#1 Best Seller

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. In other words, if you buy I make a little money.

Under the topic of "Nothing means anything anymore," my first book, Proteus Begins, has just become a #1 Best Seller (on Amazon).

Now, before we go all crazy with champagne and caviar, it actually means very little (to me, at least). And it only lasted 3 days. But, here it is. Immortalized.

Truthfully, becoming a #1 Best Seller on Amazon is not particularly difficult. It takes a strategy, a little cash, a smattering of luck, and some desire to pester friends and family. But you, too, can become a #1 Best Seller.

To do it, you have to be willing to play with Amazon’s algorithm and lean against your morals a little. Not much. I mean, if you get to #1, Amazon’s making money. So where’s the crime?

I did it to see if I could. It was an experiment, and it worked. And, forever I can show people the picture above and say I was a #1 Best Seller.

It's the Categories, of Course

First, you have to do a little research. Amazon has a trazillion book categories. You have to pick one that your book could be considered as a worthy entrant for that category. My trilogy, Proteus Unbound, is hard science fiction that explores the evolution of artificial intelligence.

When I published the first book in the trilogy in 2020, I chose three categories (you can only choose three when you publish on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing).

I chose:

• fiction->science fiction and fantasy->hard science

• fiction->science fiction and fantasy->adventure

• fiction->science fiction and fantasy->humor

I didn't know what I was doing, so these seem to make the most sense. The highest I ever reached in any of those categories was like #30,000 best seller. Hardly a best anything.

Then I started hearing talk of a strategy to sell more books by choosing categories more wisely. The way to do this is to find categories where your book can fit and where the category doesn't currently have a lot of sales and are less active. I used a software product called Publisher Rocket from Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur to find categories that were ripe for the picking.

If you're not familiar with Dave Chesson, check him out. I don't know him personally, but he makes outstanding software for publishing on Amazon and seems to be a nice guy. He is constantly doing research, making videos, and releasing software to help authors sell their books.

I used Publisher Rocket to find new categories:

• Kindle eBooks-> Engineering & Transportation-> Engineering->Mechanical->Robotics

• Kindle eBooks->Computers & Technology->Computer Science->Computer Engineering

• Books-> Computers & Technology->Computer Science->Cybernetics

I feel relatively confident that my book could fit into these categories. My books have AIs and cyborgs as characters. And, these categories are actually dual categories, meaning they combine fiction and non-fiction. So, there you go; perfect fit.

As an example of how loose these categories are, look at one of the categories I used for my newest book, Accelerate the Multiverse:

• Kindle eBooks->Computers & Technology->Tech Culture & Computer Literacy->Virtual Reality

Check it out:

Oh, my! Who am I to compete with VR vixens? But there I am, trying it out. I think I need to update my categories. No one is going to find me here.

Price for Sales

With my new categories selected, I reduced the price to $0.99. This is a short-term thing, and it's worth it, because if people read Proteus Begins, there's a chance they will want to read the next two books in the series and pay the regular price. They get a great reading experience and I get a piece of the Amazon pie. Win-win!

Remember, the Best Seller status doesn’t consider price, just sales. $0.99 is the lowest you can set for an ebook on Amazon (unless you make it free, but then it’s not a sale).

Marketing and Groveling

Now that I was priced to rock-n-roll, I needed eyeballs to see my book and buy. So, I implemented a multi-faceted strategy.

First, I executed a combination of promotions. Online newsletters and Facebook groups exist that allow you to advertise your book if you’re having a sale. These are all over the Internet. Some are paid and some are free.

Second, I paid for advertising campaigns on Facebook and Amazon. Digital advertising is a whole thing in itself, and maybe a later newsletter.

Finally, I posted on my personal Facebook page to appeal to family and friends to help me out.

Then, I just had to wait.

And, lo-and-behold, by the end of day three, I was a #1 Best Seller. Proteus Begins actually made to #1 in two of the new categories and to #2 in the third.

In the end, I spent about $75 and sold 12 books. At $0.99 per book, I brought in $4.20 (after Amazon took the lion’s share) for a net loss of about $70. But, I am forever a two-time #1 Best Seller.

Sorry Virginia, There is No Santa Claus

When you see an author is a #1 Best Seller, recall my tale. Most likely, unless they are a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or USA Today Best Seller, they probably did, or paid someone to do, something similar to what I did.

If I had continued to pump money into advertising my book, I might have been able to remain at number one. But, remember, these are unpopular categories, so I would probably never see explosive sales or even cover my advertising expenses.

A best seller doesn't mean the book is any good (although I like my books). It just means someone has figured out the game and toyed with the algorithm. This goes for the stalwarts I just mentioned—they can be played, too.

It's how we roll in the 21st century. Just because AIs are smart, it doesn’t mean they aren’t dumb.

You can do it, too—if you write and publish something on Amazon, do some research, spend some dough, and hound your friends and family.

The next newsletter will be more sciency, I promise. I mean, did any of you see this?

Happy reading and happy writing!