I, Vicki Simons, acquired a copy of Shelley Hitz’s Amazon marketing book shown below from Amazon.com, with whom we have an affiliate relationship.
The Kindle version of Marketing Your Book On Amazon: 21 Things You Can Easily Do For Free To Get More Exposure and Sales — was one I acquired for free during an email promotion through Shelley’s website (Self-Publishing-Coach.com).
The Kindle version of the book sold for $6.99 (as of 11-29-2012).
Is the book worth that kind of money?
I will answer that question at the end of this review.
Some “Firsts”
This book was a first for me in several respects:
- It is the first Kindle book I’ve ever downloaded from Amazon;
- It is the first book I’ve acquired in a long time that had very few images other than the cover; and
- I had never before read a book about marketing books.
I figured that if the book did it’s job well, I might also be able to jump a hurdle of publishing a saleable book. You see, although I have plenty of experience in writing pages for websites, I’ve never written a saleable ebook or print book before.
While Shelley is very encouraging on her website and provides plenty of great tips, I knew that part of what was holding me back from publishing books was not the content, but how to market a book after publication.
Not only am I a do-it-yourself type person, but I figure that marketing specialists cost big bucks — money I’d rather not spend if I don’t have to.
If I could market a book well on my own, that would be ideal. But how big of a learning curve
would I have to overcome and how long would it take to learn it all?
One thing that got my attention with Shelley’s book was that it contained 21 marketing steps that were both “easy” and “free.”
Like many people, I like to get high quality instruction on how to do things better, especially when they are free and easy to do.
Getting Into the Amazon Marketing Book
As I flipped through the pages and easily digestible chapters, I found this book to be like a Bible for marketing books on Amazon.com.
Shelley starts “in the beginning” (which is great for aspiring book writers) and takes us through the journey of “21 Things You Can Easily Do For Free To Get More Exposure and Sales.”
I can envision how authors who follow Shelley’s advice will indeed be able to get more exposure for their books on Amazon.com and get more sales in the future.
A Specific Help from Shelley’s Amazon Marketing Book
One of the things I’d like to learn to do better is get feedback on my writing on our business website (where all of the information is free).
If I can improve on getting feedback on free information, how could I possibly get feedback on a book that someone has to pay for?
Shelley answers that question by explaining how to get customer reviews!
General Impression
I was impressed by the screenshots that Shelley put in the book, but more importantly, by the number of links to more screenshots on her site.
Although I have visited Amazon.com many times, I had never before considered the layout of the site from the standpoint of an author, particularly with how many things can be edited to help authors sell books. Shelley’s book points out all of them.
She Made a Mistake — and Confessed It?
People can identify with others who aren’t perfect or don’t do everything perfectly. On this website, I write about “bonehead mistakes” that my husband and I made in trying to save money in trucking. I write about these things so our readers won’t make the same mistakes.
Well, Shelley confesses in one place in her Amazon marketing book, “I learned the hard way….”
Now that’s the type of person I can respect!
Conclusion About Shelley Hitz’s Amazon Marketing Book
Shelley Hitz’s book, Marketing Your Book On Amazon: 21 Things You Can Easily Do For Free To Get More Exposure and Sales (Book Marketing on a Shoestring Budget), has so much meat in such a little space that it’s hard to describe.
When the time comes that I publish money saving ebooks (or any other books) of my own and list them for sale on Amazon, I certainly intend to follow Shelley’s tips.
Yes, the practical and concise marketing tips this book provides make it worth $6.99 — and probably much more.
Money saving tip: It is always helpful to have high quality information in a concise format with references for more information if needed.
Step by step instructions are important.
Getting easy and free ways to make more money always helps.
That’s what this Shelley Hitz’s Amazon marketing book does and that’s why we recommend it.
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