You can run ads, post daily, and grind all week—and still watch your book stall. The missing piece isn’t more hustle. It’s positioning. We pull back the curtain on the quiet issues that throttle sales!

We start with the most common and costly mistake: treating categories like identity badges rather than traffic lanes. Amazon’s ecosystem pattern-matches behavior, so a miscategorized book gets shown to the wrong readers, earns letdown reviews, and falls into a negative feedback loop. From cozy mysteries that aren’t actually cozy to memoirs that read like prescriptive nonfiction, we show how small misalignments ripple into poor conversion and expensive clicks.

Then we reframe the hook as the reason to care, not a plot dump. If a reader can’t repeat your promise in one sentence, they won’t buy it and they won’t recommend it. We share practical ways to surface stakes, transformation, and genre signals at the top of your retail page. We also tackle covers: why “unique” can backfire, how milliseconds decide “for me or not for me,” and what it means to fit your shelf without blending into noise. Finally, we rebuild the description around a scannable promise and reader outcomes, and we tighten keywords to match how real readers search.

Walk away with a priority checklist: verify category and subgenre, pressure-test your cover against top sellers, craft a repeatable one-sentence hook, rewrite your description to promise value, and align keywords with market language. We’ve also added a quick alignment test in the show notes to help you spot gaps. If you’re ready to turn attention into sales and let the right readers find you, this conversation gives you the exact steps to get there.

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and text the word podcast to 888-402-8940 to share your questions or ideas.

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Check out our Book Marketing Jumpstart options if you're ready to take your brand, platform and SEO up a few notches.

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Six years in, we’re starting the year by cutting through the noise and zeroing in on what truly predicts book sales. We unpack a practical framework that helps you diagnose why a launch spikes and stalls, why great reviews don’t always translate to revenue, and how small, targeted changes deliver outsized gains. If you’ve ever felt busy but not better off, this conversation will give you focus, language, and a step-by-step path to momentum.

We walk through five core signals: reader response, visibility and impressions, conversions, retention and backlist behavior, and consistent author activity. You’ll learn how review language outperforms star counts, why keywords and categories must be chosen for buyer psychology rather than author preference, and how to hit a healthy 5–10% product-page conversion rate. We share practical fixes—leading with social proof, tightening hooks, clarifying payoff, aligning covers with genre codes—and explain why a 1–2% conversion lift can transform ad ROI. We also address the hidden costs of high click-through rates without purchases and how platforms penalize poor relevance.

For multi-book authors, we dig into retention: series branding that reads at a glance, back-of-book letters that tell readers what to do next, and content that nurtures your list between releases. Throughout, we make the case for consistent, strategic repetition over random hustle, showing how fewer tactics executed well outperform constant, scattershot activity. The result is a calmer plan that compounds: fewer vanity metrics, more signals that correlate with real sales.

If this episode helps you refocus your marketing, share it with an author friend, subscribe for the January series, and leave a quick review. Want to send us ideas or questions? Text the word podcast to 888-402-8940 and chat with us directly.

Send us your feedback!

Help shape our 2026 content by taking our 30-second listener poll!

📱Text Penny & Amy: send us your show feedback, burning marketing questions and new topic ideas!

Text the word PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to sign up to send us messages and receive new episode announcements. And don't forget to save our number!

Check out our Book Marketing Jumpstart options if you're ready to take your brand, platform and SEO up a few notches.

Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts!

1. Be sure you're following the show: by clicking the + Follow button on the top right of our show page. If you're already following you'll see a ↓ downward arrow.
2. Locate Ratings & Reviews: Scroll down on our podcast page until you find the "Ratings & Reviews" section.
3. Rate the podcast: Click on the stars to give the podcast a rating.
4. Write your review: Under the star rating there will be the most recent review and just below that click "Write a Review" and compose your review in the text box that appears.
5. Save: Once you've written your review, click "Save" to submit it.

Can't use Apple Podcasts? Email us your review and we'll put it on our website: inf...

We are so excited to share our new podcast format! In this short episode we break down what to expect in the new year! Based on your feedback and input, we're changing up our podcast to serve YOU even better!

Ready to stop guessing your next marketing move and start stacking real wins? We’re sharing a flexible monthly roadmap that pairs structure with freedom, so you can either follow along from January to December or drop into the exact topics you need right now. Each theme stands on its own yet builds momentum toward the moments that matter most—like hitting holiday sales without the last-minute scramble.

We break down how seasonal timing naturally supports author goals: fresh starts in January for planning and positioning, spring cleanups for visibility, midyear platform tune-ups, and fall strategies for peak buying behavior. Along the way, we commit to clarity you can trust. You’ll also get updated takes on evergreen essentials—think Amazon optimization, category strategy, keywords, pricing psychology, and retail page conversion—because what worked five years ago likely won’t move the needle today.

Our approach is reader-first and action-driven. Whether you’re drafting, revising, or heading into launch, the focus is on consumer experience: how readers discover your book, feel confident in it, and decide to buy. We’re doubling down on 30-minute episodes packed with practical steps you can apply the same day, so learning turns into measurable progress. And because your input sharpens our aim, we’re keeping the listener survey open to steer topics that deliver the highest impact for your brand and your genre.

If you’re ready for a smarter year—clear priorities, timely updates, and no fluff—this roadmap is your guide. Hit follow, share this with an author friend who needs structure without rigidity, and leave a quick review to tell us the next topic you want prioritized.

Send us your feedback!

Help shape our 2026 content by taking our 30-second listener poll!

📱Text Penny & Amy: send us your show feedback, burning marketing questions and new topic ideas!

Text the word PODCAST to (888) 402-8940 to sign up to send us messages and receive new episode announcements. And don't forget to save our number!

Check out our Book Marketing Jumpstart options if you're ready to take your brand, platform and SEO up a few notches.

Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts!

1. Be sure you're following the show: by clicking the + Follow button on the top right of our show page. If you're already following you'll see a ↓ downward arrow.
2. Locate Ratings & Reviews: Scroll down on our podcast page until you find the "Ratings & Reviews" section.
3. Rate the podcast: Click on the stars to give the podcast a rating.
4. Write your review: Under the star rating there will be the most recent review and just below that click "Write a Review" and compose your review in the text box that appears.
5. Save: Once you've written your review, click "Save" to submit it.

Can't use Apple Podcasts? Email us your review and we'll put it on our website: inf...