How to Maximise Profits in Self-Publishing
When venturing into the realm of self-publishing it’s important that you first establish your reasons for doing so. Are you using it as a platform for your creativity or are you looking to establish a steady stream of income? If you answered in the latter, then this post is for you. Here we take the guesswork out of how to earn a living through self-publishing by looking at what exactly impacts your earnings. Then we give you insider tips to make those factors swing in your favor. So let’s get into it.
Stating the Obvious
Sales, sales, sales. This is the most obvious way to make money from your self-published book. Authors earn royalties from platforms like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), which can be anything from 35% for hard copies to approximately 70% for e-book sales. This is a great deal in a plain numbers game, but it’s a little more complex when you get into it.
Book prices
In order for your book to compete with other titles, you have to mark it at a reasonable price. Prices on Amazon range from $0.99 to $30, which means that you’ll be earning a few cents to a few dollars in royalties for every book you sell. What this means, is that even with the costs saved in not having to produce, print, and distribute your book yourself, you’ll still have to sell a considerable amount of books each month to have it be called ‘making a living’.
Consistency
Which brings us to the next point: your book won’t always sell consistently over time. It’s common for authors to see a dip in sales after the initial launch of their book, with sales eventually stopping dead. This might seem like an impossible hurdle to overcome. After all, you can’t make people buy your book no matter how hard you market it. But don’t throw in the towel just yet.
Make the System Work for You
Your author platform
The easiest way to get started is to use the power you already have to get your book in front of as many eyes as possible. This means leveraging your author platform—social media and author website—to hype the launch of your new book. You can do this in several ways, like through professionally designed graphics or a custom book trailer to name a few.
Affiliation
Take advantage of Amazon’s affiliate program. They allow you to place a banner or box ad on your website, and you can totally choose your own book as the product to showcase here. The great thing about this is that when people click through the ad on your site, you’ll earn money as an affiliate even if they don’t go on to buy your book. If they do, it’s a double win.
Write more books
Have a backlist. This has become a golden rule for self-published authors looking to get around that dip in sales we mentioned before. If you release books in series, you can direct new readers to previous titles to catch up on and revive sales that way.
Know what sells
Do your research before writing and commissioning your book. If you know what’s selling well, you’ll know what to write and what keywords to use in your descriptions. Optimised book descriptions have proven to rank titles better than those without. This will help position your book in front of as many potential buyers as possible.
That said, romance and erotica are Amazon’s evergreen top performers in sales, with erotica having the greatest ROI (return on investment). It’s the genre with the most loyal database of returning readers who, in effect, are paying more for less words.
Our Pro Profit Tips
- Put together a series box set. Box sets hook readers in two ways: it gives them more book for their buck, and provides a shortcut to obtaining related works for the story/characters they’re interested in reading.
- Grow your email list by offering a free short story to subscribers. This is a great way to get readers hooked on your writing style, while providing you with a perfect gateway to upsell the rest of your book series.
In short, working smart (not hard) is how you tame the volatile beast that is self-publishing, and make it serve your bottom line. Visit our Instagram for more insight and tips into establishing your self-publishing empire the right way.
