How Ebook Series at Amazon Boost your Book Sales

The most important thing right at the beginning: when I'm talking about series here, I don't mean classic sequels. I am talking about a series of completed novels that always deal with the same characters.

It is crucial that the reader does not have to know all the previous books to understand the latest book in the series. For series whose books build on each other, the number of readers decreases from book to book. In a series where each book stands alone, however, it increases.

Also, I write here exclusively about my experiences with Amazon, since I sell my books only there.

So if you want to read something about marketing serial stories or don't want to offer your books exclusively on Amazon, you should stop reading now.

Are you still here? Great, I'll get going. Let's start with the general advantages of a series:

1. new books sell old books

I experience it again and again - when I publish a new book in one of my series, all the other books in the same series follow at a slight time lag.

That's a pretty cool effect because actually, books at Amazon are getting lower and lower if you don't do something about it.

2. old books sell new books

Someone bought my latest book and read it to the end. There he will find links to the older books of the series, starting with part 1. This is the mechanism I described above.

But there are also lesser people who search in the sub-categories and may first come across the fourth book of the series and buy it there. If they read this book to the end, they will come across the links to the other books in the series. Therefore, not only do new books sell the older books, but the older books also sell each other.

3. each book in the series feeds your email list

Even readers who have read parts one through ten without signing up for your list can still become subscribers at book eleven. Some people just need more time to make up their minds.

As soon as a reader is on your email list, you can inform him directly about any new book and recommend old books he hasn't read yet. You can even draw his attention to other series you've written.

4. all books remain visible for years in the sub-categories

Book one of my Simon Stark series is from 2015 and is still sold regularly today because it remains visible in several sub-categories. This is only possible because I regularly publish new books in the series so that the effects from points 1-3 come into play.

Now that I've outlined the most significant advantages of a series, we come to the question of what you have to do to really gain all these advantages and turn all the books in the series into long-sellers. Here is your tactic.

A) publish regularly and quickly

Series are written to build a big fanbase and to make a living from writing.

If one has this claim, one must approach writing professionally and master one's craft. An essential part of this craft is timing. You have to set deadlines, book external service providers for cover and editing on time and set deadlines for them as well. Advertising slots must also be booked.

But how often should you publish at all?

I recommend that you put a new novel on the market every two months. I know this sounds very ambitious, but it's necessary.

The most significant effect is achieved by a new book when the previous one is not yet entirely obsolete. If the last book still sells well, you can advertise the latest one as a new publication at the end and win a lot of readers through this alone.

To describe a book that is older than two months as outdated may seem crazy to many people, but at Amazon, that is, unfortunately, the case.

After two months a book is no longer shown in the hot new releases and therefore loses a lot of visibility. Only a few days later, sales then collapse extremely. For this reason, the next book must be published when the previous one has just disappeared from the hot new releases. If one waits for longer, the chances dwindle that the new book will get many new readers through the older book.

But what if I can't? Thanks for the question 😉 I publish every two months, but I also write on two parallel series. I publish alternately in both series so that between two books of the same series lie four months instead of two.

There are two reasons why it still works for me.

First of all, I only started the second series when the first already had six parts and the books already supported each other. If I had paused for four months between the books of the first series from the beginning, it would never have built momentum.

Secondly, I had already earned so much money with the first series that I was able to provide new releases with ever larger marketing budgets. So what I lose today if I only publish in one series every four months, I compensate by putting more money into advertising. The most significant effect I achieve at the moment by the way through Facebook Ads.

B) use Kindle Unlimited

Seriously: Without Kindle Unlimited it has become tough to earn good money in the KDP program. The loans push the ranking, and better visibility leads to more sales. Page reads, on the other hand, already account for between 50 and 70% of the income of many authors (depending on the genre and the bonus level achieved).

As soon as a series at Kindle Unlimited goes well, the money rolls in. With my 13-part series, I manage to get an All-Star Bonus almost every month, which would certainly not be possible with single novels.

C) build up a fanbase

Serial readers are the most loyal fans you can have. I know from letters that many people have read the entire series. They are in love with the characters and are eagerly waiting for the next book.

You have to get these readers on your email list under all circumstances because Amazon does a lousy job of informing your hardcore readers about your new release.

But an e-mail list isn't the only thing you can do. I recently started a Facebook group just for my fans. Over a hundred readers joined on the first day, and since then I have been able to communicate directly with them. This is a great thing I should have done a lot sooner.

But no matter how you do it, do everything you can to get in direct contact with your readers. It's really worth it.

So if you are an experienced writer who can write good stories in quick succession, you should definitely try a series. I haven't regretted it, because today I live by writing alone. I probably couldn't have done it without my two series.