How To Make 10x More Money With Short Books
These small shifts could drastically change your income.
For the past year, I have published short books on Amazon under a pen name and had a lot of success. Some books have been more successful than others. But, in the process, I’ve seen a few trends.
If you want to make money writing short fiction on Amazon, you need to have a plan.
You won’t be successful if you just write without a strategy in mind.
If you want to make 10x more money with your short fiction, read on for my strategies below. The books I’ve published that I used these strategies for are my top-selling books and bring in the majority of my earnings.
I found these through trial-and-error and replicated them with other books. Turns out? The success wasn’t a fluke.
Tip #1: Write a series of short fiction books
Hands down, this is my best piece of advice for you.
A well-written series of short fiction books will outperform a standalone short fiction book almost every time. I have three short fiction series, each consisting of four books, and they are my top earners.
So, why is this such an incredible tool?
Because it keeps readers reading. If you’re writing a great story with great characters, you’ll keep your reader on the hook. You keep them from jumping to another author.
You keep money in your own pocket.
How do you create a series of short fiction?
- Create books connected by the characters. It can be a series of four brothers, a series of four best friends, a series of four teammates, etc.
- Create books connected by a trope. It can be a series of four mountain men, a series of four cowboys, a series of four hockey players, etc.
- Create books connected by a holiday theme. It can be a series of Christmas small-town romances, a series of Valentine’s Day romances, a series of New Year’s Eve blind date romances, etc.
The important thing to note is that each book should be its own completed work, just connected in a series.
Tip #2: Your cover and your title are everything
Another very important factor in increasing your book income? Your cover and your title. Without a great title or a great cover, you’re not going to capture a reader’s attention.
Personally, I create my own covers with Canva Pro (this is an affiliate link, by the way!) but there are plenty of great cover designers out there that you can utilize as well.
So, how do you choose a title that will sell?
- You want to pick a title that conveys exactly what your story is about. If your story is about a football player, you want to make sure your audience knows that.
- You want to pick a title with catchy, descriptive words.
- Your subtitle is just as important as the title for Amazon because you can use it to help rank in the right categories. For example, “A secret baby romance.”
And how do you choose a cover that will sell well?
- Like your title, you want your cover to reflect what your story is actually about. You want it to be a very clear snapshot of the story that you are trying to tell.
- Your cover needs to be professional-looking. Even if you are doing it yourself, it needs to look like a real book. Take a look at books in your genre to get a good feel for what covers work.
- For a series, you need to make it clear that these titles are connected. Choose the same font, but rotate the image. Again, find inspiration from others in your genre.
Tip #3: Don’t be afraid to repeat tropes that sell well for you
Something I recently realized was that I do not need to reinvent the wheel every time. I write tropes because tropes sell well, but I don’t need to write a new trope every single time.
For example, if your bestselling series is a mountain man trope, you can write a second series of mountain men and see success there, too.
I recently created a second series in my bestselling trope and saw an instant hike in profit.
A trope is just a blueprint. There are plenty of original stories to create from there, so don’t be afraid to create multiple series from the same trope.
So, are you ready to sell more short books?
Don’t forget. It is a trial-and-error game. You can always grow. You can always learn and create and earn more.
And have fun with it! You are creating here, after all.
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Jenny Bravo writes books and helps other writers through trial-and-error. She’s on Instagram (@jennybravobooks) and TikTok (@jennybravobooks). You can hang out at her website, www.jennybravobooks.com.
