Publishing on Kindle – How to “guideâ€

[Jake]

Beer and Pancake season is upon us and sadly I won’t be attending. But in the spirit of sharing and presentations I thought I would contribute some knowledge that I’ve recently gathered to the forum.


I’m sure many of you are aware that publishing books on Kindle has become pretty popular lately. It may seem like damn near everyone is a published author these days. Amazon makes it extremely easy to become one! Hell..I can even call myself a “Best Selling Authorâ€. Cool..right?


I wouldn’t say that this is the best way to financial freedom but if you’re not working on anything else it may be an avenue to generate a few dollars outside of employment.


Why did I decide to publish:


I clicked on a thread where a member had recently released a book and was looking for opinions on his book cover. I read an excerpt on his website and found it hilarious. At that point I thought to myself..â€
You know what? I should publish a f’ing book!†– a Great reason to do so.
:smilielol:

How to get started:


Write a book! It doesn’t necessarily have to be long. My first one wasn’t. It’s a grand total of 26 pages. You can spend a couple of days writing a short book or spend a year writing a masterpiece. There’s no right or wrong here. I’m sure you don’t want to put your name on a piece of turd so I wouldn’t pump out trash though. Amazon starting deleting books people were putting up with PLR articles so definitely don't do that. Write or purchase original content.


Visit http://kdp.amazon.com to sign up for an account


Format you book for Kindle – You can follow this guide on Amazon https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A17W8UM0MMSQX6 or you can find someone on www.fiverr.com to do it for cheap. My first book cost me “1 gig†or $5 to get formatted. If you want to save time that may be the option you prefer as well.


Design a cover: I went to Fiverr for this as well. Search “kindle cover†select “rating†and you can find plenty of people willing to design a cover for you for $5.


Publishing your book: Once you have your book written and formatted getting it up on Amazon is very simple. Here’s the “how to†on Amazon https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A37Z49E2DDQPP3

Once you upload your book, cover, insert keywords, etc you will then have to decide if you want to enroll in KDP select or not.


KDP Select: This has some benefits but a few drawbacks as well. With KDP select you choose Amazon for the sole distribution point of your book for 90 days. It may sound awful but Amazon has an absolutely massive customer base so using KDP select to promote your book and tap into this makes up for it..IMO. With KDP Select you can give your book out for free for 5 days during a 90 day period. This helps build some traction via word of mouth and you will begin to show up in searches.


KDP Select also allows people to “borrow†your book and you get a percentage of the “Kindle Owners Lending Library†pool of funds. Generally $2.xx per borrow but this may increase over time. I’m not an expert here.
I’m not going to steer you one way or another but without a name, email list, high traffic website, etc..KDP Select will help you get your book out there.


Pricing: Amazon gives you 2 royalty percentage rates to choose from. 70% and 35%. If you select 70% royalties your book must be priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Under or over this range and you’re stuck with 35% royalties on all sales.

If you choose the 70% royalties you also get hit with a small delivery charge by Amazon. If your book is large the delivery charge will be higher.

The pricing of your book may vary depending on where the customer is based. You are allowed to set pricing on amazon.com / .co.uk / .de / .fr / .es / .it / .co.jp / .ca /and .com.br individually but Amazon will increase the price of your book in certain countries. I.E book is priced at $2.99 but Amazon sells your book at $4.99 and sticks you with 70% or $2.99 (Because they can?)
This is something to keep in mind when pricing your book.


So there you have it. I am by no means an expert but this will give you the basics should you decide to pursue this path to becoming published (and hopefully making a few $’s) I’m not making a whole lot of money off of my books but it is nice to wake up to see that I sold a few books while I slept. :coolgleamA:


I originally posted a similar guide in the INSIDERS forum when I was asked a few questions but I thought I would share this with the rest of you who may be interested. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I know what you're probably thinking..This guy is horrible at writing! How can he publish a book? Well..you can find someone on Fiverr to correct grammar too. :eusa_clap:

$35 and a few nights after work is what it took to get my first book published. Much cheaper than having someone code software for me


I’ll add some additional tips in the post below.

 

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[Jake]

Making your description stand out. Here’s some code you can use in your book description to make it stand out from the plain text crowd. Use this exact code and insert your text.


H1 Headline:

<h1>TEXT</h1>

H2 HEADING (Amazon Orange):

<h2>TEXT</h2>

HEADLINE AND CENTERED:

<center><h2>TEXT</h2></center>

BOLD:

<b>YOUR TEXT</b>

ITALICS:

<i>YOUR TEXT</i>

CENTERED:

<center>YOUR TEXT</center>

CENTERED AND BOLD:

<center><b>TEXT</center></b>

CENTERED AND ITALIC:

<center><i>TEXT</center>&lt:/i>

UNDERLINED:

<u>YOUR TEXT</u>

BULLETED LIST:

<ul>

<li>TEXT</li>

<li>TEXT</li>

<li>TEXT</li>

</ul>

NUMBERED LIST:

<ol>

<li>TEXT</li>

<li>TEXT</li>

<li>TEXT</li>

</ol>

PICTURES ALIGNED LEFT WITH WORDS WRAPPED RIGHT:

<img src="URL OF PIC" align="left"/>

Another trick I learned is adding Analytics to you description to see how many people have viewed your book. Amazon doesn’t have much of a tracking system so this allows you to at least have an idea of how many people are seeing you book.
Upload a picture to an image sharing website(it could be any). Sign up for bit.ly or a link shortening service, insert your image link and shorten it, place the link in the code above for “url of pic†Now you have an image working as a data collector for you. It doesn’t compare to google analytics but it’s something.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Some great tips, thanks for sharing.

 

[Vigilante]

You have inspired me to take my book (already in print) and convert it to a Kindle book. Thanks! I will let you know when we get some results.

 

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[rocksolid]

I'm working on a children's book and I was planning on using Smashwords to publish it. Has anybody used them before?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Smashwords to publish it.

Why oh why?

Why use middlemen that take pieces of your pie? Go straight to the source. You can publish direct to Kindle, iTunes, and BN Nook - why would you put someone in front of you and crowd your distribution chain? (In other words, I wouldn't.)

 

[rocksolid]

I thought by going through them they would kind of be a one stop shop. It seems that they will do a lot of the marketing and work for me. Take a look at this link. Am I wrong?
Smashwords — How to Publish on Smashwords

 

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[OsmanS]

I've been publishing on Kindle for a few months, it's a great platform, recently had my first 4 figure month

 

[OsmanS]

Also, Smashwords isn't really worth it imo, for the same reasons MJ said

 

[rocksolid]

So if I do it on the Kindle then does that mean I have to do it for every other platform that I want the book to appear on? Then I would have to do the same process for Amazon books and so on? Sorry but I have never done this before. It just seemed nice and easy to go to one site and do it all at the same time.

 

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[Jake]

So if I do it on the Kindle then does that mean I have to do it for every other platform that I want the book to appear on? Then I would have to do the same process for Amazon books and so on? Sorry but I have never done this before. It just seemed nice and easy to go to one site and do it all at the same time.

Sure it seems nice and easy but there's a reason for that. They take an additional 10% of sales.

You also cannot track sales. I guess they send you a report every month of sales generated? Amazon tracking is bad enough..this seems 50x worse.

I don't know much about smashwords but there seems to be zero advantages and an awful lot of disadvantages to using it.

 

[1step]

Another formatting tip is you can change the color of your font which can really help you stand out from the crowd. I know a few who color the font the same as amazons orange font color (such as the H2 tag you mentioned), I dont believe this is available for products, only kindle books. Below is an example of a formatted description (I dont endorse the book, I did read it and its ok but most of the useful tips will be included within this thread)

Make A Killing On Kindle (Without Blogging, Facebook Or Twitter). The Guerilla Marketer's Guide To Selling Ebooks On Amazon: Michael Alvear: Amazon.com: Kindle Store

My kindle is dead so I cant find the code to change the font color but when it charges I will try and add it below.

Using Fiverr is a great tip, I found formatting to be a huge pain so getting that done for $5 and not having to worry about it was a huge convenience for me. Also the cover artists are pretty good, although I have found it helpful to give them a solid direction to take the cover.

EDIT: Code to add color

<span style="color: #Hexcode;">YOUR TEXT HERE</span>

Hex codes you can use are below
Red #ff0000
Blue #0000FF
Cyan #00FFFF
Purple #800080
Yellow #FFFF00
Lime #00FF00
Fuchsia #FF00FF
Light Blue #ADD8E6

End code would look like this for the color red

<span style="color: #FF0000;">YOUR TEXT HERE</span>

Hope this helps!

 

[cashflow3000]

Right.

So, go to the source if you want to e-publish.

Any suggestions on a printing house for a small print run?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

So if I do it on the Kindle then does that mean I have to do it for every other platform that I want the book to appear on?

Yes.

It just seemed nice and easy to go to one site and do it all at the same time.

Of course, and you will pay the price for that "convenience" -- namely, deferred payment, and less of a payment. When I read the terms I was like "Are you FN kidding me?" Why would I do this when I can go straight to each distribution channel myself, get paid more, and get paid faster?

If you want more layers put between your sales and your profit, go for it.

 

[rocksolid]

Thanks for the input everybody. What do you think are the top 5 -7 platforms to get my book on?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Kindle
iTunes
Kobo
BN Nook

 

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[InMotion]

Kindle
iTunes
Kobo
BN Nook

MJ do you have any opinions on ezines vs. newsletters?

Why do you think several of the large magazines are going under; filing for bankruptcy? It seems like if it was just a matter of shifting to an online model they would do it; is it just poor content, are people spending their time on blogs instead?

 

[Eskil]

MJ do you have any opinions on ezines vs. newsletters?

Why do you think all the large magazines are going under, filing bankruptcy? It seems like if it was just a matter of shifting to an online model they would do it; is it just poor content, are people spending their time on blogs instead?

The chief editor of Reader's Digest (who are filing bankruptcy for the 2nd time) was recently asked this same question. His response was that the transition is harder for traditional paper publications than what people think. He said it is not at all like when we went from radio to tv - tv was just radio with pictures. But, he said, publishing online is not at all like moving the same content from paper to screen.

I think it has to do with their advertisement models too. Most have relied on fixed price contracts for full-page ads. Online it's a different world with CPMs, multiple monetization models, etc. Besides - readers have become spoiled with choices and have increasingly short attention spans.

 

[Eskil]

And let's not forget that most "magazine" type content online is written heavily for SEO or to drive up site/page impressions. Old school editors and staff writers are often not accustomed to this style of content generation.

 

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[tchandy]

I was thinking of using E-junkie. With E-junkie I can add a buy now button on my blog. Any opinions?

Tom

 

[InMotion]

And let's not forget that most "magazine" type content online is written heavily for SEO or to drive up site/page impressions. Old school editors and staff writers are often not accustomed to this style of content generation.

Good point but its like they have millions of bucks so why cant they find someone lol.

 

[Jake]

The chief editor of Reader's Digest (who are filing bankruptcy for the 2nd time) was recently asked this same question. His response was that the transition is harder for traditional paper publications than what people think. He said it is not at all like when we went from radio to tv - tv was just radio with pictures. But, he said, publishing online is not at all like moving the same content from paper to screen.

I think it has to do with their advertisement models too. Most have relied on fixed price contracts for full-page ads. Online it's a different world with CPMs, multiple monetization models, etc. Besides - readers have become spoiled with choices and have increasingly short attention spans.

to add to that here's a link on newsweek. Should Newsweek ditch its print edition? - The Week Print still profitable for magazine, online not so much.

If I remember correctly Felix Dennis (Maxim) talks about the transition to online a bit in his book.

I was thinking of using E-junkie. With E-junkie I can add a buy now button on my blog. Any opinions?

Tom

I'm not familiar with E-Junkie but I gave it a quick look. Do they have any competition? What is better about it than a simple wp plug-in? assuming you're using wordpress.

 

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[MamaD]

I thought by going through them they would kind of be a one stop shop. It seems that they will do a lot of the marketing and work for me. Take a look at this link. Am I wrong?
Smashwords — How to Publish on Smashwords

There is no platform that will market for you. The only benefit to Smashwords is the distribution. You can do this yourself. Each platform serves only one purpose - to make your book available to consumers (readers). It's your job to market. Only when your book has generated enough appeal will any platform step in and highlight your book. Amazon does this very well. When they see your book selling (via your efforts), they reward you by increasing it's visibility through other marketing streams (email, recommended books, etc).

Don't go into this thinking Smashwords or any other platform is going to market for you because it won't happen.

Besides, Mark Coker is too busy ranting about Amazon KDP to care about the upgrades his own site needs.

 

[rocksolid]

I meant distribution not marketing my bad. I am taking everybody's advice and doing it one site at a time. I will let you know when it is out. Thanks for all the advice as usual!

 

[David2k8]

What is everybody doing to promote their kindle book? I noticed several fiverr gigs offering various ways of promotion. I was thinking about trying a couple of them out to see what kind of results I could get.

 

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[rocksolid]

Does anybody know anything about setting up the book as a " Fixed Layout " It seems that children's books are set up this way. I looked at the directions but it is soooo over my head. I think my book might be laid out correctly but I would need to test it. I don't own a Kindle or nook. I have a no name brand tablet. Could I still test my book on that to see if it is full screen?

 

[Jake]

What is everybody doing to promote their kindle book? I noticed several fiverr gigs offering various ways of promotion. I was thinking about trying a couple of them out to see what kind of results I could get.

I tried two of those fiverr gigs and they appeared to be pretty worthless. Not much traffic. My main source of promotion was free days.

Does anybody know anything about setting up the book as a " Fixed Layout " It seems that children's books are set up this way. I looked at the directions but it is soooo over my head. I think my book might be laid out correctly but I would need to test it. I don't own a Kindle or nook. I have a no name brand tablet. Could I still test my book on that to see if it is full screen?

I don't see why not. Tablet, computer, phone, etc

Get the kindle app

 

[David2k8]

So I have gotten two sales over the last few days, and it has propelled me to #1 in my category, lol.

It appears that the category you choose for your book is extremely important for its success. I am going to try changing one of the categories and see what happens.

 

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[rocksolid]

Can anybody recommend somebody who can put my book into a fixed layout?

 

[Jake]

Can anybody recommend somebody who can put my book into a fixed layout?

https://www.elance.com/r/contractors/q-Fixed-layout Kindle