What happens after the click

January 14, 2014 by Jeffrey Bruner

Authors:

How many readers do you think buy your book after they click on a link in the daily email?

Three out of four? Two out of three? Half?

Would you believe 20 percent?

Yep.

I've been part of the Amazon Affiliates program for about three weeks now and it's generating a lot of great data in addition to some money that will help market the website soon.

I'm seeing how many clicks to Amazon each book gets as well as how many Amazon copies are sold. It's not uncommon to see 13 clicks and 2 sales. I've seen books with 30 clicks and 3 sales.

Getting readers to click on your book in the daily email is only half the battle. Just look at your Amazon page to see what I'm talking about:

Distractions. Amazon makes it easy to leave your page and never come back. Free two-day shipping for college students? Click here. Daily deals? Click here. Best books of the year! Click here. Is there anything you can do about this? No, not really. Unless your name is Jeff Bezos and I don't think he subscribes to the author newsletter.
Your cover. It's slightly larger on the Amazon page than in the newsletter. Does it still look professional? Or are its flaws visible when magnified a little bit?
Also boughts. You'll see three or four books that "customers who bought this item also bought." If you've published several books, hopefully these books will be some of your other titles. But that might not be the case. Is there a book here with more reviews and a 4+ star rating that costs $2 less than your book? If the answer is yes, then you need to make sure your price is competitive.
Book description. Your book has a marketing blurb and it has a book description. They are not the same thing, so why are you saying the same thing in both places? Do not waste this precious real estate — use it to close the sale!

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