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Kindle Direct Publishing

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  • I just checked out Amazon's Kindle books, picked the first one, a Stephen Leather title. Price, £0.71. Other prices below it, £0.00
  • A lot of authors offer some of their books for very little or even for free in the hope that the reader will like them and then buy more of their future books. Most authors sell their books for between £2 and £3 at 70% royalties.
    xxx
  • ours apparently are going to be a lot more than that but then they are 'specialised' - niche erotica!
  • [quote=dorothyd]if you want to make money, you need to hit all the markets. They have distributors handling the sales.[/quote]

    Most definitely Dorothy. However if a person just wants to hit this market to test, to make a few pounds, (or a lot of pounds), or to expose their work then using this completely free system is very useful. It really is revolutionary that a writer can save a finished book in word and the same night have it live for sale on the biggest book retailer in the world with no up front costs. This model will eventually be close to how the whole publishing world works in the future I think.

    I think even in the future if you are signed by a publisher it won't be too far away from this sort of system. Maybe this will mean they can take more chances, testing out new writers will a small marketing outlay and increasing based on growth of exposure. Hopefully it will also mean a lot more smaller independent publishers will set up offering new writers a way into the market.
  • And will the big publishing houses go bust?
  • edited February 2011
    You know what Jay as with any revolution you either adapt or die and I can't see huge houses falling due to this. I'm pretty sure they already have processes in place for each step that comes along. I think the huge success of the Kindle 3 has taken everybody by surprise though, even Amazon.

    Writers will always need a publishing infrastructure around them to protect and develop them. I guess that's been lacking for a long time though. The role of big publishers should return toward that goal and that may be one of the many good things to come out of this fast moving change. But new markets will run parallel with that; the independents who can survive failures, the lone writer in charge of his or her own career and POD that is free at source and reaches a wider market.

    There certainly will be a new cottage industry in publishing that will help shape, strengthen and also hand back some of the power to the writers who work in it.
  • I'm in agreement with Tony. I think this is a major change in publishing as we know it. Perhaps some publishers will start new writers off as ebooks and then if they are successful, will move them to print editions. Like I said earlier, I don't think ebooks will ever completely replace printed books, rather they will give the reader a choice and with technology increasing at the rate it is, I think this is just the beginning.
    xxx
  • [quote=midia] I think this is a major change in publishing as we know it.[/quote]
    Absolutely - something we all need to get our heads around now rather than being left stranded. Remember those people who said they would never buy CDs in preference to Vinyl records? The world moves on.
  • I certainly agree with both of you on those points ST and Midia.
    If you want to test the market as a trial ST then I can see why you wouldn't bother with ISBN.
    I know a couple of people who use mobi for reading on their phones. Sony use ePub and PDF and then you've got Kindle.
    I see e-books- whichever version- as a way of reaching a reader who will hopefully then buy further e-books and tell their friends. To reach the maximum market ISBN's are going to be essential.
    A writer with a ready made audience is much more attractive to publishers...
  • edited February 2011
    [quote=Carol]A writer with a ready made audience is much more attractive to publishers...[/quote]

    Great point Carol. Just look at the way YouTube has changed the way record companies source new talent. If you have a following on there then you are more likely to be signed. It's happened so much now and was the obvious stepping stone from the death of MySpace when Facebook killed that off. I mean bands are doing this very same thing on iTunes with self produced albums and singles now. That is now THE market for music.

    If you have a decent download rate on your Kindle publication, a good Twitter following and Facebook base then certainly you have more chance of getting an agent or publisher interested in the future. Also this is similar to CDs but there is one huge difference. This is cheap and wide right now. CDs and their massive R&D bill made the players and discs too expensive to begin with and for a long time. It was the same with DVD then notice the difference with the quick reduction of Bluray players and discs after a few months of the tech being available.

    Kindles are cheap, are here in the hundreds of thousands, provably millions and the content is also cheap. Add to that the fact you can have a book instantly once you decide you want it makes this a mouthwatering prospect.
  • Hi everyone I'm Carol and thought I would pop in as Midia said she had been chatting on here.
    My books are on Kindle and Smashwords and I have not included the ISBN numbers. Amazon automatically linked Kindle to my books. I have sold books via Smashwords to Barnes & Nobles and other distributors, definitely no ISBNs called for. Maybe in the future they might require some form of different ID if shops ever start selling ebooks? The main purpose of ISBN numbers is easy and immediate recognisions for the distributors. Amazon etc give your book their own ID number as they are the main distributor. That's how I see it and I could be wrong!
    I've heard some libraries now distribute ebooks hence another avenue opening up for us.
  • Welcome Sofyia (Carol ) and thank you for popping in. Hopefully if anyone here has any Kindle questions you can answer them much better than I can:)
    xxx
  • Any thoughts on using it for non-fiction?
  • Welcome Sofyia (Carol)

    BB I bought a non-fiction book (though it was related to an author's fiction) and as I was reluctant to pay the higher hard copy price when I didn't know what was in it properly, I bought it as an e-book first and as it was so good bought a hard copy for easier reference later.
    A lot of the books on Guttenberg are non-fiction.
    I know Waterstones sell some non fiction in e-book form.
  • Thanks for the welcome!
    IBB I've published three non-ficiton books via Kindle and one is doing tremendously well (by my standards anyway!!) The other two are picking up well across the Pond. They're also on Smashwords and one of them is very popular across the Pond.
    I promote via the Kindle self=promotion boards. I find these work very well for me. Also by chatting to various posters on the boards helps sales as occassionally you can leave your signature at the end of your post. Simply by reading the Kindle Boards you can pick up lots of information and helpful tips.
  • Yikes! My Kindle book, Oh Great, Now I Can Hear Dead People, is now on the Amazon Kindle website and it's for sale!! I priced it at £2.49, but for some reason it comes up at £2.86 - I think this is something to do with VAT? Anyway, if anyone is interested in purchasing it, it's here (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Now-Hear-Dead-People/dp/B004PLMIGE/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1298712134&sr=1-9)
    I need to make some adjustments to the cover, but haven't quite figured out how to do that. If anyone does buy it, please let me know what you think. I will report back on this thread as to how things progress with this and thank you all for your support and encouragement. I'm really nervous now!
    xxx
  • Congratulations midia!
  • yes, many congratulations!

    no nerves, get busy with the next one!
  • [quote=midia]Yikes! My Kindle book, Oh Great, Now I Can Hear Dead People, is now on the Amazon Kindle website and it's for sale![/quote]

    I just love this title! That alone made me go to Amazon and see what the book was about. If I had a Kindle, I'd definitely buy it. I can't work out whether to save up my Amazon gift certificates for a Kindle or an iPod Touch. Dilemma!
  • girl friday, you can download Kindle for PC, for free from Amazon!
  • [quote=LilyC]girl friday, you can download Kindle for PC, for free from Amazon! [/quote]

    I'm not very good at reading books on my computer screen unfortunately.
  • There were several pages about e publishing in the November issue of WM.
  • Yes, e-books do have VAT added.
  • Oh thanks Carol! I wasn't sure. Well, I've already had some sales. I'm sure I've done something wrong somewhere along the line; this just seems way too easy!
  • [quote=midia]Well, I've already had some sales[/quote]
    Hey Midia, that's brill!
  • Midia, that's great. Love your title!
  • what good news! I wonder ... if you had put that title on it before, would the publishers have been more interested??? it's certainly generating interest!
  • Very good question, Dorothy! I have a couple of publishers following me on Twitter - have no clue how I managed that! Time will tell, I guess.
  • Midia, this article in one of today's papers might reassure you. I posted it on this thread-http://www.writersnews.co.uk/writers_talkback/comments.php?DiscussionID=178323&page=1#Item_1
  • Thanks for this, Carol. Very interesting. I just read on the Kindle forum about a lady celebrating her 3000th sale this month! The thing I like is that you don't have to stick to a big word count, so if you have say, a novella, that a lot of publishers won't take, you can sell it as an ebook. Another tip I've just received today is to also publish your ebook (again for free) with Smashwords - this is another epublisher, but they distribute to Barnes and Noble (America's biggest publisher). Smashwords formatting is a little different to Amazon Kindle, but they offer you a free ebook to show you how it's done and if a technophobee like me can do it, anyone can!
  • And you might be able to offer your Kindle and Smashwords expertise to other writers. Loadsa money?
  • edited February 2011
    Smashwords etc is mentioned in the article in WMag as mentioned above.

    I've been thinking about publishing a book on Kindle but it's for children and they don't really have Kindles do they?
  • I like the idea that you can publish shorter works and still get a good return.
  • Yes especially for the novella or even children/YA book market.
  • We've solved the problem with the poetry in the book, but the photographs contained in it are probably too much of a problem, as they cause the Kindle version to be too big - about 18 megabytes, which is much too big, unfortunately.
  • Congratulations, Midia! I hope it does well.
  • edited February 2011
    Thank you, Verica. Let me know when your poetry book is on there and I will buy it.
    xxx
  • We've just bought your ebook, midia. I've read the first chapter and enjoyed it. When Graham can part with his Kindle, I look forward to reading the rest.
    As for my ebook, when it materialises, it isn't a poetry book, though it contains several poems, it's an autobio. I hope it does get converted in the near future, as I have very few published 'real book' copies left. You can have a look at my website: www.vericathefind.info
  • Oh thank you, Verica! That's very kind. I downloaded it myself to see what it looked like on a Kindle and had an Aghhhh! moment when halfway through I discovered a typo! So please excuse any you might spot. I'm going to do another edit this week and re-upload it again! Looking forward to reading your autobio and will look at your site in a mo.
    xxx
  • I had a quick look at Smashwords Home Page and I thought it looked very enticing for self-pub. They also announce that they will soon be doing a format for Kindle, so it could be a good way to go for max. exposure.

    http://www.smashwords.com/
  • Yes, Smashwords are going for every downloadable format there is and their main distributors are B&N. Eventually every book that is in print will also be in an electronic format and publishers will be adding 'all rights, including electronic formats' as standard in their contracts. At the moment many publishers' contracts are for print only rights.
    xxx
  • It does look good and they make it sound easy. We've encountered another problem in our quest to convert the published book into ebook. Several of the poems included - there are not that many - refer to the photos and if we can't convert the photos, due to the size of the MS and they won't be included, there's no point in leaving the poems in. Why isn't everything in this life simple? Or even just a few things occasionally. Maybe there's an amusing poem to be written entitled 'Why . . . etc?
  • The problem with including e-books in all rights publishers contracts is that the e-book rights may have unfavourable terms for the author and they would lose out.
  • I don't know much about putting photos on ebooks, Verica, but someone on the Kindle forum is bound to know. I have downloaded an ebook which contains photos though and they all appear on a page on their own and in black and white, if that helps?
    xxx
  • Do Kindle books have ordinary covers? Or are people not bothering? Or is there some sort of different technology so you get something that looks different?
  • edited February 2011
    Yeah they have the same covers Jay. In fact some books have alternative covers so you can choose. The only difference is that they are monochrome.
  • I've just heard that PC World and Tesco are to sell Kindles!
  • Wonder what the price will be?
  • PC World are retailing them at £111. I think now more high street retailers are stocking them, they will shoot down in price, like computer consoles did.
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