In January, I created the full draft of my book, How to Create a $1,000,000 Speech … based on my years (40 of them) on the platform. Fifty states, 20 countries, over $2,000,000 in direct book sales, and $3,000,000 in speaking fees.

In March, the title was with lots on my plate, I added it to my Amazon Advantage and quickly got this: #1 New Release in my category. Meaning, pre-sales came in, earning the Amazon label: #1 New Release. Very cool.

In April, all editing was done … and the book was sent out for print bids. Selecting one, it was sent off to print. Books would be available in May.

March to June, a variety of posters were created for marketing posts on social media.

Good enough. Now, get the book live over the summer and start to gather reviews. It’s such a pain –you’ve all experienced it—ask those who have books, then hold your breath. Ask again. That’s what I’m doing now. The Amazon gods demands the reviews to go up.

Meanwhile, I’m going to do a formal push on the book next month—starting August 14th.

This week, I set up the AMS ad  (Amazon Marketing Services)

I suggest you do this for each of your titles.

Essentials:

Your book is on Amazon – you link to it within the AMS platform.

Create Copy for ad – under 150 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Originally, I had:

Discover ready-set-go tools and strategies in public speaking; how to create a speech and market as a must-have speaker. Contracts. Marketing. GamePlan

Amazon hit the “reject." button. Damn. Turns out Amazon doesn’t like semicolons.  Brainstorming with Kathy Meis of Bublish, she suggested:

Discover the necessary tools and tactics to become a successful public speaker. Create winning speeches and market yourself as a must-have speaker. 

Subbing it in and the “pending." notice quickly switched to “running." … Okie Dokie. Now to add keywords. I entered in 100, then came up with another 100. As I monitor the progress of the campaign, I’ll be adding more.

Create a budget – the amount you are willing to pay to Amazon for when viewers click on your ad PLUS how much do you want to spend per day. Rarely is the full budget used.

Add keywords – this is where the magic can happen. Make sure you include competing titles and author names. If Amazon visitors are looking for a topic by a known author, why not have yours pop up on the Amazon book page? Gather all the keywords you can think of and/or know of. Also, keyword phrases.

You can add up to 1,000 keywords/phrases. That’s a boatload. Discover Yasiv.com.

YASIV is a visual recommendation service that helps people find the right product in Amazon’s catalog; be it a book, a movie or a video game. It can easily find anything out there for sale that connects with your title and descriptors you used on your Amazon page.

What’s hot about linking with another book or product? A link between the two products means that they are often bought together. Very cool.

Your turn … AND, Good luck! Let me know how AMS is working for you (or not).

Judith Briles is a book publishing expert and coach. She empowers authors and works directly with authors who want to be seriously successful and has been writing about and conducting workshops on publishing since the ’80s. Judith is the author of 36 books including Author YOU: Creating and Building Your Author and Book Platforms (Foreword IndieFab Book of the Year), Snappy Sassy Salty: Wise Words for Authors and Writers and a speaker at publishing conferences. Book #35, How to Avoid 101 Book Publishing Blunders, Bloopers & Boo-Boos has earned 7 national book awards in 2017. Her Latest, How to Create a $1,000,000 Speech is out now. Get your copies now.

Each summer, she holds Judith Briles Book Publishing Unplugged Bootcamp, a three-day intensive limited to a small group of authors who want to be seriously successful. In 2019, the dates are June 13-15.  Participate in her Judith Briles Speaking Unplugged Bootcamp held in March and November. Join Judith live on Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for “AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing." on the Toginet Network at bit.ly/PublishingShow.

Follow @AuthorUYOUBooks and @MyBookShepherd on Twitter and do a “Like." at AuthorU, and join the Facebook group Book Publishing with The Book Shepherd. If you want to create a book that has no regrets, contact me.

The Book Shepherd ™