The Heidi Thorne Show

Will boosting your ad bids or spend on Amazon result in more sales of your self published books? Or will winning the ad bid game just waste your money? I discuss my cheap advertising strategy for authors who self publish on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. I'll also share formulas for figuring your maximum ad bid to help avoid losing money.

Blog (with formulas): Amazon Marketing Services Advertising for Self-Published Books http://hub.me/am716

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/LzINVQA46Fc

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 Author frustrations with Amazon ads for books

1:47 Amazon Marketing Services (AMDS) black box

4:25 Unrealistic author expectations for Amazon advertising

5:51 What are typical sales conversion rates for Amazon ads?

7:07 How to determine Amazon ad bids for books (with formulas)

12:45 Why you need to keep your Amazon ad bids low

14:47 Should you up your ad spend for book launch?

15:56 How do you know if your ads are effective? (Discussion of ACoS: Average Cost of Sale)

16:46 Sharing my ACoS results 19:13 One more ad metric to watch

20:41 Non-ad bid reasons your ads may not be working

23:48 Why Amazon ads for books don't work as well as they used to

24:53 Suggested resources

25:19 How to connect with Heidi

Book (on Amazon): Self Publishing to Make Money: What You Need to Know https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NXW57RW

Udemy course: How to Sell Your Self Published Book on Amazon https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-sell-your-self-published-book-on-amazon/?referralCode=CC4046D09C80264BC0BE

By taking this quiz, you'll discover what it really takes to self publish.

Blog: Do You Have What It Takes to Self Publish? Take the Quiz http://hub.me/anQIn

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/30UzeZ2IvNo

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 Writing is the easiest part of self publishing

0:26 Take the self publishing readiness quiz

2:10 Discussion of each self publishing question and issues

12:39 Suggested resources

13:17 How to connect with Heidi 

Udemy course, How to Sell Your Self Published Book on Amazon https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-sell-your-self-published-book-on-amazon/?referralCode=CC4046D09C80264BC0BE

Can merchandising and displays incentivize bookstores to carry your self published book? Probably not. I explain why.

Blog: Can Merchandising Help Get Your Self Published Book in Bookstores? http://hub.me/aoJRy

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/mRBWm7FzRis

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:14 Author question that prompted this discussion

0:53 Merchandising, branded merchandise & promotional products defined

2:48 Confusion between merchandising and branded merchandise

3:52 Can merchandising help get your self published book in bookstores?

7:48 Why you should depend on merchandising to sell your books.

8:20 Suggested resource

8:44 How to connect with Heidi

Book: SWAG: How to Choose and Use Promotional Products for Marketing Your Business (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J1RP5H6

Got a great comment and request from fellow author and YouTuber, Barrett Laurie (Authors, check out his YouTube channel! Link is below.), about self publishing versus writing. So here's the deep dive.

Blog: Self Publishing is About Marketing, Not Writing http://hub.me/aoIZN

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/nOH5pYHtvT8

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 Author/YouTuber, Barrett Laurie, prompts this discussion

0:30 Writing is craft. Self Publishing is business.

1:37 The E-Myth and Emerson problems

4:26 Avocation to vocation

7:29 Suggested resources

8:28 How to connect with Heidi

Barrett Laurie's YouTube channel for authors https://www.youtube.com/c/BarrettLaurie

Udemy course: How to Sell Your Self Published Book on Amazon

https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-sell-your-self-published-book-on-amazon/?referralCode=CC4046D09C80264BC0BE

Box sets can be a great way to boost sales of multiple book titles. But is it a good sales strategy for self publishing?

Blog: Self Publishing a Box Set of Books http://hub.me/aoIea

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/QUDesz1frkE

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube): https://youtu.be/QUDesz1frkE

0:38 What is a box set?

1:44 What types of books make good box sets?

2:27 Can you go a box set on KDP and Amazon?

6:51 Why a box set didn't work for me

7:58 How to connect with Heidi

Sometimes you just want to stop offering a book you've self published on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). Here's what you need to know about doing that.

Blog: Unpublishing a Book on KDP http://hub.me/aoHI7

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/WC7x3PW7HlQ

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 I'm unpublishing books? Why?

1:10 What is unpublishing?

1:52 Unpublishing considerations for nonfiction and fiction

3:21 Unpublish to republish?

4:12 KDP Select considerations for unpublishing

5:11 Amazon Author Page issues with unpublishing

6:06 Why not just leave books up for sale?

6:44 How to connect with Heidi

Good for you for wanting to donate some of all of your self published book profits to charity. I explain why it isn't a good idea.

Blog: Downsides of Donating Self Published Book Profits to Charity http://hub.me/aoGiw

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HV7t_T7RHtA

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 Why you can't afford to donate your self published book profits to charity

6:51 Beware of tax ramifications of donating profits to charity

7:51 What to consider before donating self publishing profits to charity

10:28 How to connect with Heidi

Don't want to do social media to market your self published book? Is that even possible these days? I take a look back at how we marketed before social media was a thing, and whether these methods work now. I also discuss newer non-social media methods.

Blog: Blog: Self Published Book Marketing Without Social Media http://hub.me/aoFKS

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/g_yBDl0WBRI

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 The "book marketing without social media" question

0:57 Book marketing in the "before time" before social media

4:34 Events and trade shows

6:15 Email marketing

10:54 Reader magnets

13:11 Newsletter swaps

14:33 Goodreads

15:50 Advertising

17:32 Content marketing

19:30 How to connect with Heidi

Udemy course, How to Sell Your Self Published Book on Amazon https://www.udemy.com/course/how-to-sell-your-self-published-book-on-amazon/?referralCode=CC4046D09C80264BC0BE

Does self publishing on KDP plus other self publishing platforms, such as IngramSpark or Lulu, mean more book sales? I discuss why it doesn't.

Blog: Does Self Publishing on Multiple Platforms Multiply Book Sales? http://hub.me/aoFTd

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/Ekv25AbOCXo

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 Why authors want to use multiple self publishing platforms

2:21 Self publishing on multiple platforms does not multiply sales

3:34 "Please don't buy my book on Amazon!"

5:46 ISBN issues when using multiple self publishing platforms

7:20 KDP or Smashwords for eBook publishing?

9:39 The only platform you need to be concerned about

10:10 How to connect with Heidi

Bartering for services you can't do yourself sounds like a great way for authors to save money on editing, formatting, and book cover design. But often one or both barter partners feel like they're not getting a good deal. I discuss what authors need to know about the bartering process.

Blog: What Authors Need to Know About Bartering http://hub.me/aoDTa

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/frbjTy2qOoQ

Timestamp show notes (click on timestamp to view segment on YouTube):

0:15 Should you barter for author services?

0:41 Buy what you can't DIY

3:04 Recruiting barter partners

4:23 When barters go bad

5:47 How to connect with Heidi