Amazon Publishing

[Taylor]

There's no such thing as a free ride. Of course you have to pay for it. They do give you a 30 day boost after you initially publish where they try to push your book to people, based on the kind of people who buy it, but after that, you're on your own. Why would you expect to get anything for free? This is a business.

Yes, i understand it's a business. I teach business...lol! I didn't realize that you didn't have to pay to upload it. indianroads filled me in. I thought you paid for a package to publish on Amazon, like you do with vanity publishers such as Iuniverse. They have various flat rate packages and some include marketing.

[SueC]

Yeah that's true. I bought a laptop couch tray that literally fell apart within seconds after I used it. I sent them a return request and they sent me an all postage paid return label and gave me 2 months to return it. The day after I mailed it, the credit went through. They wouldn't have even got the item back yet. So for the non-quality control strategy, they need a robust return policy. But what about e books. If you buy it, and it's crap, can you request your money back?

I doubt it; crap is subjective

[Taylor]

There's a lot of things you can use to judge whether you want to buy an ebook (or hardcopy) or not.
First - obviously the description.
Second - reviews.
Third - you can 'look inside' and read the first few pages.
Fourth - you can download (for free) the first 10% of the book.

If you've done your due diligence with the above and you still bought it then decided that it's crud - I guess that's on you.

That makes sense. I just noticed they also keep a bestseller list:

In order to hit #1 on Amazon, you'll need to sell somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 copies in 24 hours. Want to hit top 10? You'll need to sell roughly 300 for print, or 2,000+ copies for combined formats.

[ScifiWriter]

Oh, boy. Where to begin?

I personally find KDP publishing very good... at publishing. They do not copy edit your book, nor do they read it. They only check it to ensure that it looks like a proper book with everything in the right places. It could be good or it could be rubbish. They are equal opportunity publishers.

All of my novels are written in Microsoft Word DOCX format. Everything to do with formatting is done with styles.

You must have a properly formatted cover. May I strongly suggest a professional cover artist if you are not a graphic artist yourself.

Keywords and categories are HUGELY important to get right and you need to pay attention to do a good job or all your wonderful writing will go unnoticed.

The same with blurbs. You need to have written a killer story description that will compel me to look further.

Only then do you go forward to publish your book on Amazon. BUT having paid attention to all those pesky details that I just mentioned, you should find the experience simple and straightforward. The publishing part is easy. All the prep is not.

For fiction, Amazon has the vast majority of the market cornered. They are the 800 pound gorilla on the block.

[SueC]

Oh, boy. Where to begin?

I personally find KDP publishing very good... at publishing. They do not copy edit your book, nor do they read it. They only check it to ensure that it looks like a proper book with everything in the right places. It could be good or it could be rubbish. They are equal opportunity publishers.

All of my novels are written in Microsoft Word DOCX format. Everything to do with formatting is done with styles.

You must have a properly formatted cover. May I strongly suggest a professional cover artist if you are not a graphic artist yourself.

Keywords and categories are HUGELY important to get right and you need to pay attention to do a good job or all your wonderful writing will go unnoticed.

The same with blurbs. You need to have written a killer story description that will compel me to look further.

Only then do you go forward to publish your book on Amazon. BUT having paid attention to all those pesky details that I just mentioned, you should find the experience simple and straightforward. The publishing part is easy. All the prep is not.

For fiction, Amazon has the vast majority of the market cornered. They are the 800 pound gorilla on the block.

I agree with everything you said. I use Amazon for my books. I have no real expectations of grandeur and there is a very strong sense of accomplishment being able to do all the things you mentioned, and then wah-lee-lah, the book in your hand is your very own in every way. Also, if there's something you want to publish, say, for just your family, or a book of short stories for a small group of friends - Amazon (Kindle) is perfect for that. I just ordered another 10 of my most recent novel to give to friends, and those interested, in the hopes that thousands of people will hear about it (LOL!) and mob Amazon for their own copy. It's what I think of as my "marketing budget."

[Taylor]

I agree with everything you said. I use Amazon for my books. I have no real expectations of grandeur and there is a very strong sense of accomplishment being able to do all the things you mentioned, and then wah-lee-lah, the book in your hand is your very own in every way. Also, if there's something you want to publish, say, for just your family, or a book of short stories for a small group of friends - Amazon (Kindle) is perfect for that. I just ordered another 10 of my most recent novel to give to friends, and those interested, in the hopes that thousands of people will hear about it (LOL!) and mob Amazon for their own copy. It's what I think of as my "marketing budget."

First off, congrats on your books, that is quite an accomplishment indeed!

But I'm not sure I understand the business model for Amazon. They provide the platform for free, and then they take 15% of your sales. I think there must be a certain amount of promotion, because when I look at a book on Amazon, there is always a ribbon of books on the bottom of the screen saying, "People who bought this also bought". I'm surprised they don't do more. It must cost them to provide the platform. Why wouldn't they want to provide some free marketing, or even marketing you have to pay additional for? They have the audience and stand to gain from your sale.

[Foxee]

That makes sense. I just noticed they also keep a bestseller list:

In order to hit #1 on Amazon, you'll need to sell somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 copies in 24 hours. Want to hit top 10? You'll need to sell roughly 300 for print, or 2,000+ copies for combined formats.

So the smart money would be on getting the word out before you release it. That is something I'm interested in learning more about. I've seen books linked from FB to teasers and previews on author websites. Seems like there should be more strategies than that but I don't know what they are.

[indianroads]

So how does the paperback version work? Does Amazon just print to order? Otherwise it would be different.

The paperback is a separate upload process from your KDP page - however the text of your book can be in the same docx format, pdf can be used for one of them, but I forget which (just take your formatted word file and save it as a pdf). The cover is different though. For Kindle you only upload the front cover, but for paperback you need the full jacket as one file (from left to right: back cover, spline, front cover). Be sure to download the KDP template and match your cover design to those parameters - there's a barcode area on the back cover.

Amazon prints books to order - their factory must be amazing. You can purchase a single copy, or multiple copies, and each is at the same price.

[Taylor]

So the smart money would be on getting the word out before you release it. That is something I'm interested in learning more about. I've seen books linked from FB to teasers and previews on author websites. Seems like there should be more strategies than that but I don't know what they are.

Yes, exactly! I had a professional cover done and have created a page on FB. I see it had already had hits even though there is very little on it. I'm not sure what brings people to it. Does anyone know? Although this may be slightly off topic...sorry moderators. And have I registered my my domain, but not yet set up a web page, because I don't have any previous novels, so it might seem odd to have a web page. But eventually when one publishes on Amazon, they can already have the website ready to go. And the FB page can direct people to Amazon. Although I don't see that Amazon provides a link to the authors website, or am I just missing that?

[Taylor]

The paperback is a separate upload process from your KDP page - however the text of your book can be in the same docx format, pdf can be used for one of them, but I forget which (just take your formatted word file and save it as a pdf). The cover is different though. For Kindle you only upload the front cover, but for paperback you need the full jacket as one file (from left to right: back cover, spline, front cover). Be sure to download the KDP template and match your cover design to those parameters - there's a barcode area on the back cover.

Amazon prints books to order - their factory must be amazing. You can purchase a single copy, or multiple copies, and each is at the same price.

It's extraordinary really! It's hard to think about going with a traditional publisher, waiting months or years to get picked up. Especially since Covid, people have become so comfortable with online shopping. If you publish on Amazon, can you still get into public libraries?