I've Tried Out His Advice And It Worked For Me
Hello, everyone!
My name is Scott Gordon (real name) and I'm a friend of Throwaway Writer via Frankenwriters (his writers group on Reddit). I write SciFi/Fantasy/Horror, but these days I find myself writing children's books more than anything. This is my first post here and I just wanted to say that I've tried out some of his advice and it's worked out quite well for me.
Back in November, when I first came across the initial Reddit thread, I had exactly one published work to my name, and had made about $8 during the last week of October. After reading his advice, I decided to publish a short story (Literary Dynamite), and try my hand at a children's book that I had an idea for (My Little Pet Dragon). November ended with about $20 in royalties and 2 additional published works. When December rolled around, I wrote three more children's books and added several translations, bringing my total works to 16 and hauling in $200. My affiliate revenue, which had been nonexistent the month before, pulled in an additional $20. Not bad, I thought.
In January I really broke out. I took his advice and released a compilation of my children's books, added a couple more original works, did a few more translations, and used KDP Select's free promotional days on a number of products. It wasn't until the 18th (my birthday, no less), that I really struck a chord with the public with my free promotion of My Little Pet Dragon. That brought me from an estimated $500-800/month (pretty good in its own right) to over $5,000.
Last month, although it was a tough, I still managed to pull in another $5,000 despite not having the same level of success on free promotions. My affiliate revenue jumped from $20 to $240, and as I continue expanding my catalog, I continue to see positive results despite the lower sales.
Putting affiliate links in your works absolutely works, and so does advertising your other books at the beginning and/or end of your novel. As Joe Konrath stated, "Your best advertisement for your work is your work," and I'm a firm believer in it. If you discipline yourself to always use affiliate links when referring to your works, you should see an immediate improvement in affiliate revenue.
One of the principles that I surmised from all this is that you need to remain in a constant state of promotion. How does Macy's motivate their customers to shop in their stores? Weekly sales. Same with e-books. Every day I'm always giving something away, and that keeps interest steady.
I could go on and on, but I just wanted to let you know that someone has found success by using Throwaway Writer's methods. I've made $10,000 in the past 2 months by publishing exclusively on Amazon--far more than I could make on a traditional contract (being a first time author, that is). Certainly I don't make $1,000/day, but I'm almost at the point where I can quit my full time job--a dream that every author hopes to achieve one day.
So thank you, Throwaway Writer. You changed my life!