Blogoddy, blog, or how not to write a blog. Part 1. I published a BOOK!

Well, I published my very first book in October 2021, how did it go? OK, it went OK for a first attempt using Amazon KDP. It's a very steep learning curve and there's a lot to learn .

What did I struggle with? There were a few things.

1. Its important to have the right title for your book and subtitle. My book was originally going to be called "Boots" which I considered to be a clever title, after all the book features lots of shoes and boots but that is not how the ALGORITHM works. The Algorithm is all powerful on Amazon and you must learn the ways of the Algorithm or perish! So this Algorithm is basically a process of connection. It connects customer with product, it offers up suggestions, tasty things to add to basket. You need to understand this if using KDP and tailor your book to it. In the case of my book "Boots" became "Santa's Boots". Why? Because Santa is a broadly searched for word on Amazon especially at Christmas time. I think they call this relevance. Is your search term relevant to the customer? Think about it because its very important and choose your title wisely.

2. I decided to use my own name "A.P. Cooper" and not a pen name "Oliver Appleby". This was just me an being an introvert wanting to hide, to go unnoticed. Which is crazy really when this business is all about being seen. Any way shy guy no longer.

3. There's a lot more work involved than simply writing and illustrating your book! That's just the start, the hard work comes next. Getting seen, adding content, adding value, building a presence online etc, etc.

4. A+ content, something else to consider. So you have published your book and now you discover that you can enhance your sales by using Amazons A+ content. Basically this boils down to a few images and some text but there are rules governing its use, it has to have "relevance". You cant use it to promote your business or your other books just the book it is relevant to. So take care and have a good hard think about how you want to sell your book, your brand, your authorship.

5. Amazon Ads, oh this is a bag of bees. Open it and be prepared to be stung. Its a powerful tool, it puts your book right under the nose of your potential customer. Emphasis on potential because they are only possibly going to buy your book and you will have to pay dearly to possibly sell your book. What I'm trying to say is be very careful with this tool, don't over pay for this, go with low priced bids and watch the returns as it quickly can eat into any profit. That is unless you not aiming to make a profit and you just want to build the relevance of your book. You just want the system to rank your book higher and hope for better returns in the future. Well let me know how that goes.