61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle BooksTo me, this book is worth a thousand times more than its price

It’s not some figurative price. For every dollar I spent on “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books,” I earned at least $1,000 back.

I bought this book on the 4th of May 2013. On 4th, I had been polishing the final version and had wondered how the heck I should proceed from that point on. 22 more days passed before I published my first book on Kindle.

This purchase was the best thing that happened to me in 2013.

A few details about me, so you get the full picture:

  1. English is not my first language.
  2. I had no prior experience in writing and publishing (other than my masters thesis).
  3. I had no online presence and following whatsoever.
  4. I had no authority at all.

Then I got my hands on “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books” and the universe became crazy.

Lame Down to Earth Advice

I love everything about this book. The first advice is so lame: Write Good Books. Pshaw! Yet, 95% of content producers on Amazon avoid the #1 pillar of success and end up scratching their heads asking why their book didn’t sell. Scott started from strategies, not tactics. Tactics change, but strategy should always be constant.

So, his strategies regard timeless principles, not the latest tricks on Amazon. That’s why his book is as useful as it was 2 years ago. It hasn’t expired a bit. Almost a year after I read “61 Ways,” I read “Write. Publish. Repeat.” by Johnny Truant and Sean Platt. Reading the section considering timeless strategy, I was like: “It’s obvious, Scott said that long ago.”

61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books” is full of substance

You won’t find an ounce of fluff, hype, or exaggeration in it. And he set my moral compass to very high standards when it comes to publishing books. He shines among content producers on Kindle, especially among those who try to give you advice on how to proceed. Scott wrote a whole chapter on following “white-hat” practices, one of them is “Write BOOKS, not lead generators.” I wish more authors can be like that.

Comparison

There is quite a lot of “How to sell more books” out there. The most recent and successful I remember is “Book Launch” by Chandler Bolt and James Roper. While it’s not a bad book, it’s not even close to the quality of 61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books” and it IS a lead generator. The scope of both books differs a bit; Chandler and James focus more on why you should publish and how to do it well while Scott focuses on applicable pieces of advice and making a business out of your writing. “Book Launch” can make you excited about writing and publishing. “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books” will make you do the necessary steps to create your own Kindle business from scratch. That’s the difference between a good book and an excellent book.

Author

Scott writes from his personal experience, describing what worked for him and explaining why he thinks it did. He didn’t follow any guru’s “make money on Kindle” program, he figured it out himself. The tone of his book is far from an “I think I know it all” attitude.

He flawlessly goes from the high level principles into nitty-gritty details. It was the step-by-step information from this book that helped me create my author’s profile and maximize its potential. Thanks to his advice, a greenhorn like me was able to confidently contact KDP support and change his books’ categories. And there are many more precious knowledge gems in this little book. What is more, as far as I know, not a bit of it has expired.

BTW, this is a review of the book, not of the man. I write so much about him only because he is so “blended” with his work. You cannot mention one and forget about the other. I’ll try to keep on the book’s subject as I proceed (but he is a genius of making a business out of the “mystery” industry and you should definitely listen to him!).

Everything about this book just has more substance; it is solid and down-to-earth. Its advice is applicable and my story proves it.

My story

22 days after buying “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books,” I published my first book. I remember that on the day of launch, I had Kindle PC opened on one screen and the browser on another and I was creating an author’s profile according to the steps enumerated in Scott’s book.

Remember those “encouraging” points about me? Despite all of that, in the last 5 days of May, I sold 7 copies and gave away 487 during the free KDP Select promo (also described in detail in this guide).

In the first full month, I sold 29 copies of “A Personal Mission Statement: Your Road Map to Happiness.”

I swear that every time I applied something from this manual, I sold more of my books.

Strategy #5

Up to November 2013, I published 3 titles and sold 145 copies of them. By no means, I was getting richer. But in “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books,” there is Strategy #5: Always Be Creating. I was.

Strategy #38

At the end of October 2013, I started my blog: “ExpandBeyondYourself.com” (Strategy #38).

In November, I published the 4th book. It was the first time I invested in my book; I spent $40 on marketing services. This was my first free promo which received over 1000 downloads and that was the first month I sold over 100 copies of my books (my sales never went back to 2 digits again).

See the connection? I did what was advised and I got results.

Strategy #6: Design a Killer Cover

My covers were horrible. I have an aesthetic sense of a brick. To me, everything looks alright.

Learn to Read with Great Speed The Fitness Expert Next Door
Luckily, a fellow author from a FB group took mercy on me and produced some decent covers for my existing books. That was another reason behind the better performance of the 4th book.

Strategy #8: Build an Email List

I started building an email list back in July, but it did not do much good for me. At the beginning of January, I had exactly 27 people on my list. I doubled that in January while preparing for the launch of the next book. I also used a list of a few friends I managed to make connections with since May. I believe that made all the difference. “Master Your Time” became a bestseller, the first in my writing career. Frankly, I wasn’t prepared for that at all. I just did what was recommended in “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books.” I had a platform, I had an email list, this book was professionally edited and got a decent cover right at the start.

I sold 996 copies of my books in February 2014 and made half of my salary that month.

The Rest of My Story

I was ready to take my publishing to another level―I was willing to invest money into it, a great feat for someone as cheap as I was. I spent about $350 on the sixth book, but it wasn’t a hit like the previous one. Nonetheless, I made back my investment within a few months.

In 2015, I published two more books and both of them made it to #1 in their categories.

At the time of writing this review, I have eight books on Amazon and an unfortunate public domain work. I’ve already sold over 11,500 copies of my books.

I identify myself as a writer. In 2014, I made a few extra grand to my salary and it was just enough to contribute to the mortgage of our first house ever.

All these things happened because I bought the right book and (admittedly, after hitting a wall a few times following my ideas) I had enough common sense to follow the advice provided in this book.

Up to You

You probably have had a much better start than I had. You’ve spoken English since you were a 1-year-old, you’ve written a bit here and there, your blog have been up and running a few years, or you have had an outstanding career in your field and accumulated a lot of experience. Now just buy “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books” and you should beat my results straight off.

Which I wish you from the bottom of my heart.


Steve created an ultimate self-publishing course. At last! Here is my review of it.

61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books

5 thoughts on “61 Ways to Sell More Nonfiction Kindle Books

  • May 28, 2015 at 10:17 pm
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    Great stuff Michal,

    l love hearing about your journey. Your honestly is something we can all learn from. It really touches my heart and is something that I always want to replicate.

    Real stories are always the most powerful

    Thanks

    Naomi

    Reply
    • June 2, 2015 at 8:47 am
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      I hate fake stories. “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” really got on my nerves. Why use fiction stories (especially in nonfiction book) where there are so many true stories to tell?

      Reply
  • January 21, 2016 at 10:17 pm
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    Hi Michal,
    Thanks so much for taking the time for the book review. There are SO MANY books out there on this topic and your review really helps shake out the fluff! Looking forward to reading it.
    Dziękuję,
    Bradley

    Reply
  • March 27, 2018 at 2:07 pm
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    Michal,
    Thanks for directing me to the review you did on the book. I am convinced that I need to read it. I am in the writing stage and have not published on Kindle yet.

    Karen

    Reply
    • March 30, 2018 at 12:12 pm
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      You’re most welcome Karen.
      I hope it will serve you well.

      Reply

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