I Made $800 On A 58-Page Short Story. Here’s How.
Allow me to tell you all my secrets…
When I started writing short reads on Amazon under a pen name, I didn’t know what to expect.
Would people read them? Would people like them? Would I make any money?
I am happy to report that I made $800 on a 58-page short read.
This was over several months with minimal advertising. It involved good reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. And it’s the first in a 4-book series.
So, how did I do this? What’s the secret to selling? While there may not be a secret, I do have a few pieces of advice that can help you get started.
Enroll your book in KDP Select.
This can be kind of a controversial opinion, but I highly recommend enrolling your book in Amazon’s KDP Select program, especially if you are a beginner.
KDP Select allows your book to be in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program. It’s a subscription program for readers that allow them to read as many books as they want.
What is the benefit of enrolling as an author?
There are many benefits, actually.
For starters, you can earn a higher royalty. You get paid based on page reads. For me, very often, my KDP read rate brings in more money than paid purchases. Especially with the recent trend of readers returning books.
Also, Kindle Unlimited is a great way to reach more readers. People are much more willing to take a chance on a new author when it’s included in their subscription service.
Additionally, there are promotional tools at your disposal. For each book that you place in KDP Select, you get 5 days of promotional tools. You can either choose to use those days to make your book free or as a countdown deal aka a discount.
KDP Select is a 90-day commitment. So, if you only want to enroll for a short period of time to see how it does, it is totally an option. For me, KDP Select is a big seller.
Write to market and use tropes.
When you write to market, you increase your chances of discoverability.
For example, if you want to write a romance book, you can write to market by making it a billionaire trope. You can narrow this down even further by making it a romantic comedy. You can narrow it down even further by labeling it a “clean” or “sweet” novel, meaning no explicit sex.
Readers can become very particular about the kinds of books they like. Some people want to strictly read billionaire romance. Others want sports romances.
In any case, writing to market, planning your title to market, and planning your cover to market are great ways to tap into a readership that already exists.
Publish frequently and meet your readers’ expectations.
Another key way to success is to make sure that you are publishing frequently, especially if you are writing short books.
Even though it can be difficult, you want to publish often because a new release gives you a boost in overall sales and reach.
It takes discipline to be a writer.
And when you find readers who like your work, you want to keep them entertained and reading more.
Also, you want to stick to the same genre. Readers want to know that when they pick up your book, they are getting the genre, tone, and characters that they loved from you. (Hint: if you want to publish in more genres, use a pen name.)
Overall, you need to test, test, and test more.
Publishing your work can be a very daunting process.
You need to keep testing your marketing, your story structure, your covers, and more to make sure that you are as successful as you can be. Practice may not make perfect, but it definitely improves your skills.
For me, I have taken a few bad turns on my journey. With this pen name, I have published a series that didn’t do so well. So, I pivoted back and that worked really well.
The key is to not give up.
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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.
