I published a new video breaking down my 5-step Amazon KDP Ads strategy for promoting a book with a $500 budget. For most books, spending $500 wisely on ads is enough to increase sales, collect meaningful data for optimization and scaling, and identify potential bottlenecks holding the book back. The amount of data you gather depends on the cost per click (CPC) in your niche. What are your average CPC levels?

I wanted to share my personal experience with using a pseudonym, so far. First of all, my written work is in the non-fiction genre, so why use a fictional name? At first I launched a podcast and was planning to talk about some personal trauma history. Using a pseudonym was my way of not drawing direct attention to people from my past that I might be telling stories about. Later, when I began writing books on the same topics, I wanted to have a cohesive flow back to the podcast content. So, I decided to use the pseudonym for the books and everything downstream from that (including my skool community). More importantly is what happened as a happy accident because of this choice. I was careful to select a pseudonym that was unique back then. The result is that if someone does a google search of my author name, a very cohesive and thorough response is returned (especially when using AI search engines). This has resulted in an online presence that is not distracted by my personal history, my other business presence or any other person with a similar name. The search yields results that include my book titles, book reviews and my social platforms that compliment the books. More importantly, it highlights my authority on the subject I write about (trauma healing and personal transformation) Just thought I would share this as it might help others to gain visibility.

So - Apart from Nano Banana, and ChatGPT, what are your other favorite tools for illustrations?

I finished my book and went back to the Guild in full force. This week will be dedicated to final tweaking and preparations for the launch of the "3-in-1 Review Toolkit" for the Guild members. One of the tools in the kit is the special offer from BookVillage for the Guild members: - The first 30 days are free - Performance guarantee (description below) - The next 2 months are 25% off ($15 a month) - A fixed price of $20 forever, as long as the subscription is active. Even if the price is raised for other users. To get the special conditions register by the link: https://bookvillage.pub/?via=guild What is Performance guarantee: "If at the end of your free trial there is a net difference between all the reviews you have posted and the ones you have received, and you have followed the guidelines BookVillage recommends, which are essentially based on requesting paid verified purchases as much as possible (for your safety), then BookVillage will extend the free trial". BookVillage invests significant effort in researching best practices for Amazon reviews and shares them with its users. It's really worth reading messages from the service and acting on its guidance. The second and third tools from the toolkit will be discussed at the online meeting on Friday, February 6th. Stay tuned.

It seems we have a big shift in "authors-helping-authors" review services. Until yesterday, moving from one such service to another posed a risk, since a new service had no data about your reviews, and a cross-review situation could arise. And now we have a solution to minimize such risks. Yesterday, BookVillage presented its browser extension. It imports your existing reviews and allows the service to correctly configure your profile to prevent situations where two users may end up reviewing each other's books. Have you already tested it? What is your experience? A brief reminder: Guild members can access BookVillage under special conditions: - The first 30 days are free - Performance guarantee (if you didn't get enough reviews in the first month, you can ask for one more free month) - The next 2 months are 25% off ($15 a month) - A fixed price of $20 forever, as long as the subscription is active. Even if the price is raised for other users. To get the special conditions register by the link: https://bookvillage.pub/?via=guild