By Tony Field
A self published New Zealand author has hit Amazon.com’s bestseller list.
Author Oli Hille released his e-book six days ago and has already sold more than 1,000 copies.
The book has entered the motivational and personal transformation genres’ top ten lists.
Mr Hille says the low cost, 99c for each download, is major factor in the book selling.
“The price point is so low it’s an impulse purchase. People who have never heard of me can just have a look at the cover, have a look at the title, and go, 'Yes, I want to go with it',” says Mr Hille.
But it takes more than a cheap price to sell books and Mr Hille spent months building up his profile on social media sites such as Twitter.
“To get that initial impact I think it’s really important to have social media presence. It’s like launching anything – you need to have some buzz,” he says.
And that’s a smart strategy according to Jocelyn Watkins, a writer who also teaches seminars on how to publish your own work.
“Don’t wait until you have finished the book to start thinking about distribution. Start working on that when you start writing your book. Start using Twitter, start using Facebook, even start putting extracts of your work up on your blog sites,” says Ms Watkins.
Ms Watkins says self-published – whether it’s an e-book or a paper book – should not mean amateurish.
“You get the book printed by a professional printing company, you get the book edited by a proper editor. That’s not your mum by the way, or your high school teacher, that’s a professional editor,” she says.
Both writers believe self-published books have a big future.
Mr Hille is already working on his next book – a science fiction novel he hopes to turn into a screenplay.
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