@Krista Brea i have a question about how do you get out of your head! I am not good at formatting, design or tech editing. Now that I have the manuscript written and downloaded I want it to be good! Now I am thinking of hiring someone to do that part for me. I still have to put my photos in for my quilt patterns. Maybe I started with a more complex book than I should have. Any advise would be appreciated.

A lot of people think “best seller” means you need a huge following. You don’t. It’s about strategy, not popularity. Here’s the simple breakdown 👇 1️⃣ Category selection matters more than you thinkYou’re not competing with all of Amazon. You’re competing inside a specific category. Choosing the right one can make the difference between ranking #87,000… or #1. 2️⃣ Keywords are the foundation. Amazon literally tells you what people are searching for. If your title, subtitle, and backend keywords align with buyer intent, Amazon knows exactly who to show your book to. 3️⃣ Sales velocity > total sales. Best seller status is based on how many copies you sell in a short window, not over your lifetime. That’s why launch strategy matters. 4️⃣ Your cover + title do the selling. If your cover doesn’t stop the scroll or your title isn’t clear, your ranking will stall — even if the content is great. 5️⃣ You don’t need perfection — you need proof of demand. Books rank because there is demand, not because they’re the longest, deepest, or most poetic. Best seller status is a positioning game. Once you understand that, it becomes repeatable. I'm attaching a list of TOP 25 Categories that have an opportunity to become a BEST SELLER!

This is my Book Cover (1st Attempt). I am not a graphic designer at all. I can make you a beautiful quilt, but I have no design sense for anything else!

In this thread, drop in 3-5 book title ideas you have and let's workshop them together.

One thing I want everyone here to understand is just how much opportunity exists outside of Amazon when it comes to selling your books — and TikTok Shop is a big one right now. That’s why I invited a fellow author @Gwen Taylor into the community. Her journey is a real example of what’s possible when you treat your book like an asset instead of a one-time project. FOLLOW GWEN ON TIKTOK Gwen started on TikTok in 2025 with one clear goal: sell her book. We worked together on creating some video content, then she was able to get connected with a network of content creators. No complicated funnels. No huge audience. Just consistency and positioning. Then her book “The Burnt Out Bitch” went viral. She has sold close to 4,000 💰 copies directly on TikTok alone. What most people miss is the second-order effect: those TikTok sales didn’t just stay on TikTok. They boosted her visibility, credibility, and momentum — which then supercharged her Amazon sales as well. This is proof of something I say all the time: As an independent publisher, you are not limited to one platform. 📖 One book = an asset. 🏪 Multiple marketplaces. 🚀 Scalable opportunities. If you’ve been thinking too small about what your book can do, let this be your reminder that publishing is leverage — but only if you’re willing to use it. 👇Want to know more about what it takes to be successful on Tiktok shop?