How to Become a Best-Selling Author in 2020

With over 33 million titles listed in stores back in 2017, there is no wonder that Amazon Kindle is one of the largest – and there are some arguments suggesting that it’s one of the best – book retailers in the world. With book writers publishing on the platform round the clock, it’s a figure we can definitely believe and get behind.

Not including digital versions of physical books sold, the world of eBooks is ever-evolving and is in its ripe age right now. The worldwide revenue of all eBooks sold stands at$15.7 billion in 2020 with 1.02 billion readers worldwide – and neither figure is looking to stop growing anytime soon. The revenue is expected to see a 6.2% year-on-year growth, while experts suggest users will see a whopping 8% year-on-year growth! That’s more than 8 million readers every year!

This moves to show just how lucrative the industry is and how this is a prime time to deep dive in it. However, with new books being added to Amazon regularly, a question arises; how to write and publish a book that will become a bestseller?

At this point, it is important to note that the already lucrative market of eBooks has gotten even more golden over the past months, as people are stuck in their homes due to COVID-19 lockdowns. There has been a 16% increase in readership – not to mention an equal increase in sales, if not less. Here is a graph that shows how drastic the increase has been over the past three months.

As the graph shows, the number of visits to eBook selling platforms increased to 1.51 billion in March 2020 from 1.34 billion in January 2020. A number of new authors moved up to the ‘best-seller’ rank in this time period thanks to the increased traffic.

With over a million books being published yearly (with most of them being self-published)your new eBook definitely has a chance to find its way to the top of any given category with a little bit of effort. This effort can be from you or your eBook writing friends or launch team.

Here, we’ll walk you through the process of writing a book or getting a book written that sells like hot-cakes so that you can enjoy the esteem of becoming a bestselling author! The tag really does make a difference.

So, let’s dive in.

Writing a Book that is a Bestseller

Whether you’re looking towards becoming a New York Times bestseller or looking for that sweet Amazon bestselling tag next to your book, here’s what you should do:

Decide Your Niche

This is where you decide the league in which you’ll fall – like choosing the classes in a Le Man’s race. You can either choose one or shoot your shot at all of them if you’re really ambitious.

Most professional eBook writers and publishers recommend sticking to one niche to gain authority. Your aim should be to increase your eBook’s rankings in one niche as a start. You can publish more books in other niches as you move along, though. It’s the name that sells.

But sticking to the same niche gives you more authority. Take the example of J. K. Rowling. How do you think she would fare writing a non-fiction war documentary?

Work on That eBook – Or Have Someone Write It for You

Your book is important – you’ve worked hard to formulate the perfect storyline, lead it to a climax, and end it. A lot of thought and strategy goes into it, and that is what leads to it becoming a bestseller. It’s not just about writing a book with an idea that sells but it also needs to be well-written and error-free.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Come up with your book idea. Make a list of different ideas. Follow the one you like best and make an abstract climax and ending to it. Remember, the more passionate you are about an idea, the easier it will be to finish. If you aren’t passionate about it, how do you expect readers to be, right? That “bestseller” banner will lead to more sales, yes, but won’t save you negative reviews.
2. Make an outline. Once you’ve selected your story idea, it’s time to make an outline. It will help give you a ‘stencil’ of sorts to follow as you write along. If you’re not writing it yourself, your book writer will get a better idea of what you’re trying to achieve with your eBook. So, win-win! Plus, as you fill in the outline you don’t have to worry thinking about what’s next – just on
3. This is the time-consuming and grinding task. Type, type and type away. Maintain a time table and stick to it. Starting out is easy; it’s finishing your eBook that most people find difficult.

Marketing Your eBook, the Best-Seller Way

Get a leg up the competition before your book is even completed. Generally, a good rule of thumb is to start marketing once you’re on the last chapter since you’re highly motivated to finish the book and to sell it at the same time at this point.

Create social media posts, banners, videos, pamphlets and more to showcase your eBook to the public. Build anticipation. Apart from how to write and publish an eBook, here are tips to market your book before it’s even done.

• Start posting social media posts that relate to your book. Include tips and tricks along with giving the readers some value
• Post regular updates about your book’s progress if you have a good enough following
• Make a video or blog post about your process of writing the book
• Include the challenges you faced with the writing or the story
• Create a social media event. Include a countdown if possible as the launch date gets closer
• Ask questions, answer questions, and engage with your audience. Converse and comment.
• Reach out to plan interviews and book signings (thanks to Amazon’s Print of Demand Service). That’s a bestseller move right there.

Choosing Your Preferred Platform

When marketing your eBook, you might think the more the merrier, right? While true, it’s when starting out that you need to choose which platform to focus on. This is because a master of one is much better than a jack of all.

Make sure you are focusing on one platform with the right audience and marketing your book accordingly. Here are some metrics that might help you decide better:

• Facebook:46% male, 54% female with 65% between 50-64 years old
• Twitter: 23% male,24% women with 40% between 18-29 years old
• Instagram: 30% male,39% women with 72% between 13-17 years old
• Pinterest: 16% male, 41% women with 34% between 40-49 years old

While it’s important to choose one core platform to market on, skipping any altogether is ill-advised, else you lose out on potential buyers.

Publishing – Print or eBook?

This is where your decision to sell a book as a bestseller comes into play. Since you’re not just publishing, you’re publishing to win, you would have shaped your whole publishing process similarly. Marketing is going to be more aggressive, writing is going to be more quality-intensive, and your final decision; i.e. whether you’re going to publish the book in the form of a printed book or eBook.

To become a New York Times bestseller (which is more hype and glamor than being any more useful than Amazon’s bestseller), the traditional ‘print’ publishing is what you should go with. It’ll take a few years and a lot of wait to get there.

To get that sweet Amazon bestselling author tag, on the other hand, you aren’t far off. Self-published books can go far on the platform, give you more control over your book, let you keep more royalties and so much more. We could go on for days on end to discuss the benefits of self-publishing.

Launch with a Team

If you’ve written a book yourself, you might be thinking that you can take the world on your own, including publishing and marketing. While commendable, we would like to tell you that many an eBook writer have tried that and have ended up receiving the raw end of the publishing deal – let alone becoming a bestseller.

A launch team is a group of individuals who will keep a close eye on your eBook from launch to marketing. From making sure all the relevant information is included in your account to performing promotional activities, it’s up to this team to take care of that.

If you try doing it yourself, you’ll be overwhelmed in a matter of hours!

If you’ve gotten your eBook written by ghost eBook writers if they’re a team of professionals they’ll also offer to launch and market it for you. If you trust them, it’s always a safer option to go with. Many ghost eBook writers have helped bestsellers find their place in the market and pave clients’ path to the bestseller tag.

Some qualities of a good launch team include:

1. The interest level in your book reflects or surpasses yours
2. The team should be motivated and enthusiastic
3. They should participate in promotional tactics without prompt
4. They should come up with new promotional methods
5. The team must have a following of their own, no matter how small
6. They’ve launched a book before – the more the merrier

Here is a quick sample launch plan for you if you’re looking to make your way through the crowd and towards Amazon’s best-seller list.

1. Start by pricing your book for sales – not profit
2. Host a “demo launch” to find flaws, if any, in your launch strategy
3. Have your launch team leave some reviews on your eBook
4. Evaluate book promotion methods; free or paid
5. Keep the plan simple but don’t keep it too simple

Time to Become a Bestseller

Once published, it’s time to wait. Although a matter of luck, commitment, and what you put in your book with the large number of books being published every year, there is a chance that the next bestseller might be you.

It is also important to remember that there isn’t just one Amazon bestseller, but a number. If you’re just looking for that bestseller tag, wait a few weeks or months, keep marketing, and you’ll get there. If, however, you’re looking to get to the number one spot, it’s more of a trial and error game.

Don’t expect your first eBook to become a bestseller, though. Although possible, it’s quite rare and in the world of eBooks, it’s important to manage your expectations. Despite popular belief, there is no fixed number of books to be sold to be listed as the best seller in your category or niche with Amazon.

Here’s a quick guideline:

• New York Times Bestseller: 9,000 copies
• The Wall Street Journal Bestseller: 3,000 books
• Amazon Bestseller: Depends on books being sold in your categories

That’s why you choose a category with the least competition. However, at the end of the day, it all depends on the quality of your writing and story. No matter the competition, if you’ve written or have ghostwritten a story that grips the heart or have provided invaluable educational insight or advice to your readers, you’ll navigate your way to the top despite the category being overly competed!

If you think we missed out on something above or simply have something to add, just let us know down in the comments and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can! We’d love to hear your ventures towards becoming a best-seller, or if you’ve got any tips for the book writers on how to write and publish an eBook that finds its way towards the top!