I made a living out of self-publishing and started a business out of it

Recently I was reading blogposts by self-publishers who exploit many different platforms in order to reach a larger audience. I am not a huge fan of the “wide” approach. What has worked for me was being focused on one platform: Amazon. I have been immersed full-time in the Amazon self-publishing business since last September, and now I am making a living out of it. Yesterday my net royalties were about $150. (Which means that in a single day people spent over $500 on my books on Amazon).

Having a book that sells on Amazon is like owning a piece of virtual real estate. It is also a great complement to an activity. I don’t think there is one thing in particular that makes a book successful, but there are definitely many aspects concurring to form a great product: from the cover to the interior design, the description, formatting, keywords, categories, advertising banners, etc.

Having published two dozen books so far, I have formed a solid network of a few trusted collaborators. Working closely alongside them, and exploiting their technical expertise, I have become proficient at delivering top products optimized for the Amazon platform. This close collaboration made my team and I all extremely knowledgeable in the Amazon system specifically.

Having tried and failed different strategies is what helped me understand what works. Not only that, but I am now able to leverage that knowledge to help others who do not have time to delve so deep into topics such as keyword research, book covers, book descriptions and so on. Together with my partner, we help people get their manuscript self-published on Amazon
(https://nowpublished.carrd.co) . We take care of everything that is involved in that process. This way we can assure that none of the key aspects of what makes a book successful will be neglected.