ePub like getting shelf space in Wallmart

[newburydave]

I'd like to start this thread as a discussion of the best venue(s) for independent authors like us to use as we break into ePublishing and POD publishing.

Based on my research to date the Amazon self publishing system looks very good.

I recently bought a small ebook from Amazon. (Hotlink)--> The Kindle Success formula...(to make a lot of money). A typical how to book, but not a get rich quick scheme. It is a well written work that details a path of steady research and work that should yield substantial residual royalties over time for any reasonably competent author.

The points that the author makes ring true to my experience of 25 years in industry as a business system auditor and analyst followed by several years as an independent sales rep.

Marketing is the hardest, most expensive part of any successful business venture and the author states that Amazon provides this for us.

1) they have 300 Million established customers who visit Amazon frequently looking to buy books;

2) they have a business model that has made them the largest retailer of digital content in the world;

3) they have a comprehensive marketing plan already in being maintained and paid for by Amazon's money, to sell and upsell their content provider's books

4) if we mesh our books with their business/marketing plan (not a big problem) they will do the marketing and promotion for our books at no cost to us.

To summarize the book's premise; Amazon has built the largest book and ebook retailing machine in the world, they do it better than anyone else and they are looking for authors and small publishers to provide content for them to market. Their royalty rates run at 70% if we price them according to their marketing model. That 30% that Amazon takes gives us access to their market and their marketing efforts on our behalf.

It sounds like what I've been looking for in this day when authors have to do their own marketing because most publishers just publish and the rest is up to you.

I'd like the informed opinion of the Anomalien posse about this.

The Kindle ebook is $2.99 (a free borrow for Amazon Prime members), IMHO it has enough practical wisdom and facts about how Amazon operates to easily be worth the money.

I'm mostly interested in the opinions of those who have read the book, my summaries leave out a lot that the author covered.

Thank you all.

SGD
dave

[Kessie]

Hmm. This is something my hubby and I have been talking a lot about. I'm interested to read this book. I assume it's more in depth than "write a series of books and have them professionally edited"?

[newburydave]

Well, yeah.

It goes into the Amazon business and marketing model and how we as authors can set up our books to "hit the sweet spot". What that means is that Amazon will start aggressively marketing our content in paid Google searches, "customers also bought" displays on the Amazon screens and other proven sales enhancers at no cost to us. Amazon needs to sell our books to make their money.

The author also discussed how to research the top 100 lists by genre and the general list to set our titles and possibly write content to tap into developing trends. Apparently Amazon's market research found that your book's title is the most important factor in getting customers to buy it.

It's not a long book but what is there is loaded with solid information.

She also has a companion book on how to format your word document into the preferred Amazon format using free downloaded software from Amazon and common SW that comes with Windows.

I'm leaning toward Amazon because: 1) they handle the marketing and I'm sure they do a better job at it than I ever could; and 2) they've developed a slick cookbook method for authors to turn their word manuscripts into Kindle format documents (.mobi / .azw) at no extra cost.

I also found another ebook on how to format your word MS into Nook format. (a four hour process vs. about an hour for Kindle) In some ways Kindle is mimicing Apple with their own proprietary, streamlined ebook format, different from everyone else. However all the other ebook readers have developed apps so they can read Kindle books.

I'm mostly sold on the Amazon system; they also have a POD division to make paper books if needed.

The reason I put up this thread was two fold. 1) to see if any Anomalien knows of any dirty little secrets that would contraindicate using Amazon self publishing; and 2) to let the others in the Anomaly know about the Amazon resource if it proves to be legit.

I guess there's a third reason too, to see if anyone knows of a better marketing venue for ebooks.

Bottom line is that we have to get our books out in front of the largest audience possible for our Asymmetric Evangelism to work. Preaching to the chior (CBA market) ) isn't going to help get the great commission accomplished.

Be asymmetric, pull them in with the Gospel message before they even recognize what it is.

SGD
dave

OBTW: that bolded name in my first post is a hotlink to the Amazon website page for the book.

[Kessie]

I have a few Amazon bucks coming in via Swagbucks here in a week or so. I'll pick the book up and give it a shot. I'd love to successfully market this series I've been working on, once it's in readable shape.

Actually, I'm coming to realize that the two genres that outsell the others are romance and erotica. I'd really rather not write either of those. :-p

[newburydave]

Hey, my first an only (to date) "written to a specification" story is the Time Travel Romance I did for Dana's anthology.

I think there is a lot of mileage to be gotten from a properly done Christian Romance. Secular people read G rated romances too you know.

As to Erotica, doing that in a Christian context is a bit more problematic.

(Although C.S.Lewis in his book "The Four Loves" said that Erotic Love is the closest human love to the Divine Agape (Christlike) Love. That's a provocative thought for a writer, eh?)

Hope you get some mileage out of the book, and it's companions. I've bought several ebooks about formatting for Kindle. We can do it ourselves and come out with a very viable product.

Write and draw on Sis. Your art work in the Sandbox is quite good.

SGD
dave

[Kessie]

Dave: Gah, I didn't realize that your first selling story was a romance. I guess it is!

I have a paranormal romance bouncing around in my head, but I'm almost ashamed to write it because it's so ....popular.

For me, though, the main draw isn't that they're friends, and he's a werewolf, and they both want it to be more than that. The main draw is that he tries to break up with her and starts lying to her. And his lies just bury him deeper and deeper. I've got a rough draft of it, and it's hilarious.

[newburydave]

Ummm.... Kessie;

Popular means it'll sell. Right?

Are you allergic to making money with your writing?

Ipse Dixit.*

SGD
dave


*Latin for clear on the face of it, or allegorically: write it, don't be foolish!

[Kessie]

Dave: No, I just have that elitist snobbery of "it's popular so it sucks". I'll try to swallow my pride, though. I'd really love to write that next.

I need to get this book. I'm fail at thinking of titles. Ever since I read on Kill Zone of these nifty titles the authors picked out, verses the totally awesome titles the publishers came up with, I've been somewhat demoralized.

[newburydave]

Go with YOUR inspiration, sis.

HE knows more than the experts about the target audience he inspired you to reach.

SGD
dave

[tris]

Just throwing my two cents in Dave. Haven't bought the book yet, but I did download a free sample. I use Amazon/Kindle for my novels, so I'm looking forward to checking out this book. (I may have to sacrifice one of my books in order to buy it).

One of the business "keys" I've noticed on the Kindle forums is book pricing. While most of us would like to price our books reasonably, stats show that books priced at 4.99 or above do better. The idea is the higher price the better the e-book. Don't know if that's a reasonable assumption or not, but it seems to work.

Do I follow it? Not yet. I'm still in the penny pinching stage and haven't gotten the nerve up to price mine that high. High price on Kindle means higher price for the print version and I just can't see paying $10 for a paperback. (I know, I know, I'm still living in the 80s).

One thing I do to prep my books for Kindle is run the file through Word Perfect to make sure I've cleaned out all the unwanted codes, then download the correct format template from Createspace. That puts in all the page numbers, headers, etc. with a simple copy and paste.

Once that's done, it's easy to make a PDF and upload it to Kindle. Of course I don't have any photos to deal with. I understand that's a different process. I haven't used the Amazon POD service. I like the user-friendly atmosphere of Createspace and they do world wide distribution, too.

You are 100 percent right, though, that marketing is where it's all at. The best story in the world doesn't sell without marketing. And there's precious little free stuff available on that for new authors working on a shoe string budget.

[tris]

Kessie,

Don't overlook fantasy. 3/4 of the science fiction shelf space in brick and mortar bookstores is dedicated to fantasy. and it's a growing trend for online writing communities. If you don't want to write a romance story, tuck theirs in as a subplot to a more epic venture. It can provide the humor and lighten the tension in the right places.

Go for it.

[newburydave]

But really guys, what is a story without some romance thrown in for good measure.

That is the driver of most human conduct and the foundation of human society after all.

[yoda47]

May 6, 2012 7:05:32 GMT -5 newburydave said:

But really guys, what is a story without some romance thrown in for good measure.

That is the driver of most human conduct and the foundation of human society after all.

This.

[Kessie]

Aaron: I don't get your meaning. :-p

I get so tired of reading teenager infatuation stories as "romance", though. I keep writing weird romantic scenarios where the infatuation is downplayed in favor of, I don't know, commitment and working together.

I have this novella that was a fanfic, but I could easily make it original just by changing the name of some places. It's about this aristocratic couple, late 1800s ish, who married to combine their fortunes and don't have much to do with each other. Then they get bitten by werewolves. He's got part of a cure working, so they don't lose their minds, but they have to flee the people killing the werewolves, and the other werewolves, too. And as they work together they fall in love with each other.

I had this other one where the guy and the girl adore each other, but the girl's body's been turned into a cyborg from the neck down, and she can't marry him unless he finds a way to make her human again. So she's slowly dying from implant pollution, and he's killing himself trying to perfect a way to remove the metal.

Weird romance.

[yoda47]

I just meant that I agree with Dave.

And yes, "romance" seems to have a different meaning to most people today.