>My last two books hit #1, and then dropped down to hover in the top 25 of the niche.
Congratulations on hitting number one. Was this an orange ribbon #1? If not, perhaps you're looking at the wrong thing.
At any stage of your KDP publishing journey, there is only one rank to pay attention to, and it's the overall store rank. You could be #800,000 in the Kindle Store yet still be #1 in eBooks > Category > Subcategory > Subcategory > Subcategory > Subcategory, and in general this provides zero anchoring information to how well your book is doing in the overall scheme of things.
It may be more helpful for you to identify the actual store rank you've attained and want to go up to, so the rest of us have an idea of where you are on your journey.
Hey!! I did it!!
[I got the orange ribbon this morning.](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DAaPcwvJyOWXaF4CVW-o-9DtcwYC33lQ/view?usp=sharing)
I would not have known to look for it if you had not mentioned it. Thank you again for your advice. I appreciate you speaking this possibility into existence!
I have not; however, I see you posting here all the time, so I’ll get right on that one. I’m on Wordpress so I can set that up pretty quickly.
Thank you! I really appreciate the help.
Sure thing! A mailing list is the quickest, easiest way to communicate to your readers that you have a new book. Just keep your campaigns as clean as you can. Mailing list providers tend to be unfriendly towards erotic content.
Not OP and I don't know if they is relevant to Wordpress, but companies like MailChimp are legally obliged to put an address for you on the email.
You obviously don't want to put your home address on an email to strangers. The best (i.e. cheapest) way around this seems to be a virtual po box.
Hope you don't mind me snooping through your post history.
a) Get some more stock photos so your books stand out from one another, or make the covers more distinct. At thumbnail size, I can't really tell them apart, nor is the single line of colour enough. Watch out for that side boob too—it might be enough to bite you in the ass later.
b) Make your title and subtitle fonts bigger. They're borderline impossible to read.
c) Rewrite your blurbs. They're not particularly steamy or sexy, and you don't need to precede them with any recount(s) of the previous book(s) Trust that the reader will find book X in your series and then backtrack to the first one or just read the one they want.
You're up against romance novels and those huge erotica collections in your categories so you won't hold the top for long, but it's cool that you did.
And there's an author in your niche hitting rank 15k, so imo if you fix your passive marketing, your chances of getting up there and holding with them will be better.
Holy smoley. Wow. Thank you so much for snooping. I’m a writer and absolutely struggle with my covers and feel lost on every single thing you mentioned.
I’m pretty sure I know the author you are refering too and you are right, I should study their model more.
Shoddyw, thank you. I really appreciate the feedback. I’m going to try every single one of these things :-).
You'll get better with practice 👍 and there's always the Monday critique thread.
Also try swapping out solid blocks of black for a gradient that fades in or out from/to zero opacity (see that author as an example). You'll find instructions on how to do that via Google for whichever program you're using.
Woah. The great advice keeps coming. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement.
I just finished writing up your list in my journal for next weeks task list!! Hahaha. Talk about timing!! Imma add this on as well.
Thanks!!
>My last two books hit #1, and then dropped down to hover in the top 25 of the niche. Congratulations on hitting number one. Was this an orange ribbon #1? If not, perhaps you're looking at the wrong thing. At any stage of your KDP publishing journey, there is only one rank to pay attention to, and it's the overall store rank. You could be #800,000 in the Kindle Store yet still be #1 in eBooks > Category > Subcategory > Subcategory > Subcategory > Subcategory, and in general this provides zero anchoring information to how well your book is doing in the overall scheme of things. It may be more helpful for you to identify the actual store rank you've attained and want to go up to, so the rest of us have an idea of where you are on your journey.
Thank you for your advice.
Hey!! I did it!! [I got the orange ribbon this morning.](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DAaPcwvJyOWXaF4CVW-o-9DtcwYC33lQ/view?usp=sharing) I would not have known to look for it if you had not mentioned it. Thank you again for your advice. I appreciate you speaking this possibility into existence!
Have you started a mailing list?
I have not; however, I see you posting here all the time, so I’ll get right on that one. I’m on Wordpress so I can set that up pretty quickly. Thank you! I really appreciate the help.
Sure thing! A mailing list is the quickest, easiest way to communicate to your readers that you have a new book. Just keep your campaigns as clean as you can. Mailing list providers tend to be unfriendly towards erotic content.
Not OP and I don't know if they is relevant to Wordpress, but companies like MailChimp are legally obliged to put an address for you on the email. You obviously don't want to put your home address on an email to strangers. The best (i.e. cheapest) way around this seems to be a virtual po box.
Excellent information. I really appreciate your input.
Hope you don't mind me snooping through your post history. a) Get some more stock photos so your books stand out from one another, or make the covers more distinct. At thumbnail size, I can't really tell them apart, nor is the single line of colour enough. Watch out for that side boob too—it might be enough to bite you in the ass later. b) Make your title and subtitle fonts bigger. They're borderline impossible to read. c) Rewrite your blurbs. They're not particularly steamy or sexy, and you don't need to precede them with any recount(s) of the previous book(s) Trust that the reader will find book X in your series and then backtrack to the first one or just read the one they want. You're up against romance novels and those huge erotica collections in your categories so you won't hold the top for long, but it's cool that you did. And there's an author in your niche hitting rank 15k, so imo if you fix your passive marketing, your chances of getting up there and holding with them will be better.
Holy smoley. Wow. Thank you so much for snooping. I’m a writer and absolutely struggle with my covers and feel lost on every single thing you mentioned. I’m pretty sure I know the author you are refering too and you are right, I should study their model more. Shoddyw, thank you. I really appreciate the feedback. I’m going to try every single one of these things :-).
You'll get better with practice 👍 and there's always the Monday critique thread. Also try swapping out solid blocks of black for a gradient that fades in or out from/to zero opacity (see that author as an example). You'll find instructions on how to do that via Google for whichever program you're using.
Woah. The great advice keeps coming. Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I just finished writing up your list in my journal for next weeks task list!! Hahaha. Talk about timing!! Imma add this on as well. Thanks!!