Unlocking KDP's Darkest Publishing Secret

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KDP’s darkest secret is that most books on Amazon sell very little, and a book that is not optimized and has no hungry readers will not change that. Amazon publishes no sales figures, so this is what I see after 230 books. Below are the three things that decide it: what the content can’t fix, how to find a market that is buying, and how trust from an audience helps.

Why do most books sell so little?

I have heard people say Amazon doesn’t make much from publishing itself and uses books to bring people into its store. I can’t tell you whether that is true. What I can tell you is the sales numbers for most books are almost painfully small. Henry, one of my clients, showed the problem. He put out content about his book using the content marketing steps I teach, and it was not moving the needle. He was doing the work, so what was he doing wrong?

Can good content make up for weak marketing?

No. The contents of your book, whether stories, how-tos or self-help, can be fantastic, and it still won’t help if the cover, title and subtitle are off, because nobody will read what you wrote. Think of a farm with cows that make amazing milk. If you put it in misshapen cartons with wrong labels, you won’t sell much milk.

Optimization means the cover, title and subtitle. KDP wants the title and subtitle to match the cover and to be fewer than 200 characters together. Get them to say clearly who the book is for. My notes on this are in breaking down the KDP publishing algorithm and how to use keywords on Amazon KDP.

What are hungry readers, and how do you find them?

Hungry readers are people actively looking to buy a certain kind of book. You find them by looking for a market with a lot of sales and few books.

When Henry and I looked, we could not find a book ranked in the top hundred thousand for his subject. That is my rough test, and it is a very bad sign: no best sellers in your market. Philip, another past client, had the opposite problem. He wrote coloring books, and there are tens of thousands of them. Many sell well, but his would be lost among them, and the competitors can outspend him on ads. That is not hungry readers either.

What we want is both together: many sales coming through, and few books. Then if your optimized book shows up on page one for the keywords in your title and subtitle, and it looks like the best sellers, you start to peel off some of their sales. I use KDSpy to see the rank order of the books for a search term. As that traffic arrives, you build an audience, and I hope an email list.

Can I ask readers for reviews?

Yes, with limits. KDP says you can give readers a free or discounted copy “as long as you do not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review.” Offering anything else, including gift cards, “will invalidate a review, and the Amazon Community team will remove it.” Reviews posted in exchange for compensation break Amazon’s rules, and the Amazon Community team checks reviews before they are posted (KDP customer reviews). So ask your email list for honest reviews and nothing more.

When can you write for a market that does not exist yet?

When people already trust you. If you are an influencer, or you have sold many books, you bring your own audience, and you do not have to rely on search results. They know the kind of book and who it is for as soon as they see the cover, title and subtitle. You can then come out with books in less profitable niches or niches with few books, and even create a new market with an early mover advantage.

But a following on another platform doesn’t always move. In the last year I saw well-known people put out a book that flopped on Amazon, because their audience likes them in short videos and does not want to read. That’s why I tell every client to check that it is a profitable market first. It is the top discussion point in every free discovery call.

If you simply don’t mind whether it sells, that’s fine. Very few of my clients say so, and after the book comes out with no sales they ask why.

I look at more of how KDP works behind the scenes in ex-employee warns about Amazon KDP. Picking keywords first is one of the 4 self-publishing secrets I still use.

Does your book ignore one or more of these? If you’re not sure, book a free 25-minute discovery call and we will check your book’s market together.

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