Monday 22 December 2014

LET'S GET VISIBLE by David Gaughran

2 out of 5 stars

Non Fiction, Book Marketing

Originally posted on Amazon HERE on 31 July 2013





I've been independently published for nearly 2 years now and have read all the articles about marketing that I am ever going to want to read for the rest of my LIFE, and have worked other stuff out for myself. Having observed much over these nearly two years, I think that nothing works better than Amazon visibility - which is why I bought this book.

I've given it two stars because there IS some good advice in it. However, the actual information about how to become more visible on Amazon is not as plentiful as the information about how good it will be when you ARE (more visible on Amazon). One piece of the information, and a key one, at that, is actually incorrect. Gaughran claims that you need to identify the categories in which to place your book, and email Amazon asking them to place them there, giving the exact chain you have identified. I spent AGES working all this out, looking at other books, etc. I emailed Amazon who told me that I had been misinformed, and referred me to the form you get when you first publish, to select your categories and sub-categories. Furthermore, the categories in which you see other books are not necessarily those you can request to be placed in, but those that arise because of hits on your book via search terms entered by book buyers. This explains why my book You Wish sometimes appears in the genre chart for 'Occult', although I have never put it in that category.

I also wish I had read Lee's 3 star review first. I have since noticed (by looking at the Amazon ratings) that Mr Gaughran's fiction publications actually sell less than my books do. It does rather confirm my theory that the people making money via these 'how to sell books' books are mostly the authors of said books.

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