Thank you so much for sharing all of your insight! I have watched many videos on promoting a self published book and yours gives detailed information in an easy to follow format. I’ll definitely be checking out your other videos!
Great video Craig. One thing I am not sure of is buying the copy through Amazon vs mailing an author copy to the influencer. I thought we weren't allowed to buy our own books since it could artificially affect the ranking? So you are saying that you would buy a copy of your book on Amazon and change the shipping address to that of the influencer's? And this give you a royalty, is free shipping for you, and is ok by Amazon standards?
Amazon is fine with you buying your own books. You don't want to give author copies to people because those copies have the author proof mark in them. Amazon actually encourages you to purchase at least a few of your own books when you launch your book. First, it allows you to see the actual finished product that the customer is going to receive. And secondly, it gives your book a sales ranking, which you don't get until you actually sell a book. And besides, wouldn't you want to own the first published copy of your own book? Now if you abuse the system and purchase thousands of copies, that's a different story. But giving away a dozen copies as gifts is fine. Yes, you are receiving a royalty when you do that, but it's you who is paying for that royalty when you purchase the book at full price. If you do public book signings at a comic con, you have to order copies of your book to sign. You can't use author copies because of the proof mark. So authors who make graffic novels, and who self publish through KDP, do this all the time. They may purchase 100 copies or more at a time to resell at trade shows.
Thanks! Just wanted to note that I have sent author copies to different addresses. I'm in Australia and have sent to NZ and Canada as gifts. You just have to choose the appropriate marketplace (and pay shipping as you mentioned.)
hey craig, i have a question, fro some reasons my pages do not show up on the right, but on the bottom it says have 130 pages, but i can not see them for some reason, could u help me out please?
Thanks for the great video. Craig, do you use inDesign very much? If so, I would really appreciate a training video on the easy way to create a table of contents. I've made many books over the years using this program and now logbooks and i just give up each time I try to learn how to make the table of contents. I end up creating them manually and it's extremely time consuming and becomes a nightmare when I want to change things around. Most of my pages are logbook tables, with no separate title on the page outside of the table. If that makes sense. I've watched numerous videos on TH-cam but they just target paragraphs with chapter titles. Mine don't have those. I really need help. ❤️
In your situation, I think manually is the only way to create the Table of Contents. To use the TOC feature in InDesign, you would at the very least need a heading (title) outside of the logbook table. The software won't recognize the title inside of the table. I should make a video on that subject though. If I find a way to make your situation work, I'll include it in the video.
Thanks, that's probably why I can't find information on it. And to top it off, I create a lot of parent pages which I suspect might cause issues with creating a ToC, but I dont know for sure.
@@manumalhotra8752 This video shows you a few ways on how to get those first initial reviews on your book. Once your book starts selling because of those initial reviews, it will all come down to how good of a product you made. At the end of the day, 90% of your reviews are going to come from making a product that people want and enjoy. I really don't believe that there is a secret way to get reviews, other than create good books.
The vast majority of people don't leave reviews, the ones that do are either really happy with the purchase or really hate it. That's why most reviews are either 4 or 5 star, or 1 star. 2 or 3 star reviews are from people that are just content with the product, and they very rarely leave reviews.
@@CraigBabin I am a rookie still. I sold 35 books organically but I haven not received any reviews. I don't know how to feel about that, to tell you the truth :)
Thank you so much for sharing all of your insight! I have watched many videos on promoting a self published book and yours gives detailed information in an easy to follow format. I’ll definitely be checking out your other videos!
I'm glad you like them.
Craig, this video is superb! Many thanks for the time & effort you’ve invested in sharing this useful knowledge.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for such an informative and well put together video. Really helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Glad that you here on TH-cam,good job Craig.
I'm glad I'm here too!
Great video Craig I always find your contents really interesting. Many thanks
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks a lot very clear
You're welcome.
Thank you very much I will try it today
Most welcome 😊
Great video Craig. One thing I am not sure of is buying the copy through Amazon vs mailing an author copy to the influencer. I thought we weren't allowed to buy our own books since it could artificially affect the ranking? So you are saying that you would buy a copy of your book on Amazon and change the shipping address to that of the influencer's? And this give you a royalty, is free shipping for you, and is ok by Amazon standards?
Amazon is fine with you buying your own books. You don't want to give author copies to people because those copies have the author proof mark in them. Amazon actually encourages you to purchase at least a few of your own books when you launch your book. First, it allows you to see the actual finished product that the customer is going to receive. And secondly, it gives your book a sales ranking, which you don't get until you actually sell a book. And besides, wouldn't you want to own the first published copy of your own book?
Now if you abuse the system and purchase thousands of copies, that's a different story. But giving away a dozen copies as gifts is fine. Yes, you are receiving a royalty when you do that, but it's you who is paying for that royalty when you purchase the book at full price.
If you do public book signings at a comic con, you have to order copies of your book to sign. You can't use author copies because of the proof mark. So authors who make graffic novels, and who self publish through KDP, do this all the time. They may purchase 100 copies or more at a time to resell at trade shows.
Thanks do much! Excellent insights! 😊
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks! Just wanted to note that I have sent author copies to different addresses. I'm in Australia and have sent to NZ and Canada as gifts. You just have to choose the appropriate marketplace (and pay shipping as you mentioned.)
Good to know, thanks Wendy.
Thanks for your insightful video 🎉
My pleasure!
hey craig, i have a question, fro some reasons my pages do not show up on the right, but on the bottom it says have 130 pages, but i can not see them for some reason, could u help me out please?
I'm not sure what you're talking about, I need a little more detail.
Thanks for the great video.
Craig, do you use inDesign very much? If so, I would really appreciate a training video on the easy way to create a table of contents. I've made many books over the years using this program and now logbooks and i just give up each time I try to learn how to make the table of contents. I end up creating them manually and it's extremely time consuming and becomes a nightmare when I want to change things around. Most of my pages are logbook tables, with no separate title on the page outside of the table. If that makes sense. I've watched numerous videos on TH-cam but they just target paragraphs with chapter titles. Mine don't have those. I really need help. ❤️
In your situation, I think manually is the only way to create the Table of Contents. To use the TOC feature in InDesign, you would at the very least need a heading (title) outside of the logbook table. The software won't recognize the title inside of the table. I should make a video on that subject though. If I find a way to make your situation work, I'll include it in the video.
Thanks, that's probably why I can't find information on it. And to top it off, I create a lot of parent pages which I suspect might cause issues with creating a ToC, but I dont know for sure.
Please tell me you don't have to BUY a library card in America?
I don't know about the US, but you do in Canada. lol
@@CraigBabin In the UK we have to pay £1 if we lose our card, but not pay for the actual card.
@@sdff3965 A library card in Canada is around $2, so it's not expensive.
I've never had to buy an American library card
@@michelethe80sbaby As a Canadian I can't complain, I've never had to pay for Health Care. lol
The Canucks come through again! Thanks.
Ha ha. You're welcome!
I want honest reviews for my first book. Also , I need to ask a few questions.
All reviews should be honest and a review on a book that was given as a gift can still be honest.
@@CraigBabin yes ik . I mean serious reviews. Can you help ?
@@manumalhotra8752 This video shows you a few ways on how to get those first initial reviews on your book. Once your book starts selling because of those initial reviews, it will all come down to how good of a product you made. At the end of the day, 90% of your reviews are going to come from making a product that people want and enjoy. I really don't believe that there is a secret way to get reviews, other than create good books.
People will leave a review today if they are happy or sad about the purchase, or so I believe.
The vast majority of people don't leave reviews, the ones that do are either really happy with the purchase or really hate it. That's why most reviews are either 4 or 5 star, or 1 star. 2 or 3 star reviews are from people that are just content with the product, and they very rarely leave reviews.
@@CraigBabin I am a rookie still. I sold 35 books organically but I haven not received any reviews. I don't know how to feel about that, to tell you the truth :)
From my experience, I get about 1 review per 50 sales on average.
Hi Craig, I have something around one of your covers. I dont want to post it here. Can I email you?
Unfortunately, I don't open any files via email, too much hacking going on today. You can message me the photo via Instagram @mrcraigbabin.