During 2011, it will become harder and harder to separate writing, Amazon.com, and personal branding success.
Many authors underestimate the number of marketing opportunities that Amazon.com offers those who are interested in building their personal brand.
Certainly, there are numerous other online and offline book retailers; chances are, your home is within a few miles of a well-stocked Borders or Barnes & Noble superstore.
Yet, building on the success of the Amazon.com Kindle during 2010, two recent events underscore the close connection between writing a book, Amazon.com, and personal branding success. These two events indicate that Amazon.com may become even more important to authors writing to build their brands during 2011.
1. A new guide to marketing on Amazon.com
For a long time, my two favorite books about marketing and promotion on Amazon.com have been:
- Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Your Books with Print on Demand and Online Book Marketing on Amazon.com, by Aaron Shepard.
- Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret “How to” Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Published Writers, by Brent Sampson and Dan Poynter, Second Edition.
Both are detailed, helpful, and informative, written from the point of view of experienced self-publishers. You certainly can’t go wrong with either or both.
Last week, however, I received a review copy of Dana Lynn Smith’s The Savvy Book Marketer’s How to Sell More Books on Amazon.com.
Dana’s book combines a concise, fresh treatment of book marketing resources on Amazon, plus more emphasis on Amazon’s top-selling Kindle e-book reader.
Dana begins by describing the various Amazon marketing options available to authors, providing tips for making the most of author profiles, reader reviews, and as well as options available to self-published authors.
In my favorite section, as she described in a recent guest post, Dana discusses how marketing Kindle books both resembles – and differs – from marketing printed books. She also provides specific examples of Kindle marketing, such as preparing preview pages.
(Note: the above are not affiliate links.)
2. Seth Godin’s Domino Project
More evidence of Amazon’s likely growing influence during 2011 comes from Seth Godin’s announcement last Wednesday of the 2011 launch of his Domino Project, powered by Amazon.com.
Seth Godin’s frustration with conventional book publishing is well known, although one of the most popular business and marketing book authors in the world (as a glance at Seth Godin’s Author Profile page on Amazon shows).
As a committed agent of marketing marketing change, Seth wants to reinvent book publishing, removing the barriers that conventional publishing put in the way of new authors interested in publishing books to build their brand.
Seth Godin’s Domino Project is committed to reinventing publishing, helping qualified individuals publish books to build their personal brands.
As you can see from the Domino Project’s Frequently Asked Questions, Seth’s plan is to simultaneously publish paper, audio, and Kindle versions of books on an accelerated schedule. The Domino Project launches in January, 2011, and the first titles will be available in March.
Writing and personal branding in 2011
Obviously, Amazon.com has competitors and will always have competitors. Format, publisher, and retailer market shares will undoubtedly be changing for decades to come. The answer to Who will be on top? at the end of 2011 is irrelevant. What’s more important is whether or not you take advantage of the personal branding opportunities that Amazon.com is offering now, and will be offering during 2011. What’s your opinion? Have you experienced difficulties getting “conventionally” published? Do you own a Kindle? Do your friends or co-workers? More important, do you see a Kindle book helping you build your personal brand during 2011?
Author:
Roger C. Parker is a book coach who helps clients make right choices. He blogs about writing every weekday. His latest book #BOOK TITLE Tweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Compelling Article, Book, & Event Titles helps authors choose the right title to build their brand.
