First Kindle Book Published!
- Thread starter FitGal
- Start date
WhooHoo!
You go girl! Big congrats!
You go girl! Big congrats!
If anyone wants a link to the book, just PM me.
It is on how to get "Website Traffic" and initially priced at 99 cents to jump start sales.
The idea of Kindle Publishing is tremendously exciting! Just think of taking that great novel you have always wanted to write or other topic you always wanted to write about and the potential. You can get your book in front of Amazon's vast audience. And it is free to sign up.
It is an amazing opportunity. And this is a huge game changer for the book publishing industry.
It is on how to get "Website Traffic" and initially priced at 99 cents to jump start sales.
The idea of Kindle Publishing is tremendously exciting! Just think of taking that great novel you have always wanted to write or other topic you always wanted to write about and the potential. You can get your book in front of Amazon's vast audience. And it is free to sign up.
It is an amazing opportunity. And this is a huge game changer for the book publishing industry.
Wow, I'm impressed. Great job!
Any tidbits of insight for our readers on the complexity and difficulty of creating a Kindle book that you'd like to share? We might have some budding authors out there who thought publishing was out of their reach.
Any tidbits of insight for our readers on the complexity and difficulty of creating a Kindle book that you'd like to share? We might have some budding authors out there who thought publishing was out of their reach.
Here are a few thoughts...
Write original content or outsource original content. Amazon is closing accounts where PLR is used and also are tougher on Public Domain content.
Use the Amazon search to get ideas for topics. Look at what is selling well in the hot sellers.
Make sure you have a great title that catches attention but at the same time if you are writing non fiction use your keywords in the title.
Make a great cover that is easy to read, even when the cover is thumbnail sized. I made my own with a banner maker. About 400x600-800 is a good size.
Do not use page numbers as each ebook reader is different.
Download the free Kindle Previewer from Amazon so you can see how your content will look in different devices.
If you don't have a Kindle, you can download a free Kindle app for the PC and for the Mac.
Download some of the free ebooks on Amazon to get a feel for how to write and format your books.
I used word to write my ebook with a Kindle template and I used a paid push button software to format it automatically. Saved me a lot of headaches.
You are allowed just ONE account at Amazon. Be sure to read the TOS and follow it as some accounts have been closed.
No affiliate links in your ebooks though you can add a link to your website.
Take advantage of Amazon's KDP Select program. In this program if you give Amazon exclusive rights to sell your book for 90 days, you can get paid for when Prime members download your book for free. Amazon has millions of dollars in this program and writers can potentially make more money giving away the book than selling it!
Hope these tips help.
Congrats, FitGal! I published a novel for Kindle late last year, and it was unbelievably exciting to have it out there, so I know the feeling!
Just a tip for anyone publishing ebooks without images, whether fiction or nonfiction, try the writing software Scrivener. Not only does it make writing a novel a breeze, it also exports directly to .mobi and .epub and other formats.
Just a tip for anyone publishing ebooks without images, whether fiction or nonfiction, try the writing software Scrivener. Not only does it make writing a novel a breeze, it also exports directly to .mobi and .epub and other formats.
The only part I disagreed with.
You can earn more money in the library than if you sold your book for 99 cents or free. That's why you should go for higher prices. Now free downloads and borrows don't count as much as higher priced sales, which is fair.
I wouldn't give up exclusively just to be free. Usually exclusive deals involve giving something to the writer, singer, etc. Being free doesn't mean you'll do well. Some people got a big boost while others got a big flop - their sales fell back down, meaning they'd given away thousands of copies for nothing. Those readers could've bought the book in time, and free downloads/borrows don't mean it was read.
Also, major published authors get paid more, which doesn't seem fair to me, and they're not forced to be exclusive.
Finally, it's nice to encourage competition between more than one book distributor. I like Amazon so far, but they are a business, not a friend. You never know what will happen in the future.
Anyway, good luck! I hope we all hit the bestseller lists soon!
Zahra - the .99 cent price point was temporary. It was designed to get people to buy and review. After a week or so, when I had some reviews the price went up.
I do agree with you about Amazon, they are awesome but who knows what will happen in the future. I have my first book on Smashwords also and plan to put the second one there shortly.
I am not sure what to do about free days. I have not done any yet. I have a friend who did and got several thousand downloads and is now selling steadily where she was selling nothing before. What is your take on the free days?
---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------
I played with several writer softwares and found it just make it more complicated. But other people have said they love Scrivener! Glad to see it works for you.
I do agree with you about Amazon, they are awesome but who knows what will happen in the future. I have my first book on Smashwords also and plan to put the second one there shortly.
I am not sure what to do about free days. I have not done any yet. I have a friend who did and got several thousand downloads and is now selling steadily where she was selling nothing before. What is your take on the free days?
---------- Post added at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------
I played with several writer softwares and found it just make it more complicated. But other people have said they love Scrivener! Glad to see it works for you.
Glad it was temporary. Some people stay there because of Amanda Hocking and John Locke. They assume 99cents got the million plus sales, not their stories.
I'd rather just let the books build momentum over time instead of forcing it with free days. I'd worry that those free sales lost income that could've supported me for weeks, months, maybe a year or so. Of course a few thousand downloads won't matter if you release the next Harry Potter, but most authors don't sell like that. Still, it clearly worked for your friend.
You could always try with one book, maybe the first in a series. Just remember the 90-day exclusivity stands even if you take the book out the library early. Also, promote the free day or people still won't find your book. I think many made that mistake.
An alternative is Sample Sundays, where people post an extract from their books on their website. Make sure you have all your books listed so they check out the others.
Finally, don't obsess over things. Every big seller does their own thing and it worked. Big sellers seem to have at least one thing in common: lots of books. Amazon is huge, so 10 books are easier to find than 1. If they buy one, hopefully they'll buy another. This is why people stop marketing and realise their books are selling themselves.
Well I have to say that free days can be very effective!
I put one of my ebooks on free day. It was getting a few sales a week. During the free promotion it got 12000 downloads and jumped to #1 in Free in it's category.
After Free day was over it jumped to #1 in PAID in it's category for both Kindle and regular books. Now 2 weeks later it is enjoying quite a few sales every day. So free can be very effective!
I put one of my ebooks on free day. It was getting a few sales a week. During the free promotion it got 12000 downloads and jumped to #1 in Free in it's category.
After Free day was over it jumped to #1 in PAID in it's category for both Kindle and regular books. Now 2 weeks later it is enjoying quite a few sales every day. So free can be very effective!
Just an update, I have about 10 books on Kindle now.
It is really a great platform. During one of my promos for example, I had 22,000 downloads in 2 days which resulted in the book doing really well after.
If you are interested in writing, this can be a great way to express your creativity, share your knowledge and earn income.
If you decide to try it and get stuck, just shoot me a PM.
It is really a great platform. During one of my promos for example, I had 22,000 downloads in 2 days which resulted in the book doing really well after.
If you are interested in writing, this can be a great way to express your creativity, share your knowledge and earn income.
If you decide to try it and get stuck, just shoot me a PM.
