Review: Good, but...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 14, 2014
This was a good book. It really was. Under normal conditions I would probably give this book 4 stars.However, in the description and introduction the author made quite a few promises and guarantees -- some of which he lived up to, some of which he didn't.I'll mention the two biggest ones here:PROMISE #1) You won't be able to find ALL the tips in this book anywhere else.Surprisingly, the author actually did live up to this promise -- barely.I already knew 9 of the 10 "hacks" this book outlined, so...yeah. However, I AM a rather experienced Kindle author. I don't consider myself quite an "expert", or "guru", but I have been successful on Kindle and even written a few books about ebook marketing.What I'm saying is that if you're newer to Kindle publishing, a lot of these tips will probably be brand new to you. But if you've done as much research and experimenting as I have...you probably already know most of the material contained in this book.PROMISE #2) Each tip will make you several times the cost of the book.I'm not so sure about this one.While a lot of the tips are pretty good, some of them are also pretty basic and, as with MOST things, basic stuff doesn't quite yield the results you'd expect.So, while it's hard to say EXACTLY whether the author can live up to this promise I'm leaning towards the "eeaah!" beeper.Now that I've outlined the parts of the book I DIDN'T like, I'm going to discuss the parts that I DID like:~ This book was easy to understand and didn't contain any "fluff" or "filler info".~ This book is a nice, short, 1/2 hour read. (Perfect for crazy busy people like me.)~ This book DID show me one new technique that I've never seen anywhere else. And believe me, that's quite a feat. I've studied and experimented with pretty much every single ebook marketing trick under the sun. (And even invented some of my own.)~ This book was well-written. (I did catch 3 - 4 typos but, you know, that's not bad for the average indie author.)FINAL ANALYSIS:This book was quite good, but did contain several things I didn't like -- hence the three star rating.Also, if you're a veteran Kindle author, you've probably seen at least half of these tricks someplace or another...so it may not be worth the price of admission.But, in my final opinion this is a great book for:~ Newer indie authors.~ People who don't have a problem with techniques that are bordering on being unethical. (I strongly advise that you don't give dishonest marketing techniques any attention whatsoever, but it IS your choice. And a couple of the hacks in here will definitely get you on Amazon's naughty list.)~ An indie author who has been trying for a while (6+ months) and STILL can't get the results they want. This book can probably help you.If you fit any of the categories above, I would highly recommend this book. It could change your life.Otherwise, I would recommend trying something else.Start with "Is $0.99 the new free?" by Steve Scott. It's probably my favorite.-Mark LeGrand Messick, bestselling author of Kindle Marketing, and creator of [...]