How Many Books By The Foot For Decorating Actually Sell

Update: Read Brent's interview with the Observer about the response to publishing a fake volume on Amazon, and how information technology unexpectedly became a real 1 in the process.

I would like to tell yous virtually the biggest lie in book publishing. Information technology appears in the biographies and social media profiles of almost every working "author" today. It'south the give-and-take "all-time seller."

This isn't about how The New York Times list is biased ( though it is ). This isn't almost how authors buy their way onto various national best-seller lists by buying their own books in bulk ( though they do ). No, this is well-nigh the far more than insidious title of "Amazon Bestseller"—and how it's consummate and utter nonsense.

Here's what happened in the book industry over the last few years: Equally Amazon has go the large dog in the volume earth, the "Amazon Bestseller" status has come up to exist synonymous with being an actual bestseller . This is non true, and I can prove it.

*****

Concluding calendar week, I put up a fake volume on Amazon. I took a photo of my foot, uploaded to Amazon, and in a thing of hours, had achieved "No. 1 Best Seller" status, consummate with the orange banner and everything.

How many copies did I need to sell be able to recall my female parent and celebrate my newfound authorial achievements? 3. Yes, a total of three copies to go a best-selling author. And I bought two of those copies myself!

The reason people aspire to call themselves "bestselling author" is because it dramatically increases your credibility and "personal brand." It can institute you as a idea leader. You lot're able to show that you not just wrote a volume, but that the market place has judged it to exist better than other books out there. It'south a status symbol, one of that cashes in on the prestige of i of man'due south oldest past-times. At concluding, I had acquired this coveted title for myself.

I'm a partner at a marketing visitor called Contumely Bank check . Over the years, we've helped launch 30 legitimate New York Times best sellers (including several at the sought-later No. one spot). My company has helped sell over five million books and advised or managed book launches with every major publishing house, including Amazon.

We have important rules at my company well-nigh the projects we accept on. Nosotros don't piece of work with authors whose books nosotros wouldn't read ourselves, and nosotros don't guarantee best-seller condition. We say no to more work than we say yes to, but these principles help united states of america avoid the gimmicky, one-hit-wonders who aren't looking to write dandy books but instead are looking to play tricks people into thinking they have.

But information technology'due south begun to experience a chip like a losing battle. Because those authors are everywhere these days. The championship of my fake volume was "Putting My Foot Down" for a reason: I've get utterly exhausted with phony "authors" and the scam artists and charlatans who conspire with these folks–the cottage industry that has congenital up around them, selling courses, instructions and hacks. A quick Google search returns dozens of " bestselling books ," courses , packages , schools , secrets , summits , and webinars teaching you how to go a "bestselling author". Hell, this guy even promises to show you how to be a bestselling author " Even if Y'all Have No Volume Ideas, Writing Skills, or Whatever Inkling Where To Start " in a "five Phase Formula."

Heart Centered Media will requite you "Guaranteed Bestseller Status" for just "iii payments of $1,333," although they let yous know "Volume Sales are NOT Guaranteed." Denise Cassino promises that with her services, "You'll forever later on be a 'Bestselling Author!' a tag that volition open doors otherwise closed to yous"…for simply $3250. Jesse Krieger over at "Bestseller Campaign Blueprint" encourages you to " Imagine looking on Amazon and seeing…Your Book on the Best-Seller Lists Side by side to Your Writer Heroes " and lets yous know he tin evangelize that dream for just $997. Peggy McColl has "Launched Perhaps MORE Bestsellers Than Any Other" and will teach yous how for only $2,497.

Sigh.

It used to be a real mark of distinction to hit the best-seller lists–because there were fewer lists and fewer authors (and before ebooks, pricing across books was pretty universal as well). The New York Times list has been the most prestigious, published in i course or another since 1931. By 1942, a national list made its debut, compiled according to "reports from leading booksellers in 22 cities." By the mid-2000s, over 4,000 bookstores were polled each calendar week to decide who deserved to be on the list. The Wall Street Journal listing, which has been effectually since 2009, is based on Nielsen Bookscan and tends to focus on a smaller number of categories. The USA Today list is also a prestigious just more of a take hold of-all list.

Any manufacture person tin can tell you these lists accept their problems. There'southward a barely concealed editorial bias . Bookscan, the database that tabulates book sales, inexplicably doesn't include Amazon'due south ebook sales. There'south fifty-fifty the possibility of manipulation, as outlined in a 2013 Wall Street Journal commodity called " The Mystery of the Book Sales Fasten ." Notwithstanding, they remain relatively hard to cleft. In almost cases, your book not only has to be good enough for a legitimate publisher to publish information technology, but you take to outsell all the other books out in that location, past and present, even if you're paying for it out of your pocket. Nosotros've had clients sell close to x,000 copies in a single week and miss landing on these charts.

Because of the high bar, the term "bestselling author" was a term with some pregnant. Information technology was seen as something that was earned through a lot of hard piece of work. Only today, that designation has changed—for the worse. It'south like when you meet a food described as "natural." The FDA doesn't actually regulate that term , then it's basically meaningless.

Information technology'south near time that readers—and the media, which breathlessly repeats the best-selling claims of these authors—wised up. So allow me evidence y'all exactly how I became a became a #1 Amazon bestseller for $2 and a photograph of my foot in less than five minutes (with screenshots and proof). Hopefully, every bit my partner Ryan has put it , once you sympathise how the sausage is fabricated, you won't want to swallow information technology any more.

Step i: Writing my volume (~2 seconds)

I didn't feel like writing a volume and then I instead just took a photo of my foot. I chosen the volume "Putting My Foot Down" and included ane folio with, you guessed it, a photograph of my pes.

Step 2: Uploading and formatting on Amazon (~three minutes)

They say picking a title is the hardest part of writing a book. Don't I know information technology!

Verifying rights and choosing categories

Amazon has their ain "bestseller" rankings for books, based upon categories. If you're in the Top 100 in your Amazon category, you will see a "bestseller ranking" below the title. A book at the #1 spot in whatsoever given category will get a "#one Best Seller" banner featured next to the title. This lets potential customers know the volume is the top-selling item in that category. If a book holds the meridian spot in a category for months, that'southward saying something. Hitting it for an 60 minutes (which is how often Amazon refreshes its rankings), screen-shotting information technology, and calling yourself a "bestselling author" for life? Well…

A few more things to know, in case you want to try this at home:

Amazon has over 500 categories for books, downward to things every bit specific every bit transpersonal movements and freemasonry studies (as y'all'll see below)
When yous publish on Amazon, Amazon allows YOU to choose the category your volume tracks in.
You lot tin set the toll of your volume, downwardly to $0.99.

I decided my pes was worthy of the "Transpersonal" category under psychology books and "Freemasonry & Surreptitious Societies" category nether social sciences books. I've ever wanted to take an affiliation with the Freemasons.

Designing my cover

Amazon features a handy "Cover Creator" that will lay text over any image and create your embrace in a matter of seconds. I chose my foot for the epitome.

Waiting for approval from Amazon

The waiting is the worst part of the process. What if Amazon rejected my human foot?

Never mind, we're approved!

Amazon page is alive

Merely a few short hours afterward, some other book is added to Amazon's extraordinary catalog. One small pace for me…ane giant leap for the digital world.

Step 3: Asking 3 friends to buy the book (~ane minute)

Aaron e'er has my back, no questions asked:

The time invested in this promotion could have been even shorter if Nick had not asked so many nettlesome questions.

Step 4: Sell some copies

Burst onto the scene with 3 copies sold in the first few hours. Look at that hockey stick growth!

Step 5: Nosotros Fabricated It! #one

Success! Just a reminder to the kids that if you work difficult, ain an iPhone with a working camera, and accept no shame, you too can exist a #1 acknowledged writer. What a thrill to see that #1 Bestseller imprint ! Time to put Drake on repeat and update my LinkedIn profile to include #ane Best Selling Writer.

Not only i list either. The book was so popular information technology likewise hit #2 and #3 in the "Freemasonry" category.

Leading the pack. Sad Monika and Ken.

Amazon is the largest book retailer in the earth. They behave over 33 1000000 titles and ship them pretty much anywhere in the globe. At the same fourth dimension Amazon also allows authors to publish titles direct onto the platform, without the approval of traditional publishers, editors, or, as my human foot book proves, really whatever barriers at all. In 2014, a new book was added to Amazon every five minutes .

Gone are the days of having to exist selected to put out a volume. Gone are the days of having to go to a bookstore to meet what is available. Now you can check online, with existent time reviews, AND, existent time "bestseller" rankings. It's unsurprising that as the barriers to entry for the book business went downwards, and so did the quality of the books being produced. These days, over 1 million books are published each twelvemonth, with at to the lowest degree half of these self-published.Then it's near obvious that, given the volume, you could game your fashion to the meridian of a category with very few sales. And nevertheless, in spite of the fact that it'southward as easy as I've shown to become an Amazon best-seller, those same people become to cash in on the goodwill and prestige build up in the title "bestselling author."

*****

I didn't write this to make my pes famous. I wrote this post because I'grand tired of vanity titles and success without quality. I besides wanted to testify how simple it is to call yourself a acknowledged author, in the hopes that people buying books become more discerning customers. Remember, if I tin brand my foot a "bestselling author" for nether 3 dollars and a few minutes of piece of work, y'all should accept whatever person presenting themselves as such with a grain of salt.

For the authors: I promise my story illustrates that the best marketing tactic yous can use for a book is to write a great book that really sells over the long term. It'southward easy to be seduced by best-seller lists, sales numbers, speaking fees, and all the ephemera in this industry. Don't allow all of that make you lose sight of the importance of quality and dominance in your work. Anyone can be a one-hit wonder; focus on crafting a book that will sell for decades.

As for me and my foot, I'm awaiting a motion picture studio's phone call for the film rights and plugging abroad on the sequel. The working title is "Put the Right Foot Frontward." New York Times list, hither we come.

Author's update: I've written a revised and expanded version of Putting my Foot Downwards, which you can detect here.

Brent Underwood is the No. i b est-selling author of " Putting My Foot Downwards" and a partner at Brass Bank check . Behind the Scam: What Does It Take to Be a 'Best-Selling Author'? $3 and 5 Minutes.