| Subcategories | | Condition (condition-type) | | • | New | | • | Used |
|
|
|
|
Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Profit with Print on Demand by Lightning Source and Book Marketing on Amazon.com | 
 enlarge | Author: Aaron Shepard
Publisher: Shepard Publications
Category: Book
Buy Used: £55.78
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 279732
Media: Paperback
Pages: 174
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 093849743X
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.593
EAN: 9780938497431
ASIN: 093849743X
Publication Date: January 1, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships from USA. Delivered in 10-12 business days. Money back guarantee!
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Hits the Target! July 30, 2008
C. Clayton (Tucson AZ)
Aiming at Amazon is a good common sense resource that covers the basics of publishing, building your book, and promoting on Amazon.com. The book is primarily geared for beginners in the book publishing game. However, it has some excellent ideas and resources for someone who already knows the basics.
The decision making process of how to market your book today is tough. You have to get above the Chattering Monkeys so people notice you. I understand there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 400-500 books published today...and that number is probably growing. Also, there are thousands of potential marketing ideas. Where do you start without pulling your hair out? That is the purpose of Aiming at Amazon.
Soooo.....the key question is: With a limited amount of time and resources, which marketing efforts should you pursue? As John Kremer says in his book: 1001 Ways to Market Your Books; 90% of your marketing efforts are ineffective. But, you don't know which efforts are going to be effective. Thus, don't invest too much time and energy in one area. In effect, test the waters with your big toe before jumping in!
Aiming at Amazon is focused at getting the most bang for your buck by using the many resources on Amazon to promote your work. This book accomplishes that task very well. And it costs only your time to market well on Amazon (not counting the money you invest getting your book published).
Just a few of the subjects covered are: Why to choose print on demand, the benefits of publishing with Lightening Source, how to get an ISBN number, deciding on a title and subtitle and designing the cover and graphics. It also covers: Create a real best seller, making it available, getting customer reviews, measuring success, aiming at other Amazons and more.
Overall this is an excellent resource for Aiming at Amazon!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
A Great Starting Point for the Self Publisher June 26, 2008
John Joyce (Dublin, Ireland)
I found this book an essential guide to the art and science of self publishing. What I liked about it was its practical, no-nonsense approach and the many helpful tips it contained. Definitely a must for anyone thinking of embarking on self-publishing.
 Useful, but limited for the UK self-publisher of fiction June 23, 2008
LXIX (scotland)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is written in a very down-to-earth, honest and engaging style. However, by the author's own admission, it's more geared towards those who are releasing non-fiction works. Straight away then, my use for this book was rather limited.
It's also very US-based (for example, if you look at the index page, Amazon.co.uk has only 4 mentions, while Amazon.com has well over 100 mentions).
Overall, if you're going down the self-publishing route, then this is an interesting read from a guy who has successfully 'walked-the-walk' in this area, but just be aware of the particular emphasis of this book (if your outputs are works of fiction).
Great for Working with Lightning Source and Promoting on Amazon June 2, 2008
Brandon Simpson (Northern Kentucky)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I think I broke several "Aiming at Amazon" rules. One thing Shepard suggests is to set a publication date four months ahead of time. I didn't do that with my recent book, but I wish I had. It gives journalists enough time to review it, and several of these journalists require a four-month window. Had I done this, my book could have some reviews before its pub date.
Shepard says not to use a white cover image (note the word "image," not the actual cover. The actual cover could be white, but the cover image on Amazon can always be a different color.) I used a white cover for two of my books. The first one disappears into the web browser page. But for the second one, I inserted a black line around the cover using Paint. So it doesn't disappear into the background.
The advice about Listmania and So You'd Like To... guides is right as well. It does add a little bit of visibility, but it doesn't really help your bottom line. His best advice is to get customer reviews and to have a detailed subtitle. As a customer, I tend to buy books that have been reviewed a lot. I like being able to read what other people think about the book (or any other product for that matter). Having a detailed subtitle helps Amazon browsers find your book in search results.
If there is one thing that I don't agree with is his opinion on the Search Inside feature. I see his point of view. The logo used to degrade books' thumbnail views, but I believe that problem is history. I see quite a few old books whose thumbnails are degraded, but the new ones look fine. As a customer on Amazon, I tend to buy the book that has the Search Inside feature over ones that don't.
"Aiming at Amazon" would be a good compliment to Shepard's other book "Perfect Pages" and Steve Weber's "Plug Your Book." If one book doens't have the information you need, one of the others will.
If anybody is considering Brent Sampson's "Sell Your Book On Amazon," let me tell you to avoid it like the plague. I know from experience that Sampson's book is worthless. It is nowhere near as informative as "Aiming at Amazon." It is also full of inaccurate information and unethical practices.
Brandon Simpson
 Very good May 20, 2008
Ridgeback (UK)
Although mainly aimed at the US it works for UK too, informative although a little vague in places
|
|
|
www.pcprotech.co.uk | |
