[PROGRESS THREAD] ChickenHawk's Self-Published Fiction EBooks

[ChickenHawk]

Is is worth (or even allowed) to sell my ebook through more than one sale channel? i.e. If I got my blog to promote and sell the book, then I want to upload it to amazon and maybe Ejunkie and clickbank as well, is it possible or not?

I agree with what @MarshallDigamma said above. You don't need to be exclusive, but odds are the majority of your sales will come from Amazon anyway. You could always publish there first, see what kind of results you get, and go from there. Good luck!

 

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[Boyd]

@ChickenHawk

I'd really love it if you would take the time to provide us with a year end update on your publishing. Been following this thread from the beginning and would be interested in hearing how your first full year turned out.

Plus, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you recently release another book? Would love to hear how it's doing.

 

[ChickenHawk]

I'd really love it if you would take the time to provide us with a year end update on your publishing. Been following this thread from the beginning and would be interested in hearing how your first full year turned out.

Plus, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you recently release another book? Would love to hear how it's doing.

Thanks for following this! I'll definitely be providing year-end update sometime within the next month or so. It's been an interesting year, that's for sure.

My latest book is doing well. Currently, it's ranked in the [HASHTAG]#200[/HASHTAG] - [HASHTAG]#300[/HASHTAG] range in the Kindle Store. I'm not sure how it will do long-term, but these results seem encouraging, so I'm crossing my fingers! Plus, in a weird fluke, it's doing really well in Australia, where it's made Amazon's top 20. (This isn't nearly as impressive as it sounds though, compared to the American market, where the top 100 results in TONS of sales. Still, I thought that was really cool.) Already, I'm working on my next book, which I hope to release in January or February.

If there's one thing I've really learned over the last year, it's that you can NEVER rest. The most successful authors, it seems, churn out book after book with very little time in-between. Must write faster!

 

[Boyd]

Why are you wasting time talking to me? Hurry up and get that next book finished!

I hear that #5 is the "magical" tipping point for authors. It will be interesting to see if that theory holds true.

I'm looking forward to your year end update, but not at the expense of your production. Don't let us distract you from your work.

Keep pushing forward and I wish you continued success in 2015.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

Congrats on another top 100 breakthrough. You're certainly no fluke.

 

[ChickenHawk]

An update: I've already compiled some numbers for my year-end update, but I'm awaiting the final tallies before posting. In the meantime, here's food for thought. Especially if you write genre fiction, the best thing you can do to promote your book is to write another book.

Yes, I've said it before, but here's a supporting nugget. After releasing my latest adult book, sales of my previous three books have tripled. Sales had been sliding downward for months, because it had been a while since I had a new title really take off. But now, after my latest book hit Amazon's top 100 (It's not there now, btw.), sales have been steadily climbing of my other adult books. I know it won't last forever, but the boost was really nice. In my limited experience, writing a new book has been more profitable than anything else I've tried, including BookBub.

I wish I could clone myself. And no, I'd never consider the ghost-writer model, because if I put my name on a book, I'm determined that for good or bad, it will be written by me. (I'm not slamming those who pursue the ghost-writer model. Just for all kinds of reasons, it's not a path I favor.)

Yup, I'm gonna say it again... Must Write Faster!

 

[Disciple]

...best thing you can do to promote your book is to write another book.

...

You know, it's always interesting just how people skip over something like this. I know I haven't released anything myself yet, but somehow, I think we all know this to be true.

People who watch a movie with an actor they like end up finding other movies to watch with them in it.
If people like a song by a particular artist / group, they might purchase other albums / songs from them.
How many times do you go on YouTube, find a video you enjoy, and just go straight to looking through other videos on their channel?
The number of artists I've seen on DeviantArt and the like, if I like just one of their images, I go through their other works to see if there's anything else of theirs that I like.
When you go to a blog you like, you start reading through other articles that have been posted.

Why wouldn't this work with books as well? More work means more popularity, which draws more people because it's popular, which means more people who would buy something from you.

Just look at some of the controls you can get on a CD player. There's options on there to skip certain tracks and only play certain songs. You bought the CD, but you only listen to like 4 songs on the track. Even if they don't like everything you put out, there's going to be things they do enjoy, and that's enough reason for repeat purchases.

 

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[Karla]

Especially if you write genre fiction, the best thing you can do to promote your book is to write another book.

I agree! The only thing I do not like to much about this is that it´s not passive. Writing is fun but it consumes a lot of time!But I think the more books you have the better....because then you do not need to release 3 or 4 books per year (at least that´s what I´m hoping for ;-))

 

[Disciple]

I agree! The only thing I do not like to much about this is that it´s not passive. Writing is fun but it consumes a lot of time!But I think the more books you have the better....because then you do not need to release 3 or 4 books per year (at least that´s what I´m hoping for ;-))

I would think you would need an exceptionally large audience to pull off 3-4 books a year and remain profitable. Authors such as J.K. Rowling and Stephen King have such fanbases, many of them quite fanatical in their loyalty to their works. As a result, they could pull off a book a year without seeing a significant loss in sales. Even if people didn't read their books, they know of them almost by default, and may just buy one down the road just to see what all of the fuss is about.

However, regarding the time investment. If one could type at 100 words per minute, and worked for an hour straight, that would be 6000 words. Doing that for only one hour, you would have a novel of 60,000 words in ten days. If you worked two hours a day instead, you end up with that 60,000 in five days. If you do that in four hours, well, that's under three days.

In the words of @ChickenHawk, "Must Write Faster!" 125 words a minute might not sound like much, but that 6000 just turned into 7500. Two hours for 15,000. Spend four hours and you get 30,000. Now your 60k words is done in 2 days at four hours each. In one weekend, you just wrote a book that thousands upon thousands of people spend all of November trying to do.

However, you also have to remember that most writers write every day. Even if they're not working on a book that's going to be published. Stephen King said he writes a minimum of 2000 words a day, and only under divine circumstance does he stop. Many write books in between books. They might toss them out or store them in the deep recesses of their computer, but most of their work is never going to see the light of day.

In the words of Victor Pride, "The amount of art I create and don’t publish could make another man rich."

 

[ChickenHawk]

If one could type at 100 words per minute, and worked for an hour straight, that would be 6000 words.

You make some good points in your post, but dang, I only WISH the above were true. I type super-fast, but the story-crafting itself is the difficult, time-consuming part. I don't think we can compare the act of typing with the act of writing. Under the scenario you laid out, writing a complete novel would take the same amount of time as re-typing in a novel already written by someone else. That being said, I do think that typing fast is an advantage, just not a huge one.

I agree! The only thing I do not like to much about this is that it´s not passive. Writing is fun but it consumes a lot of time!But I think the more books you have the better....because then you do not need to release 3 or 4 books per year (at least that´s what I´m hoping for ;-))

I definitely agree about the time-consuming part! And I think 3 or 4 a year is a good number to shoot for, especially if the books are full-length. Ideally, more is better, but I'm not sure I'll ever personally exceed that, because my brain gets wrung out near the end of writing any book. In contrast though, look at our very own speed demon, @COSenior. She produces many, many times this. Then again, I'm pretty sure she's half cyborg. Or she doesn't sleep. Or she works really, really hard and focuses like a laser. (I think we all know which one of these things is true, which is why we could all learn something from her.)

 

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[RHL]

I type super-fast, but the story-crafting itself is the difficult, time-consuming part. I don't think we can compare the act of typing with the act of writing.

This is the difference between the dreck that sells five copies in a year and the writing that leads to freedom. It's not a mechanical process where if you just sit down for three hours a day, a best-seller pops out a month later. You need discipline and to write every day, but there is no linear formula like X WPM=Book in Y Days=Freedom in Z Years.

 

[Disciple]

You make some good points in your post, but dang, I only WISH the above were true. I type super-fast, but the story-crafting itself is the difficult, time-consuming part. I don't think we can compare the act of typing with the act of writing. Under the scenario you laid out, writing a complete novel would take the same amount of time as re-typing in a novel already written by someone else. That being said, I do think that typing fast is an advantage, just not a huge one.

I used larger numbers to show the difference that adding just a few extra words a minute to your time. If you only write 20 words per minute now, adding 5 words increases your output by about 25%.

There's also something to consider regarding experience, planning methods and so on. Someone who plans to the point that writing the book is essentially filling in the blanks of an outline, or people who just pants the whole process away are likely to type up their draft much faster than other people. Partially because the former method results in spending time typing a bunch of information up in the first place, so you basically end up writing the story a time and a half, overall lowering your actual words per minute. Likewise, the pantser is likely to write up a lot of mess, and will end up writing the book much faster, but will have to spend time removing lots of fluff because they were writing with such reckless abandon.

Most people have this type, think, type some more rhythm, so it's far more likely to see people typing closer to 1000 words per minute unless they're one of the above. But in this situations, you'd have to divide the time spent in total by the words of the finished product, and you very well end up with different numbers all around anyway.

 

[COSenior]

In contrast though, look at our very own speed demon, @COSenior. She produces many, many times this. Then again, I'm pretty sure she's half cyborg. Or she doesn't sleep. Or she works really, really hard and focuses like a laser. (I think we all know which one of these things is true, which is why we could all learn something from her.)

There you go again, accusing me of being a robot. I'll join the numbers game debate, and comment on @Disciple's calculations while I'm at it. I'm a hybrid - I plan, to some extent, but not to the extent that I write up extensive biographies on my characters, world-build for hundreds of years before the action, or any of that. I also go off on tangents, like a pantser. My characters take it into their heads to do something completely unexpected, I go off chasing rabbits instead of sticking to the outline, etc. My average writing speed is about 1200 words per hour, certainly not any speed record, but respectable, I think.

The difference between most indie writers and me lies in the fact that I consider this my full-time job, and I have no other. When I'm writing (as opposed to revising or editing) I sit down at my computer no later than nine a.m., and most days I write for six to eight hours. If I'm determined to get something done, as I was in November, I can go faster or longer. For my NaNoWriMo novel, I 'won' at 50,000 words in seven days, and finished my novel at 78k+ in fourteen. However, that novel is going to require extensive re-write. I write cleaner when I'm not racing against the clock. Also, the fact that CH's books have done tons better than mine is probably the result of her taking the time to craft every sentence, rather than dashing them off in reckless abandon.

IMHO, the question of typing faster isn't going to make much difference to most writers. I can already type faster than the 20 wpm that my average writing speed would suggest. As CH said, it's the thinking time that slows us down. Not to mention the distraction time, which is an even bigger issue for me and I would assume others.

I agree! The only thing I do not like to much about this is that it´s not passive. Writing is fun but it consumes a lot of time!

Damn straight! I've said the same thing before, and no doubt will say it again. However, there ARE authors whose works continue to sell after many years The trick is to become an author who can write stories that stand the test of time and write them well. Then it's passive, after a fashion, because after all, you only have to write the book once.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

However, regarding the time investment. If one could type at 100 words per minute, and worked for an hour straight, that would be 6000 words.

I type upwards of 160 wpm and am among the fastest typists in the world.

I have never come anywhere near 6000 words in an hour's worth of typing a manuscript.

1,500/hr would be a good day.

 

[Karla]

You make some good points in your post, but dang, I only WISH the above were true. I type super-fast, but the story-crafting itself is the difficult, time-consuming part. I don't think we can compare the act of typing with the act of writing. Under the scenario you laid out, writing a complete novel would take the same amount of time as re-typing in a novel already written by someone else. That being said, I do think that typing fast is an advantage, just not a huge one.

Exactly!! 60k in two days is MAYBE possible but I doubt that this would be a book worth reading. Typing is NOT writing! I can write about 1.500 word per hour when I am writing my stories (but I am not a fast writer) 2k per day (like King) is perfect. It´s not too much and you are still writing everyday which in my opinion is the most important part! You need to write to finish a book and you need to write regulary! This means that you can finish a full length novel within 6 weeks (without editing).

 

[Karla]

Damn straight! I've said the same thing before, and no doubt will say it again. However, there ARE authors whose works continue to sell after many years The trick is to become an author who can write stories that stand the test of time and write them well. Then it's passive, after a fashion, because after all, you only have to write the book once.

Yes, that´s definitely true. I also believe that the more books you add the better for the books you´ve already written. So let`s keep writing ;-)

 

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[Rawr]

There you go again, accusing me of being a robot. I'll join the numbers game debate, and comment on @Disciple's calculations while I'm at it. I'm a hybrid - I plan, to some extent, but not to the extent that I write up extensive biographies on my characters, world-build for hundreds of years before the action, or any of that. I also go off on tangents, like a pantser. My characters take it into their heads to do something completely unexpected, I go off chasing rabbits instead of sticking to the outline, etc. My average writing speed is about 1200 words per hour, certainly not any speed record, but respectable, I think.

The difference between most indie writers and me lies in the fact that I consider this my full-time job, and I have no other. When I'm writing (as opposed to revising or editing) I sit down at my computer no later than nine a.m., and most days I write for six to eight hours. If I'm determined to get something done, as I was in November, I can go faster or longer..

If you and me were in the same body, we'd already be in a yacht somewhere warm.

 

[COSenior]

Warm would be nice. I've been wearing gloves in the house for the last two days because of single-digit temps (Fahrenheit). Luckily, not typing at the moment, revising on printed manuscript.

 

[Rawr]

I hear ya...was in Chicago last winter when I was doing it. Hat indoors, the whole thing. Worst thing about being cold was that the memory foam topper would turn into a piece of plywood when you tried to go to bed. Electric heater eventually saved me. Keep warm Cos.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

As promised, Here is a Year-End Update. Aside from details on my progress, I'm hoping this offers some insight to help others on this crazy self-pubbing road. A quick disclaimer: All of these numbers are approximate and/or rounded, and they include "borrows", because I've done some limited participation in Kindle Unlimited. These numbers do not include sales of my kids' books, all written under Pen Name #1.

Total Books Released: 4 (Disclaimer: This includes a book released very late in 2013)

Total Copies Sold/Borrowed in 2014: 177,000

Where They Were Sold:

• Amazon U.S. 77.1%
• Amazon International: 7.9%
• ITunes: 6.4% (Referring to ebooks only, not counting audiobooks)
• Barnes & Noble: 4%
• ACX: 1.7% (These are the audiobook versions, sold on Audible & Itunes.)
• Kobo: 1.6%
• CreateSpace: 1% (Printed books sold on Amazon.)
• Other: 0.3% (Smashwords, Oyster, Scribd, Sony)

Which Books Sold?

• Book#1: Accounted for 47% of books sold.
• Book #2: Accounted for 37% of books sold.
• Book #3: Accounted for 4% of books sold.
• Book #4: Accounted for 12% of books sold. (Side note: This is actually a decent percentage, given the fact that this book has only been out a few weeks.)

Sales by Month

• Best Month: April, with 50,000 books sold on Amazon U.S.
• Worst Month: October with 1,100 books sold on Amazon U.S.
• Current Sales-Rate: In December, approximately 17,800 books sold/borrowed on Amazon U.S.

Review Ratio: 215: 1
This means that approximately one of every 215 books sold resulted in a review.

Mailing List Ratio: 75: 1
This means that approximately one of every 75 books sold resulted in a mailing list signup.

Ebook Vs. Print Ratio: 95: 1
This means I sell approximately 95 ebooks for every printed-copy.

Ebook Vs. Audio Ratio: 53: 1
This means I sell approximately 53 ebooks for every audiobook.
(Side note: These numbers are somewhat misleading, because my audiobooks were generally released several months after the ebooks. Over time, this ratio will likely even out a little.)

Highlights:

• Three books hit Amazon's top 100 in the Kindle Store.
• One book hit the USA Today Bestseller list.

Some Comments/Observations

• Holy Crap!: Wow, looking at those numbers, I remain incredibly thankful for so many things -- wonderful forum members who nudged me into self-pubbing, readers who actually buy/review my books, my family for putting up with all my "crazy" ideas, and people here who continue to offer insight and encouragement. THANKS SO MUCH!!! Okay, now for some less sentimental comments...
• Production is Key: See the huge drop off in October? This goes to show how important it is to keep writing and producing. Since I write full-length books, it's usually a few months between books. Because Book#3 wasn't a huge performer, it didn't offer the momentum to sustain high sales beyond a certain point. If I hadn't released a "hit" in November, likely, I would've seen a significant drop-off in sales through the year-end.
• About My Best Month/Best Day: See where I sold 50,000 books in April? During this month, I had two books hit Amazon's top 100. One peaked at #29, while the other one peaked at #37. They remained in the top 100 for most of the month. On my very best day, I sold over 2,000 books. (Wow, again, so, so, so thankful...)
• 'Hate' Isn't All Bad: My favorite book is Book#3. It has the highest review-rating, but the poorest sales figures. Very few people hate it, but it doesn't inspire enough interest to gain a lot of traction. In contrast, my other three (best-selling) books are frequently loathed. Either that's because they get more visibility due to their higher sales ranks, or the same qualities that inspire hate also inspire love/passion/whatever. These higher-performing books seem to be somewhat polarizing, with people either loving them or hating them. Those who hate these books REALLY hate them. Understanding this dynamic makes me less bummed out when I get a one-star review, because it tells me that at least the books aren't boring. (I can point to other reasons why book#3 doesn't do as well, but I think the love/hate thing is an interesting dynamic.)
• About International Sales: A weird dynamic, not all books hit equally in different countries. For example, Books#1 and #2 were surprise hits in the U.K., while Book#4 was a surprise hit in Australia. In contrast, Books#1 and #2 didn't do much in Australia, while Book#4 didn't do much in the U.K. Either it's Amazon's algos at work, or different books speak to different audiences.
• Marketing: I did almost zero marketing this year, and will likely continue the trend. As I've mentioned before, I believe the best thing you can do to promote book#1 is write book#2, and so-on. The only thing you MUST do, IMO, is maintain a mailing list, because it helps ensure you're never 100% at the mercy of Amazon or whoever.

Future Plans: Looking ahead, I'm planning to release at least three, possibly four, full-length books in 2015. And you know what I'm gonna say next...MUST WRITE FASTER!

 

[Rawr]

How much would you have to get paid to go back to your old job?

 

[COSenior]

Awesome stats, CH! We knew you were a rock-star, but it's nice to see the numbers, for those of us trailing far behind in your footsteps.

About book #3, which I believe you have said was a heavy revision of the book that got you an agent a few years ago. Do you wonder whether that book would have done better if a mainstream publisher had picked it up, or whether it would have effectively ended your career with lackluster sales under the old, non-ebook model? For the record, it was my favorite. Just goes to show I'm not your genre's typical audience I guess.

Anyway, congrats on a stellar year, and may the next one be even better!

 

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[Red]

Thanks for the update! Time to start on book #2 for me... it's always good seeing others success, it's both encouraging & inspiring. Thanks for that wrap up!

 

[ChickenHawk]

About book #3, which I believe you have said was a heavy revision of the book that got you an agent a few years ago. Do you wonder whether that book would have done better if a mainstream publisher had picked it up, or whether it would have effectively ended your career with lackluster sales under the old, non-ebook model? For the record, it was my favorite. Just goes to show I'm not your genre's typical audience I guess.

Yup, it was a heavy revision of my agent-getting book. It's hard to say what might have happened if this book were published traditionally. It likely would have sold more copies, because of the wider distribution. But I'd have likely earned less, because my cut would have been so much smaller.

And then there's the size of the advance to consider. If the book-deal involved one of those illusive six-figure advances, it would be considered a huge flop. On the other hand, if this book were published under a small-advance scenario (like let's say a publisher advance of $1,500), it would have been dubbed a modest success. It's funny, because selling 5,000 of anything would've thrilled me a year ago, and I really am thankful for every single sale. It's just that compared to the other books, Book#3 remains a consistent under-performer. Weird too, considering that you and I both like it best of the four.

I think this goes to show that no one really knows how well a book will perform until it's actually out in the marketplace. It also goes to show that you need to get a lot of stuff out there, rather than banking on one book for example. (Happily, you'll never be in this situation, because I'm pretty sure you're incapable of writing just ONE book, you speed-demon you. )

Anyway, congrats on a stellar year, and may the next one be even better!

Thanks so much, and right back atcha!

 

[RogueInnovation]

*sigh* Ahhh

Finally finished reading this.
Its a heart warming little story you got here

Around page 19 I just started chuckling... Almost 200k sales.
Ha

Weirdly I'm not in impressed/surprised mode, which I think does you credit, you have been so open and cool about what you shared you have left me able to have a more authentic response after reading those sales figures.


Ahem...
Well done

This thread has three great take aways for me
- How potential can be measured (a few sales, a few thousand sales, and thousands a day) and how expectations shift through those gears
- How hit or miss it is, unless you have a strong pull from readers and follow that pull
- How much you can sell, self published (informed risk vs reward) and the sales stats to hit

You have undoubtedly learnt so much, I can just see it oozing from you, haha!


I'm just sitting with this info. Its quite a lot to absorb. I came in here cuz I was trying to sell a few thousand copies, now I just have to rethink and let it all percolate.

Ok so what I can gather from all this is that, you want robust sales as a reflection of anticipation and content. And to expect about a one percent conversion to subscription that will help the starting success of future titles, allowing for strong sales all around.

Point taken...


I like all the "holy crap" points in this thread, at 30 sales over lunch, then at 1000 in a month, then at 50 000 in a month. Priceless.

I came to this thread wanting to just calm my nerves (sent some stuff out this morning to publishers) but this just eclipses it.

I think what your thread is telling me is "f#ck it! You are awesome! Don't fear a damn thing! You've got a pen!" and ha I like that. Cheers


I think I just had a holy cr#p moment reading this xD
Lol, you just shattered my low expectations (for my book).
I don't even know how I feel about it to be honest.

I suppose I'm not surprised.
(nods)

Well that was enlightening.

... Jeez, that entreprenuerial heroine eh? It's got quite a kick.
I'm all stressed out now, but also relaxed, cuz you just blew my mind.


Fantastic.
You totally have stopped me dead in my tracks, I love it
(applauds)

 

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[stormjb1]

WOW! Awesome, awesome thread!! So inspiring, and Im so happy for you!!

I have 2 questions for you CH, would appreciate your answers a lot

1) When writing, what kind of software do you use? MS word? anything to back up your work?

2) I've published 7 non-fiction books on kdp in 2013, which were outsourced, I stopped publishing more as I had my final year of university studies to go. These books still make approximately £300 a month which isn't bad considering I've literally done no work on them since September 2013. Anyway, I've never been into fiction reading as I've always had the attitude of "whats the point of reading this if it isn't going to improve my life?" But now I've decided I will give this a full swing. Ive never written fiction before however my essays at university were always amazing often achieving the highest distinctions in the class.

Do you have any pointers for me at this point? As in where/how do I learn fiction writing? Is there a process one can follow?

I'm planning to buy and read some of the top sellers in my chosen genres and see what they are doing over the next week.

Thanks again for this amazing thread and congrats.

P.s I'm male if that makes a difference in terms of writing for the audience.

 

[ChickenHawk]

WOW! Awesome, awesome thread!! So inspiring, and Im so happy for you!!

Thanks so much!

1) When writing, what kind of software do you use? MS word? anything to back up your work?

I use MS Word, but I've heard great things about Scrivener. Lots of the pro writers recommend it, and if I weren't so lazy, I'd probably take a good look at changing my stuff over. But I'm super-comfy with Word, so that's what I'll probably stay with. (I fear this makes me an old dog. *Sigh.*) As far as backups, I use thumb-drives and occasionally email files to myself.

Do you have any pointers for me at this point? As in where/how do I learn fiction writing? Is there a process one can follow? I'm planning to buy and read some of the top sellers in my chosen genres and see what they are doing over the next week.

You beat me to the punch! The very first thing I'd have suggested is reading some of the top sellers in your genre. This will give you an idea on some really important things. For example, as you read these books, ask yourself these questions: Is this written in first-person or third-person? How long is this book? Does it have a happy ending? Is there sex in it? If so, how explicit is it? How long are the chapters, and how many are there? Just basic stuff, but keep an eye on it. It will help you as you map out your own stories.

Aside from this, there are generally two novel-writing books I recommend. They're both somewhat old, but they helped me forever ago when I first decided to write a novel. One is so old, I think it's out of print. But they have lots of great info to keep in mind when crafting your story, especially if it's your first. These books are: 'Writing the Breakout Novel' by Donald Maas and 'The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing' by Even Marshall.

Amazon Links for These Books:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/158297182X/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1582970629/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

A quick note about these books: These were both written when books tended to be longer than they are today. If you do end up reading them, you might want to keep that in mind.

Hope this helps!

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Awesome update, CH. Thanks for posting it. Inspiring stuff.

 

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[Hucryn077]

Ok I am back. .....damn this was so inspiring the last time I read it I went out and started a novel. I wrote the first 2000 odd words outline of my story. Got a ghost writer to do the novel from there.....it came out to 27,000 words (yes, outsourcing is a pain in the a*&/$). Now I have the story in word format. A few pointers in the right direction here will help me alot please if you don't mind.
1- what now, how do I get it published on kindle, spacing, size of wording, how many words per page?
2 - cover needs to be done, shall I do a front and back with a spine or what?
3- I went all back to front with this. How do I know what genre my book will fit in.....is there a way to search a book title on amazon and it shows you the genre and sub genre that that specific book is listed in?
3- thank you so much in advance for all that you have given us on this forum.

Cheers from a sunny South Africa

 

[ChickenHawk]

A few pointers in the right direction here will help me alot please if you don't mind.
1- what now, how do I get it published on kindle, spacing, size of wording, how many words per page?
2 - cover needs to be done, shall I do a front and back with a spine or what?
3- I went all back to front with this. How do I know what genre my book will fit in.....is there a way to search a book title on amazon and it shows you the genre and sub genre that that specific book is listed in?
3- thank you so much in advance for all that you have given us on this forum.

1. For general "how to" uploading info, probably the best thing would be to google "how to publish on Amazon", or just follow along with Amazon's guidelines. Basically, use their KDP system to upload your document and take it from there. They make it pretty simple. You might run into additional book-keeping/accounting issues, since you're not in the U.S., but overall, the process is fairly straight-forward. Personally, as far as formatting, I use Times New Roman 11-point text.

2. You only need a front cover, unless you're planning to publish hard-copies too. (Again, might be worth googling for additional guidance on size, format, etc.) If you decide to publish hard-copies, you can use the tools in CreateSpace to generate a back cover. (Meaning you shouldn't have to pay a designer.)

3. Yup. In Amazon, search a particular book and skim downward into the description area to see where it falls. The only problem is that it's sometimes hard to translate the categories from Amazon to the KDP uploading process. But again, the KDP Dashboard will give you all the choices you need. Plus, you can change categories after the fact if you decide to. This is a huge topic in and of itself, so again, you might want to search on it. I've never been terribly good at the whole category thing. In contrast, others here have successfully gotten their books into multiple categories.

Hope this helps!