If you want to become a bestseller so that you can add 'Bestseller' to your book description and cover and generate more sales, it's quite possible to game the system. We strongly recommend NOT doing this. Here are the Steps

Step 1: Identify a category or sub-category that is related to your book's genres/categories, and is also a small category
You can do this by simply browsing the Kindle Store
If you prefer you can use a software like KDPSpy or KDPRocket to find a list of non-competitive categories your book fits into

Step 2: Figure out how many sales you need and figure out 3 to 5 good promotion avenues you will use
You want to target a category where 10 to 30 sales will get you Bestseller Status
You want to use a combination of sites that will get you 50 to 200 sales. You can also use a bit of Facebook Ads and/or Amazon Marketing Services Ads to add some safety

Step 3: You set up a 3 to 7 day promotion at $0.99. And you run all your promotion channels on Day 1 and Day 2 of the discounted period

These 3 Steps will almost always get you Bestseller Status. This is gaming the system, so do keep in mind that this makes you a 'marketing Bestseller' and not an actual bestseller



Here are a few reasons it is much much better to become a Real Bestseller

1) To become an actual bestseller you have to generate a lot of sales. One of the things that forces you to do is become really good at marketing
Becoming really good at marketing will help you with every other book you publish, and for the rest of your career as an author

2) You would also have to really improve your writing skills and your story telling skills
Again, the improvement in skills will help every book you write

3) To Become a bestseller you have to figure out what is the RIGHT category for your book, and who your REAL readers are
This might be the most valuable of all. Because you can then write the right books for your readers and you can write what they are buying and what will sell

Becoming a Bestseller, an ACTUAL Bestseller, requires selling a lot. And you can only do that once you figure out who your real readers are and what they are buying


4) Generating a lot of sales and becoming a Bestseller in the Right Category for your book, will give you a lot of attention and visibility. Publishers, Publishing Companies, Small Publishers, Movie Studios, etc. will all notice you

You cannot get this visibility by gaming the system and becoming a bestseller in some small obscure category

5) To Become a Bestseller you have to learn how to really polish your book - get a great cover, get proper editing, make it look great
This is an invaluable skill and one area that 99% of authors need to improve in


If you make the right choice and decide to go for an Actual Bestseller status, here are a few steps to take

Step 1: Make sure you know exactly who the book is written for, and you are sure they want to buy it and read it

Basically, make sure there is a strong Product Market Fit i.e. huge reader demand for your book

Step 1b: You additionally have to make sure your book is in the right genres/categories. If you've written the perfect book for readers who want a War Biography, do not put in Non Fiction General or History. Make sure you put it in the absolute right category

Step 2: Make sure your book is very well written and has a strong compelling story

Step 3: Make sure your book is well polished and well packaged

That means - great cover, strong editing, good proofreading, good book description, proper author profile on the book page, etc

Step 4: Figure out exactly how many sales you need to become a bestseller and figure out the amount and type of marketing that will safely take you to that number of sales

Step 5: Line up reviews from your loyal readers, your street crew, your advanced reviewers, etc and make sure that reviews come in before promotion starts (or latest by Day 1 of promotion)

Step 6: Set up the actual marketing. Discount your book to $0.99 for 1 or 2 weeks. Set up all the marketing venues for it. Make sure you arrange everything to make sure you can hit your required sales figure

Step 7: Monitor everything as it happens and measure everything

Hopefully everything goes to plan and you hit the desired sales figure and become a bestseller
If you miss, you should know by how much, and if possible, why you missed. When you take another shot, this information will be invaluable

If you go about becoming a Bestseller the right way, you will greatly improve your skills as an author, greatly improve your marketing skills, and perhaps most importantly - you will better understand who actually buys your book and how to sell to them

These improvements will ensure you become a Bestselling Author in due course. More importantly, they will ensure you write better books, sell more books, and have a better understanding of who your readers are and what they want you to write