A review team—sometimes called a “street team” or “ARC team”—is a group of readers who receive your book in advance and are invited to leave an honest review. When done right, it can help you launch with momentum and stay visible for the long haul.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to build a legal, effective review team that helps promote your Kindle book—without breaking Amazon’s rules.

Why Reviews Matter for Kindle Book Marketing

Before we dive into the how, let’s talk about why reviews are so important for authors selling on Amazon.

Reviews help you:

• Increase visibility on Amazon by improving your book’s rank

• Build trust with readers through social proof

• Boost conversion rates on your product page

• Meet the minimum requirements for many promo sites (like BookBub or JustKindleBooks)

A review team is just one piece of your overall marketing strategy. Other key elements might include:

• Creating a book cover and book description that looks and reads like the best sellers in your genre

• Promoting your book through book promotion sites

• Growing your email list to nurture fans

• Creating engaging content on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Goodreads

• Building an author website or landing page

What Are Amazon’s Review Rules?

Amazon has strict guidelines around reviews, and breaking them—intentionally or not—can have serious consequences. That includes deleted reviews, delisted books, or even a suspended KDP account.

Here are some key rules to know:

• Don’t pay for reviews

• Don’t offer gifts, giveaways, or incentives in exchange for reviews

• Don’t ask family, close friends, or anyone with a personal connection to leave a review

• Do offer your book for free with no obligation to review

• Do encourage readers to leave an honest review if they want to

Here’s safe language you can use:

“If you enjoyed the book, I’d be grateful if you left a short, honest review on Amazon.”

How to Build Your Review Team

On your author website you will want to build the following:

Step 1: Create a Clear Value Offer

Let readers know what’s in it for them:

• Free early access to your latest Kindle book

• Exclusive bonus content or behind-the-scenes notes

• A spot in your private “insider” reader group

Give your team a name—something like “ARC Crew” or “Early Reader Circle”—so it feels special and community-based.

Step 2: Build an Application Form

Use a free form tool like Google Forms to collect:

• Name and email

• Favorite genres

• Platforms where they post reviews (Amazon, Goodreads, etc.)

• Confirmation they understand reviews are optional and unpaid

This keeps your team organized from the start and ensures they’re interested in the kind of books you write.

Step 3: Send a Simple Email Sequence

Once someone signs up, send three emails:

1. Welcome Email – Thank them and explain how it works.

2. ARC Delivery Email – Send the book and remind them reviews are appreciated but not required.

3. Follow-Up Email – One gentle nudge a week or so later.

Keep the tone casual and appreciative.

Step 4: Track Who Reviews

You can use a basic spreadsheet to track:

• Who signed up

• Which books they received

• Whether they left a review (and where)

• If they’re still actively participating

Optional tools like BookFunnel or StoryOrigin can help with this if you want to automate some of it.

Step 5: Promote Your Review Team Sign-Up

Share your sign-up form in places your readers hang out:

• Your author website or blog

• The back matter of your Kindle books

• Email newsletter

• Social media posts or groups

• Reader communities (if allowed by group rules)

Over time, you’ll build a core group of readers who are genuinely excited about your work.

Final Tips

• Focus on building relationships, not just gathering reviews.

• Don’t pressure your team. Appreciation goes further than obligation.

• Keep it simple—you don’t need fancy software to make this work.

Readers love book series and one way they find them is through book series pages on Amazon.

What is an Amazon book series page?

An Amazon book series page displays all of the books in a given series with details such as the series order, book formats available, price, and other information. On a series page, readers can easily buy individual titles of books they haven’t read yet or even purchase the entire series at once.

Elements of a book series page

Each Amazon book series page consists of four key parts:

1. The total number of books in the series
2. Easy ordering options for one or more of the books
3. A list of available formats (Kindle book, paperback, etc) for each book
4. Additional books the author has published or other related content

As you can see in the examples from author Willow Rose’s series page, the Eva Rae Thomas Mystery series includes a total of 12 books, which users can purchase with 1-click ordering at the very top of the page. If the user scrolls down, they can view a summary of each book, see which formats are available to purchase, and even click to each title’s unique product page.

At the bottom of the page, Willow Rose has included a link to another one of her mystery novels that her readers will likely be interested in.

Benefits of an Amazon book series pages

Creating a series page can offer several benefits for both the author and their audience. Most importantly, a book series page makes it easy for shoppers to view entire collections on one page, understand the series order, and purchase whichever titles they need to complete their personal collection. For the author, their series page gives them the capability to market their books on the Amazon platform without competing with other authors for space on their page.

Here are a few additional benefits of having a well-built book series page:

• Each series page is personalized for every Amazon user. Since Amazon already has a record of which books the user has purchased, the page will only display the “Buy Now” button on titles the reader doesn’t own.
• Authors report higher sales when customers are led to their book series page. This is likely because some people who only read the debut book may not know there are more titles available in the same series!
• Having a series page makes it easier for Amazon’s algorithm to determine which books are related to one another, making it more likely that customers will receive recommendations.
• Authors can easily run promotions on one or more books within a series to boost sales.

How to create an Amazon book series page

If you have already published one or more of your books using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), there are two simple steps to create a series through your KDP account:

1. Click the + Create New section on your Bookshelf and then hit Create series page.
2. Add a book to a new or existing series by clicking the ellipsis button (the button with three dots) next to the book you want to update. Then, hit Add to series.

Authors should note that they don’t need to complete an entire series before creating a series page for their work. It’s easy to add new titles to a series as they are released.

If authors offer their books in multiple formats, they can simply link to them on their Bookshelf and then add either format to their series page. The options will be visible to Amazon users as they browse the series page.

If an author’s series already has live titles (books available for people to buy on Amazon), the series page will be live within 72 hours. For authors who want to create a series page before listing their titles for sale, the series page won’t appear until 72 hours after each title goes live.

What Is Quora?

Quora is a Q&A platform that allows users to ask and answer questions on various topics. Similar to Yahoo and Google Answers, Quora utilizes the same user-generated content model. However, this social networking site separates itself from other platforms by offering users the ability to follow specific topics and people.

Unlike any other social media platform, the content on Quora is organized around questions. The answers that people post stay on the site indefinitely and users can upvote or downvote questions and answers. Providing thoughtful answers to questions related to your book topics can help build your audience.

How authors can use Quora to drive sales and build a platform

Quora can be a powerful marketing tool for you as an author if used correctly. Whether you write novels or non-fiction books, people who read your genre have plenty of questions and they turn to Quora for answers. To get an idea of the kinds of questions people ask, go to Quora and search for keywords on Quora related to your genre or book topic to see the kind of questions people are asking. By answering questions, you can connect with potential readers, build your platform, and drive traffic to your website or blog. You can also use this platform to position yourself as an expert in your field, add value to the conversation and generate interest and awareness for your book, leading to more book sales.

How to create a Quora account

Creating a Quora account is quick and easy to do using your Facebook account or by creating a new one using your email address. These are the steps in creating a Quora account:

1. Go to Quora.com and click on the “Create Account” button located in the top right-hand corner of the homepage.
2. Sign up with your email address or connect with Facebook.
3. The next screen will ask you to select your topics of interest. You can either browse through the categories or start typing in the topics you’re interested in. You can either use the general categories like ‘Books & Authors’.
4. After selecting your topics of interest, you will be asked to follow people you know or whose work you’re interested in. You can choose to follow friends from Facebook or other platforms and people you know in real life.
5. The last step is to fill out your profile so that people can learn more about you and what you’re interested in. You can add a photo, write a short bio, and list your website and other social media accounts.

How authors can create a great Quora profile

To get the most out of Quora for book marketing, it is important to create a great bio and profile to make people want to follow you. Include a professional headshot, author bio, and links to your website and social media profiles. Here are a few pointers for creating your profile:

• Write a catchy headline: Your headline is one of the first things people will see when they come to your profile, so make sure it’s attention-grabbing.
• Talk about your books in your bio: This is your chance to tell people who you are and what you do. Include your book titles and genres you write in and any relevant information about your experience and expertise.
• Include credentials: If you have any credentials or awards, include them in your bio. This will help you appear more credible to potential followers.
• Choose the right photo: A headshot is usually a good choice for profile photos, but you can also use other photos that represent you or your brand.
• Insert the link to your site: If you have a website or blog, include the link in your profile. This is a great way to drive traffic to your site.

Find the right topics and questions worth answering on Quora

When it comes to book marketing on Quora, one of the most important things you can do is find the right topics and questions worth answering. There are a few different ways you can do this, and the method you choose will ultimately depend on your personal preferences. This will be a good starting guide if you look to improve your book marketing strategy on the platform.

Simply type the keywords related to your book topic in the search bar and see what questions arise. You can also browse through the different categories on Quora to find questions that are relevant to your book. Another great way to find out is to look at what other people in your field are talking about. You can do this by following the topics and people related to your book and seeing what they are talking about.

Writing Your Response

When writing your response, you should keep a few things in mind. Ensure that your answer is relevant to the question and provides value to the person who asked it. Try to be as concise as possible while still providing a well-thought-out answer. It’s also important to be yourself and let your personality shine through in your writing.

Asking Questions and Engaging the Community

This is a great way to start a conversation and engage with the community. Asking questions can also help you get insights into what people are interested in and what they want to know more about. When asking a question, make sure that it is relevant to your book and that it is something that you think would interest the community.

Tips and Best-practices for authors on Quora

Here are a few tips and best practices to keep in mind when using Quora for book marketing:

• Be sure to choose the right topics and questions to answer. Not all questions are worth your time, so it’s important to be selective.
• When writing your response, make sure that it is relevant to the question and provides value to the person who asked it.
• Try to be as concise as possible while still providing a well-thought-out answer to ensure that people will read your response.
• Be yourself and let your personality shine through in your writing so that people can get to know you and your work.

Quora book marketing can be a great way to connect with potential readers and promote your products. By having a better understanding of this site, you will be able to more effectively market your book and maximize your chances of success on the platform.

Whether you love writing or dread it, there’s no escaping the fact that it can sometimes feel like an impossible task. Even professional writers struggle to come up with new topics, coherently explain their thoughts in writing, and edit their final pieces.

However, with AI writing services, several of these common writing problems might become obsolete. Artificial intelligence (AI) writing services offer algorithms that claim to optimize your written content in record time.

What are AI Writing Services?

AI-assisted writing tools such as Copy.ai and Jarvis help people create and edit existing content, as well as generate new topic ideas, introductions, and descriptions. AI writing services won’t eliminate the need for writing, but it will allow writers to spend more time thinking creatively than working on formatting or editing their work. The AI can offer suggestions for improving headlines, paragraphs, or social media copy, but the writer will still have to use their best judgement to choose which suggestions will best suit their content.

Jarvis AI Writing Tool

Like other AI writing services, Jarvis has tools and templates suitable for a wide variety of writing tasks. Whether you need to write a social media post, a book description, a video script, or an entire chapter of your book, Jarvis has features that can help. We should caution you, that Jarvis is really for short form writing. That is, it can write or rewrite text that is a paragraph (2-4 sentences) or less. It cannot write a full blog post or book chapter in one swoop.

Here are the main categories, or things that Jarvis can write or rewrite for you:

Ad templates

Have you ever wanted to try advertising your book on Facebook or Google ads? Jarvis can help you create enticing copy that will encourage people to click. Templates include:

• Facebook ad headline
• Main text for Facebook ad
• Google ads headline
• Google ads description

eCommerce templates

Want your Amazon product page to pop? Try using one of these time-saving tools:

• Product description
• Content improver
• Amazon product features (bullet points)
• Amazon product description (paragraph)
• SEO product page (includes title and meta descriptions)
• Feature-to-benefit copy

Blogging templates

You can use these templates to add a blog post to your website, edit your content, generate subject ideas, or even create an outline:

• Blog post introductions
• Blog post conclusions
• Blog post topic ideas
• Blog post outline
• SEO title and meta description
• Content improver (discussed above)

Frameworks

Jarvis has three main formulas that are based on tried-and-true marketing strategies. These frameworks include:

• AIDA. This framework uses one of the oldest marketing formulas still used today: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
• PAS. PAS stands for Problem, Agitate, Solution. If you select this framework, you’ll generate a sales page that will successfully identify a common pain point or problem and market your product as a possible solution.
• BAB. This stands for Before, After, and Bridge. This framework tells a story describing a situation before a solution, how it changed after the solution was introduced, and how it worked.

Email templates

Sending regular email newsletters to your fans is an important part of maintaining your relevance as an author. Streamline the process by using these Jarvis features:

• Persuasive bullet points
• Personalized emails
• Email subject lines

Social media templates

Writing a book is one thing, but writing for social media requires an entirely different skill set. If you struggle to create content that generates traction with your audience, the social media templates offered by Jarvis can help. These preformatted outlines can help you generate:

• A creative story
• Photo post captions
• A personal bio
• Pinterest pin and title description

Website templates

Does your author website need a little TLC? Revamp your site and improve your SEO in one simple step by taking advantage of these templates:

• Perfect headline
• Website sub-headline
• Persuasive bullet points
• Company/author bio
• Unique value propositions

Video templates

Video is the most popular content format on all social media platforms today. If you want to try doing an author Q&A or creating a commercial for your book, these video templates can be incredibly useful:

• Video topic ideas
• Video script outline
• Video titles
• Video script hook and introduction
• Video descriptions

How Authors Use Jarvis

Over 100 authors have written and published books with the help of Jarvis. The tools and features are only part of the equation. Jarvis offers a complete guide to help writers with the book writing, editing, and publishing processes. Whether you need help with researching, outlining, formatting, or editing, the Jarvis community has plenty of advice and tips that will help you succeed.

If you want to get your book published ASAP, Jarvis also runs a 7 Day Book Challenge that helps authors and aspiring writers publish their books in 7 days or fewer. For $97, you can get involved in the AI Authors community for 30 days, get daily calls from expert coaches and authors, and finally learn how to banish writer’s block for good.

Examples of Jarvis AI Writing

To see how Jarvis would improve, edit, or reformat pre-written content, we used a variety of segments from book chapters and descriptions to test different Jarvis features. The original content, book title, rewritten content, and the Jarvis tool used will each be noted for each example.

Jarvis rewrites a book description

Here’s the original book description we gave it from The Reisman Case by Andrew Diamond:

• A wealthy business owner asks investigator Claire Chastain to solve a simple case. Is his employee stealing or not? From the moment she’s hired, subtle clues tell her something’s wrong: the unbusinesslike business owner, the lingering scent of a woman on the stairs, the rustle in the curtains where someone watches from above.

Here’s the new book descriptions written by Jarvis in “Content Improver” mode:

• A wealthy business owner hires investigator Claire Chastain to solve a simple case: is his employee stealing or not? She can tell from the moment she’s hired that something isn’t right. There are subtle clues, like an unprofessional employer and someone watching them in shadows on high ground.
• An investigator is asked to solve a simple case by a wealthy business owner. She starts her investigation and immediately begins seeing clues that suggest something isn’t right about the situation: The unbusinesslike nature of him as an employer, she can smell perfume on stairs but there’s no one around, and curtains rustling from someone watching them from above.

Jarvis writes the next paragraph in a novel, based of one paragraph that you give it.

Here’s the original passage we gave it from the book Impala by Andrew Diamond:

• Charlie was Hatter, as in “The Mad Hatter.” He picked up contract jobs here and there, working for a few weeks at a time, but he could never bring himself to be anyone’s employee. No one was all that eager to hire him either, once they got a look at his code.

Here’s what Jarvis generated using the “Creative Story” mode:

• “How’s the work going?” Amy had come to enjoy her chats with Charlie. It was a nice change from sitting in front of her computer all day and she appreciated the interaction with someone who didn’t live on social media.

“I’m not sure how I feel about it.” He fiddled with his phone, as if he always felt like he should be doing something else. “It pays well enough but it feels… wrong somehow.”

She nodded slowly, wondering what was bothering him so much about this job that he would put off-hours into thinking about it. “What is your main complaint? Is there a task you’re not liking doing?” She knew people could often find themselves stuck in a rut.

• Charlie loved his job, and he loved telling people about it. He had a backstory for how he got the nickname ‘Hatter’ from being in an underground hacking group that specialized in security-breaching by literally stealing passwords from mad hat makers who never store their password on paper. In reality, Charlie just liked to go out drinking with friends at local bars they considered safe enough not to have cameras or guards watching them. It was one of those places where you could pay cash, keep your face hidden under a hoodie and still get served without hassle.

Jarvis converts a book description into SEO meta-data

Here’s the facebook post copy we gave it

Follow Ella Bridges, the new owner of The Yellow Cottage in this period mystery series set in 1930s England with a supernatural twist.

Here’s what Jarvis generated using “Facebook ad primary text” mode:

• Are you a fan of Agatha Christie and Downton Abbey?

Do you love period dramas like Downtown Abbey, Victoria, and Mr. Selfridge? Then this is the book series for you! Follow Ella Bridges as she navigates life at The Yellow Cottage in 1930s England with her husband’s family. This cozy mystery series will have you guessing until the very end! Click here to get your copy today:

• The Yellow Cottage is a cozy mystery series set in 1930s England with a supernatural twist. Follow Ella Bridges, the new owner of The Yellow Cottage as she solves mysteries and finds romance along the way.

Jarvis Pricing

Jarvis has three pricing options, which makes it accessible for any budget. Users can also get a free 5-day trial before making a purchase. The different plans include:

• Starter Plan. For $29 per month, users will gain access to the full range of templates (39 and counting) and can generate 20,000 words each month. This plan supports 10 unique users, 6 languages, and offers a support chat in case any questions come up.
• Pro Plan. For $109 per month, users can generate unlimited words, utilize the long-form writing assistant, and access all available templates. It includes all the same features as the Starter Plan, plus a document editor.
• Boss Mode. This new plan costs $119 per month and offers everything in the Pro Plan plus Jarvis Commands, unlimited regenerations, and better content review features. It also supports more than 25 languages and will give you access to the AI Copywriter’s Community.

Conclusion

As you can see from the examples that Jarvis generated, the AI writing tool can give you just what you need or add extra elements or details that might not always align with what you had in mind. Its suggestions can help you come up with new approaches for your content, but just be aware that Jarvis isn’t flawless. Be sure to carefully read all the content it creates for you.

The days where bookworms have to go to physical libraries are long gone. Today, avid readers across the country can easily borrow eBooks and audiobooks from local libraries without leaving their homes. Authors often wonder where to start when trying to get libraries to carry or purchase their eBooks. For many authors, getting their ebooks and audiobooks on to the digital shelves of libraries starts by creating a simple account on OverDrive, which acts as a distributor of ebooks to libraries.

What is OverDrive?

OverDrive for readers

OverDrive is one of the most popular digital reading platforms in the US that offer access to hundreds of thousands of titles ranging from children’s books to New York Times bestsellers to college textbooks. OverDrive and its variety of apps allow you to borrow eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from libraries and enjoy them on your across all your devices. In fact, OverDrive offers 3 unique apps to meet every reader’s specific needs:

• Libby. Libby was designed after receiving feedback from hundreds of users and librarians across the US. This service is meant to help readers of all ages find content and start reading quickly.
• Sora. The Sora app is specifically designed with modern students in mind. From elementary-aged children to high schoolers, Sora makes learning and reading more fun and engaging for all learners. The app connects students with teacher-assigned readings, school libraries, as well as content for leisure reading outside of class.
• OverDrive. The OverDrive app is the original app that initially paved the way for borrowing digital content from libraries. Libby is the updated version of OverDrive that’s recommended for most users, but OverDrive is still a great resource for visually impaired readers or multilingual users.

Borrowing content using OverDrive’s services is as easy as downloading the right app for you and following the on-screen instructions. For more in-depth information, you can check out our guide here.

OverDrive for authors and publishers

OverDrive is a global leader for digital distribution of eBooks and audiobooks to libraries in dozens of countries. The expansive company promises to drive sales for publishers by promoting their content across several online platforms. Publishers have 24/7 access to dashboards that track their book sales, alerting them of new potential opportunities and helping them target different audiences.

Benefits of distributing your eBook to libraries via OverDrive

The benefits of making your book available on OverDrive are 1) distribution into the US library system, 2) some income, and 3) exposure to more readers and potential fans. People who may not have purchased your book on the Kindle store, for example, might borrow it through their library instead. This can open the door to more sales for your subsequent releases!

On the other hand, if most new readers only borrow your content via libraries, this might actually cut into your Kindle sales. More exposure for your book will only work if you have a marketing strategy that will encourage people to buy it later or (at the very least) write a review.

How authors and publishers list books on OverDrive

OverDrive has a designated section on its website for publishers to learn more about the service and how to get started. If you’re an independent author hoping to get listed on OverDrive, you can try to apply directly, but you’re more likely to be accepted if you go through a publisher or work with an aggregator.

To list your digital content with OverDrive, follow these steps:

• Fill out an OverDrive Connect account application.
• Agree to OverDrive’s Terms of Service.
• Wait for your application to be approved.
• If you’re accepted, you’ll be sent instructions for activating your account and providing your content to OverDrive.
• After your content is ready to go, you can start selling through OverDrive’s multi-platform distribution network!

What does OverDrive pay authors?

We estimate that as an independent author, you might make $12-$20 per book sold to libraries via OverDrive. But that payout figure might change.

During the 2020 pandemic, digital content borrowed through libraries soared, much to the horror of the so-called “Big 5” publishers. These major publishers, which include recognizable names like Macmillan and Penguin Random House, feared that the rise of digitally-accessible content would hurt book sales overall. Due to these concerns, there remains an ongoing battle between publishers and libraries when it comes to:

• How much libraries should pay per title
• How many times a title can be read within a certain timeframe
• Whether the title needs to be repurchased after a certain amount of time

Although OverDrive uses a perpetual license model — meaning that a title only needs to be purchased once, no matter how many times it’s borrowed or how long it’s been in circulation — this is subject to change.

Additionally, trying to narrow down an average payout for OverDrive authors is incredibly difficult. There are too many variables that can impact an author’s income, such as the popularity of their titles, their marketing strategies, whether or not the book is available in other languages, and other influential factors.

Other companies thar distribute eBooks to libraries

While OverDrive and Libby are two of the most well-known apps among readers, publishers and authors can also try selling their content to libraries through these other companies:

• hoopla. This company says that it’s “like having your public library at your fingertips,” no matter where you are. Along with eBooks and audiobooks, hoopla offers TV shows, comic books, and music for users to enjoy for free. If you want to learn more or submit your content, check out their publishers page
• Bibliotheca. This company is “creating the library of tomorrow” by integrating modern digital technologies with libraries around the world. It mostly works directly with librarians and museums, but you can find out more about the service by filling out this brief contact form.

Amazon Advertising: Authors can advertise their books directly on Amazon by simply clicking the “Promote or Advertise” button next to their book title. With Amazon Advertising, you can define your budget, target a specific marketplace, time your campaign, and select a country for your ads to appear in. It’s based on a PPC (Pay Per Click) model, so you’ll only pay when shoppers click on the ad.

Amazon Author Central: The Author Central hub provides an opportunity for you to tell your readers more about yourself and your books. Creating an Author Central profile puts all your information in a single location, helping you extend your online presence and gain more visibility. Your profile can include your bio, photo, social media links, books you’ve written, or any other information you’d like to add (such as your website or blog). For more info, see How to Use Author Central on Amazon.

ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number): An ASIN is a unique 10-digit code that Amazon assigns to all products that it sells.Amazon uses this code internally to track inventory, sales, and rankings, as well as recommend similar products to customers. Authors using the KDP platform have an ASIN automatically assigned to each book they publish on Kindle. You can learn more about Kindle book ASINs here.

Author Brand: Your author brand encompasses all the unique elements and associations people have about your personality and writing style. For example, your brand can include the genres you enjoy reading or writing, the way you interact with fans, your fashion sense, your presence on social media, hobbies or movements you’re passionate about, and anything else that you make public about yourself.

ARC (Advanced Reader Copy): See Galley Copy.

Author Photo (Headshot): A professional photo of an author to use on his/her website, social media profiles, author page, book jacket, or other promotional purposes.

Author Platform: An author platform refers to the size and engagement of a writer’s fan base. An author can build their platform using a variety of skills and tools, such as their social media expertise, total online reach, number of book sales, personal and professional connections, charisma, humor, or interactions with fans.

Author Site: An author’s personal website where their books, biographical information, blog, and other relevant material is displayed.

Back Matter: Back matter refers to the last pages of a book that appear after the story comes to an end. Back matter can include acknowledgements, an author’s bio, or excerpts from other books. Savvy authors may also use back matter to ask readers to sign up for their newsletter, leave a review, download a sample chapter from another book, follow them on social media, and more. For more info, learn about the best ways to use back matter.

Best Seller Lists: These lists use sales data to keep track of the most popular books on a weekly or periodical basis. There are more than 20 major best seller lists in the US, including the prestigious New York Times Best Sellers List and the Amazon best sellers list. For a complete overview of the top best sellers lists, follow the link to understand the criteria required for each list’s selection process.

Blog: A blog is often used as a personal website for someone to post articles, reviews, or essays, share interviews, embed videos, or link to other articles or online sources. Authors frequently take a casual tone to connect with their audience, promote new releases, share personal or professional information, embed book trailers, or post chapter snippets and brief articles.

Blog Tour: A blog tour is a coordinated, multi-platform way for you to feature your content on several blogs or sites in a specific time period, often lasting for 1 or 2 weeks. All of the dates and content are planned in advance, so during the tour itself, you can engage with your followers. The ultimate goals of a blog tour includes generating book sales and increasing your fan base.

Blurb: See Endorsement.

Bookbub: For readers, BookBub is a book discovery service that provides special deals and personal recommendations for readers. For authors, BookBub is one of the most highly selective (but effective!) book promotion services.

Book Promotion (book promo): A book promotion is a marketing campaign for authors to boost sales, generate reviews, and increase awareness of their books. A book promo might include a Kindle Countdown Deal, a price drop, social media posts, a paid social media campaign, Amazon Advertising, a blog tour, an author interview, use of a book promotion site, or a combination of these marketing tactics.

Book Promotion Site (book promotion service): Book promotion sites are tools authors use to drive sales of paid books and downloads of free books. These sites may offer packages of promotional services that can include email newsletters, social media posts, blogs, and exposure via specific apps. Although sales results tend to vary from book to book with promotion sites, you can learn more about finding the right platform for your content on our book promotions page.

Book Review: (See also: Customer Review) A book review can include a professional opinion, a short synopsis, a personal reaction, or a critical examination of a specific book. Book reviews can appear all over digital and print media, published by anyone from experienced columnists or editors to everyday Amazon customers. Regardless of what a review says or who wrote it, however, authors are often delighted by 5-star reviews and frustrated by negative reviews. See How to Respond to Negative Book Reviews to learn more.

Book Trailer: A short video designed to create interest in your book.

Booksliced: Booksliced is a website dedicated to helping readers find free Kindle books.

Clicks: The number of times people clicked or tapped on a link that directed them to your book on Amazon or another book retailer site.

Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who buy your book after landing on the product page. Typical conversion rates are about 5-10% on Amazon book pages.

Customer Review: A customer review is simply a customer’s rating and opinions of a product they purchased online. Since reviews are one of the most influential factors in driving sales, authors can be distressed after receiving negative or overly critical book reviews. Follow the link to read more about dealing with negative book reviews.

Category: Booksellers separate titles into different categories or genres to organize similar content for customers.

Detail Page: This is a page that Amazon and other eCommerce sites create to display a book’s details, which can include the cover image, description, sales rank, reviews, author information, available formats, page count, and publication date.

Endorsement: A short review or sentence of praise for your book, typically from another author or celebrity. Endorsements can be placed on your book cover, website, and/or your Amazon detail page.

Galley Copy: A sample copy of your book in physical or eBook format, typically produced before the final version of the book is ready. Galley copies or ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) can be sent to book reviewers or news outlets.

Goodreads: Goodreads is a social media site where readers can get book recommendations, write reviews, make reading lists, follow authors, and more.

Goodreads Advertising: Authors can pay to have their book displayed to interested readers using Goodreads Advertising. Typically, an ad includes the cover of your book, a teaser copy, and links to your book’s Goodreads page. When someone clicks your ad, your book lands in their “to-read” list.

Goodreads Giveaway: Goodreads giveaways are set up by authors to give lucky readers free physical or digital copies of a book. You can learn more about Goodreads giveaways here.

Guest Blog: A short article that you create for someone else to share on their blog. Typically, authors provide guest blogs to gain exposure to a new audience and get a link back to their site, which is beneficial for SEO.

Hook: Also called a “sales handle” or “keynote,” a hook is a short sentence designed to pique a reader’s curiosity about a book.

International Pricing: KDP allows authors to set international prices for customers in the US and all other countries where Kindle books are sold.

ISBN (International Standard Book Number): This is a unique 13-digit number assigned to the physical copy of a book. This number is used by book retailers to order copies and track inventory, and libraries use it to catalog books. Only physical books require ISBNs, whereas eBooks do not need them to be sold on the Kindle, Nook, or Kobo stores.

JustKindleBooks: A book discovery website that features free and discounted books daily.  Many authors use JustKindleBooks to promote their books.

KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing): KDP is Amazon’s eBook publishing platform for both self-published authors and traditional publishers. Authors can use KDP to publish a Kindle or print-on-demand version of their book. Author’s retain the rights to their books and earn anywhere from 35-70% of each eBook sale that they make.

KDP Select: Authors can choose to enroll their books in the KDP Select program, which offers 3 main benefits. First, KDP Select lists your book in the Kindle Unlimited selection and you earn money based on the number of page reads the book receives each month. Second, you can run time-bound discounts, known as Kindle Countdown Deals. Finally, you can list your book as free for up to 5 days per enrollment period. Although this program makes your digital eBook exclusively available through KDP, you can continue to distribute your book in its physical format through any online channel.

KDP Select Global Fund: This is a monthly fund that contains around $30-40 million to pay authors for the page reads they receive from their books enrolled in KDP Select.

KDP Select All-Stars: These are the 100 most-read Kindle Unlimited titles in the US and the top 25 titles in the UK in any given month. Titles in this category are awarded bonuses (see more).

Kindle Countdown Deal (KCD): A Kindle Countdown Deal is a perk of the KDP program that lets authors run limited-time discounts on Kindle books available on the US and UK Amazon sites. Customers who view the book’s detail page can see the regular price of the book, the promotional price, and the remaining time left until the deal expires.

Kindle Free Days: If you have enrolled your book in the KDP Select program, then you can elect to make your book free for up to 5 days per quarter (4 month period). Authors typically make their book free to gain new fans, get book reviews, or hook readers on a book series. See the Six Benefits of Setting Your Book Price to Free if you’re curious about how this strategy can help you.

Kindle Instant Preview: Kindle Instant Preview lets people read a select few pages of your book by clicking on a link that you can put anywhere, including your website, in a blog post, or on social media. Learn more about How to Use Kindle Instant Preview by following the link.

Kindle Keywords: These are the words a shopper uses when searching for a book on Amazon or in the Kindle store. To attract the most interested readers, authors try to include the most relevant keywords in their book descriptions or metadata so their books will appear near the top of the search results.

Kindle Content Quality: Books enrolled in the KDP program must meet a quality threshold that accounts for formatting inconsistencies, typos, font size issues, and other problems. If your book is found to have quality issues, KDP will flag these in your book and send you a Kindle Quality Notice.

Kindle Terms of Service/Terms of Use: When a reader purchases a Kindle book, they’re not the owner of the book or the owner of the file containing the eBook content. The author or publisher remains the owner, while the reader must adhere to the Kindle terms of use agreement. This is basically a licensing agreement with Amazon and the book publisher. To learn about what this contains, read more here.

Kindle Unlimited (KU): Kindle Unlimited is an Amazon service that allows you to read as much as you want each month from a selection of over 1 million books and thousands of audiobooks. These books can be read using a Kindle device, a PC, or the Kindle mobile app. The program costs $9.99 a month, but you can cancel anytime, if you choose.

KNEPC (Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count): This is a method that Amazon uses to determine the number of pages a customer has read in an author’s eBook offered in the Kindle Unlimited program. Authors with books in the KU program are paid based on the number Kindle Edition Normalized Pages that are read of their book each month.

Kindle Unlimited (KU) Downloads: For books enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program, a download is defined as someone clicking the “Read now for free” button on your Amazon detail page and having the book sent to a device. Author’s are not compensated by KU downloads, but rather by KNEP reads (see KNEPC above).

Launch Party: An event to celebrate your book’s publication, typically held on your book’s publication date.

Look Inside: Books on Amazon that display the “Look inside” sticker on the cover image allow readers to view a select number of book pages. This feature allows readers to get a sense of what the book is about before they purchase it.

Marketing Plan: This is a strategic plan detailing all marketing, advertising, and promotional activities planned for your book. Marketing plans can include book promotions from sites like JustKindleBooks, book giveaways, Kindle Countdown Deals, social media posts, professional book reviews, book readings or signings, speaking engagements, or other creative advertising tactics.

Media List: A targeted list of media outlets researched and created by your publicist that you can pitch your book to.

Media Contact: This is someone in the media who you or a publicist can contact to set up a book review or author interview.

Media Coverage: Media coverage includes book reviews, interviews, articles, Q&A sessions, or other media outlets highlighting your books or you as an author. Media coverage is often secured by a professional pitching your story to a media outlet.

Media Kit: Your media kit is usually made available on your website for book reviewers or journalists who want more information about your book, a high-resolution image of your book cover, or a professional photo of you.

Media Outlet: Media outlets include newspapers, magazines, radio shows, TV shows, online news sites, podcasts, blogs, and anywhere else people find entertainment news.

Metrics: A metric refers to one kind of data collected from a marketing campaign, such as the number of impressions, clicks, conversions, or other actions.

NetGalley: NetGalley is an online book review site where book lovers, book reviewers, librarians, booksellers, educators, and journalists can request complimentary eBooks to read in exchange for providing a review. Follow the link to learn more about NetGalley.

Permafree: Permafree books are listed as free for long periods of time or permanently. Authors can list their Kindle book as permafree by setting their book price to free on Apple Books, Nook, and other platforms since Amazon will match the free price. Some authors choose to make the first book of a series permafree as a strategy to get readers to buy subsequent books.

Pitch Email: This is an email sent to a book reviewer or media personnel to ask them to cover your book. It should include the synopsis of the book or key information about the author, but each email should be tailored individually by contact.

Press Release: This is a brief announcement of your book release used to entice media outlets to write about your book or interview you. A press release typically includes a quick summary or blurb about your book, your bio, who the publisher is, the publication date, and your top endorsements.

Price Elasticity: Elasticity refers to the change that occurs when book sales increase or decrease based on the price. For example, a book priced at $1 may get 40 purchases per day, whereas raising the price to $2.99 might reduce purchases to 12 copies per day. Many authors will track and measure sales volume based on price points to optimize their book price.

Pricing: Simply put, pricing refers to the cost of your eBook or print book. US authors in the KDP program can set and adjust their pricing from $0.99 and up.

Promotion Date: The date that you plan to run your book promotion. Book promotions are timed with price drops or periods when your book is available for free.

Sales Rank: A book’s sales rank on Amazon shows how well it is selling compared to all the other books being sold on Amazon. For example, a book ranked as #1 is selling more than any other book on Amazon. Amazon’s sales rank is updated hourly to reflect the most accurate data.

While the platform is relatively straightforward to use, there are a number of things that authors want to do with their books which are not easy to do or find on the KDP platform. If you’re feeling stuck or frustrated with any part of the Kindle publishing process, Amazon’s new KDP Community is here to help!

KDP Community forum & topics

The KDP Community consists of authors and publishers who collaborate by asking and answering questions about KDP. This is a community solely for writers and publishers, so Amazon employees won’t respond to any questions posed in these forums. Instead, authors can communicate directly to share their experiences with KDP, book marketing, publishing, and other related topics. Author’s can use the forum to ask for advice, request feedback, learn how to do something technical on KDP and much more! The main forum categories include:

• Account. Ask questions about your KDP account settings.
• Bookshelf. Post questions about your KDP bookshelf and title status.
• Feedback. Share feedback about your KDP publishing experience.
• Formatting. Ask questions about formatting your Kindle book.
• General Questions. Post here to ask about general publishing guidelines.
• Kindle Vella. Post questions about Kindle Vella.
• Payments. Post questions about setting up and receiving payments.
• Reports. Ask questions about royalty reporting.
• Voice of the Author/Publisher. Share feedback about new KDP features you’d like to see.

Along with sharing feedback, responding to queries, and asking your own questions, the KDP Community shows recent news announcements, a leaderboard of the most active users, and other relevant information for members.

Top questions on KDP Community forum

You can sort each forum by recent activity or use the search feature to see if your question has already been addressed. For example, here are a few of the most popular posts (by views) on KDP Community:

• Where’s my book gone?
• Beginner signing up: anything I need to know?
• Author/publisher name rejected… why?
• Why can’t you respond to reviews when someone posts an untrue review?
• How do I get in touch with my book buyers?

The KDP Community is a great place for writers to get support during the occasionally frustrating process of self-publishing. Whether you have questions about KDP, need feedback, or just want to connect with other authors, this online community is a wonderful place to start.

If you want to get a jumpstart on your bookselling goals this year, nominating your titles for Amazon’s Kindle Deals and Prime Reading programs is a great place to begin! Read on to discover if your eBooks are eligible, how you can apply, and what kind of benefits you can expect from each program.

Kindle Deal Nomination Basics

Authors can nominate 2 books at a time for Kindle Deals and 1 book each time for the Prime Reading program. Each book must meet eligibility criteria (see more details below), and nominations expire every 90 days. If you’re not emailed by Amazon within that time frame, it means your book wasn’t selected for a promotion. However, you can auto-renew your selections after each 90-day period or choose new titles to nominate.

Eligibility Requirements for Kindle Deals

Kindle Deals are limited-time discounts that can last from 1 day to several weeks. Books enrolled in the Kindle Deals program may be eligible for special placements in the Kindle store or within marketing emails to readers. To be eligible for Kindle Deals, each eBook must be:

• Non-adult content.
• Enrolled in the 70% royalty plan (for the US marketplace).
• Available for purchase in at least 1 marketplace where the primary language matches the book title’s language.

Eligibility Requirements for Prime Reading

Prime Reading includes a rotating selection of books that Prime members can access and read for free. Each Prime Reading title needs to be:

• An eBook.
• Non-adult content.
• Enrolled in KDP Select.
• Available for purchase in at least 1 marketplace where the primary language matches the book title’s language.

Where to Nominate a Title for Kindle Deals

If your titles are eligible for these programs, go to your Marketing page and follow these steps to nominate a book:

• Under “Nominate for promotions,” choose which promotion you’d like.
• Click “Nominate a book.”
• Choose the title you want to nominate and hit “Continue.”
• If you don’t want your title to be auto-renewed after 90 days, simply uncheck the auto-renew box.
• Click “Nominate book.”

If you’d like to edit your settings at any time, just go back to “Manage nomination” to edit the titles you’ve submitted.

What is Back Matter?

Back matter in the last few pages of a book, which appear after the story ends. Back matter offers an amazing spot to promote your other books.  But many authors simply use it include information about the author, excerpts from other books, or as a space to say thanks to the people who helped on the book. But think about it, if a reader made it to the end of your book, then they like your writing and they might want to know about your newsletter or your other books.

Authors who choose not to include back matter miss out on several opportunities to expand their audience and generate more sales. One survey conducted by BookBub concluded that authors who included back matter in their books saw twice the number of sales than authors who didn’t.

Authors can choose a number of different kinds of back matter that can help drive sales, depending on the type of book they published. But first let’s at traditional back matter that is considered to be standard for any kind of book:

• Acknowledgements. Show your gratitude to everyone who helped you along your writing journey and let them know how much you appreciated their input.
• About the author. Include a small blurb about who you are, what you enjoy, and other information to help the reader get to know you better.
• Other books by the author. If someone enjoys reading one of your books, they’ll likely want to know if you’ve written other novels! Include a list of all the other books you’ve published so your audience knows what to look for when they need another great read.
• Credits. This is where to credit illustrators, editors, photographers, and anyone else who helped create your book.

Back Matter for eBooks

Back matter on ebooks can be highly beneficial for authors. For example, you can make it easy for readers to leave a review or purchase your next book by providing direct links to the web pages where they can do so.

If you create the right kind of back matter for your ebook, your book sales, reviews, and even your followers on social media can dramatically increase! Here are six ideas to revamp your ebook back matter:

• Request a review from readers. Many readers are more than willing to write book reviews, but the thought doesn’t usually cross their mind when they finish reading. Immediately following the last chapter of your book, kindly asking your readers to click on a link to write a brief reflection can do wonders for your reviews.
• Provide order links. If your book is part of a series, make it easy for readers to find out what happens next by clicking a preorder link for the next book. You can also provide order links for your other books so fans of your work can find more content from you.
• Newsletter. Ask readers to sign up for your newsletter so they can get updates on your next books.
• Bonus chapters or excerpts. Authors of more than one book can further entice readers to continue viewing their work by incorporating a sample chapter or excerpt from another book. Make sure it’s an exciting excerpt or a chapter that ends on a major cliffhanger. Put a link at the end so that when readers eagerly click on it, they’re directed to where they can purchase the book!
• Links to social media. Kindle authors can gain a huge following on social media by providing readers with the links to all of their accounts. You can include your author Facebook page, Twitter, Amazon author page, your blog, or whatever else you use to connect with your audience.
• Q&A with the author. Readers are often curious about the author’s inspiration behind the book, what they’re currently working on, or they just want to know more about the author. Physical book copies can merely provide the script of an author interview, but Kindle books can offer a much more immersive experience. If you’ve ever been recorded while doing an interview, such as at a conference or on a podcast, put these links at the end of your ebook so readers can actually listen to your answers or watch your in-person interviews.

Looking to promote your book? Try a budget or premium promotion from JustKindleBooks.com. Also be sure to sign up for our newsletter, which promises an exciting list of hand-picked book recommendations right to your inbox.

Types of Negative Reviews

Every published writer, even the most established and renowned of authors, will receive at least negative reviews at some point in their career. While these reviews can range from legitimate to irrelevant, they all have the potential to negatively impact your book sales and credibility. Here are a few types of negative reviews you might encounter:

Irrelevant to Your Book

Irrelevant reviews come from customers who are dissatisfied with their purchasing experience rather than with the actual quality of book. This could be anything from a customer complaining that Amazon said the book was free then charged them for it to a customer detailing their struggle to download the book to their Kindle device. These reviews are especially frustrating because they have nothing to do with your book but hurt your book sales anyway.

Ranting Reviews

In the ranting review, the customer goes off on something thats loosely relevant to your book. The content of your book might go against their personal beliefs or politics. They might have a problem with your book’s genre, or swear words, or steamy scenes in bed, or that you switched points of view too often. The rant has less to do with quality of your writing and more to do with the choices you made while writing. Most people ignore rant reviews, but you still have to worry about losing sales because of these rants.

Misaligned Expectations Reviews

If your book does not meet the expectations set forth by its title, cover or book description, then you might get this type of negative review. For example, if your book description leads readers to expect your book will conform to romance genre conventions and then it does not, you might anger some of your readers. These reviews can be particularly harmful because they tell potential customers specific ways in which your book does not measure up. Worse still is that you can be clear in your book description and these misaligned expectations are the fault of the reader.

Legitimate Concern Reviews

These negative reviews are incredibly important because they are often approached with thoughtful criticism. They detail specific areas of concern that you can address to provide a better experience to your readers. Oftentimes the issue brought up are fixable such as formatting problems, editing issues, typos, a cliff hanger ending, etc. While negative reviews of any kind will have a negative influence on readers’ perception of your book, these reviews are the most helpful and can lead to meaningful changes.

Responding to Negative Reviews

Although negative book reviews are painful, it is important to handle them in a positive manner. Here are a few of the most effective ways to respond to negative book reviews:

Ignore Negative Reviews

While receiving a negative book review is certainly upsetting, the best thing you can do after reading one is to move on. Do not respond to or otherwise engage with the review, and do not ask your friends to engage with the review either. Commenting on negative book reviews should be avoided at all costs.

If you respond to the review, the response will actually make that negative review appear higher on your book’s detail page, which is the last thing you want to happen. Your best option when faced with a negative review is to ignore it and let it fizzle out and get buried within other, hopefully more positive, reviews.

Drown Out Negative Reviews

If you receive a negative review, instead of trying to respond to or dispute the review, you should focus your efforts on earning more positive reviews. If you gain a significant number of positive reviews, they will drown out and lessen the impact of the negative review. Make sure to mark positive reviews as helpful to make them stand out on your book’s detail page.

Here’s are three ways to get more reviews:

1. Try including a book review request page at the end of your book to encourage readers to review your book as soon as they finish reading it.
2. Another way to gain more reviews is to reach out to some of the top reviewers for books in your genre. To do find these reviewers, look for other books that are similar to your own and see if any top reviewers have rated them. Build a connection with those reviews and reach out to them asking for a review.
3. One of the best ways to gain legitimate reviews is to reach out to your existing fan base. Do you have an email list or social media following? Chances are they have some sort of interest in you or your work. Send them a message or an email asking them to leave a review when they have finished reading your book.

Address Legitimate Concerns

Do you have some reviews voicing legitimate concerns? See if there are any ways in which you can address these concerns. You might need to rewrite your book description or fix typos and re-upload your book to KDP, but your readers will be better off thanks to these changes, and you will receive less negative reviews.

Report “Abusive” Reviews

If you receive a review that does not have a legitimate concern or criticism, you can click “report abuse” to show the issue to Amazon. For example, if a review says they had trouble purchasing the item on Amazon or if the review is about a different book entirely, then you should click “report abuse.”

Remember, this tool is only for reviews that are not relevant to your book, do not click “report abuse” just because you do not like what a reviewer has to say about your book.

Looking to promote your book? Try a book promotion from JustKindleBooks.com

Newsletters are a great way for you to engage with customers, market new products, and establish your platform or expertise within a niche. Whether you are an author, a small business or you run a blog, newsletters are often a key means of engagement. When you can deliver regular newsletters that your audience enjoys and values, you’ll get high email open rates, more conversions, and more sales.

But how do you get people to sign-up for your newsletter?

The most tried and tested way to get newsletter subscribers is to drive people to your website or a landing page on your site, where you then give them a compelling reason to sign up. You can bring people to your site with great content that ranks well on search engines, or you can use ads on Facebook or other platforms to bring people in. But getting people to your site is only the beginning. You then need to optimize your pages for conversion. In this case conversion means turning a site visitor into a newsletter subscriber. Getting more newsletter subscribers requires getting your site and pages dialed in just right. So take a deep breath. Clear your mind and read on.

12 Tips to get more newsletter subscribers

If your current sign-up rates are lower than you’d like, here are 12 of the best tips to help you boost your following:

1. Boost page loading speed

Internet users expect high-quality websites to load quickly. If a page doesn’t load within 5 seconds, the chances of a user exiting the site increases exponentially. To make sure your visitors won’t be deterred by slow loading times, check your website speed by using the Google Page Speed tool. If needed fix your site speed issues.

2. Put CTA buttons front and center

Your CTA (Call To Action) buttons should be impossible to miss, whether they’re located on your website or a social media page. These buttons should be brightly colored and placed on every page of your website in the form of a widget or a sign-up bar to keep encouraging users to subscribe.

3. Create strong CTAs

When it comes to the actual words or phrases used in your CTAs, make sure that they aren’t weak or confusing. For instance, a button that simply says, “Go,” or “Submit” don’t give the user any information about what will happen next. Strong CTAs will tell the person what clicking the button will do, such as, “Join the newsletter,” or “Subscribe to our free newsletter.” When in doubt, create a CTA that begins with a verb and is action-oriented.

4. Research keywords for SEO-friendly headlines

No matter what kind of business you manage, you should regularly update your keywords to attract relevant visitors. Do some light keyword research within your specific industry niche to determine what kind of content your target audience is looking for, and then incorporate these keywords into your web page headlines, blog titles, and product descriptions. By using popular search terms and clearly defining what your website can offer to visitors, you can increase your site visibility and gain more page views.

5. Add a personal touch

To improve your brand’s trustworthiness and boost conversion rates, you can personalize the “About” page on your website. Share a photo of yourself, a team picture, or a video of your business to allow visitors to see the human faces behind the website. To foster an emotional connection between you and your audience, you may also want some copy that answers these questions: Who are you? Why did you create the site/What’s the story behind your business? What are your core values/goals/visions for your brand? Why should people sign up for the newsletter? What kind of content does it offer? What are your likes/dislikes? (Examples: Do you prefer cats or dogs? Coffee or tea?) People want to know that there are real people behind a website, and they are more likely to engage with you when they know your story.

6. Show off your social proof

Customer testimonials are one of the most powerful ways to convince other visitors to purchase your product, sign up for your newsletter, or take another action. Users are more likely to believe and trust a real customer who tried out the product themselves rather than a company’s own description of the product. Add some real testimonials to your homepage, along with the reviewer’s photo, name, and a link to their website (if applicable) to further improve social proof.

7. Share customer reviews

Other forms of social proof can be found on any site where you sell your product. For example, if your website has positive reviews on Google, Amazon, Yelp, or TrustPilot, you can add these widgets to your website along with your rating from each source.

8. Use a timed or triggered pop-up modal

If you have a page that gets a lot of traffic you might consider using pop-up modal that’s triggered by exit intent, amount of time spent on page, or how far they scroll on a page. These modals can be highly effective, but make sure it’s easy for visitors to exit the modal if they aren’t interested in signing up. And after you put up the modal, keep an eye on your page rank as Google can sometimes penalize pages with pop-up modals.

9. Offer a special perk for subscribers

You can entice people to sign up for your newsletter by offering a free gift or benefit that only subscribers can access. For example, a free download of a relevant eBook, a sneak peek at upcoming deals, or additional content can encourage curious users to subscribe.

10. Test out your pages

Double-check to make sure that your main newsletter sign-up page works, as well as other pages on your website that have sign-up widgets. It’s important to test your signup experience on desktop and mobile devices to ensure that everything works smoothly for both device types. You also want to make sure that your pages work well with Chrome, Bing, and Safari broswers.

11. Write a unique confirmation message

After someone signs up for your newsletter, welcome them with a confirmation message. You should strive to match the language of your confirmation message with your typical brand voice. For example, if your site is straightforward and no-nonsense, a simple message may read: “Thank you! You are now subscribed to (newsletter name), which you will receive every Monday.”

12. Run a giveaway

You can run a giveaway where the price of entry is newsletter subscription. You will want to giveaway a prize that is very specific to your niche, such as an assortment of single origin chocolate bars, if that’s what your company sells, and that’s what your newsletter focuses on. Try to avoid giving away something generic such as an Amazon gift card. On word or caution, when you get subscribers from a giveaway, they tend to unsubscribe quickly or never open your emails. Use this method sparingly.

We hope you’ve found this information useful. And if you happen to be an avid reader, consider signing up for the JustKindleBooks newsletter to receive free book recommendations in your inbox every day.

Price elasticity refers to the rise or fall of customer demand when the price of a product changes. For example, when a book normally priced at $9.99 is temporarily on sale for $0.99, 10 times as many people are likely to purchase it when the book is at this lower price. Conversely when a book’s price goes up, customer demand falls. KDP Pricing Support is designed to scan several types of data, including customer reviews, ratings, past sales, and more in order to find the price that will earn you the most royalties.

Opting In to Pricing Support

It’s important to note that the KDP Pricing Support feature will not automatically change the price of your book on Amazon based on its suggestions. The data simply provides an extra statistic for authors to consider when pricing their books, and authors can then choose where to set their prices. Since the Pricing Support tool is currently in its beta version, authors will have to edit their settings to access the tool:

• Log in to your KDP account and click “Bookshelf.”
• Select one of your books, then click on the “Rights & Pricing” link.
• Locate the section that reads “Set Your Pricing and Royalty,” and then select “View Service” to opt in to the Pricing Support feature.

Benefits of KDP Pricing Support

KDP Pricing Support can help authors gain a comprehensive view of sales trends, customer demands, and more. This data can help you:

• Find the optimal price for your book.
• Increase sales.
• Attract new readers and followers.
• Boost number of reviews.

Drawbacks of KDP Pricing Support

Currently, the one major drawback with KDP Pricing Support is that it’s still in its beta version. Amazon states that the feature will evolve and improve over time, but for now, there seems to be a few glitches in the system:

• First, the Pricing Support tool almost always suggests setting the price of a book to $2.99, which has left authors wondering if the algorithm is actually working properly.
• Secondly, if the feature suggests that you to increase the price of your book, your total sales will most likely drop. You will have to ask yourself if setting the price higher to gain revenue is more important than building up your platform before upping the cost.

How to Find Your Book’s ASIN

You can find your book’s ASIN by going to your book’s detail page on Amazon and looking at either the URL in your web browser or the Product details section of the page.

Kindle Book ASIN in the URL

Your Kindle book ASIN appears in the book’s detail page url on Amazon and it begins with B00 or B01.

Physical Book ASIN (paperback or hard cover)

Your physical book ASIN also appears in the book’s detail page url on Amazon and it is 10 or 13-digit string of numbers. For physical book Amazon uses your book’s ISBN number as the ASIN.

ASIN in the Product Details Section

You can also find your ASIN if you scroll down your book’s detail page. For Kindle and physical books, as well as all other products, simply scroll down to the “Product details” section. You will find the ASIN mid-way through the product detail listings.

ASIN, ISBN, UPC…What’s the Difference?

ISBN– All paperback and hardcover books have an ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Libraries and book sellers rely on these numbers for cataloging, ordering, tracking and sales. ISBN’s may be either 10 or 13 digits long.

UPC – UPC stands for Universal Product Code. It is the bar code found on almost all products sold in stores. The bar code itself encodes a 12- to 14-digit number that is often found below the bar code. Think of UPC as the barcode on products. It’s mainly used for scanning items at the point of sale, For books the ISBN gets encoded in an 13-digit barcode. For a book to have a UPC, it must first have an ISBN.

ASIN – All books and product sold on Amazon, whether physical or digital, have an ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number). This is Amazon’s version of a bar code. For physical books, Amazon uses the books ISBN as the ASIN. For Kindle books, Amazon creates/assigns an ASIN to the book which begins with the letter+number string B00 or B01.

Books with Multiple Formats

Some books are available to purchase on Amazon in multiple formats, such as, Kindle, Hardcover, Audiobook, Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, etc.. Amazon assigns a different ASIN to each format of the book. For example, if you we’re to look at “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Amazon, you would see five different formats available for sale. Each will have its own ASIN.

Related reading:

How to Use Author Central on Amazon
How to Pick Keywords on Amazon For Your Book
How to Get More Book Reviews on Amazon

What’s a Bookstagrammer? Some terms and definitions

Just so there’s no confusion, here are some terms and definitions:

Book bloggers: Anyone with a blog or website who consistently reviews or writes about books #bookblogger
BookPinners: People who post almost exclusively about books on Pinterest #books.
Bookstagrammers: People who post almost exclusively about books, authors and reading on Instagram #bookstagram.
Booktubers: Book bloggers who post videos about books on YouTube #booktube.
BookTweeter: Twitter handles that post almost exclusively about books on twitter #booklovers.
Engagement: The number of shares, comments, likes and clicks an influencer’s post generates.
Influencer Compensation: How and influencer gets paid reimbursed for their posts, time and expertise.
Reach: Influencer’s audience or follower size.
Resonance: How much activity, clicks or purchases can influencer generates by publishing content.
Relevance: How relevant an influencer is to a topic that is relevant to your book or genre. Are the fans of the influencer the kind of readers who would love your book?

Results from influencer marketing

Getting your book mentioned, posted or reviewed by a book influencer can drive an exceptional amount of awareness and sales, or it could have little impact. It all depends on the reach, relevance, and engagement of the influencer. Before you reach out to an influencer to ask them to promote your book, you want to do your homework:

1. Make sure that your genre, your book and your book cover are similar to the types of books the influencer post
2. Check their profile to see how many followers they have
3. Follow them and engage with them to make sure they are a good fit.
4. Lastly, check their recent post to see the average number of likes and comments each one gets lastly. You want to see that roughly 1% to 3% of their followers engage with their posts. For example, if they have 10,000 followers you want to see, at minimum close to 100 followers engage with an average post.

How to reach out to book influencers

Once you’ve determined that the bookstagrammer or influencer is a good fit, then you’ll want to reach out to influencer about your book. Consider one of these approaches:

1. Leave genuine comments on their posts, and see if they will approach you.
2. Follow the influencer and then direct message them with your pitch.
3. Email them your pitch (sometimes you can find their email in their profile or on their website).
4. If you know someone who knows them, have a friend make the introduction.
5. Meet the influencer in person if they plan to be at the same event or conference that you will be at.

Ways that an influencer can promote authors or their books

Think about the specific outcome you would like to drive. Do you want more book sales, more book reviews, more readers signed up to your newsletter, or more followers for your author social channels? Your outcome will determine the kind of post or mention you want from the influencer.

Here are some ideas of what you can ask influencers to do:

• Promote a giveaway or contest -> drives newsletter sign-ups
• Tag your Instagram, Twitter of Facebook handle -> drives social follows
• Review your book -> drives sales
• Post your book cover -> drives sales
• Retweet or share your post -> drives awareness and social follows

Influencer compensation

For many industries, such as fashion and beauty, influencer marketing can be expensive. The average influencer charges between $1,000-$2,000 for every 100,000 followers they have. However, book influencers tend to charge significantly less than those rates. Once you establish a connection with the Bookstagramers or influencers you want to work with, they will let you know their price. You should get prices from 5-10 different influencers before going forward with any deal. Some book influencers will charge a lot, some will be reasonable, and some will be happy to do a post if you just send them a free copy of your novel.

Influencer marketplaces

Right now, there is not one large eBay-like marketplace where you can find influencer services to purchase. The market is fragmented into a number of small players who don’t always make their prices transparent. And because of this it’s hard to judge and compare price and value.

Some of the top marketplaces for finding influencers and purchasing their services are:

• Rep
• GrapeVine
• Influenster
• TapFluence
• UpFluence

Many of the influencers on these sites will be in the fashion, beauty, fitness and tech niches. You will have to do some searching to find the few book influencers on these platforms.

Top book influencers

Book influencers post on all the major social media platforms, and many cover specific genres only. You should seek out an influencer who covers your specific genre and who has fans that are similar to yours. To start your search, we gathered 20 of the top book influencers below. Go to their social media pages to learn who their followers are, what books they specialize in, and how you can contact them.

• Rosie Amber. Rosie has over 17,000 followers on Twitter, where she consistently shares book reviews that she composes on her blog, photos of her current reads, and brief YouTube videos.
• Bethanne Patrick. The creator of the hashtag #FridayReads boasts over 214,000 Twitter followers and regularly writes book reviews for The Washington Post, NPR Books, and Time.
• Jo Robertson. Jo’s popular Twitter page and blog lead her to be named as an Amazon Top 500 Reviewer, specializing in reviewing crime novels, thrillers, and women’s fiction.
• Mairéad Hearne. Along with sharing her in-depth book reviews on her Twitter page, this influencer is also happy to offer blog tours, author guest posts, and author Q&As.
• Naomi Frisby. Frisby’s Twitter and blog are both dedicated to women authors, and she regularly does author interviews and book reviews.
• Lucy Richardson. Known as The Book Belle on YouTube, Lucy loves reviewing fantasy, historical fiction, and YA novels.
• Katharine Scrivener. Katharine has over 23,000 Instagram followers due to her lovely book photos and reviews, and she also assists with hosting an online book club called The Bookly Club.
• Maryse. This avid romance reader runs a website which gets over 1 million visitors per month, as well as a Facebook page that has over 43,000 likes and features book giveaways, deals, author interviews, reviews, and more.
• Jamie Miller. Along with her own fabulous website, Miller is active on Twitter and Instagram, where she shares book reviews and recommendations with thousands of followers.
• Maria. Under the Instagram handle of @Booksugar, this influencer has attracted over 70,000 followers due to her beautiful photos of books and excellent book descriptions.
• Esther. Combined with her insightful reviews, Esther’s Instagram page features photos of organized books, cute coffee shops, and other things that delight bookworms around the world.
• NO NAME. Posting under the account @thisgirlhasn0name, this mysterious influencer’s Instagram is primarily dedicated to fantasy and sci-fi novels, and she also has a website for posting book reviews.
• Ana. This 23-year-old is currently studying English literature, which definitely explains her passion for all types of books on her immensely popular Instagram page, @inquisitivebookworm.
• Abbie. A wide variety of books have been reviewed and showcased on this lovely Instagram page, and Abbie was recently named the Bookstagrammer of the Year at the London Book Fair 2019.
• Jesse. This influencer has over 300,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel where he regularly posts reviews of his favorite books, recommendations for his followers, and new book hauls.
• Regan. Her YouTube channel, PeruseProject, has gained over 200,000 subscribers for her book recommendations, reading vlogs, and ever-cheerful persona.
• Sasha Alsberg. As a New York Times bestselling author herself, Alsberg is a proud “bookaholic” and regularly shares her love of books with over 65,000 Twitter fans and 373,000 YouTube subscribers.
• Emma. This 22-year-old YouTuber posts plenty of book recommendations and is happy to do book reviews for authors on her channel, where it has the potential to be viewed by over 165,000 people.
• Jen Campbell. Campbell is an award-winning poet and short story author who also creates YouTube videos to review books, share writing tips, answer her followers’ questions, and more.
• Katie. This “booktuber” has gained over 41,000 subscribers for providing in-depth reviews of horror and thriller novels on her Youtube channel.

The Kindle store has an ever-changing selection of free books, featuring more than 50,000 titles at any point in time. If you take a look through the Kindle store, you’ll notice that most of the free book selection includes recent novels by authors and publishers who also have a selection of books that are normally priced.

Have you ever wondered why authors set their book price to free? What could an author gain by simply giving their book away? It turns out that pricing your book for free is a solid marketing strategy that has six definite benefits, and one drawback.

Benefits of Pricing Your Book at Free

Many authors can be hesitant to give their books away for free, but it’s a strategy that thousands of authors and publishers use everyday. Let’s look at the reasons why.

Writers who price their book for free for a short time and promote their free book well can get the following benefits:

• Increased sales. Giving one book away can boost your sales of your other books. If you have published a 2 or more books in the same genre, listing one of them as free can encourage readers to check out your other books as well.
• More reviews. As most authors know, gaining reviews on your books can be a real challenge. However, readers who get to read your book for free are somewhat likely to write a review, especially if you leave a reminder in your book’s back matter. Most author’s see 2-3 reviews come in for each 1,000 books that they giveaway on Kindle.
• Gain Amazon followers. When readers download your book, Amazon will encourage them to follow you on your Amazon author page. As you probably know, your author profile features a “Follow” button for readers to get emails and notifications about your latest books, which can help build your fan base and drive your sales. Amazon even allows authors to send their followers a personal message once in a while. But, Amazon will never tell you how many followers you have, because…that’s just how Amazon is.
• Kindle Unlimited page reads. Even when your book is priced as free, many Kindle Unlimited members still click “Read Now” instead of clicking the “Buy Now if Now for Free” link. Therefore, if you have enrolled your book in KU, you can expect to see a major increase in your total page reads during the time that your book is free. Authors can see their page reads jumping from 2 to 20 times their typical rate.
• Expand your audience. If you list your book for free, you can attract thousands of bookworms looking for a great deal. Readers who enjoy the free download may go on to purchase your other novels, follow you on social media, post your book on Goodreads, signup for your newsletter, etc.
• Increased audiobook sales. Immediately after someone downloads your Kindle book on a mobile device, Amazon will ask them if they would like to add the Audible version. Thanks to this brief prompt, if you have an audio book version of your novel, then you can gain some audio sales.

Now, that you know the benefits of setting your book price to free, let’s look at the one major drawback. The drawback is that you make no royalties on your book during the time that you are giving it away. It’s up to you to weigh the benefits vs the drawbacks.

How to Price Your Book as Free with KDP Select

You have two different options when it comes to running your free Kindle book promotion. The first choice requires your book to be enrolled in KDP Select. It’s free to sign up, and Amazon will allow you to participate in Kindle Countdown Deals, enroll your book in Kindle Unlimited, and let you price your book at free book promotions for up to 5 days every quarter. You can run your promotion 5 days in a row, or you can spread out your free book days: it’s completely up to you.

The only drawback is that books enrolled in KDP Select must be exclusively sold through the Kindle store. If you happen to sell your book through Apple or Nook, your book will not be eligible for KDP Select until you remove it from sale on the other platforms. However, if your book is available for sale through Amazon alone, then you can start setting up your book promotion by following these simple steps:

• Enroll your book in KDP Select.
• Click on your Bookshelf.
• Next to your book, select “Promote and Advertise”.
• Click on “KDP Select Info”.
• Look for “Run a Price Promotion” and then click on “Free Book Promotion”.
• Hit “Create a New Free Book Promotion for This Book”.
• Choose your start and end dates, then click “Save”.

Make Your Book Free Through Price Matching

The KDP pricing policy states that Amazon will match prices with platforms that sell your book for less. So, if you change the price of your book to free on the other platforms you sell on, then the Kindle store will follow suit. Take note of these 3 easy steps to get your book price to free on Kindle:

• Double-check to make sure your book is sold through Amazon and that it is not enrolled in KDP Select.
• Log into all of the other platforms that sell your book and change the price to free.
• Sit back and wait for Amazon to automatically detect the lower price and apply the same price to your book in the Kindle store.

When you choose this option, you can leave your book priced at free for as long as you want. Depending on what type of book it is, you may want to consider making it permanently free, or “permafree.” If your book is the first in a series, a prequel to one of your novels, or some kind of supporting material for a book, making it permafree could be a great long-term marketing strategy.

Tips and Tricks for Promoting Your Free Book

Once your book is priced at free, you will want to spread the word to as many readers as possible. Here are some tips to make your free Kindle book fly off the digital shelves:

• Share content. Post short snippets from your book on your website, blog, and social media pages before you run your free book pricing. Share intriguing quotes, cliff-hangers, or other types of content that will leave your readers wanting to read it. Along with being active on social media, participate in forums such as KBoards and put a link to your free book in your author bio.
• Announce it in your newsletter. Send an email to your fanbase to alert them that one of your books will be available for free for a limited time. And don’t be afraid to get creative with your newsletter! Try writing it from the perspective of one of your beloved characters, or introducing a few new characters that will appear in the book.
• Agree to trade guest posts with another author. Ask another writer if they’d be willing to review your book and write a blog post about it if you do the same for them. Try to find an author who writes in a genre similar to your own so you can each be noticed by a wider audience.
• Update your back matter. Readers who love your free book will be likely to follow the suggestions you list after the story ends. You can ask readers to write a review, follow you on social media, sign up for your newsletter, etc.
• Do an author Q&A. You could ask your followers to comment questions they have for you, and then you could respond with a short video. Another technique could be creating a poll on social media or Goodreads, or by insightfully answering questions on Quora.
• Consider a paid promotion. Sites like JustKindleBooks help authors promote their books by reaching thousands of readers via their website, newletter, and social channels. JustKindleBooks offers a range of affordable promotions for authors on a budget and will promote books of any genre. Click here to learn more about how a paid promotion can boost the success of your free book giveaway!

Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), an Amazon platform, offers a simple way for published authors to produce audiobook versions of their novels. Creating an audiobook allows authors to reach a much wider audience and to reach fans who prefer audio books over print or ebooks.

The convenience and popularity of audiobooks creates an ideal new format for authors to consider. And and the process of creating an audiobook is easier and less expensive than most authors assume.

Step-By-Step Guidelines

Before you can start using ACX, you need to ensure you have the rights to produce an audiobook version of your book. You’re good to go if you self-published your book, but if you worked with a publisher, you’ll need to double-check your contract. Once you confirm that you have audio rights, you can get started on ACX by following these steps:

• Create a profile. Include a compelling description of your book, a 1-2 page excerpt for audition purposes, and any notable awards or achievements your book has earned.
• Find a producer. Once your profile is finished, producers can review your book and submit auditions. You can also browse thousands of producer profiles and make offers to those you would like to cast.
• Make a deal. Go to your desired producer’s page, click “Make Offer,” and then set your per finished hour rate or hit the “Royalty Share” option. Include your deadline to give the producer adequate time for recording.
• Provide feedback. Your producer will send an initial 15-minute audio clip for approval and feedback before they record the entire book.
• Approve the final project. You can request 2 rounds of corrections or requests to a completed audiobook recording. Once your audiobook sounds perfect, it’s time to pay your producer (unless you negotiated a royalty sharing deal).
• Promote and sell! Once your audiobook is finished, ACX will start distributing it on Amazon, Audible and iTunes. And you can start promoting it.

FAQs About ACX

Can I narrate my own book? Yes! Visit the Authors as Narrators page for more information.

How long will it take to produce my audiobook? It usually takes about 3-8 weeks, depending on the length of your book and the producer’s schedule.

Where will my audiobook be sold? ACX will distribute it through the 3 leading audiobook retailers: Amazon, Audible, and iTunes.

What royalty will I earn? Most authors earn between 20-40%. Click here to learn more about how royalties are calculated.

Attracting new readers to your book on Amazon.com is a time consuming and sometimes expensive proposition for authors. But what if you could offer a free preview or sample chapters of your book to anyone, anywhere online? A new tool, Kindle Instant Preview, allows you to place a link to your book sample anywhere. This one promotion technique could help you increase your book sales by giving readers the chance to read a small portion of your book without having to go to Amazon. Think about it, you get to reach and influence the reader where they are now, before they get to Amazon. What’s more if you’re part of Amazon Associates, you could gain additional profits whenever someone clicks on the preview.

Benefits of Kindle Instant Preview

Kindle Instant Preview let readers enjoy a few pages of your book just by clicking on a link that you, as an author, can put anywhere. You can now embed a sample of your book into your blog or website, which can readers get to know your work better and keep them on your web page for longer periods of time as they check out your book. The preview also includes a link that leads directly to the Kindle store where they can purchase it right away.

Where can you use Kindle Instant Preview links to share a sample of your book? Here are some places to consider:

• Website/Blog
• Email signature
• Newsletter
• Text messages
• Social Posts
• Forums

Consider offering a preview or sample of your book in any place that your potential audience might be online.

How to Use Kindle Instant Previews

Using Kindle instant previews couldn’t be easier for readers to use, and it’s as quick and painless process for authors to set up as well. In just a few steps, you can set up instant previews and share the links in your online content within minutes:

• Go to detail page of your Kindle book Amazon.com
• Click the “Embed” link, which is located under the buy box, by the other sharing options.

• To get a link to the book sample copy the URL
• To display the sample right on your site copy embed code and place it in the code of your site

That’s all it takes to share a bit of your novel with any interested readers on any of your online platforms! It’s simple, fast, and completely free to set up. Give it a try to see how it can affect your sales and book views.

Most Kindle authors are familiar with their KDP accounts on Amazon, but many are unaware of a hidden gem that Amazon created to make it easy for authors to track sales, ask for author-related advice, and market themselves to millions of potential readers. These benefits, along with several other useful tools, are all available through an Author Central account on Amazon.

With Author Central you can give Amazon visitors a comprehensive view of who you are, what books you’ve written, where you can be found on other social media platforms, and any other information you’d like to add (such as your blog, website, etc.). Creating an Author Central account puts all your information on one page, extends your total online presence, and can help your career skyrocket thanks to the multitude of features it offers.

Benefits and Uses of Author Central

If you’re a starving artist/author on a budget, taking advantage of your author page and profile on Amazon can be the easiest way for you to promote yourself and your book without begging for attention on social media or spending money on advertisements. The free Author Central platform can give you endless marketing opportunities and advantages, including:

• Adding the “Editorial Reviews” section for your book.
• Using chat functions to communicate with your readers.
• Tracking your book sales (which is very helpful when running a promotion!).
• Viewing and responding to reviews for your books.
• Editing any problems with your book listings.
• Seeing the rankings for all your books.
• Sharing upcoming events, such as book signings or author conferences.

How to Create Your Author Profile

The only prerequisite for creating an author profile is having a book listed for sale on Amazon, so as long as you have at least one published book, you’re good to go! Also, if you’ve already listed a book on Amazon, you already have an author profile; you simply need to claim it. Here’s how you can find and claim yours:

• Go to https://authorcentral.amazon.com/ and select “Join Now.”
• Type in your email address and password to sign in.
• Search for your books by title or ISBN and select one. It doesn’t matter which one you click; this simply tells Amazon that you’re the author of that title.
• Before you receive the confirmation email, you can still customize certain parts of your account, such as adding a profile photo or updating your author bio.
• Within 7 days, you should receive a confirmation email from Amazon. Confirm your identity, and then enjoy full access to your author page!

Once you have your profile set up, search for the other titles of your books and “claim” them so all your titles will appear on your account. Now that you’ve completed the basic steps in making your profile, you can feel free to get creative for the next part!

Must-Haves for Your Author Page

The most intimidating part about Amazon is that it’s such an expansive, endless website, so it can be difficult to stand out, especially as a newbie author. To help you gain the attention you deserve, you have to make your author page compelling and unique enough to capture the curiosity of online visitors. Here are some of the top techniques other authors recommend for a stellar Author Central page:

• Create a brief biography. If a potential reader visits your page only to be greeted with a wall of text, chances are that they’ll click away to another page. Make your bio concise yet exciting for people to read.
• Add photos. Your profile will instantly look more reputable when you include a professional picture of yourself. You can add humorous pictures as well to make your personality shine through your account, but stick with a professional photo for your main profile picture.
• Feed to your blog posts. If you have a blog, you can offer a “sneak peak” of your posts on your author profile page to update readers when you’ve recently added something to your blog.
• Links to social media. Make it easy for new fans to follow you on all your accounts across the internet by including links to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, your website, or any other platform you regularly use.
• Videos. Have you ever done an author Q&A or announced an upcoming meet-and-greet with a video? How about a book trailer or other types of promotional videos? These are just a few great examples of the types videos you can include on your Author Central profile.
• +Follow button. This yellow button should appear automatically when you create your account, but it’s a crucial element nonetheless since it allow your loyal readers to follow you and receive updates whenever you create new content.

Creating your Author Central account is a simple, free, and quick process that gives you visibility on a site that experiences millions of visitors every single day, so what are you waiting for? Head over to Author Central and claim your account today!

New writers and seasoned authors alike can easily boost their audience and gain reviews by getting started on Goodreads. With over 40 million users who regularly use the site, it’s a well-known haven for book lovers to share their favorite books and for authors to connect with each other and their fans. The Goodreads platform gives authors plenty of tools to promote their books to millions of readers, including the immensely popular giveaway program.

What are Goodreads Giveaways?

If you’ve ever considered running a book giveaway, Goodreads makes it easy for you to do so on their site! To see all the authors currently taking advantage of this opportunity, simply go to the Goodreads site, click on “Browse,” and then select “Giveaways.” Thousands of readers scroll through this list everyday to enter contests and discover new books to add to their “must-read list,” so it’s a fool-proof way to improve your online visibility and help you get your name out there. Ready to get started?

How to Prepare for a Successful Book Giveaway

First of all, if you haven’t claimed your author profile on Goodreads, do that first! When you first sign up for an account on Goodreads, you’ll be listed as a user until you claim your author page. To do this, log into your current account (or make one if you haven’t done so already), search for your book by title or ISBN, and then click on your name. On the bottom of your author page, there should be a link that says “Is this you? Let us know!” Click the link, and within a few days you’ll have access to your author profile.

After you’ve claimed your account, spend some time customizing your profile page and connecting with others on Goodreads before you host a giveaway right away. It’s much easier to promote your book when you’re already familiar with some people on the site and you’ve established yourself as an engaging reader first and an author second. If you don’t know where to get started, here are some tips for creating a killer profile and becoming an active member on Goodreads:

• Spruce up your profile. Just like any social media site, you should have a photo of yourself, a brief bio, and a link to your blog, if you have one. If you have won any awards or received special recognition for your work, feel free to brag a little too!
• Add your books. Simply search for your books on Goodreads and move them over to be listed on your profile. Just make sure to organize them according to whether they’re Kindle, paperback, or hard-cover books.
• Explore the site. You can show you’re an active member by writing reviews of other books, adding books to your “bookshelf,” rating books, writing blog posts, creating polls, and much more! Have fun and check out everything Goodreads has to offer.

Setting Up Your Book Giveaway

Once you’ve gotten familiar with the Goodreads platform, you can start preparing for your book giveaway. Authors can choose from two different packages for their giveaway: Standard or Premium. The only difference with Premium is that Goodreads will place your title near the top of the giveaways page so a greater amount of people will see it. After deciding on your package, take note of the following details:

• Sign up in advance. Make sure to register to host a giveaway at least 7 days before you want to begin your book promotion.
• Book details. You can give away Kindle books or physical copies, but keep in mind that you’ll be responsible for shipping the book(s) to the winners of the contest. When you’re listing your book, make sure to choose the correct genre and specify how many copies you’re giving away.
• Length of contest. Goodreads states that giveaways must last at least one week, but you can hold yours for longer if you’d like.
• Spread the word. Make sure to tell your audience on other platforms about the opportunity to win a free book from you. Include links to your giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, your blog, or whatever social media platform you use to increase traffic to your free book promotion.

What to Expect from Your Book Giveaway

Goodreads Giveaways are set up to benefit authors by including these features in every giveaway:

• Whenever someone enters a giveaway, the book is automatically added to their “Want to Read” list so their own friends and followers will see it and consider reading it themselves.
• All of your followers, as well as readers who have already added your book to their list, will get a notification when your book giveaway begins. This increases the total number of entries.
• Goodreads will send giveaway winners a brief email about 8 weeks after the giveaway ends, reminding them to rate and review your book.

If you want to expand your audience, and earn more reviews, Goodreads can be an awesome platform to give away a book and give yourself a boost.

One study on product reviews found that 90% of online shoppers read reviews before deciding whether to purchase a product or keep looking for something else. Products with few reviews or ones with a particularly negatives review tend to lead potential customers to decide against buying the item. This is just one of the many reasons why authors need to encourage readers to write reviews about their books on Amazon.

Why Are Book Reviews So Important?

Along with convincing potential fans to read your work, having plenty of book reviews also increases your sales, expands your overall fan base, and helps you learn what your audience enjoys most and least about your work. Think of your book reviews as a free marketing tool that improves your conversion rate (total number of visitors/the number of purchase made) Reviews are authentic, they engender trust and they encourage unsure readers to purchase your book. Even if you get an occasional critical review, you can use these comments to learn about the kinds of things that irritates your fan base.

Methods to Avoid

Before you jump at any chance to get reviews, remember to abide by Amazon’s Customer review policies. In April 2018, Amazon changed its terms of service to crack down on sellers offering free products (and other rewards) in return for reviews. These incentivized reviews violated Amazon’s terms of service and can get you banned from KDP. They also mislead customers. To avoid getting in trouble with Amazon (or with other authors who might want to make an example of anyone caught breaking the rules) you should avoid the following strategies:

• Incentivizing readers. You should never offer to give a reader anything in return for a review. Bribing readers with prizes, money, or other incentives is not allowed. One exception…you can give someone a free copy of your book to read and review in they decide to review it. But the review must disclose in their review that they got a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
• Buying book reviews. Similar to the above, buying reviews from shady or even legitimate looking sites can quickly land you in trouble with Amazon and possibly with other authors. Don’t risk getting kicked off of KDP for life.
• Using a review service. Amazon is becoming more adept at spotting reviews that are provided by review services. Be careful with any site that promises to get you Amazon reviews.

The main point to take away from this is to focus on gaining honest feedback from real people who read your book. While having more reviews might look good for vanity’s sake, you’re not connecting with your audience or getting genuine opinions, which is what all authors should be striving to achieve.

Strategies for Gaining Book Reviews

Both new and seasoned authors alike benefit from getting more reviews for their books, no matter how long ago they were released. Here are some ways authors can gain Amazon reviews for their books:

• Temporarily price your book at $0.00 (free). Book’s enrolled in the Kindle Select program can be priced at “free” for five days at a time. Running a promotion for a free book will dramatically boost your book downloads. What’s the point of that you might ask? Good question. On average you can expect to get 2-3 reviews for every 1,000 free books downloaded.
• Lower your book price briefly. If you lower your book price to $0.99 you will sell more books at this price than at a higher price. With paid book sales you are likely to get 1 review for every 100 books sold.
• Ask friends and family. Politely ask your friends and family members who have read the book if they will write an honest review.
• Use social media effectively. If you have a new book coming out, pique your followers’ curiosity by posting sneak peaks of upcoming chapters or by writing ominous posts about what your latest book might contain. Creating a buzz around your book can encourage more people to read it and then share their opinion about it.
• Connect with top book reviewers. Plenty of top reviewers on Amazon list their email address on their profile. Some are even professional reviewers. All you have to do is find people who have reviewed books similar to yours and send them a brief email asking them if they would be interested in reviewing your book. (The full process is explained in detail here).
• Use back matter effectively. In the back matter of your book include a brief message that thanks the reader and encourage them to write a short review. You can even include a direct link to make it easy for your readers to get to your Amazon detail page to start the review process. (Learn more about using back matter in this article).
• Set up a review exchange. Connect with another author to do a review swap: ask if they’d be willing to write a review for your book in exchange for a review from you.

We hope these tips help you get more reviews for your titles on Amazon.

JustKindleBooks is dedicated to helping authors connect with thousands of potential readers.  With affordable promotion options, authors can have their books posted on three different websites, several social media pages, and be highlighted in JustKindleBooks’ newsletter.  See our Book Promotions page for more details.

Why Are Keywords So Important?

Without the right keywords, potential customers won’t be able to find your book, even if it happens to be exactly the type of content they’re searching for. When people don’t see your book among the top results during their searches, you miss out on countless opportunities for sales and expanding your audience.

When you learn how to optimize your keywords, your sales can dramatically increase because people will see your book among their top recommendations. This can also help your book stay relevant and keep getting sales, even years after it was released. You can attract a much larger audience on Amazon simply by doing a bit of research and adding a few details to your book description!

Keywords to Avoid

Amazon encourages sellers to choose keywords for their products in order to be seen by potential customers, but they have some basic rules that all retailers must follow. Anybody who tries to cheat the system risks suspension of their account or total removal of their keywords. In order to stay within Amazon’s guidelines, avoid these practices:

• Adding overly vague descriptors (like “book” or “novel”)
• Using punctuation other than spaces in between search terms.
• Using brand names.
• Including irrelevant keywords in an attempt to boost your visibility, such as adding a famous author’s name or using a popular search term not associated with the book’s content.
• Adding subjective or untrue claims (“best novel in the world,” “Oprah’s favorite book,” etc.)
• Exceeding the character limit.
• Repeating content or making spelling errors.
• Including offensive or obscene language.
• Including terms that have the potential to embarrass or upset. Words such as, sex, divorce, pregnancy, death, etc should not be used as keywords.

Best Ways to Choose the Right Keywords

The first step in choosing your keywords is to learn what people are actually typing into Amazon’s search engine. You can easily discover the most popular keywords or phrases by using Amazon’s automatic suggestions and researching common search terms on Google. Here are the simple instructions for this technique:

• Open an incognito tab so your own data won’t be taken into consideration. Then, click the “Kindle Store” or “Books” tab.
• Slowly type different keywords or phrases for your book to see what Amazon suggests (for example, typing “how to” and looking at the suggestions will show you what people most want to learn). Start with broader terms and then narrow down your list.
• Use KWFinder or Google Keyword Planner to find more relevant keywords.

You might also want to consider using some of the same keywords your competitors are using and looking at the Amazon Best Seller Rank (ABSR) of books similar to yours. This can help you figure out which keywords contribute to higher sales and which ones may be unnecessary.

How to Enter Keywords in the KDP Console

If you’ve never added keywords or if your keywords aren’t optimized for your target audience, Amazon makes it super easy to add or change your keywords. Here’s how:

• Sign into your KDP account.
• Go to “Bookshelf” and click “…” beneath the Book Actions menu for the book you want to edit.
• Click “Edit Book Details.”
• Under the “Keywords” header, type in your keywords.
• Hit “Save and Continue” when finished.
• At the bottom of the Rights & Pricing page, click to publish your book.

Best Practices and Strategies

Selling on Amazon gives you the opportunity to be seen by millions of people around the world, but it can be hard to make your book stand out above the competition. Once you get the hang of choosing the right keywords for your book, here’s what to do next to keep the sales rolling in:

• Take advantage of special events. Around Christmas or other holidays, adding terms like “gifts for her” to your book can boost your sales as people are scrambling to buy presents for their loved ones.
• Imagine if you were the reader. A good tip to avoid useless or irrelevant keywords is to think like the customer. What would you logically search for if you wanted a book like yours?
• Update your keywords often. Find a balance to keep up with the most popular search terms without changing your keywords every day.

Promoting Your Book with JustKindleBooks

JustKindleBooks is a haven for both readers and authors to connect and share their love of reading. With an e-mail list of over 45,000 readers, a book promotion on JustKindleBooks helps to lead more people to your book’s detail page on Amazon, increase your sales, and introduce new fans to your work. All books promoted on JustKindleBooks are also featured on BookSliced, eReaderNation, and all of JustKindleBooks’ social media pages. With affordable options for authors of all genres, promoting your book is a simple step toward more sales and reviews.

For a limited time you can use coupon code AUTHOR5OFF to get $5 off any of our promotions.

This discount code is good on the following promotions:

Premium Book Promotion Plus –  Our premium plus promotion guarantees maximum exposure for your book.

Premium Kindle Book Promotion – With this promotion you’ll get everything in the option above, except for extra time on our homepage.

Budget Book Promotion –  Our budget book promotion is simple and affordable.

Amazon Follower Boost– Use this promotion to get more followers on Amazon. (Requires that you set up a book giveaway on Amazon before submitting the promotion)

Interested in getting a free promotion? Just place a link on your website to ours and we’ll give you a free premium book promotion. Learn more.

Our promotions help authors gain sales, reviews, Kindle Unlimited downloads, page reads and more. Marketing Kindle books is our passion and we’ve been at it for 8 years. In that time we’ve created a system that shares books by way of email newsletters, a network of websites, facebook, twitter, instagram and many social other social media sites.  We have a combined email list of 44,500+ readers and we invest significantly each month in our SEO so that users can find your book through organic searches.

The best performing genres in our promotions are Romance (all sub-genres inclduing Christian Romance, Sweet Romance, Paranormal Romance, Western Romance, Romantic Suspense, Erotic Romance, Amish Romance, Reverse Harem Romance, Cowboy Romance, New Adult Romance, and all other forms of Contemporary Romance), Women’s Fiction, Erotica, Mysteries, Thrillers, Paranormal Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, YA books with cross over appeal, Christian Fiction, Christian Spirituality, Sci-fi, Biographies about women who have overcome challenges, Cookbooks, How-to, Parenting/Relationships, Fitness, Self-Help & advice books.

Book your promotion today or contact us if you have any questions.

In this article we’ll show you how to use one link that goes to the right amazon store for any user no matter what country they are in.

What are Universal Links?

Whether you are using Amazon’s affiliate program or trying to promote your latest Kindle book, it’s important to understand how to use universal links, and why traditional links may not be working to your advantage.

With a traditional link, you are sending your viewer directly to Amazon.com which is the US Amazon store. This is easy and convenient for anyone who lives in the US. However, a German customer can’t purchase a book from the US store. That customer will need a separate link to the German Amazon store. One tedious way to overcome this obstacle is to create different links for every possible country where you may have readers interested in your book. The smart alternative is to use a universal link, also called a global link.

There are many different options for authors and affiliates looking to create Amazon universal links. Whether you choose to use a third-party provider or the Amazon’s own OneLink option, you’ll be able to provide a single link for all of your customers. Once they click on that link, they will be taken the respective product on the correct Amazon store for their locale. Amazon has different domains for each of these countries:

• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Australia
• Mexico
• France
• Brazil
• Spain
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• India
• Netherlands

OneLink and 3rd party universal links allow you to provide a single link for each product, without concern for which country your users are coming from. Plus there are other advantages of using a universal link to Amazon for your book or product.

Advantages for Kindle Authors

If you’re a Kindle author, you don’t want to miss out on a sale because the link you provide takes users to an Amazon store that they are not registered on. People who live in the UK shop on Amazon.co.uk not on Amazon.com. And UK users cannot buy a Kindle book on the Amazon.com store. Kindle universal links allow you to streamline your website and make your links work for all users.

Advantages for Amazon Affiliates

Just like authors, Amazon affiliates need to drive traffic to the Amazon store. Whether you’re advertising for Kindle books or any other product, your affiliate link won’t earn you any revenue if it doesn’t link to the correct country Amazon store. Don’t waste all your international potential with a single link to amazon.com, and don’t clutter your blog posts and website with a massive amount of country specific links. A single, simple link can be used to generate revenue from a global audience.

Getting Started

Whether you choose OneLink or a third-party universal link provider, you’ll typically pay a monthly fee. This fee allows you to use universal links throughout your website. Some link providers also use plugins in order to instantly change your Amazon affiliate links to universal links.

Authors and affiliates have the ability to instantly connect with a global audience that is captivated by Kindle books. Global links are an incredible resource for anyone who wants to promote a particular book or e-product. Discover how you can use a versatile link to instantly bring connect people from around the world with your Kindle book.

Relinks.me

Relinks.me was created by people who publish books and therefore understood the frustration non-American readers and writers felt when they would be linked back to the main Amazon site rather than that of their respective country. This service allows you to create universal book links easily for both Amazon and Apple Books. Because Relinks.me is an Amazon and Apple Books affiliate, its service is completely free and requires no registration on your part. All you need is your AISN. You can, however, create a free account if you wish to be able to manage your links. There is, however, one caveat. Even though those behind Relinks.me work hard to ensure that all information is current, the database may not always be completely up-to-date. When the program is unable to detect a location, the user will automatically be directed back to the main Amazon.com page.

Smarturl

SmartURL certainly lives up to its name. Depending on users’ country of residence and device, this service will ensure that users get where they need to be when browsing the web. All one has to do is provide the system with the default URL, and smartURL will do the rest. This standard service is free. However, those who want to unlock additional features such as sophisticated organization and marketing tools will have to upgrade their accounts. There are two different paid plans to choose from: the Pro Plan and the Premium Plan. The Pro Plan costs $49 a month, or $588 for a whole year. The Premium Plan costs $249 for a month, or $2988 for the entire year. The Premium Plan sticks out in that it allows users to have up to 20 custom domains, whereas the Pro Plan offers just one. It goes without saying that this can get costly fast. However, if you seek top-notch resources for marketing as well as easy-to-manage universal links, then a smartURL subscription may be worth the investment.

Booklinker

If you crave international exposure, Booklinker.net is the perfect solution. What makes Booklinker in particular stand out is that it allows you to customize your URL as you see fit. This means that you can easily create short, eye-catching URLs (or vanity links, as they are called) to post anywhere from your Twitter bio to your own website. You also have access to some illuminating stats; Booklinker will show you where in the world people are clicking on your link, as well as how often your link has been clicked on. The only downside is that using Booklinker does require a bit more work on your end. You will have to create an account and log in with a username and password.

Genius Link (Geni.us)

Genius Link presents itself first and foremost as a superior marketing tool, as it allows users to create short and meaningful links that compel potential readers to click. Therefore, you will find that the website advertises not only its ability to connect authors with their audiences across the globe. It also emphasizes that the service is a great way for author to increase their revenue. With this in mind, Genius Link might be the ideal option for authors looking to market their work and reap a sizeable profit. However, even one blog published by Genius Link acknowledges that the service might not be the best option for authors new to the community or those who consider writing and promoting their books a pleasurable hobby. In such cases, Booklinker is probably a better choice. While Genius Link does offer a free 14-day trial, it is not free. However, it is reasonably priced. After the trial ends, you can expect to pay just $5 for 2000 clicks. Again, while this might not be the best option for those just getting started, it is a bargain of an investment for those serious about marketing their book to a wider audience.

VigLink

VigLink is one of the simplest ways to create universal affiliate links. With Viglink you do not need to have an amazon affiliate account or an account on any other platform. They take care of that. What’s more, you add a few lines of code to your website or blog and VigLink automatically converts your normal links into affiliate links. They also have a simple tool that lets you convert any link manually to an affiliate link. When users make a purchase, you earn a referral commission which VigLink pays you. The best part is that you don’t need to sign up for any individual affiliate accounts on other platforms. VigLink automatically tracks all purchases and pays you. There is no cost or up-front fee to use VigLink. Instead, VigLink takes a cut of the referral commissions that you earn.

And Lastly…

Whether you’re trying to sell books or just running a casual blog, linking effectively is critical to your success. From serious affiliates to authors just learning the ropes, universal links are a wonderful opportunity to send users to the right Amazon store for them, everytime. As an author, if you need any more exposure for your own books, consider running a book promotion on trusted promotion sites such as bookbub and JustKindleBooks. If you’re a reader, take advantage of this incredible selection of free Kindle books. Avid readers all over the globe can enjoy this extensive library of free Kindle books.

Where to Host Giveaways

There are plenty of hosting sites out there, so consider what you plan to give away and how much control you want to have over your giveaway. It’s simple to set up a giveaway on any of the following sites, but here’s how they differ from one another:

• Amazon Giveaways. According to Amazon’s webpage, “Amazon Giveaway takes all the heavy lifting out of running promotional sweepstakes. From the entry experience to prize fulfillment, Giveaway helps you run successful programs quickly.” Amazon lets you give away any type of product: digital books, signed book copies, fan merchandise, or anything else you think your fans would enjoy. As long as you already have an Amazon account and a credit card that can cover the total cost, you can set up a giveaway in just a few steps! More information about the Amazon Giveaway process is available on their FAQ page.
• Goodreads Giveaways. If you don’t already have an author profile on Goodreads, go ahead and create one! Goodreads has millions of enthusiastic readers and published authors who visit the site to promote books, recommend books to each other, and discuss the latest novels. Once your profile is set up, you will have two options for your giveaway: standard or premium. One important thing to note is that on Goodreads, authors can only give away books or ebooks. All the details about creating your profile and giveaway can be found on the Author Program page.
• Third Party Platforms. These sites allow authors to fully customize their giveaways and launch them in as little as 3 minutes. It’s easy for authors to link their giveaways to their social media pages, and authors have control over the entire giveaway process. A few of the most popular and versatile platforms include SweepWidget, Rafflecopter, KingSumo, and Gleam.

Ideas to Make Your Next Giveaway a Success

Most importantly, you need to know your audience and how they interact. For example, if your Twitter account has the most followers, announce your giveaway there first. Be engaging with your fans; answer questions about the giveaway, thank fans for their support, or drop hints about your upcoming projects!

If you’re hosting your giveaway on a site other than Goodreads, you can offer numerous types of prizes to your audience. Of course, you can always give away a signed copy of your latest book or a free digital book, but authors also use giveaways to maintain interest in between book releases. One idea would be to give someone the opportunity to receive a chapter from the book you’re currently writing. Some other fun ideas to consider include:

• Amazon gift cards.
• A notable accessory one of your popular characters wears, such as a leather jacket or silver pendant. (Think of the Mockingjay pin Katniss wears in The Hunger Games!)
• Kindle eReader or Kindle Fire.
• A chance to name a character in your next novel, or have a character named after them.
• A matching book bundle and bookends.
• Genre-specific experiences, such as tickets to a murder mystery dinner if you’re a crime fiction author or a trip to a city where your book’s setting takes place.
• A Skype call with you or a chance to meet you.
• Gift baskets that can include themed merchandise, a thank-you note from you, special editions of your book, or anything else you think your fans would enjoy!

How Your Audience Can Enter a Giveaway

On Amazon and Goodreads, your fans simply follow your author profile to enter your giveaway. On third party sites, you get to decide how people can enter. You might ask your readers to subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on one of your social media pages, share the giveaway information on their Facebook page, or visit your webpage. Make sure the entry process is quick and easy so fans will spread the word about the giveaway!

Ways to Promote Your Giveaway

When you announce your giveaway, keep the message short and sweet. Tell your fans how to enter, what the prize is, and how long the giveaway will last. Don’t spam all your accounts with the news right away; start on the site with the most followers. Ask your friends and family to share the event, consider advertising (if it’s in your budget), and remember to stay engaged with your fan base. Here are a few sites that do a good job with promoting a giveaway: GiveawayFrenzy, ContestListing and for Amazon giveaways only: Giveaway.plus and JustKindleBooks.

Remember to update your social media with news about the giveaway and let fans know how much time is left to enter and answer any other questions. Finally, make sure to announce the winner of your giveaway!

Looking for more ways to expand your audience, reviews and book sales? Explore our budget and premium Kindle book promotions.

Benefits of Using Your Phone to Write

At first, the idea of using a smartphone to write your book might seem difficult or inconvenient, but it’s much easier than you might think. Notebooks and laptops may be helpful, but they don’t have all the benefits that your phone can provide:

• It’s cheaper than buying a new laptop or tablet. If your laptop needs to be replaced, it can cost you hundreds of dollars, whereas setting up your phone as a writing station is an affordable option regardless of your budget.
• You always have your phone with you. Carrying a cell phone has become a necessary addition to most people’s everyday necessities, much like a wallet or keys. No matter where you go, you likely have your phone with you at all times.
• Write whenever your heart desires. Laptops are bulky and can be a nuisance if you’re trying to write on a bus or train, and using a notebook and pen at night or on a particularly bumpy bus ride can be frustrating. Meanwhile, your phone is compact, easy to use, and can be used at any time of day so you can write whenever inspiration strikes.
• You can get feedback from social media. If you’re stumped on a story idea or just finished a chapter of your book, you can post your work on social media to get instant feedback from your audience. This can help you create new ideas, get rid of writer’s block, and gauge how your fans will react to your story.
• Easily read and do research. If you’re writing a story and need to remember what year a certain event took place, you can quickly find the information right at your fingertips when you use your phone to write.

Setting Up Your Smartphone

If you’re ready to try writing with your phone, don’t immediately start texting your latest chapter to yourself! Instead, set up your phone with a few inexpensive additions to make the writing process much easier (and prevent any thumb sprains!). The basic things you will need include:

Sturdy Phone Case with a Kickstand

No matter what your budget is, there are plenty of phone cases equipped with kickstands so you can use your phone hands-free. Without a kickstand, using your phone to write can be a bit tricky. You might have to hold your phone with one hand while typing with your other hand, or you may have to crane your neck to see your screen. If you don’t know where to purchase a phone case/stand for your device, here’s a list of the top 10 kickstand phone cases from 2018 for both Android and iOS users.

Bluetooth Keyboard

Next, check to make sure your phone has Bluetooth connectivity and then purchase a Bluetooth keyboard. Typing on a keyboard is much quicker than using your phone screen keypad, and it will make it feel like you’re using a laptop if that’s what you’re used to. When purchasing a Bluetooth keyboard, make sure it’s compatible with your specific device, or search for keyboards that are “multi-device” or “universal.” Some affordable multi-device keyboards include:

• Logitech K480: This keyboard comes with a “cradle” to hold most types of devices, so you don’t even need to purchase a kickstand for your phone! It also features an “easy-switch” dial so you can seamlessly transfer from using your phone screen to your tablet, or vice versa.
• Anker Ultra Compact: This keyboard has a battery that can last an average of six months before needing to be charged and will automatically connect to the last device it was paired with.
• Artek HB030B: This keyboard weighs less than half a pound and has backlit keys to make typing in the dark easy. It also has a battery life of 6 months.

Word Processing Apps

Lastly, you need an app on your phone to write, edit, and save your stories. When looking for a word processing app, search for free apps that allow you to edit offline, sync across all your devices, and are compatible with other platforms, such as Microsoft Office. Depending on what type of device you have, you may already have one of these apps installed. If not, here are some free word processing apps that can be used on both Android and iOS devices:

• Google Docs.
• Zoho Writer.
• WPS Office.

Whatever method you choose for writing on the go, stay inspired, stay present and enjoy yourself. Once your novel is finished, edited and published as an ebook, considering marketing it with a book promotion from JustKindleBooks. Happy writing!

Unfortunately Amazon ended its giveaway program in October 2019. Amazon gave no explanation as to why it ended the program. The information below is now a dated historical artifact describing how a giveaway was set up once upon a time.

***

Amazon is a great platform for authors to sell their books and reach new customers. However, with millions of Kindle books for sale, you may have to put in some effort to get the sales rolling. Setting up an Amazon book giveaway is a great place to start. Amazon book giveaways can help readers find your novel (both print or Kindle) and will help you gain more Amazon followers.

Setting Up the Giveaway

Wondering how to set up an Amazon Giveaway? These Amazon Giveaway setup instructions should help you.

1. Start by going to your book’s page on Amazon. Scroll down to the boom and click “set up Amazon Giveaway.”

There will be a number of setting options when creating the giveaway, starting with the number of prizes. We recommend giving away as many as you are comfortable with between 5 and 100. You will pay for each book you plan to giveaway, but they will count toward your royalty and your sales rank.

During the set up process, select the “choose lucky number instant win” giveaway type.

Under “rule for winning” you should choose that every 50th or 100th entrant wins a book. The requirement to enter should be to follow the author on Amazon. The giveaway should expire after a week or more, and the contest should be made public.

Why Amazon Followers Matter

Although you will never know how many Amazon Followers you have (Amazon keeps that information private), there is a huge benefit to having a large following. Amazon sends automated emails to all of your followers each time you release a new book. This has been proven to drive up sales.

Promoting Your Giveaway

Once you have created an Amazon Book Giveaway, you can promote your contest via Just Kindle Books. To set up the promotion you will have to provide the author’s first and last name, an email, and the Amazon Giveaway URL. Other necessary information includes: a one sentence book description, the book genre, the number of copies you’re giving away, and the chance of winning. Once you have filled out all this necessary information, Just Kindle Books will promote your giveaway for as little as $5.

Your promotion will be sent to our followers via an email, and post on some of our social media pages. By boosting your promotion, you ensure more people see the giveaway and ultimately follow you on Amazon.

In one survey, 79% of readers said the cover plays a significant role in their decision to purchase a book. This quick judgement makes sense. The cover suggests to the reader what genre the book falls in, what sub-genre it’s in, as well as the emotional tone, the gravity, and other elements of the book.

Over 1 million books are published every year in the United States alone. That’s a lot of new competition each and every year. To ensure your novel’s first impression makes a lasting impact, you can, and should, take advantage of A/B testing.

What Is A/B Testing?

A/B testing is a controlled experiment that helps you determine which cover, title, and description leads to the highest conversion, gets the most clicks or receives the best feedback from your desired audience.

For book covers, this type of testing usually involves asking users to pick from two or more potential covers. You can ask your audience to choose which one they like better. Then, you can put aside the losing cover, and compare the winning cover to another option. Repeat until you have landed on the best possible cover.

Crafting a great book title is like creating a work of art. It should attract and seduce your audience, but still have your own special flare. To A/B test your potential titles you can have readers vote on the best title by simply presenting them the title without a book cover or description. It’s important to test the title without the other variables so you can get a clean read on how attractive the title alone is to your audience.

After your title and cover, your book blurb is the most important part of selling your novel. Customers will read this description and decide whether to spend their precious time reading your book. To test your book blurb you can send two different blurbs to your potential readers and ask them to vote on them. You can also place ads featuring one or the other to the same audience segment. Whichever gains the most clicks or traction is the one you should use.

Reviews are the fourth most impactful element for book sales. Unfortunately, you can’t A/B test which reviews show up on your book’s detail page.

Book Cover Best Practices

Before we dive into the how of A/B testing, let’s have a frank talk about book covers. You may not want to hear it, but it’s best to follow these three simple pieces of advice:

Make your cover look a lot like the best sellers in your genre or sub-genre

1. If the content of your book blends two genres then pick one genre and have the cover reflect that genre only. Let’s say your book is a cross of literary fiction and dystopian fiction or it’s a cross of time-travel romance and historical fiction, trying to message this genre blend in your book cover typically will confuse people. Readers are highly accustomed to recognizing a book’s genre by the cover. It’s best to pick one genre and have your cover speak that genre. We know that many authors don’t want to hear this, but we can tell you that it rarely works in your favor to use the cover to message something other than one clear genre. But if you don’t trust us, then A/B test it.
2. Don’t include guns (or anything suggestive of guns such as a gun sight), nudity (men’s bare chests are okay), violence, corpses, mutilation, blood, hate symbols or religious symbols in your covers. This is the quickest way to get your title excluded from emails and excluded from appearing in widgets/carousels in Amazon’s Kindle store as well as the strorefront on Kindle Fire and Kindle e-ink devices. Amazon does not want to put potentially offensive book covers front and center. When they deem a cover offensive, the book may get limited exposure, or, in worse can scenarios, users will only be able to find it by searching specifically for it. What’s more Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub and Google will also likely reject ads of books that have offensive covers.

Book Description Best Practices

When it comes to book descriptions we have some prescriptive advice to help position your book for strong sales. Make your description true to your book, but follow these three rules:

1. Read the book descriptions of the best sellers in your genre and then emulate the descriptions that you think are the best.
2. Look to see where Amazon is cutting off the average Kindle Book description. You’ll see on almost all Kindle book pages that Amazon shows roughly 4-6 lines of text and then has a “< Read more” link which expands the text. Seduce your potential reader in the first 4 lines of your book description. It’s okay to have a description that is longer than 4-6 lines. Just make sure you use those first 4-6 lines wisely.
3. Avoid certain words that may trigger Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, Bookbub or Google to flag your book as “adult” or “not safe for work” or potentially offensive. Any words having to do with sex or names sexual acts might trigger these platforms to block or restrict how much exposure your book or ad gets. Instead use words like intense, passionate, steamy, hot, wild night, electric chemistry, etc. Also avoid profanity, racial slurs, insults, hate speech, or derogatory terms. Lastly avoid words that could be highly sensitive to some people such as divorce, pregnancy, pregnant, miscarriage, death, etc. We don’t know all the words that trigger platforms to suppress your book, or ad for your book, but it’s best to be ultra-conservative in your word choice.

Choosing your Book Title

There are actual strategies for coming up with a book title. But there is no one formula for success. Our advice: come up with five titles and A/B test them.

How to A/B Test Your Cover

There are many ways to A/B test your book cover. No matter which way you go about it, you should follow these best practices. 1) Run the test on a similar audience to that who will buy or read your book. If you write for teenagers or young adults, get teenagers to make up your test group. If you write romance novels that are mostly read by women aged 40 to 60, then target women age 40-60 who read romance novels. 2) Try to get as many responses as you can. You may not get to statistical significance on your test, but the more responses you get, the more you rule out that your results are simply random.

Below are places to begin you’re A/B testing:

Run a Facebook Poll

Facebook is a vital tool for authors. Not only can you advertise your upcoming book, but you can use the poll feature for split testing for book covers. If you already have a large follower base, you can use the poll option for free to test which cover, blurb, or title is the most effective. If you do not have a following, or if you want to reach a larger audience, you can pay to boost your post. Facebook allows you to customize who sees your boosted poll, so you can target your desired audience.

Use Polling Platforms

Although social media is a great tool, you may want to expand you’re A/B testing reach. If Facebook is giving you limited results, you can test your book title, cover, and descriptions via a polling platform like PickFu. All the feedback you get on PickFu is from real readers. For as low as $50, you can start polling immediately. The quantitative results will come in quickly, and PickFu also gives you written qualitative feedback, so if both of your options aren’t working, you will know what changes to make right away.

Utilize KBoards

With Facebook and PickFu, you are typically receiving feedback from readers. Although their reactions are extremely valuable, sometimes you need an author’s perspective. KBoards allows you to get feedback from both readers and authors. To utilize KBoards, you can start a thread about your book. You can list all the options you are debating between, and ask people to vote on the best title, cover, or description. KBoards allow you to have a discussion with your peers on the thread, so you can receive instant feedback. But beware, not everyone on Kboards is friendly.

Place Ads on Google or Facebook for Both Covers

To reach the largest test population, you should run split test advertisements. These advertisements can be placed through Facebook, Google, or other platforms. Before your book is published, you can advertise two different covers. As the book does not yet exist, you can simple have the add link to your author page on Amazon or another one of your books. (This way, not only are you receiving powerful A/B testing results, but potential readers are gaining access to your work.) All you are interested in at this point in which book cover (or title) gets the most number of clicks at the lowest cost per click. When setting up the advertisements, make sure that both run at the same time, have the same amount of spend behind them and have the exact same audience targeting parameters. Whichever book cover or book title receives the most clicks can be crowned the winner.

Once you have decided on your cover, title and blurb it’s time to promote your book. Visit JustKindleBooks to see our effective book promotion options.

Romance Writers of America

Romance Writers of America (RWA) is one of the most popular forums, made up of over 9,000 romance writers and other professionals involved in the industry. RWA is dedicated to helping romance writers make a career out of publishing their stories, connecting writers with helpful resources, and allowing users to network with each other. There are several benefits to joining RWA, including advocacy, contests, and educational resources. RWA also hosts a yearly conference for writers to meet, jumpstart their careers, and much more.

KBoards

KBoards.com is a community forum for both Kindle users and authors to discuss their favorite books and share tips for getting the most out of their Kindles. Writers can participate in the Writer’s Cafe forum, learn more about the publishing process, and ask for feedback from others. Established authors can create a webpage for their book, be featured on the KB Books page, or advertise their work on Kboards with a banner ad. It’s a big community, filled with love, tough love and advice, for both aspiring novelists and published authors alike.

RT Book Reviews

RT Book Reviews has a variety of forums for readers, beginning writers, and authors to discuss books or ask for advice. Just a few of the several forums include the Aspiring Authors’ Meeting Place, the “Ask the Author” archives, and the Ebook/Small Press Books Spotlight. This site also features contests and giveaways for writers, and plenty of genre-specific forums for discussing everything from romance novels to paranormal stories. Writers and readers can also attend the yearly RT Booklovers Convention to meet authors, make new friends, network with professionals, and even get free books!

Writing Forums

WritingForums.org is best known for being a place where writers can find constructive critique for their works and learn how to develop their writing skills. There are hundreds of posts, resources, and educational materials for writers to reference while they’re working on their novels. This site is unique for having weekly writing contests, photo galleries, and blogs for authors to share their personal journeys with writing. In sum, this site is suitable for authors and new writers alike.

Writers Helping Writers

Writers Helping Writers offers dozens of informational forums including editing tips, publishing details, creating characters, and everything else an author could need. For romance writers in particular, there’s a specified section with advice from writing coaches. Writers Helping Writers also offers a unique database, One Stop for Writers, that helps to make the writing process faster and easier for authors.

Booksie

Bookie is free to join. Here you can read books and share your own free books. Thousands of writers have published their novels, short stories, or poems here and have gone on to become best-selling authors due to the fans they acquired. Booksie also offers a free tool called the Self Publishing Advisor that can help you find all the resources you need to get your book officially published! If you’re a writer on a tight budget, this might be the best place for your novel the attention it deserves.

Romance Book Lovers

Romance Book Lovers is, as the name suggests, entirely devoted to everything related to romance. Authors can plug their books, find book reviewers, discuss writing tips with other writers, and connect with other members. Along with the forums on the website, there’s also a Facebook group of over 1,000 readers and authors who discuss and recommend mature romance books that have untraditional hero characters. For romance writers who may have a bit more risque content, this could be a great option for you!

If you are looking to promote your romance novel, visit JustKindleBooks’s Author Page to see the book promotion we offer for Kindle books.

When it comes to purchasing a new book for your Kindle, you want to make sure that you are really going to enjoy the book. Most of us look at the cover, read the book description and then read the book’s reviews. It’s the 3-step process to deciding on a new book. 

But first, here’s a why you want to grow your following. When you have less than 10,000 followers, you cannot link any of your posts. Your only link is the one in your profile. Once you reach the 10,000 followe milestone, Instagram unlocks the “swipe up” feature on your page. The swipe up feature lets you embed links into your stories. When a user swipes up, they are taken to that link. No more constant updates to the link in your bio. Clicks on your posts can lead to newsletter sign-ups, contest entries, reviews and book sales.

Instagram has over one billion monthly users. With this kind of volume it should be easy to get 10,000 followers. But it’s not. It takes work and here are some methods you can use to attract more users and increase your Instagram following.

Tag Your Posts

When you post, add hashtags that are relevant to your content, genre, or fans. You can use 25 hashtags or more on a single post. Just make sure they are all relevant.

Why use hash tags? Millions of people use and search hashtags on Instagram. By including relevant hashtags, your content will surface when people run searches. These are people who otherwise would not have seen your post.

If you are not sure which hashtags to use, you can use https://autogramtags.com/ to find relevant hashtags for your posts. Simply enter words or tags that fit your post, and this website will provide you with 30 similar hashtags that are used on Instagram and that complement your topic. For instance, if you type in #books and #reading, this site offers more specific hashtags like #readingislife and #instabooks. Using the right hash tags increases your potential audience and the likelihood that more people will follow your account.

Search Hashtags

Another way to gain more followers is to proactively search for them. Search for hashtags that you use for your posts or ones which fit the genre and style of your books, like #amishromance or #scifibooks, and find users that post using the same hashtags. When you follow these users on Instagram, there is a decent chance that they will follow you back.

Post Regularly

To keep your fan base engaged post content regularly. New posts will keep people interested in your content, the more people like and share your content the more your following grows. Your posts should serve many goals at once, including: 1) making your followers feel like they are a valued part of your community, 2) giving exclusive information they can’t find anywhere else, 3) allowing your followers to give you direct feedback by commenting on your posts 4) giving your followers a behind the scenes look at your life, books or your characters. Good content on Instagram should keep your readers delighted and wanting more.

Follow Other Authors

Follow other authors, even those who do not write books of the same genre, and you will get a better sense of what type of content you can or should be posting. See what your favorite authors post and how their followers respond to the posts. Then use this information to decide the types of posts you should make. Use their posts as inspiration, but make sure to keep your content original!

Interact with Your Followers

A great way to gain new followers and to retain the ones you already have is to interact with your followers on Instagram. Ask your followers questions. Ask for their opinions. Respond to their comments. This will make your following stronger and hopefully encourage them to recommend your account to their friends.

If you use and search hashtags, post regularly, borrow great ideas, and interact with your followers on Instagram, you will find yourself gaining followers quickly on Instagram. Having a large following on Instagram is not only great for your marketing and book sales, but it also unlocks Instagram features that will help you become even more successful.

Five Instagram Ideas for Authors

If you are struggling to come up with amazing, compelling Instagram content then maybe these ideas will get you out of the gate:

1.) Book Recommendations

Post your book recommendations or pictures of books you are currently reading. After all, your followers are likely avid readers themselves and are always eager to get their hands on great books. Additionally, when you give other authors and their books a shout out and use their Instagram handle, they are more likely to do the same for you.

2.) Behind the Scenes Information

Are you working on a new novel? Take a picture of your desk, your writing room, or a few of your notes so that your readers can get a behind-the-scenes, inside look at your writing process.

3.) Quotes from Your Book

Post quotes from your book that are inspiring or intriguing. Or post things that inspired your novels characters or direction.

4.) Fun Videos

Videos are more engaging than static media and give readers a glimpse into your life or your personality. Posting videos will help your followers get to know you and videos are often shared.

5.) Comics and Comic Relief

Posting lite content that makes people laugh builds a positive association with your name and books. Below are 44 of our favorite reading-related comics. We didn’t come up with them, we just found them online. Feel free to share one on Instagram.

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Fortunately, Amazon is helping with that process via Amazon Follows.  Amazon allows readers to “follow” you as an author. On every author page there is an orange button under the photograph  that looks like the one in the image to the right.

Amazon Follows allows Amazon customers to follow your work and receive email updates about your new releases. This is important for authors, because the more people Amazon alerts about your upcoming book, the more sales you will make.

The Amazon Follows program doesn’t just alert customers about new releases, it can also give updates about your book reviews. If someone leaves a glowing five-star review on your latest novel, your followers might be alerted, and will have a call to action to check out the book that was reviewed. It really does pay to have a large following on Amazon. If you are interested in growing your Amazon Following, these tips can set you up for success.

Run an Amazon Giveaway

Everyone loves free stuff, especially when it requires minimal effort to claim the free items. To boost your Amazon Following, you can run an Amazon giveaway, and set it up so that “following the author” is a requirement to enter.

Before setting up the giveaway, you must decide how many prizes you want to give out. You pay for each book you plan to giveaway. But if your prizes are your books, and you are on KDP, you will receive royalties back on them. Furthermore, each book given away will count as a sale towards your sales rank. Amazon will refund you for any books that are not given away. It’s best to give away as many books as you are comfortable with. In general, the more you give, the more followers you will get.

Once you have determined how many prizes you will hand out, you can start setting up your giveaway. On your Amazon book’s page, scroll down to the bottom and click “Set up an Amazon Giveaway”. For the giveaway type, select “Choose Lucky Number Instant Win.” Then, under the heading “Select the lucky number for the winning entry. Winners are selected by entry order,” choose the lucky number. If you choose 100, then every 100^th person to enter will win. Amazon will also have a heading that reads “require entrants to.” In this category, set it so that entrants must follow the author on Amazon. The discoverability should be set to public, so anyone can find your giveaway.

Boost Your Amazon Giveaway on JustKindleBooks

Once your Amazon Giveaway has been set up, you can boost your giveaway via JustKindleBooks. Boosting your giveaway is actually simple. Visit justkindlebooks.com/giveaway-submission-form to start. You will have to include the URL of the giveaway and a one-sentence description of the book.

For a limited time, you can boost your giveaway for just $5. JustKindleBooks will promote your giveaway to its followers.

Promote Your Giveaway

Although JustKindleBooks will do a lot of the heavy lifting to boost your Amazon giveaway, you can also promote your giveaway on your website and social media. Be sure to include a photo of your book, the link to the giveaway and the hash tag #giveaway.

On your website, you can add a post about the giveaway on your front page or on the product page of the book.

Leave a Note for Readers

Another way to get followers it to appeal to the readers you already have. At the back of your book, where you would typically put acknowledgements, you can take the time to acknowledge the importance of Amazon Followers. You can ask readers to follow you on Amazon. Explain that they will receive emails about new releases and book reviews.

How Many Amazon Followers Do You Have?

Unfortunately, you will never know exactly how many followers you have. Amazon doesn’t share that information with authors or readers. However, just because you don’t know the number, doesn’t mean you should ignore Amazon Followers. The more people that follow you, the more customers will know when your book is released. Hopefully that knowledge will turn into dollar signs. By taking advantage of Amazon giveaways and boosting your promotion via JustKindleBooks, you will see your sales thrive the next time a title is released.