What’s the secret to selling a self-published book?

You may have wondered how some self-published authors do it.

Their books seem to be selling well. They’ve reached the top of the Amazon bestseller list. And it didn’t seem to take much effort.

But books don’t just shoot to the top the second they’re published on Amazon. There’s a lot more involved behind the scenes.

Therefore, it’s not enough to publish a book to Amazon and cross your fingers—it’s not a “set it and forget it” endeavor.

Before it can be briskly selling on Amazon, it must be noticed. You must be noticed.

But how?

Book reviews! The more praise your book receives, the more willing people are going to be to take a chance on an author they’ve never heard of.

Self-publishing on Amazon is not a “set it and forget it” endeavor.

Seeing the good reviews, people are happy to buy your book—and from there it’s the snowball effect. The book starts climbing up the Amazon charts, reaching even more people, who see that it’s moving up and decide to buy it.

And over time, you go from the author nobody’s heard of to the author everyone has heard of!

This is why book reviews are so important.

Tim’s Discovery List is my way of bringing all of this together. It’s a big spreadsheet full of self-published books—and reviews—so readers can see at a glance what’s good.

And by having the reviews all in one place, it’s a lot easier for people to find books they want to read.

You are welcome to add your book to the List. If you have reviews, you can add those as well, but if not, be sure to start reaching out to bloggers to review your book.

You’ll be set to soar!

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be promoting some of the best books on the List (hopefully yours!), over at my brand-new blog, Tim’s Discovery List.

Let’s get that book into readers’ hands.

I’m Timothy Pike, copy editor and self-publishing coach, and I’ve been in the book business since 2014. I created the writing and reading community ChapterBuzz to help authors publish their books affordably, and founded Books & Buzz Magazine to showcase prominent authors, reviewers, and books. Join our private book society on Facebook!