Five years ago,
all a writer had to do
was list a few books
using the same keyword
at Amazon
and Amazon’s search engines
would send traffic her way.
Today, there are many writers
bidding aggressively
for those generic keywords.
The chances of being ‘gifted’
exposure
based on generic keywords
are low.
It is now extremely rare
to have my books
‘discovered’ by unknown readers
on Amazon.
I bring MY readers to Amazon.
Owning my pen name
as a keyword
makes it easier
for MY readers to find me.
How do I do this?
“The hard part
is showing up
in the right way,
in the right places,
for enough time
that people decide
to seek you
or your word out
in the first place.
The hard part is in
doing the deliberate,
slow work
of earning permission,
building a tiny circle,
the smallest viable audience.
Over time, the tribe embraces you,
the word (your word)
becomes the shortcut
to get more of what you offer.”
Don’t count on receiving
search engine love.
Do the hard work
of building your own customer base.