When Mark Paul released his memoir in 2020, he admittedly had no platform, no social media presence, and no plans to follow the traditional book marketing path. A real estate investor by trade, Mark leveraged his business acumen to develop a winning strategy to sell nearly 60,000 copies of his book in five years—and book sales are still going strong. In fact, sales of his popular memoir have increased over the past two years, and below he shares the exact steps he’s taken to surpass his book sales goals.
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told: A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Drug Cartel is a memoir that reads like a novel (as all memoirs should). The riveting story details how three friends placed a long shot bet on a filly to win the Kentucky Derby in 1988. After Winning Colors defies the odds and wins the race, the trio must go collect their hefty prize at a racetrack in Tijuana, without getting killed in the process.
Mark’s Exact Strategy for Book Sales Success
Without a platform, Mark Paul decided he would hedge his bets and “go all-in” on Amazon ads. The following details the steps he has taken.
=> Conducted category research and chose ten categories where the book would be listed on Amazon (back when Amazon allowed ten categories). These categories covered a wide range of themes from the book including gambling, horses, and organized crime.
=> Learned how keywords are essential to Amazon ads and invested in ads with hundreds of keywords. Terms include basics like “horse racing book,” “sports gambling,” and “Mexican cartel book.” Keywords also include competing book titles and author names, ensuring Mark’s book shows up when shoppers search for similar books.
=> Set a high daily budget ($300+) to maximize ad visibility.
Note to readers: While this is a substantial budget for an author, the goal with any paid advertising is to earn more than you spend, which is what Mark has done.
Mark says, “Being an author is not lucrative. I’m willing to spend $7,000 per month to bring in $10,000 and earn $3,000 in profit. I do it as a hobby. I do like that it has made me a known entity in my favorite sport of horseracing. I have met many new friends because of my book and I love that people go to my web site and contact me.”
=> Monitor ads closely and remove keywords that don’t perform well.
Why Book Sales Have Increased Over the Past Two Years
I asked Mark why he feels his sales have improved in recent years. He shared the following details.
=> Enrolled the ebook in the Kindle Unlimited program and Kindle downloads increased dramatically. This can lead to increased word-of-mouth, more Amazon reviews, and purchases of other editions of the book (paperback, hardcover, and audiobook). However, enrolling in this program means that the author is paid by number of pages read, and those funds come out of a pool of money allocated to pay authors. This means authors only earn a fraction of what they would if selling ebooks the usual way.
Mark says, “Kindle Unlimited is a terrible deal financially for authors. But it is a must. You must stay high up in the Amazon algorithm, meaning you need to get as much visibility for your book as possible. All the Amazon sales, including print, audiobooks, and Kindle ebooks, count toward keeping the book at the top of search results.”
=> Made strategic changes to category choices.
According to Mark, “Amazon stopped allowing books to be listed in ten categories last year (and it was really 20+ categories because eBooks have separate categories). I was scared to death of this. So, I picked one category I can dominate (Horse Racing) and one category that is big, competitive, and sells lots of books (Organized Crime).”
Mark continues to dominate the Horse Racing category. All four editions of his 5-year old book, including paperback, hardcover, Kindle ebook, and audiobook, frequently appear together in the top ten of the Horse Racing category.
Since adding his book to the Organized Crime category, it has consistently hovered in the top ten of this competitive category. Mark says, “I sell more books being #7 in Organized Crime, than being #1, #4, and #5 combined in Horse Racing.”
=> Increased ad spend and wrote new ads. After being forced to drop from ten Amazon categories to just three categories, Mark knew he needed to shake up his marketing strategy. He says, “I wrote new ads and track the performance weekly. I think the algorithm notices when you do new ads, and its algorithms give higher priority to books that people BUY because that makes Amazon more money. They are brilliant at making money.”
=> Create a focused advertising strategy. Mark doesn’t take the success for granted and shares his recommendations for authors below.
“The 4 things to sell books in my opinion are:
- Put your book in a competitive Amazon category that sells a lot of books (romance, crime, self-help, etc.).
- Write a good book that people love. This is done by hiring editors and publishing professionals to ensure the book is the best it can be.
- Have a great web site with a photo gallery for readers to visit.
- Advertise and promote constantly with Amazon ads because I’m proof they can work really well.”
Additional Benefits to Advertising and Book Sales
Thanks to all the buzz created by the book sales, NPR reached out and invited Mark to deliver an interview. Listen to the NPR interview here.
Mark also had a professional book trailer created which you can watch here.
His book has been optioned for film and he is currently in talks with producers to get the project across the finish line.
You can visit Mark Paul’s author website here.
Here is Mark’s sales tracking sheet so you can see the sales trends for yourself.
Full disclosure: I worked with Mark Paul as his publisher (through Authority Publishing), although I take absolutely no credit for his success. He has done all the heavy lifting!
While the results Mark has achieved are far from typical, his book is proof that self-published nonfiction authors can absolutely achieve great success.
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