There are a lot of people who have wanted to become a writer but could not do it due to a lack of resources, profitability in writing books, and fear of rejection from traditional publishing houses. However, the good thing is that modern tools and technologies allow anyone and everyone to become a writer if they want.
Platforms like Amazon make it possible for you to sell your books, e-books, and short stories online and earn a significant amount of money. This article on how to sell short stories on Amazon will tell you all about the important factors you have to consider to become a successful short stories writer and make a significant amount of money through it.
Follow these major steps to successfully sell short stories on Amazon:
1. Decide a Theme
Once you start thinking about selling short stories on Amazon, there is a high chance that you already have a topic or theme in mind. Even if you don’t, your first step in this entire journey of writing a short story for Amazon should be to decide on a theme that will attract people.
It is a very important step for people who want to sell books and stories. It is not always necessary that a story that you write for your passion also sells and helps you make money. Therefore, your goal should be to strike a perfect balance between your passion and monetization by writing about the topics that are trending and best-selling on Amazon.
2. Make the Final Product
There are various steps that you have to follow for writing any kind of book or short story. You can find a lot of information on the internet in the form of blogs, videos, and courses to learn how to write stories in an engaging manner.
It is also possible that you might not be a writer yourself and might only be interested in selling stories. In such a situation, you should consider hiring ghostwriters from platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or any other platform to write the story for you. You can even hire cover designers and marketers to take care of all the aspects involved in writing, marketing, and selling stories on Amazon.
3. Launch Strategy
Just because you are not writing and publishing a book through traditional channels does not mean that you should not focus on the launch and marketing strategies. In fact, it becomes even more important when you don’t have the backing of a large-scale publisher.
You should utilize all of the available channels, like social media marketing, to promote your short story. You can consider releasing the short stories to a few fans first and try to get good reviews on social media so that more people will be attracted to buy your short stories on Amazon.
4. Book Cover and Description
If you are going to sell multiple short stories on Amazon, it is better to convert them into a comprehensive book with proper cover, description, and categories to enhance readability. Keep in mind that most potential customers are likely to make up their minds about your book from its thumbnail.
Therefore, whether you want to sell one specific short story or a collection of short stories, you should design an attractive cover and thumbnail to grab the attention of a maximum number of people. Don’t ignore the significance of this strategy because you can end up losing a significant number of customers.
5. Book Category
It is very important to choose the right category on Amazon when you are uploading your short stories. Amazon allows you to put your book into two categories. However, you can put them in even more categories by emailing the customer support system.
When you are selling short stories specifically, you will have to choose the “short reads” categories. This category typically has books that require only a few hours to read. You can also list your short stories in the main categories to reach more people, but keep in mind that the competition in the main categories is also very high.
Conclusion – Why Sell Short Stories?
If you are still wondering why you should learn how to sell short stories on Amazon, you should consider the following benefits of selling short stories on Amazon:
- Short stories are quicker to write, market, and sell to customers. Hence, you can expect to make more money in lesser time.
- You can make significant passive income by selling short stories.
- The number of books and short e-books on Amazon is rapidly increasing, along with the users of Amazon. You can reach a lot of people through Amazon.
Therefore, if you are passionate about writing and selling short stories, you should definitely follow the strategies discuss above to sell short stories on Amazon.