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How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! by [John Locke]

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John Locke

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months! Kindle Edition

by John Locke (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

815 ratings

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Now, for the first time ever, John Locke reveals the marketing system he created to sell more than 1,100,000 eBooks in five months!

His Credentials:

John is the eighth author in the world—and the first self-published author in history—to have sold 1 million eBooks on Kindle!

He is the first self-published author to hit #1 on the Amazon/Kindle Best Seller’s List, and the first to hit both #1 and #2 at the same time!

He is a New York Times best-selling author!

He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Entertainment Weekly!

He has had 4 of the top 10 books on Amazon/Kindle at the same time, including #1 and #2!

He has had 7 books in the top 34 and 8 books in the Top 50 at the same time!

These numbers are not positions within a category. They are positions that include all Kindle sales including fiction, non-fiction, magazine subscriptions, and game apps!

By the middle of March, 2011, it had been calculated that “every 7 seconds, 24 hours a day, a John Locke novel is downloaded somewhere in the world.”

…All this was achieved PART TIME, without an agent, publicist, and at virtually no marketing expense!

Print length

107 pages
Language

English
Publication date

June 15, 2011
File size

356 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

New York Times best-selling author John Locke is the international best-selling author of 28 books in six different genres. He is the 8th author in history to have sold one million eBooks on Kindle, which he achieved in only five months. Locke has had four books in the top ten at the same time, including #1 and #2. Foreign rights to his books have been acquired by major publishing companies all over the world. Translations include: Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, Russian, and Lithuanian. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0056BMK6K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Telemachus Press, LLC (June 15, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 15, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 356 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 107 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #463,796 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #8,080 in Success Self-Help
- #11,386 in Self-Help (Kindle Store)
- #23,272 in Health, Fitness & Dieting (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
815 ratings

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John Locke

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New York Times best-selling author John Locke holds a Guinness World Record for eBook sales and is the international best-selling author of 38 books in six different genres. He is the 8th author in history to have sold one million eBooks on Kindle, which he achieved in only five months. Locke has had four books in the top ten at the same time, and eight books in the top 43 at the same time, including #1 and #2. Foreign rights to his books have been purchased by the world’s top publishers. Translations include Russian, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Hungarian, and Lithuanian, with more on the way.

Customer reviews

5 star		61%
4 star		20%
3 star		7%
2 star		4%
1 star		8%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Charles

Not even worth skimming

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2015

Verified Purchase

Tried to give this a fair shake, I really did. And, I can't attest to the other reviewers with regards to buying reviews or other underhanded marketing strategies that the author may have pursued, but just an honest take on the book itself: shameless self promotion. I got almost half way through the book and had only read a sales pitch on why this book would work. What a shame. I've already purchased the book. I don't need validation, I need the sustenance promised in the summary: teach me how to market my writing; stop soapboxing about your magical method, that you'll soon unveil, and how it will change my life. Sorry but this writing is just pitiful. Same ol' same ol'. The author espouses platitudes like "have a plan"...duh and "know your target audience" ...seriously?! I'm sorry but this book epitomizes a waste of money on Amazon. Save the dollars and put it towards Scrivener or something that may actually help you write and produce good works.

29 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

This is a cheesy late-night informercial in a book

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2012

Verified Purchase

Let me start off by saying that this is my first time assigning a one-star rating to a book. Most bad books usually possess something redeeming enough to warrant two or three-stars. Unfortunately that is not the case here. This book is an epic fail.

Simply put, this book is a waste of money. The best thing going for this book was the brevity of it. This book offers no practical advice on how to stand out amongst the noisy marketplace and sell ebooks. This book is a bunch of motivation, feel good hodge podge that's befitting of a Tony Robbins seminar. In other words, this book mostly contains empty feel good, motivational sayings that lack substance. Thank goodness his fiction is a lot better than this how-to manual of nothingness.

UPDATE 9/21/2012:
I discovered via a New York Times article that the author had purchased hundred of reviews. I'm not sure which books or which reviews were bought, but given the number of 5-star reviews that this book had received I suspect that the majority of those reviews were purchased too. As a self-published writer, I can tell you firsthand that there is no practical advice within this book that will help you sell books... NONE. Don't believe me? Just follow the hodgepodge nothingness within this book without buying the reviews first. If you don't piss off everyone that isn't your mother with spamming and tweeting them to death then I will be totally shocked.

While I hate this book with a burning passion, I still recommend that readers and aspiring writers alike to buy his fictional novels because he truly has a remarkable gift for writing fiction.

59 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Good Info

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2021

Verified Purchase

I don't write many 5 star reviews, because honestly most authors shouldn't get a 5. But this book is compact and offers solid marketing advice. Selling 1 million books is attainable if you do the work. I, personally, would add an SEO section to attract conversion readers. But that's not his forte. The one thing I found annoying (but not enough to deduct a star) was his profuse exclamation points and italics. I would have also liked to know what he emails in his newsletter in more detail.

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Quiet Deluxe

Three Stars for Indifference (John doesn't count 3-star reviews)

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2011

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I learned about John Locke several months ago. I don't remember exactly how, but I'm sure it was via Amazon. I remember visiting his Author Profile where it was claimed at the time that someone buys one of his books every 7 seconds or something like that. I was impressed, but not enough to actually buy one of his books until this one came out.

Being an aspiring author myself, I'm on the hunt for good information from those who've been there. There's a few things to know about John Locke:

- He's not writing for a living. He is already a wealthy businessman.
- He has a lot of money to sink into publishing his self-admitted mediocre books.
- He's not going at this as a dream or as a writer who's looking at doing ALL the work themselves.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I didn't find much in this book that I could relate to. He claims that he's selling us an idea he would have paid $10000 for in a 5-dollar book. The thing is, he just creatively adjusted already existing methods for book promotion.

The bottom line is that I'd say the information is worth the 5 bucks. However, there are MUCH better books out there by more straight-forward writers who WRITE for a living. J.A Konrath and Zoe Winters both have books far more valuable than this one.

34 people found this helpful

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Ed Walker

Nothing new and lots of chest thumping

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2013

Verified Purchase

I bought this before I heard about the so called 'Locke-gate' where he supposedly gamed the system at Amazon to gain his sales. I won't make judgement on that here. The book itself really didn't tell me anything I haven't read on websites for free.
I found him to ramble a lot, keep telling me that he wasn't going to pad the text and toot his own horn while doing exactly that.
I felt like I was reading a giant sales pitch for his books and blog.
The most disappointing thing that almost made me put the book down before finishing was the blog examples. He keeps saying that he's not manipulating with his blogs but it is SO obvious in his own words about crafting the post and aiming it to get people to react a certain way that he IS manipulating with it. I have doubts after reading things on his site that he honestly believes any of what he writes in his 'human interest' style posts beyond the fact that they will draw people in to buy his books.
I think I managed to pull 1 or 2 things from his text so I didn't completely waste my money but I was very disappointed compared to other books on the business that I've read.

15 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

The Emperor

Some okay advice that you probably already know and huge glaring omissions

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2012

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This has some okay advice that might be useful for people who are very inexperienced in marketing and have little knowledge of social media.
This advice is easily found online for free.

The writing advice is quite generic and a lot of this book is mostly about the author and not necessarily relevant for most people.

He claims that his advice could be followed by anyone and will always work.
However this doesn't seem likely as his books are a lot less popular in the UK and he doesn't seem to have come up with anymore of these `amazing blog posts'
Not certain that likening your mother to a sports figure that allegedly covered up sickening crimes would work that well!

When I first read this I thought that he must be leaving things out.
And indeed there is a huge omission in this book. It turns out that he has spent thousands of dollars paying for reviews. This has recently been revealed in a New York Times article.
How exactly is he an underdog? Surely hardly any other self published author could afford this?

25 people found this helpful

James T. Field

Like a Lance Armstrong book on how to win the Tour de France

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book was okay, unremarkable in many ways, mostly unedifying. I didn't mind the entrance fee for a few trite phrases which might not have occurred to me otherwise and now help to focus my efforts. For example, at one point the author says that it's better to set goals than chase sales; he reasons that sales will follow. He explains that, when setting out on the unpublished road, he set himself the goal of getting five five star reviews. WHAT GOOD SENSE, I thought (even though this piece of advice would have lead me to purchase a book with a different title).

What the author omits to mention, and which many other reviewers here have, is that he paid for those reviews. Whether or not he said to the review company that he wanted the reviews to be honest, the boost to his presence on Amazon that thousands of dollars worth of review purchases must have done (it was specified that the reviews be Amazon verified) and subsequent review attention must really have helped his fledgling career along the way. Locke will probably know how much help it was, as he boasts about keeping track of the effect of his various "marketing strategies" meticulously. Knowing this now, I feel the book was an absolute waste of money. I can't afford to follow his route and wouldn't be inclined to. To omit this information makes a lie of Locke's whole story and renders it pointless. He's not a success, he's just a rich man.

My advice to budding writers would be to pick up some good books on how to write well instead --- The Art of Fiction by David Lodge, or even something like Poetry In The Making by Ted Hughes which has a lot of wisdom that can be transferred to prose. The main gist of this book --- Locke's SECRET PLAN --- is "get lots of contacts and try to sell them stuff, but not too aggressively" which we all kind of knew already. Spend your dollars and cents elsewhere, unless you can afford to buy the reviews that Locke can. I'm not denying that a certain amount of business nouse is required to make it as a self-published writer these days, but don't let people like this guy completely ruin it for us before we get there, yeah?

13 people found this helpful

WelshChris

Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

I take my hat off to John for his incredible success, particularly as it didn't come easy. In that respect he truly is an inspiration. I just couldn't get to grips with his plan for success, though. The strategy to make genuine friendships on Twitter before selling them your book didn't sit well with me. I didn't feel I came away with a plan I could work with. This is just me, and of course it worked for John and so hopefully will help many others

Go For It

Game Changer for Intending Self Publishers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is a funny, tender read... when I was only halfway through it I went straight out and bought a Donovan Creed book. Because I think I'll like it? No way, the genre's not my cup of tea. Because I intend to write a thriller? - no way! Why do something badly that others do well?
I bought because John Locke's words touched me where I live and I wanted to see where he lives.

The advice in this guide? Great - IF you can follow it! Not at all easy advice to follow, on any level... To do things this way, you have to think and feel and write from the heart. And you need an authentic Voice. And lots of time. And to care about people.

If you're willing to go the extra mile, and if you believe that you have something worthwhile to offer the world with your words, then buy this book, read it until you could quote it in your sleep, and do what Locke says to do. You'll never make a better or truer investment in yourself.

Neil Ward

99% Filler

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 23, 2012

Verified Purchase

I don't often write reviews but felt inclined to do so in this instance as I wasted a lot of time reading this.

I want to save the marketers out there a lot of time so here's what I'll say:
- If you already understand marketing, DON'T buy this book. I could sum it up in less than 2 pages: Write a book, create social media accounts, then create a cult following. THAT'S IT!

I was expecting to see 'strategy' throughout this book, things like, how to find a niche, how to word your titles for maximum search-ability, hiring ghost writers, designing your front cover, etc...
There was none of that in this book, it really was just filler...

I usually take copious amounts of notes when I read a book, but in this case I wrote down 2 things:

1. Target related blogs.
2. Get friends to write me 5 star reviews.

I'm not saying it's a BAD book, it's not. It's actually ok and an easy read. What I am saying is that the title is misleading for my niche (marketers). John doesn't really teach you how to sell 1 million books on Kindle, that's the issue. I've been an online marketer for a long time so I know that the average reader will NEVER be able to replicate what he did.

I also didn't like how he refers to himself as "a jerk", and a lot of the book is aimed at talking about himself... which is great for an autobiography, but I was really looking for a 'HOW-TO' book. Which this book definitely is not.

Hence the 3 star review, it's neither good nor bad, it just didn't give me any value.

6 people found this helpful

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