Reviews
Let's Get Visible: How To Get Noticed And Sell More Books (Let's Get Digital, #2) by David Gaughran
krixbee's review
5.0
This is an excellent book, particularly for those of us who want some insight into Amazon's KDP program. It also sets a good foundation for understanding what digital book marketing is, and for giving us a platform for creatively implementing existing strategies and discovering new tools.
aimee70807's review
5.0
I'm very glad I didn't let the simplicity of the first book in this series turn me away from this title, because it's probably my second-favorite self-publishing book (right after Write. Publish. Repeat.).
Where Let's Get Visible really shines is with its focus on the popularity lists rather than the best-seller lists. While best-seller rankings show up on book detail pages, most customers randomly browsing through the kindle store are more likely to come across the popularity lists, and Gaughran suggests that it's actually easier to move your books up the popularity rankings than up the bestseller rankings. He explains that free downloads count as a tenth of a sale toward popularity rankings, explaining why books usually come off a good free run (10,000 downloads or more) with a higher rank if they'd been doing poorly beforehand. He also adds that popularity lists only factor in the last 30 days of sales (and freebies), and that there tends to be less churn on these lists, so if your title sticks there, it will likely stay longer than on a bestseller list. Although a bit of a gamble, a good free run right at launch can give your title legs (as I've learned).
Other random notes I made:
* He notes that UK book buyers haven't gone for the higher prices that have recently been trending upward among indies on Amazon.com, so price your books a little lower in the UK.
* To get into BookBub, focus on reviews from book bloggers and traditional sources, adding excerpts to the reviews section of your Amazon book page.
* In addition to the traditional advertiser recommendations of Bookbub, Ereader News Today, and Pixel of Ink, he also likes Free Kindle Books and Tips and BookBlast.
* To assess the power of other potential advertisers, he suggests tracking some books they advertise by noting their ranking when the book first shows up on the advertiser's page, then noting it again about six hours later. Be sure to choose books within your genre since advertisers are very genre-specific.
* When running a reduced-price sale, either raise the price when the book ranking peaks and starts to decline (for optimal income) or a bit later (for optimal exposure). Similarly, boxed sets are more about exposure than income, and should have a limited shelf life if you don't want to dilute other sales.
* Switching categories after a free run is a good way to avoid tapping out your audience. Another good time to switch categories is if you're below the first three pages of the popularity list for your categories.
* Non-Amazon retailers make up about a third of the ebook market in the U.S. and a tenth in the UK. B&N, Apple, and Kobo have less churn than Amazon on their best-seller lists, so if you get ranking, you might stick. Fantasy and SF does well on Apple. Bookbub is one of the few ways to get traction on non-Amazon sites.
* One way to milk KDP Select without committing is to enroll your book for 90 days, then move to other retailers after that intro period.
* Use affiliate links as tracking and to help you figure out your conversion rates. If you get a low conversion rate on specific titles, your blurb may need help.
Obviously, I have a lot of work ahead of me!
Where Let's Get Visible really shines is with its focus on the popularity lists rather than the best-seller lists. While best-seller rankings show up on book detail pages, most customers randomly browsing through the kindle store are more likely to come across the popularity lists, and Gaughran suggests that it's actually easier to move your books up the popularity rankings than up the bestseller rankings. He explains that free downloads count as a tenth of a sale toward popularity rankings, explaining why books usually come off a good free run (10,000 downloads or more) with a higher rank if they'd been doing poorly beforehand. He also adds that popularity lists only factor in the last 30 days of sales (and freebies), and that there tends to be less churn on these lists, so if your title sticks there, it will likely stay longer than on a bestseller list. Although a bit of a gamble, a good free run right at launch can give your title legs (as I've learned).
Other random notes I made:
* He notes that UK book buyers haven't gone for the higher prices that have recently been trending upward among indies on Amazon.com, so price your books a little lower in the UK.
* To get into BookBub, focus on reviews from book bloggers and traditional sources, adding excerpts to the reviews section of your Amazon book page.
* In addition to the traditional advertiser recommendations of Bookbub, Ereader News Today, and Pixel of Ink, he also likes Free Kindle Books and Tips and BookBlast.
* To assess the power of other potential advertisers, he suggests tracking some books they advertise by noting their ranking when the book first shows up on the advertiser's page, then noting it again about six hours later. Be sure to choose books within your genre since advertisers are very genre-specific.
* When running a reduced-price sale, either raise the price when the book ranking peaks and starts to decline (for optimal income) or a bit later (for optimal exposure). Similarly, boxed sets are more about exposure than income, and should have a limited shelf life if you don't want to dilute other sales.
* Switching categories after a free run is a good way to avoid tapping out your audience. Another good time to switch categories is if you're below the first three pages of the popularity list for your categories.
* Non-Amazon retailers make up about a third of the ebook market in the U.S. and a tenth in the UK. B&N, Apple, and Kobo have less churn than Amazon on their best-seller lists, so if you get ranking, you might stick. Fantasy and SF does well on Apple. Bookbub is one of the few ways to get traction on non-Amazon sites.
* One way to milk KDP Select without committing is to enroll your book for 90 days, then move to other retailers after that intro period.
* Use affiliate links as tracking and to help you figure out your conversion rates. If you get a low conversion rate on specific titles, your blurb may need help.
Obviously, I have a lot of work ahead of me!
ros_jackson's review
4.0
This is a short book, but worth it because it goes in depth into Amazon's sales algorithms, and the importance of getting your book categories right. It's very focused on Amazon, although it does touch on other sales channels to an extent.
On thing I'm not keen on in ebooks is lots of links, and this is very link-heavy. I prefer not having to skip around, and I usually read with wifi turned off, so I wasn't keen on this aspect. I also wasn't impressed when the author mentioned Alexa as a way of measuring a website's traffic, without also including the extensive caveats that apply. Alexa is notoriously unreliable for low-traffic sites and those with directories, and it's often quite skewed towards tech sites, for instance.
However there are quite a few of the kind of tips that could more than pay for the cost of this book. I think a lot of indie and hybrid authors will find it useful.
On thing I'm not keen on in ebooks is lots of links, and this is very link-heavy. I prefer not having to skip around, and I usually read with wifi turned off, so I wasn't keen on this aspect. I also wasn't impressed when the author mentioned Alexa as a way of measuring a website's traffic, without also including the extensive caveats that apply. Alexa is notoriously unreliable for low-traffic sites and those with directories, and it's often quite skewed towards tech sites, for instance.
However there are quite a few of the kind of tips that could more than pay for the cost of this book. I think a lot of indie and hybrid authors will find it useful.
daveversace's review
4.0
Author David Gaughran has put together a useful reference book for other aspiring self-published writers intent on getting the most out of their e-book sales. The bulk of the focus is on pulling apart the Amazon sales ranking mechanics and Gaughran has done an excellent job of explaining what's going on with Big A's systems, backed by some impressive analysis. His advice on making the most of price reductions and free periods, how to coordinate a launch to get the biggest impact possible and when and where to use advertising is clear and repeatable.
If there's a problem with Let's Get Visible, it's that it probably has a limited shelf life. As Gaughran makes clear, Amazon is forever tinkering with its sales ranking and ancillary systems, and before long they will probably introduce some new feature that changes the landscape yet again.
If there's a problem with Let's Get Visible, it's that it probably has a limited shelf life. As Gaughran makes clear, Amazon is forever tinkering with its sales ranking and ancillary systems, and before long they will probably introduce some new feature that changes the landscape yet again.
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