Why we didn't attain the #1 finest vendor on Amazon
This week our goal was to make Sarah Gribble's debut novel Surviving Death the # 1 best seller in its category on Amazon. We worked hard for it, got so close, and just barely missed it. In this post, I want to share what we did to get so close and why we missed it, and talk about if it really matters.
In the end, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what we did and any ideas about what we could have done differently to get better at number 1.
So close! 😫
Are bestseller tags important?
Before we talk about how we got so close and why we missed it, you might be wondering, does this really matter?
What difference do bestseller labels really make? And is it really something to work so hard on?
First, let's acknowledge that just because a book becomes a bestseller doesn't mean it's a good thing. Quality and sales are not synonymous, and while there is likely a link between sales and quality of a book, we've all seen bad books make up the bestseller list.
At The Write Practice, of course, helping authors write great books is very important to us. But it's also important to us to help writers make these books successful and, on a broader scale, to help them thrive in their writing careers.
From that perspective, there's no denying that having a bestselling label alongside a book will give you more authority, help sell your book, and boost your career overall.
Additionally, Bestsellers Tag will help you sell more books, act as social proof, and work on the algorithms used by Amazon and other booksellers to get your book to reach more readers.
Personally, books I have written or consulted for have hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, USA Today bestseller list, and Amazon bestseller list. Every time, sales have increased as a result.
So is it important to be a best seller? Qualitatively no. But in terms of sales and an author's career, absolutely.
And in this case, Sarah is a writer that we believe in, that we know is a very good writer, and that has written such a great book. So we wanted to help her get on the list.
How many books do you have to sell to get on the bestseller list?
The short answer is, it depends.
To be the bestseller, you just need to sell more copies than any other book in this category.
To determine this, we used Publisher Rocket, software for writers and publishers that allows you to get sales and discovery data from Amazon.
Sarah Gribble's novel plays with the idea of Dante's Divine Comedy, weaving traditional gods and divine beings from different cultures into the mix, including Lucifer, Valkyries, and Death himself.
Since the book is about myths and legends, we've put it under the Myths and Legends category, both the Nordic and Vikings sub-categories, and Greek and Roman as you can see in the screenshot above.
Some of these categories were pretty competitive – like the Dark Fantasy category, which required 1,591 sales per day to reach the top spot – but there were some that were better to win.
In the screenshot above you can see that in the Norse & Viking Myths & Legends category, the top book sold 113 books in one day.
Knowing this is extremely useful as we now have a target for the number of sales it will take to reach number 1.
It's worth noting that some of these categories are more helpful than others for reselling. It's unlikely that many readers will camp on the Norse & Viking Myths & and Legends bestseller list just waiting to find their next favorite book (but I could be wrong!). However, if you become a best seller in some of these niche categories, you can move up into the more lucrative categories like Dark Fantasy.
What we did to hit the bestseller list
There are two reliable times to get on the bestseller list: during the publication of a book and during a sale.
Most traditionally published books and many indie books were put on bestsellers' lists in the week following their release. That's why it's so important to start off well.
On the other hand, many indie books have hit lists, even large lists like the NY Times Bestseller List or the USA Today Bestseller List, during discount campaigns, often with several different authors promoting their books together.
We plan to run promotions for Sarah's book later once the book has received over 100 reviews. But we also wanted to have a strong start.
Here are some of the things we did to achieve this:
- Start team. In the months leading up to the release date, we built a launch team of over 200 readers (most of them from this community – thanks for your help!). These readers agreed to share the book and leave a review the week of launch.
- Testimonial blurb. We asked prominent authors in our community to read the book and write a one- or two-part review of the book that we put in the editorial area. It is shown that these testimonials improve the conversion rate on the page (i.e., more people who land on the page buy).
- Partnerships. We asked partners in our space, like Stephanie Ellis of Horror Tree, to cover the book during the launch.
- Reduced price during the start window. During the week of its launch, we lowered the price of the eBook version of Surviving Death to $ 2.99 so people could buy the book right away. When the launch window was over, the price went back to $ 5.99, adding an added urgency to encourage people to buy the book quickly.
- Start window incentives. In addition to the discount, we have offered several “prices” for buying the book during the start window. Readers could forward their receipt to a special email address that would give them access to a free novel by Sarah. They could also win prizes such as key rings, bookmarks, stickers, and a copy of the audiobook, totaling over $ 600 in prizes.
- Personal advertising. Sarah and I, along with the rest of our team, advertised the book on our personal social media channels. We even gave the book to several friends we thought they might like.
- Author advertising. Sarah had built a community of hundreds of readers by posting short stories in literary magazines and posting articles here on The Write Practice. During the launch week, she sent several emails to her list informing them of the book, talking about prices, and asking them to buy during the launch window.
- Platform advertising. We also sent three emails to our list at The Write Practice asking readers to read the book.
Did these promotions work?
After just a few days, Surviving Death became number 1 on Amazon. This gave it a special place in several categories which was helpful!
During the launch window, we sold over 500 copies of Surviving Death. 307 of those sales came in the last day.
That's right, 307, which according to publisher Rocket should be easily enough to get number 1 in multiple categories.
So what happened Shouldn't we have become a # 1 best seller?
That is exactly what we asked late Wednesday evening. But even when we climbed the ranks of Amazon, we never got in first place. We got very close, but category by category it seemed like there was always a book ahead of us.
In the "Nordic & Viking Myths & Legends" category, a book that wasn't even in the top ten was ahead of us and reached number 1 with an Amazon bestseller rank of # 250, over 400 places higher than us.
Apparently, this book, which came out just days after us, was part of a nine-book series by a more established author who got on the list much more easily than Sarah, a comparatively newer author.
And this is the hard part about keeping track of the bestseller list: it's a moving target that can change daily based on the other books published at the same time.
What's next?
After the launch window closes, there are a few more things we can do to become a number one best seller.
As mentioned earlier, there are two ways to become a best seller. The first is during the launch window, the other is through a discount promotion in partnership with a book promotion website like Bookbub.
However, in order to be selected by Bookbub, your book must have many reviews. So our next step is to get more book reviews. Surviving Death currently has 31 ratings. Our goal is to get over 100 reviews in the next few months.
How do we do that?
By asking for help!
So if you bought Surviving Death, would you do us a big favor and leave us a review? Every evaluation helps! Here you can submit a rating.
The big lesson after we didn't hit the bestseller list
You can only control what you can control.
You can choose when to publish your book, how to communicate your start, how much work to do, how many people to talk to, how generous you are, and how early to start relationship building so that you are ready to start they want to help.
You cannot choose to have another author in your field decide to publish their book in the same window. They have no control over how many books they sell or whether they sell more copies than you do.
So the lesson is this: focus on what you can control.
And don't stop writing, because while it's important to start your book well, the most important thing is to start your next book.
After we discussed her introduction, Sarah took the rest of the day off to work on her next book. This is the mindset of a writer who will hit many bestseller lists.
What questions do you have about our start-up experience? Do you have any feedback on what we should have done differently? Let us know in the comments.
WORK OUT
At The Write Practice, we believe that writers succeed when they do two things:
- Be generous. Be generous with readers in order to build lifelong relationships with readers. Be generous with fellow writers to build a cartel, a group of competitors who work together for their common good. Generosity is the best way to become a successful writer.
- Ask for help. After being generous, you need to seek help. We all need help, whether it is getting feedback on your writing, adding people to your launch team, getting people to buy your book, or even getting reviews. You have to ask!
It's easier to ask for help after you've been generous.
So, in your practice today, do something generous for another writer. Perhaps there is feedback on someone's practice in another post on The Write Practice. Another author's book may be reviewed on your blog.
I believe generosity always comes back to us (and even if it doesn't, it's still worth it!) So do something generous today.
That is all for today. Have fun writing!
Joe Bunting
