Kindle Direct Publishing

Success in self-publishing is very dependent on the quality of the work and how well you market and advertise it. The only time Amazon is going to promote your book is when it's sells like hotcakes. So the product must be high quality (writing, and editing which is the downfall of many self-pubbed books) and you must promote it yourself. Amazon doesn't screw you over, and it's not only option out there for distributors.

Since your other thread was about querying, KDP and self-publishing isn't like trade publishing. Trade publishers invest in your book in the wishes to make money with you on it. Jobs like editing, typesetting, advertising can be done by the publisher, and of course you can get an advance on the book. If you're not wishing to take on the entire business of publishing your own book, searching for a publisher will be more to your liking.

WillSauger said:

Amazon doesn't screw you over, and it's only one option out there for distributors.

Click to expand...

The first part of this sentence is highly debatable. The second part is factually wrong. Both Kobo and Smashwords distribute globally, and they actually do it easier for the author than Amazon does.
I also think it's false to say that Amazon distributes, they don't. They don't deliver to any bookstores, and they may even prevent you from having your books for sale online anywhere else.

Books on Kindle are all offered the same kind of sales page and fulfillment. So how they do will depend largely on, well, everything else.

Weirdmage said:

The first part of this sentence is highly debatable. The second part is factually wrong. Both Kobo and Smashwords distribute globally, and they actually do it easier for the author than Amazon does.

Click to expand...

Opps, sorry. Forgot to add in "not". Fixed now. I wouldn't otherwise say it's the only one out there if I meant to say it's not.

If you want a deal with a trade publisher then stick to your guns. It's going to take time, and you'll almost certainly face a lot of rejection, which can be hard: but plenty of us get there in the end.

Don't go for self-publishing just because it's quicker. It's no easier--in fact, it's much more difficult in all sorts of ways--and like trade publishing, there are no guarantees that your book will sell.

Write a great book, polish it as well as you can, and then submit it appropriately. And write your next book and your next, and you'll improve with each one.

KDP also goes out of its way to make sure you can't figure out how well you're selling or what your income is likely to be (you're paid by pages read, according to some formula known only to them). The Amazon Prime thing -- where you go exclusive with them -- has a pot of money allocated each month which is split among all the books in that program. No matter how well you sell you will never make more than that pot of money, which you will be sharing with everyone else who sold a book that month.

James D. Macdonald said:

KDP also goes out of its way to make sure you can't figure out how well you're selling or what your income is likely to be (you're paid by pages read, according to some formula known only to them). The Amazon Prime thing -- where you go exclusive with them -- has a pot of money allocated each month which is split among all the books in that program. No matter how well you sell you will never make more than that pot of money, which you will be sharing with everyone else who sold a book that month.

Click to expand...

The basic sales though KDP don't work like that. The charts show the sales, and the profit is a set amount of that sale. You don't share that money with anyone else, as it's a direct payment per sale of a book. The page reads thing with the pot is for their borrowing system, which requires being in Select. That's separate to sales.

The other problem I have found with KDP (which I used for my last four books) is that once it's there, many, main stream traditional publishers will not look at it unless you can show them high volume sales.

Well, obviously if you published on KDP you have choosing to self-publish. And ideas about being "discovered" there are akin to wandering around the local mall hoping to be discovered by a fashion model scout.

And yes, there are two programs. One is normal sales charged per copy. The other, which is optional, is the lending library which pays a fluctuating but generally declining rate for each page read.

And if anyone is out there wondering how much Amazon pays per page read . . . it's one-third of a cent per page. So a reader has to read 3 pages of your book in order for you to make a penny. That's what I put together from my last royalty statement anyway.

I thought it was more around 0.04 -- but yes, in that ball park. And it is not set, it changes each month, so far trending gently downwards

My first novel is almost ready to submit to KDP. I've decided to publish via ebook first.

1. Is my bank information safe?

2. Can I use my own icon logo design. Or at a name? Even just my name as in Tapia Books--which I hate to do because it's so obvious..

1. I've never had any problems with security as far as Amazon goes. They use their own web services, of course, and I can say as somebody professionally familiar with AWS that it's about as secure as you can get.

2. I'm not sure I understand this question. You have the option of setting up your own author page with Amazon, if that helps.

micahkolding

1. I've never had any problems with security as far as Amazon goes. They use their own web services, of course, and I can say as somebody professionally familiar with AWS that it's about as secure as you can get. Thank you!

2. I'm not sure I understand this question. You have the option of setting up your own author page with Amazon, if that helps. I'm talking about the publisher's logo that appears at the bottom of the title page as in...

DRESS HER IN CHAMELEON

Cindy Wiggins Tapia


Flashbang Books
Atlanta​

You can create your own publishing company, even if it's just your own books. Some people do this quite informally, but you can do it right with a DBA and everything. This can be listed as the publisher on the paperwork, I believe, although it's been some time since I launched a book on Kindle. If you are using your own ISBN numbers, they can be set up as being from your publishing company, too.

But an ebook doesn't have ISBNs.

I might be able to set it up with the numbers they use.

Thanks!

Aha!

According to the KDP eBook Metadata Guidelines under Publisher, "If you are the book's author or publisher, you may enter your name or the name of your publishing company" on the ebook detail page. Nowhere does it say anything about needing to purchase an Amazon number. In fact, it stresses not to mention Amazon or Kindle or a former publisher.

[url=https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201097560#:~:text=name(s).-,Publisher,and%2For%20publishers%20like%20you.&text=Customers%20see%20the%20publisher%20name%20on%20the%20book's%20detail%20page.]eBook Metadata Guidelines[/URL]

Cindyt said:

But an ebook doesn't have ISBNs.

Click to expand...

It doesn't have to, but it can.

Yeah, I've seen them. An aquaintence added her paperback's ISBN on the ebook version.

Cindyt said:

Yeah, I've seen them. An aquaintence added her paperback's ISBN on the ebook version.

Click to expand...

Er, that wasn't a good idea. ISBNs identify not only each individual book, but each format the book is in. If she's already got an ISBN assigned to a paperback, she shouldn't use it for an ebook as well.

Marissa D said:

Er, that wasn't a good idea. ISBNs identify not only each individual book, but each format the book is in. If she's already got an ISBN assigned to a paperback, she shouldn't use it for an ebook as well.

Click to expand...

Er is right. I didn't know all that until I started reading up on it. Then, I saw the ISBI on her ebook. That was her first book. She went on to write a series of children's books, using her own kids as the characters.

Amazon's information page on ISBNs is here:

If you want to create your own publishing company, it's a good idea to have your own ISBN numbers. You buy them from Bowker, usually. You must assign separate numbers for each version (Epub, Kindle, paperback, etc.)

I published my first book, Castle Falcon, through Amazon, and eventually created a publishing company for that using my own ISBN numbers. If you want to just use Amazon's supplied ID numbers, that's okay too.

My second book, Roger Mantis, was published by a PAL (Published and Listed) publishing company, and of course they provided the ISBN numbers.