Publishing through Amazon/Kindle

kymalie said:

My next question is what are the thoughts on publishing on Amazon through Kindle? Also, Amazon says they will publish you online but you must upload your book to them using Kindle or a Kindle friendly computer.

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I too am considering this as an option. I cant help you with whether or not its a good idea, im still researching these forums here to get a consensus on that HOWEVER, I have managed to convert my own book to MOBI format from PDF and can now read it on my own kindle. If you want any help in that department, feel free to message me and I can explain how to do it. Its kind of nice because it gives you an opportunity to see how your books format will look when its changed to the applicable ebook format you want to use.

Not sure if this thread will get moved from the new members forum or not, so I'll post here while it's still on my radar...

I have yet to investigate the tools Amazon has for publishing through their system, other than emailing copies of my book to my wife's or sister-in-law's Kindles. We had a speaker last month in our local Writers' Group who had self-published on Amazon, and spends maybe 6-8 hours a day promoting his book. He sells about 100 copies a month.

Part of the reason I haven't investigated their system yet is that I haven't decided yet that self-publishing is the way to go for me. It may come to that, but I'm thinking to make another run this year or next at agents and traditional publishers to see if they might want to take on my stories before resorting to self-pub.

If I haven't already greeted you,

Welcome to Absolute Write!

Moving to Self Publishing

Okay, I think there's a bit of a misconception here.

Kindle is Amazon's reading app and device. It uses the .mobi format for ebooks.

You can, and I have on more than a dozen occasion in the last year, upload a Word .doc file to Kindle Direct Publishing, Amazon's self-publishing venue online. It is simple, easy, and might take all of 15 minutes to accomplish once you've done it a couple times.

You do NOT need to upload a story from a Kindle nor do you need to upload a story in Kindle format. It's .mobi format and the reading device and app is the Kindle. You upload a .doc file and the KDP programs do all the rest.

Smashwords works essentially the same way. You upload a file, it gets processed and formatted for multiple reader apps, and it gets put up on Smashwords' pages.

PubIt! Also works this way.

Amazon, Smashwords & PubIt! are distributors of your material.

You'll need a good cover image, a Word (2003 seems to work the best) .doc file, a few minutes time, and some patience to go through the process.

I'm nervous on using Amazon on the basis that certain parts of the contract are rather sketchy. There have been various complaints over the years regarding arbitrary price changes and other payment woes.

Also, plagiarism is definitely a possibility. You have to do the policing for copyright infringement, not Amazon, which can make the whole process seem more tedious than its worth. The only way authors knew they had been plagiarized (by...cough...David Boyer) was when they (and others) actively searched for their work, and found the infringing "work". Amazon didn't notify those authors; they notified Amazon.

Sorry if this post seems to ramble somewhat. 6:30AM never is a good time for me...

Just my opinion...

Amazin does reserve the right to set lower prices on your books. It's their website, their market, their distribution, and their marketing services you're using after all. I don't think it's unfair.

In fact, I'd say that offering your books at a discounted price is Amazon's way of trying to sell more of your books for you. Everyone wants to make a profit after all and discounting a slow or no moving product is a good way to draw attention to that product.

I've never had any problems with Amazon's payments since I started accumulating royalties last year. They pay promptly, their checks cash, and the royalty summations appear to be accurate.

Plagiarism is a problem everywhere. Authors have to be their own businesses and they have to look out for themselves. Plagiarism and piracy are going to occur if you're work is popular enough. You just have to learn to deal with it.

FOTSGreg said:

Amazin does reserve the right to set lower prices on your books. It's their website, their market, their distribution, and their marketing services you're using after all. I don't think it's unfair.

In fact, I'd say that offering your books at a discounted price is Amazon's way of trying to sell more of your books for you. Everyone wants to make a profit after all and discounting a slow or no moving product is a good way to draw attention to that product.

I've never had any problems with Amazon's payments since I started accumulating royalties last year. They pay promptly, their checks cash, and the royalty summations appear to be accurate.

Plagiarism is a problem everywhere. Authors have to be their own businesses and they have to look out for themselves. Plagiarism and piracy are going to occur if you're work is popular enough. You just have to learn to deal with it.

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I'm not saying it's unfair in any way. I'm saying I am leery of it in general. I, personally would want to wait a little longer and explore other possibilities before looking to Amazon.

I sell about 100 ebooks a month on Amazon and perhaps 20 on other venues, such as B&N, and those reached by Smashwords (Sony, iTunes, Kobos, etc.) Smashwords is a distributor, but you can buy an ebook on their site--they make it possible to distribute to all the venues save for Amazon listed above, so that the writer doesn't have to deal with each individually. I now have 7 mystery novels available, and have just begun selling these in a paperback edition on Amazon through CreateSpace. The paperbacks are very high quality.

I can't believe that with the revolution happening in ebooks, driven mostly by Amazon, that anyone would hesitate unless they have a trad. pub. contract in front of them. Frankly, I have and would turn down such a contract because I can control every aspect of my books, from cover to content, pricing to marketing. This is what being a "true indie" is all about. There are no more gatekeepers for indies--the readers become the gatekeepers. Why hesitate to make 70% royalties over 10 or 15%?

See Konrath's blog.

Amazon definitely has a handle on setting price points where and when they'll be more productive. They reset mine, lowering my e-book to 1.99, and in three days I had 15 sales and hit the top 100 best-seller list for SF. It has something to do with analyzing their algorithm and charting the readership. So whatever they're doing in that regard, sure works for me. And I'm not self-published, btw. I share proceeds with my publisher.

Tri

David H Fears said:

I sell about 100 ebooks a month on Amazon and perhaps 20 on other venues, such as B&N, and those reached by Smashwords (Sony, iTunes, Kobos, etc.) Smashwords is a distributor, but you can buy an ebook on their site--they make it possible to distribute to all the venues save for Amazon listed above, so that the writer doesn't have to deal with each individually. I now have 7 mystery novels available, and have just begun selling these in a paperback edition on Amazon through CreateSpace. The paperbacks are very high quality.

I can't believe that with the revolution happening in ebooks, driven mostly by Amazon, that anyone would hesitate unless they have a trad. pub. contract in front of them. Frankly, I have and would turn down such a contract because I can control every aspect of my books, from cover to content, pricing to marketing. This is what being a "true indie" is all about. There are no more gatekeepers for indies--the readers become the gatekeepers. Why hesitate to make 70% royalties over 10 or 15%?

See Konrath's blog.

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Konrath's blog is a very biased opinion of the way things are--and he's gone back to commercial publishing.

As for why not, I personally do not trust Amazon. They're in it for themselves and have done more than a few sketchy things in the past. To just throw yourself at them and say "This is the future I'm trusting myself to you" without considering the fact that there are some potential negatives is a bad idea. In fact, going down any path without looking at the positives and negatives is a very bad idea.

This is why it's so important to read other opinions and see what experiences others have had and truly listen to concerns. People can get screwed, and this industry is already dangerous.

As for Amazon automatically repricing, my concern is that, if I understand correctly, they are repricing books and the authors take hits in royalties. That if they drop your book down to $.99, you then only get paid the thirty percent royalty. Now, I might be misunderstanding the situation, but that's not right, IMO.

Yes, Amazon is at heart a bookseller and looking to sell a product, but if you walk into a bookstore and they've dropped a price down to a dollar, they are taking the hit on that. The bookseller has, again, if I understand correctly, already paid the publisher for the book and the author is always going to get the same amount in royalty for each book sold.

Bookstores do this sort of thing all the time. In fact, almost every bookstore out there lost money with Harry Potter because they discounted them to attract customers hoping that they would then buy other books while they were there, but do you think J.K. Rowling lost royalties because her books were discounted?

The fact that Amazon can discount a book and then pay authors less is a little alarming, IMO. Consider also that an author selling at $2.99 gets $2.00, Amazon gets $1.00. If they sell the book at $.99, they get seventy cents to the author's thirty. Now, if they can sell even a few more copies at the $.99 price range, that's going to benefit them greatly, but it's not going to benefit the author much at all.

I'm also rather alarmed that in order to publish the book, you have to agree to these conditions. That's not right, and IMO authors shouldn't agree to it. If an author wants to change the price of his/her book that's one thing, but for the seller to be able to do it and stiff the author is quite another.

And to be honest, just because Amazon has good rates right now doesn't mean they should be expected to always have good rates. They are not out to help aspiring authors, they're out there to make as big of a profit as possible. They've become, in the self-publishing arena, a book mill intent on selling a few copies of as many books as possible, which at the moment means enticing authors. But as they become the go-to for self-publishing, there is nothing to stop them from changing the terms to give themselves a bigger cut.

One should never look only at one side of an argument.

ETA: I'm not even going to get into the argument about gatekeepers and readers and 15% vs. 70% and the "it's all mine" side of the debate because it's been done a thousand times here. You should probably read a few of those threads because good points are made on both sides. I will say, however, that language like that is automatically divisive and can be insulting to members here and shows a bias that makes it difficult to take you seriously.

Why hesitate to make 70% royalties over 10 or 15%?

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Which is larger: 70% of 100 or 15% of 1,000?

In the Terms of Service with Amazon KDP, it states that if Amazon lowers the price (not the author), they will receive the percentage of royalty they selected (i.e., if the author priced the e-book at $2.99 with a 70% royalty and Amazon decided to lower that price to $1.00, the author would receive 70% of $1.00, or $.70 cents). Don't mean to split hairs here, but just wanted to clarify that the percentage of royalty doesn't change; however, the amount the author receives for that royalty will be less.

It is also worth noting that an author can pull their books from Amazon KDP at any time if they believe they are not being treated fairly (or for any other reason they may have).

Okay, that's good because that's one of my big problems with it. But wasn't some one on here just a couple of weeks ago angry because they had the price dropped and gotten the lower royalty rates? I know people have been dropped to free and not seen money from that.

I correct that element of my argument, and thanks for the clarification.

You're right, there was a person who recounted their experience with Amazon KDP in regard to an issue with Amazon reducing the price of their e-book. They had offered it at a lower price elsewhere temporarily and Amazon price-matched the lower price. When the price was increased on the other site, Amazon did not increase the price on their site. The person contacted Amazon and after a bit of time the price was changed correctly. Then, at a later date (as I recall, several months later), Amazon reduced the price again. To the authors' knowledge, the e-book was not available anywhere else at a lower price, yet Amazon reduced the price. Amazon was not paying the 70% royalty, as the author had specified, rather the 35% royalty.

I hope I've reported that case accurately here. If not, please, someone correct me.

The problem with that particular scenario began with offering the e-book for a lower price elsewhere. Amazon KDP Terms of Service state you cannot offer your book for a lower price anywhere else. The other problem, of course, is that Amazon KDP also has in their Terms of Service that they have ultimate say over what the price of the e-book will be, so they are within their rights to decrease or increase the price.

Best advice I have to offer is to diversify and not keep all your eggs in one basket and to pay attention to the reports for accuracy and report any problems you see immediately. Amazon KDP gives us access to weekly reports. If the numbers don't add up, I believe it's best to contact Amazon KDP right away.

merrihiatt said:

Best advice I have to offer is to diversify and not keep all your eggs in one basket and to pay attention to the reports for accuracy and report any problems you see immediately. Amazon KDP gives us access to weekly reports. If the numbers don't add up, I believe it's best to contact Amazon KDP right away.

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I think this is great advice.

One more piece of advice, read those pesky Terms of Service. Then, re-read them. They are subject to change without notice.

James D. Macdonald said:

Which is larger: 70% of 100 or 15% of 1,000?

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I also think it's worth mentioning that it's not a direct comparison. A paperback book going for $10 is going to give $1.50 per book at 15%. A hardcover going for $25 would be $3.75.

To just compare the percentages doesn't take into consideration that there is a major difference in the selling price. 70% of $2.99 is $2.00. It isn't so dramatic a difference as it looks at first glance, and the royalty rates are actually even (and then reverse in advantage) once the sales price goes up to $13. Considering that's about what most trade paperbacks go for, it's less of an advantage than you'd think even without considering the number of books likely to be sold.

merrihiatt said:

They are subject to change without notice.

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I think this is the scary part.

kymalie said:

My thanks to both WackAMole and Mark G for your comments. I do wish to publish the old fashioned way but since it's a dictionary of text messaging acronyms it might be easier to update online.

And, the kindle idea is still being mulled around by me as well.

Good luck to all!!!

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Have you considered just doing this as a website? I'm not sure it's something that there would be worth trying to sell because this sort of information is generally available online.

I could see it being a successful website, though. You might have better luck with ad revenue than selling copies.

David H Fears said:

I can't believe that with the revolution happening in ebooks, driven mostly by Amazon, that anyone would hesitate unless they have a trad. pub. contract in front of them.

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You're assuming that "e-books" always means "self-publishing", though, and that's not the case.

Frankly, I have and would turn down such a contract because I can control every aspect of my books, from cover to content, pricing to marketing. This is what being a "true indie" is all about.

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Control is often overrated, though. I've seen the huge support that many trade-published writers get from their publishers and agents: I can quite understand why so many writers prefer to work with them, rather than self-publishing their work. But as has already been said, we've had that discussion here numerous times already.

There are no more gatekeepers for indies--the readers become the gatekeepers. Why hesitate to make 70% royalties over 10 or 15%?

See Konrath's blog.

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Heh.

kaitie said:

I also think it's worth mentioning that it's not a direct comparison. A paperback book going for $10 is going to give $1.50 per book at 15%. A hardcover going for $25 would be $3.75.

To just compare the percentages doesn't take into consideration that there is a major difference in the selling price. 70% of $2.99 is $2.00. It isn't so dramatic a difference as it looks at first glance, and the royalty rates are actually even (and then reverse in advantage) once the sales price goes up to $13. Considering that's about what most trade paperbacks go for, it's less of an advantage than you'd think even without considering the number of books likely to be sold.

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Also remember that many trade-published authors get a royalty of more than 15% on their electronic editions, which makes Mr Fears' point even less reliable.

kymalie said:

My thanks to both WackAMole and Mark G for your comments. I do wish to publish the old fashioned way but since it's a dictionary of text messaging acronyms it might be easier to update online.

And, the kindle idea is still being mulled around by me as well.

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If you want to update this online then your best bet might be to provide it as a website, rather than a book, as kaitie suggested:

kaitie said:

Have you considered just doing this as a website? I'm not sure it's something that there would be worth trying to sell because this sort of information is generally available online.

I could see it being a successful website, though. You might have better luck with ad revenue than selling copies.

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If you don't want to follow kaitie's good advice then an electronic edition is probably the next-best idea, in which case you're really going to have to work with Amazon via Kindle, and with Smashwords, to get the most out of it. Good luck!

I've kind of strayed away and stayed away from Konrath for awhile now. Oh, I check in with him every now and then just to see what he's ranting about this time, but I've gotten to the point where I'm not entirely sure I trust Joe's numbers anymore. By my calculations, according to his blog and reported numbers, his sales for December alone amounted to somewhere in the vicinity of $300 thousand in royalties from Amazon.

I really think that if he was making that kind of money we'd have heard about it.

I'm not saying Joe's lying, but I do think the numbers might be inflated a bit or might be averaged out over the entire year. I know he and Blake Crouch do sell an awful lot of books (of varying degrees of quality), but right now I'm taking most of what he's saying with a 5-lb bag of Morton's Iodized.

BTW, he's an AW member and occasionally drops by to say something on a few threads. I haven't seen him anywhere around here for about a year though.

FOTSGreg said:

I've kind of strayed away and stayed away from Konrath for awhile now. Oh, I check in with him every now and then just to see what he's ranting about this time, but I've gotten to the point where I'm not entirely sure I trust Joe's numbers anymore. By my calculations, according to his blog and reported numbers, his sales for December alone amounted to somewhere in the vicinity of $300 thousand in royalties from Amazon.

I really think that if he was making that kind of money we'd have heard about it.

I'm not saying Joe's lying, but I do think the numbers might be inflated a bit or might be averaged out over the entire year. I know he and Blake Crouch do sell an awful lot of books (of varying degrees of quality), but right now I'm taking most of what he's saying with a 5-lb bag of Morton's Iodized.

BTW, he's an AW member and occasionally drops by to say something on a few threads. I haven't seen him anywhere around here for about a year though.

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I've known Joe since the 90s when we both posted short fiction on a Listserv site, Alt.Fiction.original. I've followed his career and know other writers who know him. I can tell you Joe is NOT lying about his royalties, nor has he "gone back to traditional publishing" as someone mistakenly posted here. He'd be nuts to go back completely though he has a few connections to trad. publishers.

I did not come to this site to argue indies vs. trad publishing. And, yes, I'm sure this has been done here before. Still, since I'm a "true indie" I find some of the views here a bit like going back to the 90s. Many writers choose to do both, and yes, I understand the TOS of Amazon. Still, if I keep my prices stable there, Amazon isn't likely to lower the prices--to do so would be to cut their own throat. Yes, they do price match; yes, it's a bear to get prices back after offering them free or lower elsewhere. But my 7 novels would be languishing in a drawer somewhere if not for Amazon. I also use and support Smashwords, which distributes the book to several other main venues. I sell a fair number on Sony, for example, and a few on iTunes and B&N.

I also understand that many writers are heavily invested in trad. publishing, and I'd never tell them that their view makes them unreliable. Why someone would say that to me, well, I have to shrug that off. I'm not here to convert anyone. Even if my sales numbers ever grow as high as Joe's, I'd still be my humble, silly self.