Inventory of Marketing Ideas for Amazon KDP

How to market books that are published on Amazon KPD?

As there are millions of books already, and many new books published every day, it may seem an impossible task to get any sales on your book, but there is hope: I know some author's who pulled off quite some sales of books, and marketing played a big role in their success.

This article is about maximizing profit from publishing children's books and tries to be as complete as possible. The chapters are in order of timing, where relevant.

Research the market prior to writing

When the intend is really to maximize profit, rather than following a passion for writing or whatever, than first research the market potential of various ideas:

There are several tools to do market research on Amazon
This seems quite a volatile market, with demand changing from month-to-month. E.g., when focusing on coloring books, one moment mermaid coloring books may experiencing a surge, to be taken over a month later by Barbie movie coloring books
Just keep it simple: Stick to demand, supply and volume. Maybe make a spreadsheet with ideas and how they score
Strike a balance between focus and volume: The more specialized your book, the more likely you will be able to dominate the niche, but the smaller the volume

Write for a specific occasion?

Writing a book for Christmas? Easter? Anything else? Maybe check with content calendars for a suitable theme.

This might be an example of finding a balance between focus and volume. The more specific the event, the bigger the change that you can dominate the niche, but the smaller the volume is likely to be.

Time your publication

It is generally suggested to not release a press release on Friday (that is, if you want attention). Similarly, there are surely good and bad moments during the year for publishing a book.

E.g.: Writing a Christmas story? It probably needs to be published in October at the latest.

Get feedback while writing the book

There are ways for writers to get feedback during the development of the book.

Create a high-quality book

Before you begin marketing, ensure your book is well-written, edited, and has a professional cover design. High-quality content and visuals are essential for attracting readers and receiving positive reviews.

Prepare your book to be turned into a franchise

What I mean here with franchise: Think about the myriad of products (services?) around e.g.:

Spice Girls
Harry Potter.

Example Harry Potter

A search with terms Harry Potter on Amazon.com, returns over 40,000 results. These results include merchandize from third parties, that don't seem to be official licensees of the brand. This bracelet is an example of this.

Example: 1 book vs. 2 related books

Why this matters: Let's say you write exactly one book, and your gross profit per sale would be € 2.50 (I have no idea about realistic figures right now) and you expect to sell about 1,000 copies. Than the total expected revenue would € 2,500 and you could spend max. € 2.50 per book. This figures sharply indicate the limits to your market potential.

E.g., if it turns our that online advertisement costs about € 3.00 per sale, you wouldn't be able to use that.

Now consider the situation where you write a book and a related coloring book. Maybe you'll find out, that marketing the coloring book takes only about half the effort that it takes to marketing the actual book, since you can link to the coloring book from the original book. Now € 3.00 advertisment costs per sale, might not be a problem anymore.

Ideas

Some ideas about expanding your book into a franchise:

Create a series of books, rather than multiple unrelated books
Give your book and its characters distinct names, so that folks can easily search for them
T-shirts with your characters
Dolls
Other merchandize around your book. Like all the stuff that's available on sites like POD sites like Red Bubble
Activity books
Coloring books.

Build an Author Website or Landing Page

Create a website or landing page dedicated to your children's book and author brand. Use it to showcase your book, provide additional content (e.g., author interviews, character profiles), and capture email addresses for your mailing list.

Develop sales parallel to Amazon KDP

In general, it seems a bad idea for any business to entirely depend on Amazon. I believe Amazon KDP offers various opportunities for selling your publication outside of Amazon. This probably includes getting a ISDN number that can be used both at Amazon KDP and outside of it.

Develop and use a marketing planning

Marketing usually isn't a one-off effort, but a continuous effort. I think it was either Hewlett or Packard (the guys from Hewlet-Packard, HP) that said that there isn't that much room for real innovation, and that the actual battle is won by excellence in execution.

So, start by having a planning for your marketing activities throughout the year, and use the planning. This doesn't mean that once you wrote the planning, it's written in stone. It will change all the time, and that's fine.

Include stuff like the number of hours to spend each week on various activities, like social media, and what to spend that time on specifically.

Use a marketing agency

There probably exist companies that are specialised in marketing publications on Amazon KDP.

Ask friends & family to buy the book

The number of sales is probably the most important factor for Amazon to promote the book, so ask friends or family to buy the book. Even if you pay for it

Select the right categories & keywords

Choose relevant categories and keywords when setting up your book on KDP. Accurate categories and keywords help your book appear in relevant search results.

Optimize the book's Amazon page

Write a compelling book description that highlights the key selling points and engages potential readers.
Use high-quality images for your book cover and any interior illustrations.
Set an appropriate price for your book. Research similar titles to determine a competitive price point.

Leverage Amazon's Kindle Select Program

Enroll your book in Kindle Select (KDP Select) to gain access to promotional tools like Kindle Countdown Deals and Free Book Promotions. These promotions can help boost visibility and attract readers.

Promote Customer Reviews

Encourage readers to leave honest reviews after reading your book. Positive reviews can boost your book's credibility and visibility.
Avoid buying fake reviews or engaging in unethical practices, as this can result in penalties from Amazon.

Leverage Social Media

Utilize social media platforms to connect with your target audience. Share engaging content related to your book, interact with readers, and build a community of fans. Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest can be particularly effective for children's books due to their visual nature.

Email marketing

Build an email list of interested readers and periodically send them updates, promotions, and exclusive content related to your books. Platforms like Mailchimp and ConvertKit can help you manage your email marketing campaigns.

Collaborate with Influencers

Identify influencers or bloggers in the children's book niche and reach out to them for potential collaborations, reviews, or features on their platforms.

Utilize Amazon Advertising

Consider running Amazon Ads, which can help boost your book's visibility on the platform. You can set up targeted ads to reach specific demographics or interests.

Participate in Virtual Book Tours

Join virtual book tours and author interviews on blogs, podcasts, or YouTube channels that focus on children's literature.

Attend book fairs & events

If possible, participate in local book fairs, author readings, and events to connect with your local community and gain exposure.

Sources

Sourced with help of ChatGPT - 2023.09