Do you dream of being a bestselling author on Amazon? Are you frustrated at thousands of other self-published authors that seem to be ranking high in bestseller categories while you are staying at the bottom of the heap? As a bestselling author of 10 publications, here is my personal advice on what helps you rank high in the bestseller categories.
1) Lots of reviews! I mean anywhere from 30 – 300. And try and get an average of above 3.5 for the abundance of reviews to help. If you have 300 one star reviews, obviously that won’t help much. But 300 reviews with a mix of star ratings will help enormously.
2) Sell a lot in a short period. You want to try and aim to sell a ton of books in a short time. If possible, do it in a single day. This will get you ranking higher! This will help create velocity for your sales, which will help boost your book.
3) Keywords. Spend a lot of time selecting your keywords when publishing your book. This will help your book get noticed by more people if you utilize the keyword facility properly. Tip: try and make a title that includes a keyword. For example, if you are writing a horror collection, include horror in either the title or sub-title.
4) Get a lot of pre-orders. This is one way you can achieve the large bulk of sales in a short period of time. Set your book for pre-order at 99 cents, then smartly and in a non-spammy way, promote the heck out of it! Attempt to get as many pre-orders as possible. That way, when your book is released, all those sales will become active on the release day. Personally, I would suggest a pre-order period of no longer than 6 weeks. Any longer and even the hardcore readers will dismiss the idea of pre-ordering. But if it is only a few weeks away and they like the sounds of it, and you perhaps state that the 99 cents is only an introductory offer, they will more than likely pre-order.
5) Categories. Again, like with keywords, be smart with the categories. If you want to achieve bestseller ranking choose a category with the least competition. Obviously, you still have to be accurate and put the book in the correct category. However, you can make the second category a sub-category that will help the ranking. Example: Main category: horror, sub-category: thriller or suspense or historical or paranormal or supernatural and so on.
Wesley Thomas is a bestselling horror author, owner of Wesley’s Author Promo Service, head of marketing for a UK firm, and works as a freelance writer for several websites. He loves reading, painting, fitness, movies, traveling, good food, and spending time with his family & friends. Authors, sign up for his monthly writing and marketing tips here.