Kindle Research Software to Help You Self Publish

Karen WilliamsUncategorized

Amazon’s Kindle publishing platform is growing exponentially every day. It is said that 300 new books enter the market every hour.

Sadly, authors can’t just sit down and write a book and hope it wins in today’s overly-crowded market. Instead they got to be smart about it and do proper research to ensure the topic they are going to cover will be one that is marketable.

But how does one find out which topics will make money and which ones won’t in Kindle self-publishing?

Well, that’s what we’re going to cover in this article.

Proper Kindle Self-Publishing Research

In order to ensure your book stands to make money in the industry, you need to verify the following two things exist:

  • A market that wants to buy your book
  • A market that isn’t too saturated with other books

In essence, this is trying to find a niche topic that has traffic but doesn’t have too much competition.

The good news is that there are many different ways you can do this.

Best Kindle Publishing Software

To figure out the best kindle keywords or do proper KDP research, you need about 20 plus hours, a couple of excel sheets and the ability to do some pretty advanced mathematical calculations. Or, you could just use an amazing tool to do all of that for you with a click of a button.

There exists a kindle publishing software that will help you to self-publish your books, increase book sales, and select the best Kindle keywords possible.

This amazing amazon software is KDP rocket. You can check it out at http://KDPRocket.com. This self-publishing software will help you to do everything said above and will even tell you how many searches per month Amazon shoppers do for that particular term.

That’s pure kindle research gold right there.

It’s a simple program that works on both Mac and PC and it helps test or validate you book ideas, gives better suggestions, tells you how many people are interested in buying that book, how much money the other books make and how hard the actual competition is.

Can you imagine writing a book without this? That would be like trying to hit a bullseye with a dart and your eyes are closed and you really don’t know which wall the dart board is on.

Don’t believe me? Let me remind you that every day there are 3,600 new books added to the Kindle Direct Publishing. Think you can blindly find a money making idea without the help of a professional self-publishing tool?

But Others Have Succeeded Without it!

Yeah, that’s true. And some people are rich because they won the lottery.

Another reason why many guru claim to be rich is because most of the successful ebooks came from efforts done 4+ years ago when there were only 500,000 kindle ebooks on Amazon. It was simple to rank back awesome search terms back then and you didn’t have lots of competition.

On average, there are now 10x more competition for a term. So, if 4+ years ago, there were only four books on Paleo Weight Loss Diet, there are now (on average) 40 books on that same subject.

Get what I mean?

So, What Now?

Do yourself a favor and get yourself a copy of KDP Rocket. Start discovering profitable book ideas asap and stop wasting time writing books that no one wants to buy.

Why Comparative List Are Your Best Bet

Karen WilliamsUncategorized

More often than not, when we think about selling books, we think about sales copy, pitching and marketing. We think about ensuring that our book is the only book that gets a mention in our article or advert, and that they get full coverage, exposure and are submerged in the glow of the spotlight.

But what if I told you that that was not the most effective way to sell a book? There are better, more effective and cheaper ways to convince people to buy your merchandise, and they do not rely on exclusive marketing, tricks or lies. What am I talking about? Using a book comparison in order to get your book known amongst its competition. That’s right, comparing your book with others in an honest and insightful review is the best way to go about promoting your work.

By the way, for all you bloggers out there? This works for you too! Book comparisons generate a high amount of traffic, and do much better than simple book reviews. The comparison hits a very sweet spot for your readers, and is sure to deliver the best of both worlds.

A great example of this is the ASTB study guide comparison list from the Military Flight Tests website that was written a little while ago that looks at all the different ASTB and flight study guides out there and compares them all to each other.  Instead of just creating a book review for each and making the reader cypher through which ones were the best, the Military Flight Test author took all the data on the different tests and created a super easy to read comparisons of the different ASTB study guides. This list does several important things:

1. It speaks to a focus group of readers

It speaks to those hoping to pass their flight aptitude test. These are students who are determined to pass no matter what, and gives a good area of development to work with.

2. It is specific

It is a very niche topic. Small enough so that you don’t have an influx of people writing about it, but big enough that you will get views. So whether you are hoping to promote your book, or simply get a bigger readership, this is definitely the way to go.

3. It’s concise

It doesn’t waffle on an on, but rather explains each book in short easy to understand paragraphs, while highlighting the pros and cons in easy to understand language.

4. It’s informative and helpful

It offers something of value to the reader, by saving them time, giving them options and summarising the books in question. This makes it very valuable and helpful.

5. It’s knowledgeable

If you want readers to trust your work, you need to make sure you do your research and ensure that you understand what you are writing about in an intimate way. Everyone can tell a fraud, and you need to be legitimate.

So basically, it is important to ensure that you write honestly, write about well-researched content and offer something helpful to your readers. In this way, the use of a comparative list if the best way to go, as it ensure that the readers get a variety to choose from, and feel informed, instead of simply feeling like they are reading sales copy (which they get enough of through paid marketing). So give your readers, and yourself, a bit of a break, and use informative, comparative lists. I promise you that it will pay off.

Books Read by Famous People [infographic]

Karen WilliamsBooks

Successful and famous people aren’t just good at doing things that they specialize in but they also read books.  These books often have a big impact on their personal lives and to what they have achieved in their life in a specified industry. These reads have inspired their lives and have also helped them deal with the circumstances of life at present moment.

Below is an interesting infographic that shows the bookshelves of some famous personalities, including the Genius man, Einstein. But before that, we encourage you as well to take a look at Favobooks, an interesting resource for readers who would like to discover and explore some interesting reading suggestions by some of the great thinkers, businessmen, politicians and other influential and successful people. Things like, Steve Jobs’ reading list, Bill Gates: Top 10 books to read and so much more. You’ll surely be able to discover plenty of great books that you should be reading or should have read before. But you don’t have to worry, it isn’t too late yet because these book recommendations are still available on the market.

Anyway, here’s an infographic that shows the bookshelves of some famous people.

You Are What You Read: Bookshelves of Famous People

From Visually.
Have you read these books too?

Your Self-Publishing Services Options

Karen WilliamsPublishing

There are several good reasons why many authors prefer to self-publish. First, they are able to retain the rights of their work. Next is, they take full control of their content and the marketing of it and lastly, they are able to retain the revenues from the sold books.

Considering that there are many writers now who would like to self-publish, we’ve listed below some self-publishing services to choose from:

Blurb

A popular self-publishing platform for photography-based books (full color and black and white). Blurb lets their user to create, self-publish, promote and sell their books. The author can also set their own prices, therefore, they’re able to select their very own profit margin.

CreateSpace

If you would like to take advantage of Amazon’s popularity, you probably would like to choose CreateSpace which is part of Amazon group of companies. CreateSpace is not just for book authors but are also perfect for filmmakers and musicians. Authors are also allowed to choose their own royalty when they publish via CreateSpace. After your book is uploaded on CreateSpace, it will be available on the market within hours and you get between 35% and 70% of sales.

Lulu

One of the best services the Lulu can offer to users is their free consultation . Yes, they offer free consultation for your books. They also have paid services like ISBN purchasing and distribution, book design, and formatting. Authors can also set their profits by choosing their own royalties and Lulu gets a small portion from your sales.

Smashwords

Smashwords will publish anything and they only need your manuscript and you’re good to go. Plus your work gets available in various formats like ePub, mobi, PDF, etc. With smashwords, authors and publishers also get the highest return which is 85% of the sales.

For more list of Self-publishing services, check out Wikipedia’s list.

What self-publishing services are you using?

Share on the comments below.

 

 

Questions to ask your Literary Agent

Karen WilliamsPublishing

If you want your book to get published on a traditional publishing house, take note that you need a literary agent to represent you and your book. However, getting accepted by a traditional publisher is as hard as getting a good literary agent. Someone that will truly be interested in you and your book and won’t just be looking into the money that’s in your pocket.

In order to get to know your agent really well, you need to ask him few questions. Questions that you consider very important when it matters to this business. In case a literary agent has a website, try visiting his website and read some details provided on his website. Some information that you wanted to know about them are sometimes available on their website particularly in the “About” page.

Here are few important questions that you have to ask to a literary agent.

How much experience you have as a literary agent?

First of all, you need to know how much experience they have as a literary agent. That will include the years and their specialties. Just like an author, literary agent also have their very own specialties when it comes to book genres that they can handle very well. See to it that he is the right agent for your book. Established agents usually have more connections and will be able to find a good place to introduce your book.

Do you work in an agency or you work independently?

Before you commit to an agent, make sure you know who is going to handle your book. Some agents, especially those that are working with big agencies will let an assistant handle the work rather than doing it themselves. However, if you work with an independent agent, he’ll be able work on your book personally.

Are you a member of Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR)?

It’s good to know if the literary agent you plan to work with is member of certain Association like AAR, a nonprofit organization for professional literary agents. If an agent is a member of AAR, he must follow it’s requirements and adhere to its bylaws and ethics. Therefore, he is a very ideal agent to have.

Great List of Non-Fiction Books for Teenagers

Karen WilliamsBooks

More than just fiction romances, teens also crave for inspiring non-fiction books. Just like adults, they also need some reads that could help improve their personal lives and could inspire them in many ways. Because teen’s life are full of exciting and challenging adventures, it’s just good for them to have something that will make them laugh, cry and think. Teenage years is the year where young girls and boys become more acquainted to life outside the family and home. They become more closer to their friends than their siblings, they tell some (small) lies in order to attend parties, sometimes they become rebellious and in some cases, you find it hard to talk to them personally. Well, these things are normal when they reached this level and because of this, it’s a good idea that there are books which they can read if they need some help, inspiration and wisdom without talking to their parents or elders.

 

Here are our picks for non-fiction books for teenagers:

7habits7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, by Sean Covey

– a life changing read perfect for today’s teenagers. This book will help teens deal with success and disappointments and will teach them how to be optimistic in life.

 

 

 

 

 

ballerinaFlight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina, by Michaela DePrince and Elaine DePrince

– a book about strength, determination and hope. This will not only inspire the hopeful talents but also those that share a mother and daughter relationship.

 

 

 

 

 

stayingstrongStaying Strong: 365 Days a Year, by Demi Lovato

– teens have so many fears in life, so this book will perfectly inspire teens on how to become fearless particularly in achieving their dreams in life.

 

 

 

 

laughingatmynightmareLaughing at My Nightmare, by Shane Burcaw

– very engaging and an eye-opener book that will make you laugh. This is a very touching true-to-life story of Burcaw’s life in a wheelchair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Self-Help Books You Should Read

Karen WilliamsBooks

Aside from non-fiction stories, do you also read books that help improve your life?
Yes, I am talking about self-help books. I know some of you are dealing with so many difficulties in life. Your relationship with your colleagues, friends and families are being threatened because it’s just so hard for you to mingle with them or perhaps you’re afraid to take risks because don’t know how to deal with failures. These are some of your issues that many people, including you, are experiencing in their lives right now. 

What seems to be the problem?

You might be asking yourself, “Why?” “What’s wrong with me?“, “How do I deal with this?” You have so many questions in your life. You lose control of everything which may result into a big mess. That is why self- help books are here to help improve the various aspects of your life. 

Here are some of must-read self-help books that you should read.

  • Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
  • A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” by Marianne Williamson
  • How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  • The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
  • CHATTER: Small Talk, Charisma, and How to Talk to Anyone (The People Skills, Communication Skills, and Social Skills You Need to Win
  • Friends and Get Jobs) by Patrick King
  • Think and Grow Rich: The Original 1937 Unedited Edition – Napoleon Hill
  • Courage to Change: One Day at a Time in Al-Anon II by Al-Anon Family Group Head Inc.
  • Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
  • Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
  • The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Do you have something that you can suggest? Share in the comments below.

Writing Tools Used by Your Favorite Authors [infographic]

Karen WilliamsPublishing

Who doesn’t know Stephen King’s epic story “It”? or J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series? I bet you’re familiar with these stories and perhaps, you’ve had read these famous books. But did you know that these famous authors are using old-fashioned writing methods to create stories? Yes they do!

Despite the latest technologies available today, these writers still love and appreciates the traditional methods of writing.

Here is a very interesting info-graphic from NinjaEssays that reveals the traditional writing tools used by our favorite authors.

 

Top-writing-tools-of-famous-authors

Are you also using the old-school method of writing just like these top talents? Share your comments below.

 

 

 

Books for Infant – 6 Books for Infants and Kids

Karen WilliamsLiterature

They say that reading is a good hobby that can help your mind relax and be free from all types of stress in the world. More than that, reading can also be helpful to kids and even to newborn babies.

Reading doesn’t just offer brain stimulation but can also offer the benefit of better relationship towards your listener. If you’re reading to your little ones especially to you babies, then you’re surely going to have a good relationship to them.

While you read good stories to your toddler and baby every day, it helps them have good dreams and better sleeps at night time. It stimulates their imagination and will let them explore the different side of world. Their communication will also be developed, considering that they are well exposed to different words and expressions. You can choose from variety of baby book stories and read some for them every night. The images and colors they see on the books are also beneficial in their personal development.

Here are few interesting books that you can introduce to your babies or even to your kids

Twinkle, Twinkle: An Animal Lover’s Mother Goose by Bobbi Fabian

This is a classic read that is ideal for newborn babies. The simple rhythms on the books are just perfect for the child’s developing minds and hearing. The unique photo collages of different animals bring awesome appeal and gives positive impact to the child’s innocence and curiosity.

Close Your Eyes a book by Kate Banks

This book doesn’t just make a mother’s heart melts but this is also a fantastic book that your kids will surely love.  It makes the kids and babies feel safe in the arms of their moms.

Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book a book by Dr. Seuss

Another classic and relaxing evening reads for kids and babies is Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book. This is a long read and could really make kids and babies feel really sleepy.

Guess How Much I Love You a book by Sam McBratney

A book that is full of love. This book teaches the young children and even babies how to become lovable person to their dads and moms. This is a very simple and short story that truly elaborates the importance of showing love to each other.

Black on White by Tana Hoban

This is one of the best introductory books for babies. The black shapes on white background is just ideal for very young children particularly those that are less than 5 months old. This book helps the baby’s developing mind and eyes to focus on simple illustrations while you talk about the illustration with them.

Goodnight Moon board book, by Margaret Wise Brown

The clear and colorful content of Goodnight Moon books is another perfect book for infants. This gives a soothing effect especially for babies. Even toddlers will love this book.

These are only few of the great reads that you can introduce to your babies. Make sure that you spend some moment reading them quality books so that can become inclined into reading books and literature.

Amazon is Killing Their Authors Softly

Karen WilliamsPublishing

For many of you, you know that I am not the biggest fan of Amazon and their recent moves.  If you haven’t seen, Amazon has been quick to remove well earned reviews, but won’t budge in removing reviews that are clearly in appropriate.

One example for me personally was when someone had actually commented in their review that they hadn’t read the book, but didn’t like the cover so they gave it a 1 star.  Clearly this has no value and doesn’t belong in the reviews.  However, after contacting Amazon and asking them to remove the review since it clearly wasn’t correct and should be seen, they replied to me saying that they understand my angst against the review, but that they didn’t want to get involved or start removing reviews.  Really?

Won’t Get Involved You Say?

Well Amazon, why then did you remove a couple of my 5 star reviews?
Yep…I noticed.  I had 76 5 star reviews and then a couple of days later, it was 72.  So, tell me how your “aren’t getting involved?”  Oh and by the way, I never work to get reviews illegally.  I understand all the rules and regulations, so don’t tell me that the review violated something of yours.  Ridiculous.

KU Changes?

writeBut if that wasn’t bad enough, Amazon has now made a change to their KU policy.  Instead of paying authors based on the number of downloads a book gets, we will now be paid based on the number of pages someone reads.

Are you for real?

So, I now have to convince people to not only download my book, but also read it all the way to the end?  That’s pretty ridiculous in its own.

Now, at first I had hope that this wouldn’t be  a problem.  After all, I am a decent writer – at least I hope right – so, it shouldn’t affect me…wrong.

Since the KU change occurred, I have now lost over $1000 in revenue. It’s as if we authors not only have to provide a book that makes sales, but also gets read. Do you know how many legitimate books I have on my shelf that I haven’t read yet?  Should I have to pay for those books only when I read them?

So, first, Amazon doesn’t protect me from erroneous reviews that don’t help and now they just hit me with a bogus change that will have dramatic effects on my business and lifestyle.

Time for Diversification

Its times like these that I am happy that ebook platforms like Kobo and iTunes are still around.  Because of this, i will now be pushing and leaning more on them.  Kindle can’t be the only platform out there and as self-publishers, we need to understand this.

I intend to revolt in my own way and remove certain books from Amazon KDP to place/focus mainly on Smashword’s services.   Granted, I am not as powerful as many and it probably won’t make a dent, but…I’ll have peace of mind knowing that I did my part to send a small message to Amazon.