You Don't Have to Be an Expert Writer to Be a Best Seller

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You do not have to be an expert writer to be a best seller. You need to be an okay writer who keeps writing and improving, stays in one genre, optimizes each book and builds an audience. I had no writing background when I started. Here is what I did, and what I would not do.

Why don’t I need to be an expert writer?

When I started, I had written school papers, work documents and emails, but never books or blogs. I chose nonfiction because I had ideas to share. I never claimed to be a wonderful writer, and you can still find misspelled words in my videos and articles. Success does not depend on being outstanding. Many professional singers do not have amazing vocals; it is the style, the presentation and the whole package that resonates. Readers care that you help them or excite them.

How did I reach best seller status?

By my third book, I had learned strategies that I now share here. I applied them and watched the rank rise. After about a month or six weeks I got the Amazon bestseller tag in a category closely matching my book. It stayed for about three weeks, dropped, and came back after I ran ads. Read how this tool made me a best seller for the tool story. For what is rarely taught, see why they don’t teach this about self-publishing.

Should I put my book in any category to get the badge?

No. Some services promise a bestseller flag by putting your book in a category unrelated to it, for example a romance in “growing carrots,” because some categories are so small that a few sales earn the flag. Amazon has started cracking down on that. I would not do it. KDP asks you to choose accurate categories (KDP Categories) and says it reserves the right to change a book’s categories at any time to ensure a positive customer experience (KDP Content Guidelines). Choose related sub-categories. Heart surgery is not a children’s book.

What are the steps to optimize a book?

1. Choose the right market. Avoid markets with too many books, and markets so empty that you cannot tell if anyone buys. The hot markets have lots of sales and few books. I use KDSpy to find them. See what is a winning topic for your first ebook.
2. Optimize cover, title, description, table of contents and author bio. Look at the top sellers in your category. They show what readers with a credit card in hand already buy. A cover that looks completely different will lose.
3. Price sensibly. On Amazon.com, KDP pays 70% for ebooks listed from $2.99 to $12.99 (KDP eBook royalties). I start a single book at $2.99 and add $1 for each extra book in a bundle.
4. Aim for quality. In my experience an average between three and five stars from organic readers lets a book sell, while one and two stars sink it.

Does the number of books matter?

It helps. In the Written Word Media 2025 indie author survey (published 2-Dec-25), about 80% of authors with one to three books earned under $100 a month, while authors with 25 or more books had a median income of about $3,000 a month. These are self-reported figures and show a pattern, not a promise. It is one more reason to keep writing in your genre instead of polishing one book forever.

Why is an audience so powerful?

Because it gives your book sales from the start. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people will connect with your voice, not because your grammar is perfect, but because of your ideas and how you express them. Get them on an email list. Have a Facebook group, a YouTube channel or a blog so they can reach you. Your next book, you ask them for reviews, and they pre-order. Super fans tell their friends, and growth multiplies.

Most authors put a book on the market and hear crickets because they have no audience and no network. So I suggest investing time in building one. For ways to do it, read 3 ways to find more readers. And stay in one genre: the more you write, the better you get, and your audience grows every month.

If you want help choosing a market, optimizing your book and building an audience, book my free 25-minute discovery call.

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