How My Book Became An #1 International Bestseller

Hey guys! So today I'll be doing something different! Rather than writing and reviewing novels, or interviewing books, I'll be sharing with you guys some information. 

This week, my novella 'Consumed By You' became an #1 International bestseller! To do something special, I'll be sharing with you guys how my book became an international bestseller.

Why I Self-Published

I want to be a traditional-published author. I queried a few agents, one agent responded to me. He said he liked my book but, he didn't have time for me because I'm a debut author. If my book was successful enough for him,  he'd give it another look!

I decided to self-publish it, and I wanted it to reach it's potential. 

So how did it reach its potential?

'Pre-Production'

Before you even want to self-publish listen to me closely!

Make Connections! 

It's really important that you make some connections. By that, I mean make friends in the publishing community. It's the nicest community ever, especially indies! What's so great about indie authors is that most indie-friends don't live in the same state/country! They communicate online, for example: Jasmine Walt co-authors books with authors that don't even live in the same continent!
Help them! Be nice to them, communicate with them! They're so sweet! I've become acquaintances with most of the authors I've interviewed here on my blog, and good friends with some of them! (DON'T OVER-STRESS YOUR BOOK TO THEM! IT'S REALLY RUDE! LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES, TRUST ME. YOU'LL REGRET IT)

Edit Your Book

Edit Your Book?! We all know that! Edit it again! Just edit, edit, edit! No matter how much you think you've edited it. Give it to beta readers, have them judge it! That's what I did! It really helps if you have reader feedback. Remember, after writing your book don't edit it right away.

Think About Translations/International Markets

If you want your book to be an international bestseller, you might want to think about translating it. My friend kindly translated my book into German. The German market is a fantastic place for indie erotic romance.

But, if you want to translate your book, study the market you think would be a good fit for it. The return on investment was large for me. I sold way more eBooks in German (just in one Amazon store!) than English eBooks (I sold english eBook mostly in the UK and the U.S.).

The international market was much better for me than it was in the U.S. Market. My book became an international erotic thriller bestseller. It hit both lists in two different markets, one in the Amazon U.S. store and other in the UK market.

But then, it hit the top ten bestseller list in Germany (The translated German version) and finally... NUMBER ONE! NUMBER ONE!?

So think about translations! If you’re a first-time or relatively new authors, enter KDP Select. You have far more advantages, and you’ll join Kindle Unlimited. So you’ll have a higher chance at reaching new readers, and hitting the lists (but, at the end of the day… Lists don’t matter. Reaching new readers does). 

If you want to go wide, I highly suggest using Pronoun.com as a distributer. You get a higher pay and it distributes to Google Play!

‘Publishing’

Distributing 

As I mentioned, if you want to go wide… You should use Pronoun rather than uploading your book directly to the distributor (You get a bit more money… By pennies). 

Going wide, is great as well. You have much more visibility and you could get that potential of viewers/readers.

But, you might wanna consider rolling into KDP select just for the first 90 days to establish yourself as an author.

I became a KDP Select author for my book to reach the max-potential. I had a goal, to reach the bestseller status in order for my book to get an agent. That’s the only reason why I self-published! 

Get Reviews

If you choose to pre-order, it would be fantastic if people left reviews! Send ARCs copies out, and tell the readers to leave reviews. Reviews mean the world. It would also be great if people that have ‘names in the publishing world’ commented on your books.

I got three USA TODAY Bestselling authors to comment on my book! 

Get A Good Cover

If you’re good at photoshop, you can totally DIY. If you aren’t, don’t do it yourself. It’ll kill your chances of getting reaching the potential of your book. It should invite readers and say what you’re book is about!

Killer Blurb

Why should people read your book? You have to tell them that with the blurb. Make it enticing! Trust me on this. That’s the second thing a reader or potential buyer will see before clicking onto a sample.

Killer First Chapter

If a reader thinks “I’ll check this out” they’ll sample your book. You need to have a great first chapter. That’s what introduces the reader to your work. Add in descriptions, dialogue… Show your talent as a writer!

Marketing

Now this is where you need to put in all of your energy! What works for one person, may not work for another person. I asked all of the authors I had interviewed (and reviewed their books) if they could post the link to my book. They kindly accepted! I interviewed an author, USA TODAY Bestselling Author Vanessa Vale and had a book contest.

In the contest the reader had to download my book (it was free) and the winner would be picked at random. I also asked my followers on Wattpad if they could download it, and they kindly inclined.

My suggestion to you is to build a fanbase before self-publishing. You’ll need a foundation. 

Post on social media as well! That’s what all self-publishers do, and you shouldn’t be an exception. 

Everything picked up quickly for me. I sold 20 books in average every hour. 

In the end, all of it was worth. At this very moment that I'm writing this post, I have to get back to three agents. I queried them and they responded to me in less than two days! 

Work hard! The return on investment is very large. By 'return on investment' I mean also by happiness. If you're in the indie-publishing world for a profit, it won't last so long.

I hope I helped you, good luck!

P.S. Sorry about the mistakes in this post. I'm on a vacay and very busy with the agents!