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Kindle Direct Publishing

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  • edited March 2011
    Well, I've just been notified that my book is published on Kindle and from there I discovered my first review (below)
    This was a well written book that is fun to read!

    "The central theme of the book is well developed and all the people in it seem "real" in that they behave normally (although Sam of course can hear ghosts!)
    When the book was finished, I really wanted to read more from this author and specifically the sequil to this book.
    When is it comming?? Soon I hope!
    If this were a movie I would rate it PG maybe PG(13)
    It is good to enjoy a book that doesn't have everyone ripping their clothes off and having *** and ****ing everything in sight!
    Congratulations to the Author, Deborah Durbin, you have done a good job!"

    How nice was that?
    xxx
  • that's wonderful!
  • [quote=Jay Mandal]Do Kindle books have ordinary covers[/quote]
    There is an option to upload a cover. Personally I think it is worth making the effort. It is part of the reading experience, although of course, none of us would EVER judge a book by its cover. (Why not? everyone else does...why do you think the cover is so important?) :)
  • That's great Midia.
  • midia - thank you - I think this might be just what I need. I will look at it properly tomorrow afternoon and may set something up.
  • Congratulations on your ebook, Midia, and your first review. It's a great idea. Love the title too! :)
  • A well deserved good review, Midia. When I get a chance to read beyond the first chapter, I'll post one too.
  • Thanks, Midia and Carol. I'm very grateful that she has emailed me offering to help and we have exchanged a couple of emails each. The book appears OK now, except for the photographs, which make the total count to too many megabytes. We might take some out, as they're not all essential. I keep saying 'we',
    but Graham is doing all the work and I just check and criticise it, though I appreciate all the hard work when he has other things to do on the computer. I find it hard to believe that the poems will look right on the Kindle when in rtf it looks as if the last line or two lines of the last verse of a poem are on a separate page, but he assures me they will not appear like that.
    .
  • Congrats Midia - what a great review! Apologies I haven't downloaded it yet, I won't forget - promise.
  • Anyone doing Kindle Singles? See page 12 of April's Writers' News. Any advice?
  • Haven't read that yet- because it is in the middle of WN and I prefer to read one magazine at a time.
  • edited March 2011
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Publish-Sell-Your-Kindle/dp/B004MDLKKK/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299348179&sr=1-7

    This might be of interest for anyone thinking of publishing articles or maybe even stories using the Kindle. No idea what it's like.
  • edited March 2011
    Quite a few of the Kindle Singles have the word 'single' in the title. Just thought I'd tell you. :)
  • Update...to date I've had six people buy my book from Kindle this week, so I'm quite pleased about that! Also secured a commission to write about my experience with publishing Kindle for 'another writing magazine':)
  • Clever girl, you :)
  • I subscribe to AN Other, so look forward to reading about it.
  • good news, Midia!
  • I am now surrounded by endless pieces of paper with notes, ideas, questions and AN ACTION PLAN. You've got me hooked. I intend to put at least one book, more likely three onto Kindle over the next few weeks. The only thing which may delay it is that I want to get the first chapter of my next novel written to enter in a competition and before I can write the chapter I need to do enough research to make it credible. Thank you Midia, this thread has been simply brilliant. I'm also now battling with whether to buy a Kindle today or wait a few weeks in case it is going to be cheaper! :)
  • We've put The Find on both Kindle and Smashwords now and are waiting for their review - just hope there's nothing wrong with them now. We had to cut out several photos, but that doesn't matter.
  • My experience of publishing for Kindle so far has been quite positive, especially as I am starting to get feedback through my website (www.howardthomas.net) and via friends of friends who have bought - and loved - the book and said they will write reviews. One of the most valuable aspects has been to confirm who exactly my book appeals to i.e UK baby boomers. The fact the novel is aimed more at the UK market - being set in London during 1982 Falklands / loadsamoney / post punk era - is a disadvantage as the vast majority of the Kindle readers are in the US. However, after solving a layout glitch I've now been accepted onto the Smashwords.com Premium List which widens distribution and includes the Apple iPad and Sony readers. They've given me an ISBN (free) which is a requirement for Apple. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as it's the reviews and word of mouth that will generate sales.
  • Well done, Howard. I too have had a few layout problems with Smashwords, so although I am listed with them, I'm yet to be on their Premium List, until I get a spare few hours to work out what I'm doing wrong in the upload process!
  • Good news all round. I too look forward to that article Midia in 'the other one'. :)
  • Did you follow smashwords' style guide, midia? We are going down the 'nuclear' path. We'd also like to get in the Premium catalogue. You can have a look and download a free sample on https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46012. Kindle want me to confirm that I'm the author (!), before publishing it.
  • I got confused after page one of the style guide, Verica, then gave up :)
  • I also took the nuclear path like Verica and found it OK once I'd realised that it was about paragraphs more than anything else. The two key points are deciding whether to use indented or block paragraphs and then setting up the paragraph dialogue box in the format menu correctly, ie put everything to zero!
  • Good luck Midia-this looks like fun as well as a potential money/publicity spinner.Definitely worth investigating especially given the sheer numbers of E-Readers that will sell going forward.
  • Just asked on my blog is anyone would buy my illustrated Dark Verse (amongst other ramblings). One reply to the positive so far - that's one enough for me. :)
  • Howard, we used indented and it worked. I use the word we advisedly, although my husband did all the work and I stayed up late into the night checking the book, but it has been worth it. We had to take out about half the photographs but, on the other hand, we managed to get the accents and other differences in a few Croatian words correct.
    Midia, if I had had to do it I would have given up long before you did. My stepbrother's son (my nephew), said the book was 'a good read', but a friend of his wrote that the blurb tells so much of the plot, it was not worth buying, after I amended the blurb, as I didn't want it to sound a misery memoir - people are fed up with those. He is wrong, as most of the book is about what happened afterwards. In any case, most people know the story of The King's Speech and Romeo and Juliet, yet they go and see them. People have only to read the remarks of those who've read the book on my website, to form an opinion.
  • Update...I just checked and I've now sold 13 this week. Not huge numbers, I know, but more than had I not put it on Kindle. Oh, and I found a second review of it on Amazon.com
    http://www.amazon.com/Great-Hear-Dead-People-ebook/dp/B004PLMIGE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A7B2F8DUJ88VZ&s=digital-text&qid=1300005504&sr=1-1
    which was a lovely surprise!
    xxx
  • great reviews, Debs! When I get my Kindle ...
    congratulations on the sales, too!
  • Congratulations Midia. You're on the way now.
  • Congratulations, Midia, both on the sales and the reviews.
    I wish I could transplant all the reviews on my website onto the ebooks .
  • [quote=midia]I just checked and I've now sold 13 this week. Not huge numbers, I know[/quote]

    I think that's very impressive!
  • Sounds pretty good to me too. Anyone on here sold more than 13 this week?
  • Has anyone got The Society of Authors' opinion on Kindle's terms and conditions?
  • I am formatting the poetry book I brought out to raise money for Age Concern as my way to test the waters. I am hoping to have it on Kindle by the end of the month. I have set myself the target of a book a month for the next five months. I need to have a marketing plan in place too. Fingers crossed (and a lot of hard work).
  • edited March 2011
    Jay, here is the SOA's latest recommendations on e-books:

    http://www.societyofauthors.org/soa-news/societys-latest-recommendations-e-books
  • Thanks, Carol.

    Someone's offering free help to people publishing on Amazon. You have to be a member of the SoA, though.

    http://www.societyofauthors.org/messageboard/publishing-ebooks-amazon
  • wow - working step by step through the requirements. My brain hurts!
  • Has anyone used mobipocket to format? How do you get the price in sterling?
  • Sorry Mutley, I haven't used mobipocket, but I have a feeling ST might have mentioned it before, so might be worth searching the forum. Keep at it, you'll do it! Did you get your Kindle by the way?
    xxx
  • Yes and its lovely red cover :)
  • edited March 2011
    An author on MN4, Writers' News, April mentions his site if you want guidance:

    http://stuartaken.blogspot.com/2010/12/kindle-process-of-publishing-your-ebook.html
  • For anyone who might be having problems formatting thier e-book. This lady does it very cheaply.
    http://design.lkcampbell.com/
    xxx
  • If I understand it correctly, you can opt to receive a royalty of 35% on a minimum retail price of between 75p and £1.49 and a maximum of £120; or a royalty of 70% on a minimum retail price of £1.49 and a maximum of £6.99.

    How did you decide which royalty percentage to opt for; and your book’s retail price?
  • I decided on the 70% royalty and set my price at £1.99, Jay. If you make any sales outside of the UK you have to pay withholding tax, but you can apply to have this reversed, but there are is a lot of complicated form filling involved. I read on one of the Kindle forums that new e-book writers fair better if they keep their book prices low.
    xxx
  • I've done it - I've uploaded my first book. I'm waiting for it to be accepted now. I have set the price at £2.75, I guess around £2.95 with VAT - all royalties go to charity on this one. I will let you know when it is there.
  • Yay! Well done, Mutley! Let me know when it's 'live' and I will order a copy.
    xxx
  • good one, Mutley! Best of luck with it!
  • edited March 2011
    Thanks, Midia and Mutley.

    [quote=midia]If you make any sales outside of the UK you have to pay withholding tax, but you can apply to have this reversed, but there are is a lot of complicated form filling involved[/quote]

    Kindle's terms and conditions clause 5.4.3 Taxes doesn't seem to be very specific. Do you know the rate(s) of WHT? And exactly how you reclaim it?
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