The Career Author Podcast: Episode 136 – Launching an Amazon Bestselling Fiction Book in 2020

Launching an Amazon Bestselling Fiction Book in 2020

Indie authors often talk about the “gold rush” era of self-publishing when a smaller pool of authors and Amazon’s looser algorithms made it easier to sell books on their platform. But with increased competition and the push toward a play-to-play marketplace, is 2020 too late to have success selling fiction?

The answer is no, it’s not too late. Zach recently launched the first book in a new series to bestseller status on Amazon, and on this episode of the podcast, he breaks down what he did and how he has kept the sales going after the dreaded “30-Day Cliff.”

The Career Author Podcast is a podcast where co-authors J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon share their struggles and successes as full-time authors, advice for improving your writing craft, and honest discussions of what it takes to build a successful career as an author.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

  • How many sales it takes to have an Amazon bestseller
  • Why Zach believes in silent pre-orders
  • What strategies work best during a book launch
  • Why patience and professionalism are crucial
  • Zach’s big takeaways from his latest launch

Also, Zach recommends a brand new podcast from one of his favorite productivity authors. 

Send us your ways and hacks – https://thecareerauthor.com/waysandhacks/ 

Leave us a comment: What strategy has worked best for you when launching a book? If you haven’t published yet, what will you focus on when developing a launch plan?

Thanks to all our Patrons!

Podcast sponsored by Kobo Writing Life – https://writinglife.kobobooks.com 

Get exclusive bonus content by supporting The Career Author Podcast on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thecareerauthor

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Links:

Deep Questions with Cal Newport – https://www.calnewport.com/podcast/

Kindlepreneur video on Pre-Orders – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugj0gC2OwQs

2021 Events – https://thecareerauthor.com/events/ 

J.’s monthly mastermind membership – https://theauthorsuccessmastermind.com/join/

The Career Author YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/thecareerauthor

Three Story Methodhttps://books2read.com/threestorymethod 

Three Story Method Workbookhttps://amzn.to/37SAR1a 

Molten Universe Media – http://www.moltenuniversemedia.com


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9 responses to “The Career Author Podcast: Episode 136 – Launching an Amazon Bestselling Fiction Book in 2020”

  1. Christopher Wills Avatar

    Morning guys. Great topic today. Must listen to this again. A landmark episode.
    To answer the question, the strategy that works best for me is to launch in 2011 and 2012. Haven’t quite worked out how to do that again yet…
    What I loved today is seeing and listening to someone who is clearly excited about writing and launching a book. Enthusiasm is infectious and motivating.
    And my biggest takeaway which I completely agree with – “Nothing trumps… writing a good book.”
    Love the show today.

    1. J. Thorn Avatar
      J. Thorn

      Ha! Send us the code for launching in 2012. Please!

      1. Christopher Wills Avatar

        Here is the top secret code for launching a book back in 2012:
        evlewT ytnewT ni koob ruoy hcnuaL

    2. Zach Bohannon Avatar
      Zach Bohannon

      Thanks, Chris! Glad this episode helped. I’m really happy with this launch and excited to get the next one out!

  2. Lon Avatar
    Lon

    Well, I have to say the most successful launch, so far, was my most recent first book. I hit my list, I started experimenting with Amazon ads, and got lots of reads and even hit the top 100 in one of the categories. (Granted part of that was WAY overspending for a Zon ad. It has since stopped hemorrhaging money.) I have another launch early next month, I have a bigger name than me who is going to give his readers a shout out, I will be tending to the Zon ads for the book one and keeping an eye on reads and sales. And might try a few Facebook ads. (I know you guys don’t do social media and hey, most of the time, they might not work. But, it might.) Want to try and hit up a book tweeter I made friends with to send out some tweets.
    And, I have actually hired a publicist to help as well. (No, probably just a waste of money, but I worked with them before and there was a small jump in sales. Might work more now. Or not. We will have to see.)

    1. J. Thorn Avatar
      J. Thorn

      Interesting! Keep us posted on how the publicist works for you. And I don’t consider FB ads social media. You can still do those and not get sucked down the political/feline rabbit hole.

    2. Zach Bohannon Avatar
      Zach Bohannon

      Congrats, dude!

  3. Kim Avatar

    I haven’t launched anything yet. Right now my plan is to write a bunch of books so that when I do finally release a book, I’ll have others to come without too much wait. I definitely plan to have all three books in my trilogy done before I release the first one. Unfortunately, I had to rewrite the second book three times. 🙁 I don’t think I’m going to do rapid release, because I don’t want readers to have unrealistic expectations about how fast I can release a book. I’m not sure, though. I’ve been going back and forth on this. I was going to release book one earlier this spring, but then my husband got sick with COVID (and has been sick for months), and he is my formatting/algorithm/keyword guy. He used to be a systems engineer and understands that kind of stuff way better than me. Also, I didn’t have the emotional energy to deal with releasing my first book. Another delay is I’ve decided to change my cover. It’s a fantastic cover, but since I had it made, I’ve decided to niche down to focus on women readers. Since I’m a new author, I don’t plan to do ads until I have a few books out.

    1. J. Thorn Avatar
      J. Thorn

      Sounds like a plan! I hope your husband is doing better.