Graham Downs reviewed Amazon Decoded by David Gaughran
Review of 'Amazon Decoded' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This is a useful little tome. I learnt a lot - more than I thought I would, in fact.
I wasn't aware, for example, of the difference between the Popularity List and the Bestseller list, and how there's a lag on the Popularity list which could explain a spike in sales days after a promo ends.
I follow David Gaughran everywhere (so should you, or anyone looking to sell more books), so naturally, I was already aware of the time when he completely stuffed up the Also Boughts on his historical fiction book by recommending it to writers. I had no idea, though, just how big a problem it was, or how difficult it would be to recover from.
Other things I did know. Like the fact that Amazon allows indies two categories, but careful keyword selection can increase that number dramatically. The problem is, I'd forgotten all about things …
This is a useful little tome. I learnt a lot - more than I thought I would, in fact.
I wasn't aware, for example, of the difference between the Popularity List and the Bestseller list, and how there's a lag on the Popularity list which could explain a spike in sales days after a promo ends.
I follow David Gaughran everywhere (so should you, or anyone looking to sell more books), so naturally, I was already aware of the time when he completely stuffed up the Also Boughts on his historical fiction book by recommending it to writers. I had no idea, though, just how big a problem it was, or how difficult it would be to recover from.
Other things I did know. Like the fact that Amazon allows indies two categories, but careful keyword selection can increase that number dramatically. The problem is, I'd forgotten all about things like that. Also, the idea that you can actually combine multiple keywords into single phrases to save slots makes a lot of sense. I haven't looked into my keywords in a while; definitely time to go and do a double-check for all my books.
Mr Gaughran is obviously really passionate about this stuff. If you didn't know that already from following him all over social media, and reading his other non-fiction, you'll know it after reading this book.
My only issue with it is (and this may seem obvious, but bear with me) that it's very Amazon-centric. The idea of publishing wide, as opposed to being in Select/Kindle Unlimited, is touched on only very briefly. In fact, the existence of any other retailers at all is only acknowledged in the context of how badly they're screwing up when it comes to competing with Amazon. It's clear that David believes that being in KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited is, quite simply, the best way for an author to make money.
I don't dispute that. I think people make a crapton of money by being exclusive to Amazon and having their books enrolled in KU. But, as anyone who follows me knows, I have a philosophical problem with that. One that can't be solved by the promise of personally making more money. I believe that by virtue of Kindle Unlimited, and other KDP Select perks, Amazon has been single-handedly responsible for putting numerous other ebook retailers out of business. And their employees out of work, and their families out of food.
In fact, when readers in a country (South Africa) which doesn't even have an Amazon presense - and where Kindle Unlimited isn't even available - would rather head off to a US company and buy books in US dollars, paying inflated exchange rates and conversion fees, than go to a site which allows them to buy books in their native currency, we have a problem.
Obviously, this book's not about trying to solve that problem. It's about how to make money off Amazon by understanding how their algorithm works. But you know what? A certain amount of social responsibility is required, and I for one would be prepared to sacrifice a good deal of personal, short-term success if it meant long-term success for the industry.
Anyway, I still think David Gaughran is an amazing man with an amazing brain, and you should follow him if you want to know how to make money as a self-published author... and to be fair, his other books do talk about making money off other retailers too. And he recently did a live Q&A on Kobo's Facebook Page, so it's not like he's not all for supporting other retailers. It's just, reading this book cold, that's the impression you're likely to get.
This book isn't available for sale anywhere, so the only way to get it is to sign up for David's mailing list at davidgaughran.com/. Which I (obviously) highly recommend that you do!
