your income.

 

[GringoMonkey]

hey gringomonkey

I just started kindle as a side project with what I normally do to make money online. Anyway, what are your thoughts on setting the book price at 0.99$ and then relying on the KU downloads to make the majority of your income.

I am just starting to create a new spinoff series for one of my books where I test that out So go for it!

 

[Rose111]

0.99$ its a great strategy for serials.

 

[Rose111]

And somebody asked about kids books...
Imho, it's not the best niche, as the competition is huge and price is very low. (0.99)