I had to blink a few times when I saw this yesterday:
My “Influencing Virtual Teams” book hit the #1 spot in a category right next to Tim Ferriss’ “4 Hour Work Week” AND Jason Fried’s “Remote: Office Not Required.”
I’m super-stoked about that.
Tim and Jason are not only two of my favorite best-selling authors, but they’re also among the most successful entrepreneurs on earth.
I was also honored to see that the #1 reviewer of ALL TIME on amazon gave my book the following 5/5 star review.
I’m sure my 15 seconds of fame will be short-lived, but before they are over, I thought I’d share a few a quick tips about how this happened if you are interested in writing your own book one day.
- I’m not a well-known author. This is my first Kindle book ever and I launched it in back in July 2014 (I’ve written other types of books, but not a Kindle book).
- I contacted Buck Books around 3 weeks ago to ask them if they’re interested in listing my book. Buck Books is a website that lists your book for a buck on a single day – giving your book massive exposure. It’s a Free service. They said yes and they had a spot open for Oct 30. My book already had 32 positive and verified reviews, which I think helped in having my book accepted.
- AFTER I got the date from Buck Books, I signed up for a Kindle Countdown Deal through KDP Select lasting for 7 days and reduced the price of my book from $2.99 to $0.99
- I think having a combination of a $0.99 deal AND a Kindle Countdown timer showing (which is authentic because it’s controlled by Amazon) helps with the scarcity factor and increases sales (that’s why I set my Kindle Countdown deal only after the Buck Books date was set).
- My book was listed on Oct 30 on the main Buck Books homepage (was glad to see that books by Steve Scott and James Altucher were on the same list – two other best-selling authors I enjoy reading)
- When I hit the #1 spot, I had sold 62 copies and had 2 borrows. My overall Amazon Best Sellers Rank was #2,912
- Tim’s and Jason’s books fluctuated between #15,000 to #20,000 in terms ranking, so they weren’t hard to beat on this day (keep in mind that their books have been out for a looong time – so even though I beat them on this “sprint,” my book won’t last half a marathon in the long run with them)
I hope this helps, and wanted to say I appreciate all the reviews comments, shares and mentions about the book – you are awesome!
Cheers,
Hassan
