Self-publishing on Amazon is like putting an infinite number of your books in the center of the world’s largest bookstore. Amazon is like a miniature search engine. Except it’s less competitive than Google. It’s become cheaper and easier than ever to start a blog, making it harder to get the attention of your target audience when they search on Google.
People go on Amazon to search for content just like they do on Google. Except the content is not just web content, it’s books. And the content is not free, it all costs money. So searchers on Amazon already have the expectation that they are going to be spending, which is beneficial to you if you are trying to sell something. Searching don’t always have the expectation to pay for something when searching on Google – they might be looking for free information.
Amazon has millions and millions of active shoppers, with their credit card information already stored, and the ability to buy with just one click. It costs very little time and zero dollars to self-publish on Amazon. It’s incredibly easy to do and there are a variety of tremendous benefits.
Self-publishing a book on Amazon can be a great content marketing strategy for a variety of different businesses. By publishing a book on a topic that’s valuable to your target audience, you can attract them to you, build a relationship with them, and potentially get them to pay for your product or service.
Increase website traffic
If you publish your book via Kindle Direct Publishing, you can include links within your book to your website or landing page of choice. Readers can click the links and engage with your website as they please. If you have a paperback or hardcover book, you could include an easy to read website address and instruct readers to visit your site. If you have an audiobook, you could have the narrator say an easy to pronounce and write website address.
Build your brand and authority
A book is a great way to display your expertise. If you’ve written a book on a given topic, people will assume you are an expert. Writing a book is a great way to boost your credibility and authority. Books are the new resumes!
When people are looking for someone with certain expertise, they may start by searching Amazon for people who have written a book on the topic. Or, they may find your book first and then realize they could use someone with your expertise.
Writing a book about an important topic establishes yourself as an authority on that topic. It enhances your professional image. A book is to professionals in the 2000s what a business card was in the 1990s!
Get press coverage
If a blogger is writing an article about a certain topic, they may seek input from experts on the topic. In order to find experts, they might search Amazon for people who have written about relevant topics. I have had people find my book and reach out to me for a quote. Other people have written articles exclusively about my books.
To be more deliberate about seeking out press opportunities, you could use a service like Help a Reporter Out (HARO). There you receive inquiries from journalists and have the opportunity to reach out to them. If you introduce yourself by saying you are the author of a book, it can boost your credibility, and therefore the likelihood that they will quote you.
Build your email list
People are very attentive to their inboxes. What percentage of Tweets on your Twitter stream do you see? What percentage of your emails do you see? As a marketer, you want to be where your target customers’ attention is. You don’t need to pay for a list if you’re doing content marketing the right way.
As discussed above, you include links within your book. Include a link to your email option page and write a “call to action” to draw readers’ attention and explain why they should click. To increase your email signup conversion rate, offer something of value in exchange for signing up for your email newsletter. It could be as simple as receiving your blog posts by email. Offering an ebook or white paper that solves a problem for your target audience will probably convert even effectively
Next steps
Start writing! Self-publishing on Amazon is a great content marketing and lead generation strategy. It can help you attract, engage, and convert customers. There is less competition on Amazon than there is on Google. Self-publishing on Amazon is also a great way to make money—passive income in particular. After you write one book, write some more.
Writing more books is also one of the best ways to market your existing books because (1) you can link back to your existing books within your new books, (2) you get exposure to new audiences by using new keywords and categories, and (3) you can build your email list so that when your next books launch you will have more of an audience.
About the author:
Mike Fishbein is the self-published author of over half a dozen books, including How to Write a Book in 10 Days. He has been published in Business Insider, Entrepreneur, The Huffington Post and more. Mike’s personal blog is mfishbein.com
