Breaking Free: Why Direct Sales Might Be For You – Part One
By: Ginger | Posted on July 5, 2024
Welcome to the first part of Ginger’s ongoing series about direct sales. In this series, he’ll explore why self-published authors should consider selling books directly to readers, rather than relying solely on traditional online book platforms. As we’ve discussed before, authors face significant challenges in gaining visibility on sites dominated by advertising. Even when readers click on an ad, making an immediate purchase isn’t always straightforward, and the delay in receiving payment can be frustrating. Direct sales offer a way to bypass these obstacles, presenting an appealing alternative to traditional eBook stores. However, it’s not for everyone. Over the next few weeks, Ginger will guide us through the benefits of the direct sales model, his personal reasons for choosing this path, the steps involved in setting it up, and the actual results he has seen since starting. Back last year, Craig and I were excited to have Steve Pieper as… Read More >
Major Court Ruling Opens New Path for Mobile eBook Sales
By: Ginger | Posted on May 16, 2025
Trying to entice readers to buy more of your books through their mobile devices has been unnecessarily cumbersome for a long time, but we’re finally seeing a ray of hope. The battle between Epic Games and Apple has shaken the digital landscape, and the most recent ruling may have cracked open the paywall dead-ends and begun to loosen Apple’s grip on in-app purchases. It is already leading to meaningful changes that create a clearer path to smoother eBook sales and better returns for authors. As Ginger explains in this week’s blog, this is not just another tech industry headline. It is a glimmer of hope for authors struggling to simplify the buying process for readers, and Amazon has already pushed through an update to the iOS Kindle app to reflect these changes. Read on to understand what the court decisions mean, what has changed, and how these shifts might help… Read More >
Build a Book Sales Funnel That Converts
By: Ginger | Posted on May 9, 2025
Building a successful book sales funnel is not just about clever ads or a polished website. It’s about guiding your readers from curiosity to purchase in a smooth, reliable way. If you’re selling eBooks directly to readers, even small issues like a slow-loading page or a confusing checkout can cause them to drop off before they buy. In today’s blog, Ginger breaks down how to build a book sales funnel that truly converts. Drawing from his own direct sales experience and use of a variety of tools, he shares tips on writing effective Facebook ads, optimizing landing pages, and streamlining your checkout process. Any author looking to create a reliable sales funnel that leads readers straight from interest to purchase will find this guide indispensable. The fundamental goal of storytelling is to take your readers on a journey, leading them on a path that makes them feel one initial emotion,… Read More >
Should you advertise direct to your Series Page?
By: Ginger | Posted on December 24, 2021
It’s an unfortunate reality that many authors cringe when they hear that Amazon has made yet another change to their storefront with regards to how product pages are displayed or laid out. After all, it seems like more often than not those changes are more of a benefit to Amazon than to the actual author whose book is being sold on that page. So it’s a welcome relief to learn that they’ve finally added something that is actually useful. For authors that like to write books as part of a series, Amazon now allows more customization around how your series landing page looks and acts, making it a much more powerful tool for selling multiple books. Here’s Ginger with how you can start taking advantage of this! It’s a pretty well-established fact that the most successful self-published authors tend to write multiple books – often as part of a… Read More >
Increase Book Sales with In-house Promotions
By: Erin Wright | Posted on August 14, 2020
One of the things that sets wide storefronts apart from Amazon is the hand-curated element to their sales. Unlike Amazon, where your placement in the store depends on how much you’re willing to spend on AMS ads, the promotion of books on all the other online storefronts is handled in a completely different way. Author and going-wide expert Erin Wright explains how to increase your book sales by getting featured in these in-house promotions. Here’s a run down of what you need to know for each of the major wide storefronts. GooglePlay GooglePlay is the easiest storefront to cover: They don’t do in-house promos, period. The books that are shown to a customer are 100% driven by algorithms. If I pull up https://play.google.com, I’ll see a very different storefront than when you pull up the same URL. This means that more than any other wide storefront, it’s very important that… Read More >
Amazon Terminated My KDP Account. Here’s How I Got It Back.
By: Ginger | Posted on September 18, 2026
For independent authors, few things are more terrifying than logging into KDP and discovering that Amazon has terminated your account. In an instant, years of work, thousands of reviews, and a major source of income can disappear, sometimes without warning and even when you believe you have followed every rule. And when a company relies so heavily on automation to enforce those rules, this sort of nightmare can happen all too easily, as Ginger discovered firsthand this summer. But instead of accepting Amazon’s repeated insistence that its decision was final, Ginger fought on. This week, he recounts the steps he took to get his KDP account reinstated, including the one that finally forced the corporate giant to give the case a genuine human review. Ginger’s experience offers both a potential path forward for authors facing an unfair termination of their own publishing account, and a powerful reminder of the risks… Read More >
How AI Is Changing Self-Publishing
By: Ginger | Posted on July 17, 2026
The rise of self-publishing platforms like KDP dramatically lowered the barriers to becoming an author, opening the door for countless writers to publish books that might never have found a home through traditional publishing. AI has lowered those barriers even further, but this time the industry has responded with far less enthusiasm. As low-quality AI-generated books continue to flood online marketplaces, Amazon has responded with new policies designed to slow the tide without closing the door on AI entirely. In this week’s blog, Ginger examines what these changes mean for legitimate authors and the future of self-publishing. Reducing publishing limits and requiring AI disclosure can only do so much, but will they really address the growing challenges around discoverability, reader trust, and author income? Regardless of where you stand on AI, these industry shifts are likely to affect your publishing career, making it more important than ever to understand the… Read More >
Turn Your Book Into a Trophy with a Special Edition
By: Ginger | Posted on June 26, 2026
For many self-published authors, publishing a physical copy of their book is little more than an eBook afterthought. But a growing trend among readers who first discover books digitally is beginning to change that. Increasingly, readers are purchasing special edition paperback and hardcover copies of stories that had a meaningful emotional impact on them, not because they need another way to read the book, but because they want to own it. These keepsake editions often end up proudly displayed on bookshelves, serving as trophies that commemorate a memorable reading experience. This week, Ginger explores this shift in reader purchasing habits and the opportunity it creates for authors willing to think beyond standard print-on-demand options. From understanding the psychology behind collectible books to exploring the design and production choices that can transform a paperback into a premium product, he outlines a variety of ways authors can create physical editions that readers… Read More >
The Kindle Shutdown Wake Up Call
By: Ginger | Posted on May 15, 2026
The Kindle has never simply been an e-reader, but rather the device that launched the publishing revolution that allowed independent authors to bypass traditional gatekeepers and start building their writing careers. That’s why Amazon’s recent decision to cut older Kindle devices off from the Kindle Store has sparked a much larger conversation that goes far beyond outdated hardware, raising questions around ownership, platform dependency, and just how much control tech companies ultimately have over the digital products and platforms we rely on. In this week’s blog, Ginger examines what this shutdown means not only for readers with aging devices, but for authors who have built businesses inside the Kindle ecosystem. From the rise of KDP and the explosion of indie publishing to growing concerns around manufactured obsolescence and digital ownership, he explores the hidden risks of building your career entirely on someone else’s platform and why this moment may be… Read More >
Optimize Your Books for the Amazon A10 Algorithm
By: Ginger | Posted on May 8, 2026
For years, authors have learned how to game the system, tweaking keywords, stacking categories, and driving short bursts of sales to climb the rankings on Amazon. But many of those techniques no longer work the way they used to, leaving authors wondering why their marketing efforts are falling flat and their visibility is slipping. The A10 algorithm has fundamentally changed how books are discovered and promoted on the platform. In this week’s blog, Ginger breaks down what these changes really mean for authors and why they demand a new approach to positioning, marketing, and sustaining your books over time. Visibility is no longer about quick wins or clever tricks, but about aligning your book with real reader intent, improving conversion on your listings, and building consistent engagement that signals long term value. If you want your books to stay visible in 2026 and beyond, this is a shift you cannot… Read More >
