If you are not finishing what you started, then add a bit of heat and pressure and fire up that project you have abandoned and reclaim your dreams.
I confess, I seldom finish my coffee. My excuse is, “I don’t enjoy the last bit lingering at the bottom of the cup.” At least, that is what I tell my husband and friends. I sometimes forget to stir the coffee and the last bit holds about 70% of the sugar, which is not at all palatable. Most people would forgive me for not downing that sugary mush. But more often than not, I didn’t finish the coffee because I got distracted and my caffeine fix got cold.
While some people have trained themselves to enjoy cold coffee, I find it repulsive. However, when I was at an Uncovering Greatness event, they challenged me to think about whether I struggled to finish any of my personal projects. Apparently, our behaviour sometimes leaves hints in other areas of our lives. Their philosophy is what you do in one area of your life, you often do in other areas.
My challenge to you, my reader, is, “Could you guess why I would struggle to finish my own projects when I push my clients, family and friends to finish what they started?”
I am sure many readers have an opinion. It is often easier for us to make these evaluations in other people’s lives. When I pointed that judgmental finger back at myself, I had to ask myself some serious questions. Let’s flip the question again.
Are there areas in your life when you shelve your personal dreams and replace them with other people’s wants and needs?
Are you finishing what you start?
Most of the time we start out all fired up, just like that hot cup of coffee. But then something stops our momentum. When you break momentum and press pause on your personal goals, it is easy to let them navigate from lukewarm to cold.
There are certain things that I start and end up lingering in the TO DO list so much that it is embarrassing to revisit the list. I know I am not alone. Many of the authors I speak to tell me they have been working on a book for years. In reality, they have not been working on the book; they have just been thinking about it.
There is a big difference between thinking and doing. That is why accountability partners work in all spheres of life. A good accountability partner cuts through all the lies that you sell yourself and others.
Lies… yes, you heard me right. We lie to ourselves.
We don’t really mean to. Life happens, parents pass on, our children get sick, geysers burst and opportunities that you simply can’t let pass you by pop up. No matter what phase you are in life, there will always be distractions. Realising that success is never easy is part of the mindset we have to adopt.
There will never be a perfect time for you to take charge of your dreams. I learned this from the book “Little Voice Mastery” by Blair Singer.
One of my favourite quotes from this book is:
“Somewhere else in the world, someone is practising while you’re not, and when you meet him, he’ll beat you.”
It is a sobering thought. While we can find many valid reasons to let our projects go cold, somewhere there is someone who is willing to shelve the excuses and get on with being the best version of themselves.
So what are you waiting for?
Add a bit of heat and pressure and fire up that project you have abandoned and reclaim your dreams.

Choosing a category is going to have a direct effect on whether you become an Amazon bestselling author. It all boils down to visibility. The more visible your book is, the more likely it is going to be seen by more readers and the more sales you are going to make.
So how do you get good visibility?
Before I explain that, let me ask you… When you are searching for an answer to any problem or Google, YouTube, LinkedIn or Amazon, how far down are you willing to scroll? Will you scroll down to the first ten, the first 100 or the first 1,000?
A June 2013 study conducted by Chitika Insights shows that over 90% of people never click on the second page of Google search results. The SEO giant, Moz, conducted its own study in 2014 and found that 71.33% of Google search traffic goes to the first 10 search results, and only 3.99% goes to the second page of Google search results.
What does this mean for your book?
Unless you rank highly on Amazon, no one is going to see your book, except for the people you personally share it with. This means that you lose out of normal organic search for your book.
How do you find your Amazon Best Seller Rank (ABSR)?
Head over to your Amazon page and scroll down

Amazon assigns a ABSR (Amazon Best Selling Ranking) to your book based on how many sales or downloads you have made within a certain time period in a certain category. So in this example, we can see that the book is number #1,154,856 in the Kindle Store.
What do you need to do to improve your ranking?
First off the bat, let me tell you that you should be doing this BEFORE you even launch your book. What you do in that first week of launching your book makes a dramatic impact on the success of your book. While it is possible to improve your book ranking by improving your keywords, the ideal situation is to do this research before going in. Having said that, here are the steps.
Step 1: Research Potential Book Categories on the Amazon Book’s Store
Type the words that you think best describe your book. What you are looking for is similar books to yours to see what categories other authors are listing their books on Amazon for. Then search through each of those books and see what categories their books they list in.
For the book that I used for my original search, I found
- Mood Disorders
- Anger Management Self Help
- Two-Hour Self-Help Short Reads
You can also browse through Amazon Categories until you get to the most appropriate book category. Although it is time consuming to niche down, it is a more profitable strategy, as you have fewer books to compete with.

I often relate it to personnel recruiting. If you use a recruitment website, and you list specific qualities you are looking for or you have, then there are fewer candidates to sift through. Being specific in your niche gives you fewer competitors. It helps improve your book’s visibility.

Step 2: Check the what the Number One Best Seller is in that Category
The best seller changes often, sometimes hourly, as new books come onto Amazon and as authors engage in book promotion activities. But this exercise is still very helpful.

Step 3: Find out what book categories you need the lowest number of daily sales to get to a best-selling ranking.
This step is not as easy as the rest. It takes time and patience to do the research or you can ask us to help you with one of our keyword and category research slots.

Being the best seller in a category dramatically improves your sales, credibility, and earnings.
So it is worth taking the time to investigate what is the best book category for your book. If you need help, contact us for our keyword reports to improve your ranking and help multiply the effects of your book promotional strategy.
Contact us about our self Publishing Services
If you want to leave a legacy and build additional revenue into your speaking and consulting business, then contact us about your self-publishing needs, including book design, editing and marketing.
email usIf you are interested in self publishing in South Africa, but earning royalties globally, then contact us about your self publishing needs.

When are you going to publish that book?
Why do professionals take so long to publish their first book and what can they do about it?

The Secret All Authors Should Know About Amazon Categories
Why do professionals take so long to publish their first book and what can they do about it?

How Keywords Can Help You Sell More Books
Knowing what customers want is a key component for success in business. Companies dedicate large amounts of their annual budget to research in this area.
Hello, I am Kim Vermaak
I spent most of my adult life helping other companies build their dream and their brands.
After I turned 40, I wondered if there was more to life than taking care of children and slaving away to earn a living.
I wanted to create a legacy for my children and the next generation. I found that through my books I could celebrate who I am as well as teach others to earn a living through their writing.
Being an author is not a hobby. It is a business, and it is my passion to teach authors how to thrive in that business. I look forward to seeing your book business grow.
Your Book Whisperer
Kim


BookSirens is a legitimate resource for authors and readers alike that can help readers find books they’ll love, while matching authors with prospective reviewers so they can get more honest reviews.
