In practice, what is the timeline of self publishing on Amazon-KDP?

Question thirteen.

I'm debating three prices for the e-book (I'm enrolling in KDP select as well, and I understand KU users will get it for free.)

2.99, 3.99, and 4.99. ??? Which is best? 100,000 words, science fiction.

According to this link any of these might be the best price point. This is my first novel; I don't want to underprice it (and can't anyway; must start at 2.99) The link says $2.99 nets the most sales and profit, but also says to look at bestseller prices to get an idea and they range from 0 to 14.99 for the e.book.

So I'm looking for advice and anecdotes here--between the $2.99, $3.99, and $4.99 options.

What would you recommend? I have some promotional stuff in the works, a podcast and a youtube interview and I'll look into the Amazon promotions as well.

Price point? I'm less concerned with royalties and more concerned with volume.

Awesome. I'll go with 3.99. Thank you!

Yes, the print will be at $9.99--I'll only get about 70 cents per sale but that's OK. First book and all. I like that I can price it under $10.00. (I decided not to do Amazon's expanded distribution for the print--I'll figure out Ingram Spark for that.)

sandree said:

I started with $4.99 then went down to $3.99. Did it help? Not sure. My paperback is at $12.99 but I plan to discount for the Christmas season.

Click to expand...

Do the discounts help at christmas? i'll be curious to hear about that.

Is there a bump on cyber monday?

I didn't expect to cry when I got the Amazon proof copy.

I opened the envelope and took out two proofs (A dear editorial friend offered to proofread it for free) and stared and before I knew it I was crying. I'm not an emotional type, not like this.

It's not that I think having this in 'book form' makes the story any more real or anything, or that I expect sales, or anything like this at all. I think it's that the idea I had became real, in a way that doesn't happen in, say, for example, scientific research. In research, you pursue new frontiers and measure the physical universe and there are occasional days when you know something about the physical world that no one on the planet knows (like, for instance, the mutation that causes a genetic illness.) Those days are amazing, and you report your findings and science progresses.

But I have never had the feeling where an idea that I had grew into something that actually reflected my vision. Holding this book it's amazing.

Thank you everyone!!!

I need to read it now. Again. Find the typos. Again. But this time it's in book form. <3

Question fourteen.

If I want to correct a formatting error after a book is live on Amazon, how do I go about doing this? (there is an issue with page numbering.) It was not an issue in the proof. It crept in between the proof and the publication.

Do I need to unpublish and then republish?

Thank you.

Is the correction immediate or does it take a few days?

I will want to order new author copies (though I still plan to sell the first batch too) and not sure how i will know when the issue is fixed.

I can ask someone who orders it, I suppose. A neighbor plans to.

OK, I did it--said it might take the same 72 hours as before.

What a strange process. What strange times we live in.

Edit: Yes! the bookshelf indicates reviews in progress, and this will disappear when the new version is live.

I hope it's soon. I have fifty author copies with a notable formatting mistake (I should have caught it but didn't), and a signing (my first!) on the 14th. I'd like to have 'good copies' as well as 'rare first prints,' (heheh) on hand.

OK. Another question, this one about the ISBN numbers.

I went to Bowker and entered the title associated with Aerovoyant's ISBN. They said that was under processing now. (I also shipped a copy off to the library of congress, per the LOC 'rules.')

Am I supposed to enter these ISBN numbers/titles into 'catalogs' somewhere? A guy at writers' club keeps talking about his title being in 'catalogs' and I have little idea what he means. I asked, and he said "You know, what Barnes and Noble... What everyone uses."

Is this something I need to make happen--to get my ISBN/title into a catalog? Are there many of these catalogs?

I plan to publish on Ingram Spark in a month or so. Right now I am only on Amazon.

I did that. Entered the ISBN on the title page.

Does that get me into all the catalogs?

OK. That's good to hear.

I just got off the phone with a local B&N and they can't find my title by ISBN, and we reasoned it's the whole Amazon thing--but I plan to try to find a work around (and eventually go wide).

Yes, I suspect setting up signings at B&N is easier after publishing through IS.

The Bowker page indicates that once I enter the metadata for the ISBN numbers, it's all processed and the title placed into Books In Print. Which I think is 'the catalog.' But I'm not convinced that Bowker does this automatically, because the pages and how they link together are a bit tortured.

OK, so I'd like some marketing advice.

Before I published on Amazon, I ordered the proof copy to make sure everything was good. I read the story (as a proof), marked some errors and the formatter fixed those. I checked that she had fixed those errors, but I did not check for any new errors, when I uploaded and hit publish.

The paging got screwed up halfway through. I didn't see it before publishing, and I also didn't see it before ordering fifty author copies (for the signings etc). Basically, the pages feed into the spine backward for the second half of the novel. The page numbers are in the gutter and the grip and gutter widths are off.

The story is readable. None of the story is missing.

So, I fixed the issue on Amazon as soon as I could, which was December 4th I think. And since I don't want to peddle bad goods, I ordered ten new author copies. Good ones, I hope, and they should be here in time.

I've been sleeping on 'what to do' with these fifty bad copies. This is what I've brainstormed so far, and if you have thoughts, I am all ears.

1. Take them, along with the good copies, to any signing, and offer at a discount.
2. Hand them out free as copies to independent book shop owners-I wanted to do this anyway.
3. ... I thought maybe I should ... number them. I know exactly how many bad copies were printed, and assuming the current Amazon version is truly the 'good version,' there will never be another 'bad copy', ever. I could... number the bad boys. Like, with my signature I might add: Early print copy, #35/50.

I think it's the data scientist in me, wanting to document everything, and what harm is there in this? it feels pretentious, of course, but I could number them.

I'm curious for your ideas about how to make the most of this embarrassing turn of events. I'll certainly laugh about it any time it comes up, and no one (again) will need to be saddled with bad page numbers. The horror!