: Re: How do some self-published books on Amazon get lots of sales without any marketing whatsoever? I get confused with this whole indie-publishing thing in terms of the advice I keep hearing from

@Sue2132873

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People who call themselves experts aren't usually experts.

Those bloggers bragging about how they just put a book on Amazon and it sells like gangbusters? They're leaving out part of the process. Maybe that "anonymous" name they're using is the same as one from an author that sold very well (could be their own book, or not). Maybe the book got found by someone who promoted it for them (and they're not counting that as marketing cause they didn't pay for it or do it themselves). Maybe it's blind luck.

Or maybe they're just lying to get you to buy a book or hire them with the promise that you can do this yourself.

I know people who have self-published on Amazon. If they sell a couple dozen copies, they do happy dances. Thousands of paid sales (vs free downloads) is a pipe dream. Of course it happens, but only rarely to unknown authors without an internet following (like Andy Weir).

Because the majority of Amazon offerings are from unknown self-published authors, once you do get a few sales, you're further ahead. Also, Amazon tends to have fairly specific categories. A friend of mine once was 85th in her category (a category I'd never even heard of) after selling about a dozen copies.

Sometimes though, people get lucky. Then they roll with it. It's rare and not something you can ever count on.

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