# Amazon Kindle market place



## MichelleHall99 (Jan 3, 2012)

Has somebody tried selling ebooks in the Amazon Kindle market place?


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## sashamerideth (Jan 3, 2012)

I think several of us have stuff on Amazon. I put up my first piece a few days ago, via KDP. I think others are using Createspace to get physical books out, I am not one of them. At this stage, I don't know much about it, still learning the ropes. 

Do you have any more specific questions for us?

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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jan 3, 2012)

I put up a short story on KDP a couple of years ago (under another name). Mostly just for s**** and giggles. It's sold maybe ten copies in the years since. ;-) I never promoted it, and in retrospect I don't think it's very good, I just put it there to see if I could.

However, when I finish my novel, I am definitely (and primarily) planning to release it through KDP. (And free copies to all Mythic Scribes members who ask... limited time offer, restrictions may apply, do not ingest orally, etc.)


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## Telcontar (Jan 3, 2012)

Not yet, but will be soon. If you stick around no doubt you'll hear all about it, either on my blog or around here.


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## Devor (Jan 3, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> (And free copies to all Mythic Scribes members who ask... limited time offer, restrictions may apply, do not ingest orally, etc.)



If you're serious I'd love a copy.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jan 3, 2012)

Devor said:


> If you're serious I'd love a copy.



Quite serious. ;-) But I'll post when it's done (probably in a few weeks... depending on how much time I get to write. Damn kids.) and at that point (for up to, say, a week) everyone who PMs me their email will get a free copy. Or something like that. I need to work out the details, like what file formats I'll offer (probably PDF and mobi and epub? I want to be able to cover everyone's favorite reading method, except of course for physical books, because what am I, made of money?) and so on.


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## sashamerideth (Jan 4, 2012)

Benjamin Clayborne said:
			
		

> Quiet serious. ;-) But I'll post when it's done (probably in a few weeks... depending on how much time I get to write. Damn kids.) and at that point (for up to, say, a week) everyone who PMs me their email will get a free copy. Or something like that. I need to work out the details, like what file formats I'll offer (probably PDF and mobi and epub? I want to be able to cover everyone's favorite reading method, except of course for physical books, because what am I, made of money?) and so on.



ePub, mobi and pdf should get the majority, there's always Calibre to convert from one to the other.

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## Telcontar (Jan 4, 2012)

Ben, if you Smashwords the thing it will create pretty much all the different formats for you. You'd be able to give out 'coupons' to whoever you want, as well, so they can get the book for free. Just a thought.


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## Alexander Knight (Jan 4, 2012)

I made my book, Princess of Prophecy, available via Kindle in early November. The process is has a couple of tricky parts, mainly dealing with creating the index to the book, but I got it from Word to .prc format in one evening, so it's not that hard. Of course, I can code in HTML which helped solve one of my issues. but the Mobipocket Creator does that vast majority of the work for you. If you have trouble formatting your book completely, let me know. I'd be glad to help if I can.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 17, 2012)

Yeah me

I just put mine on there. I will be doing print on demand at some point and I will probably use smashwords as well when my KDP select runs out.  I buy the majority of my books via kindle. However been looking into smashwords as they cater for nook and other e readers too.

Formatting was a bit odd, but that is more me being unsure of HTML more than anything. I have yet to be paid but as the book has only been up a couple of weeks its fine

I have to say I am have seen some really badly formatted books. One I saw the other day had "the" just on it's own randomly.


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## kennyc (Jun 17, 2012)

MichelleHall99 said:


> Has somebody tried selling ebooks in the Amazon Kindle market place?



Yes, just a start. Published a poetry book and a couple of short stories so far. All is fine, no major marketing, have sold a few copies of each. My Kindle Author site: Amazon.com: Kenny A. Chaffin: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

There is a full author/publisher community forum:  Amazon KDP Support : Forums Home

Do you have particular questions?


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## Sheilawisz (Jun 17, 2012)

I have moved this thread from Chit Chat into the Publishing forum.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 17, 2012)

Me too. There is a meet our authors forum there. I have sold a few and had no problems thus far. Be warned the the KDP forums are full of people whining, the payment info is a little confusing but people moaning when they had their book on for nothing and didn't get paid.  You can find useful info but generally I look in other forums for that.

Some I found out get people to tag your books apparently it helps. There are a couple of useful kindleform boards.


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## boboratory (Jun 18, 2012)

As a small publisher, I have 38 titles now on Kindle, one as a Select to see how it works. Definitely recommend it (Kindle, Select I am ho-hum on), and recommend it going direct through Amazon or as the Createspace/Kindle duo. If you have just a few titles, say 5 or less, I would say Smashwords (staying direct w/Amazon, I am not sure Amazon is going to let Smashwords play in their space) is easier than trying to fight with all the stores individually. I still use Smashwords for Diesel/Sony/Baker-Talor (they call it Blio I guess)... and work directly with everyone else.

KDP select has been, eh, ok... when someone does choose the book, I found we got paid more than "normal", but it's been quiet going most of the time...

I would say Select is a tool for selling other Amazon titles, I would not want to give up any potential B&N/Apple or even Kobo income by choosing Select on my "core" titles.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 19, 2012)

Yes I just have the one currently and I signed up for the select option. As an afterthought I wondered why. I guess if you have a load of books up there are are up for the free promo it might be worth it. I have heard people on the forums saying they made loads but then others who said it didn't work for them. I think the complication is- obviously you don't directly get paid for the 0 sales but you get a bit of the pot for the select titles- IF someone borrows them.  As  I understand it can look a little confusing on the payment.

I think when my select time runs out I will stick it up on Smashwords as well, I  found a few other options as well.  Personally I buy most of my books on Kindle these days and haven't looked on Smashwords but I shall.

I suspect the Kindle select works better in the States.


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## Christopher Wright (Jun 20, 2012)

Yeah, KDP is where I get most of sales. PubIt (B&N) version I only get a few sales a month... *however*, if you compare the amount of traffic B&N gets compared to Amazon, PubIt actually *overperforms* statistically in terms of how many sales it *should* get, so don't discount it out of hand.

I use Smashwords, but now that Kobo and Apple have their direct publishing options open (well, pretty soon for Kobo) I'm pretty much only using Smashwords for Smashwords. I like the idea of Smashwords but working with them is... frustrating. That's all. Just frustrating.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 21, 2012)

Is anyone using lulu? Looking at POD and other e-books


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## yachtcaptcolby (Jun 22, 2012)

I put my first novel in the Kindle store just before Christmas.  I priced it at $2.99, the lowest price available for the 70% royalty option. I couldn't quite bring myself to list it for 99 cents at 30% royalty the way a lot of independent authors are doing.  Sales have not been good despite the positive reviews I've received.  I did, however, enroll my book in Amazon's KDP Select program, wherein you can run a free promo for your book for five days every three months.  I've had over a thousand free downloads total from the three times I've done that, and I always see a few more sales than usual after those free periods.

Marketing can be a pain. I feel like the only people on Twitter looking at tweets about my book are other independent authors similarly trying to grow their followings.  I write for a video game blog that gets a few hundred visitors a day, and very few people click on the link to my book I put at the end of my every post.  Every review site I find either wants to charge me or has a seven-month waiting list.

Amazon could do a lot more to tell authors about who's buying their books.  Their tools don't tell me whether a sale came from a link on my Twitter, on the aforementioned website, or from Facebook, or wherever, so I have no clue what the best places to promote my book are.

Regardless, I'm going to stick with it. I plan to reduce the price of my first book to 99 cents when I self-publish my second one in a few months.  The people whom I hear are doing well all have several books in the Kindle store, so maybe that's part of the secret.


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## Lawfire (Jun 22, 2012)

Thank you, yachtcaptcolby, that was one of the most insightful posts regarding the Kindle Store I have read.


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## MichaelSullivan (Jun 27, 2012)

ALB2012 said:


> Is anyone using lulu? Looking at POD and other e-books



I would recommend Create Space over Lulu - same quality - lesser price.


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## MichaelSullivan (Jun 27, 2012)

I have two short stories up there now: The Viscount and the Witch (free) and Greener Grass ($1.57).

In the past I have 5 different novels out there, but they were pulled and are now re-released through a big-six publisher.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 28, 2012)

Are the free days really worth it? I only have 1 book up there and have heard so many mixed reviews as to whether it is worthwhile or not.


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## MichaelSullivan (Jun 29, 2012)

ALB2012 said:


> Are the free days really worth it? I only have 1 book up there and have heard so many mixed reviews as to whether it is worthwhile or not.



I would not put a book "to free" when you have only one title.  Using free is much more effective when you have other books to funnel people into.  Also Amazon has changed their algorithms. In the old days the "free books" counted such that when you went off free you could find yourself very highly ranked and therefore get some nice sales because you appear high on the "paid" bestseller list.  Now they changed the calculations so that free books only represent a "fraction" of a sale (no one know the exact fraction. But the result is people often don't find themselves on the bestsellers lists when transitioning back to paid as they once were.


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## yachtcaptcolby (Jun 29, 2012)

I've done three free periods since self-publishing my novel via KDP. I always see a boost in sales the week after. On the one hand, I'm losing prospective revenue; on the other hand, I have no name or brand recognition, so anything that gets someone to read my work is a positive in my book.


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## ALB2012 (Jun 29, 2012)

Thanks I think that answers my dillema then


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## robertbevan (Jul 1, 2012)

> Amazon could do a lot more to tell authors about who's buying their books.  Their tools don't tell me whether a sale came from a link on my Twitter, on the aforementioned website, or from Facebook, or wherever, so I have no clue what the best places to promote my book are.



i know what you mean. the thing i like about smashwords is that they give you at least a bit of statistical information to chew on. i can see a graph of how many people have clicked on my book's site, how many people have downloaded the free sample, and they'll send me an email whenever i do make a sale.

with amazon, i just have to continually click on the site in order to find out i'm sinking deeper and deeper into their rankings toilet. and that's all i get... a crappy rating (despite my solitary, yet shining, review), and the number of books i've sold.



> The people whom I hear are doing well all have several books in the Kindle store, so maybe that's part of the secret.



from what i've read in other places, that's the lion's share of the secret. i'm looking forward to finding that out.


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