Yup, it's good therapy. Plus, IM articles have given me a lot of practice writing fiction. :tongue2:
Any of you billionaires do Kindle publishing?
- Thread starter Robert M Gouge
- Start date
Yup, it's good therapy. Plus, IM articles have given me a lot of practice writing fiction. :tongue2:
Hahaha..
I thought of doing this sometime back, not for the monies, because I dont have the patience nor the talent for writing... But to get some branding out.. Like an Amazon book with my websites' brands, and then use the free promo option to distribute it initially...
I think this thread just gave me the reason to..
How is Amazon treating publishers with Public Domain content or recipe type content now? Not really PLR.. Think Recipes again... I will give my own twists with propriety graphics etc
Yeah, Kindle biz-ops are all the rage right now. Just browse the WaFo WSO forum and every third thread is Kindle related.
I agree with you though, if you're halfway IM savvy, you should be able to build up some momentum for the KDP products you create (this is my hope). Although, I imagine the fiction genre (which you're in) is hands down the toughest of all the playing fields in the KDP space. If you're doing well there, you could probably excel in other, less crowded genres.
From what I've read, both public domain content and recipe type content have been hit very hard. Even similar style recipe books are being declined, from what I've heard, even if the all the content is unique. I guess they only want a certain amount of "Fat Loss Chicken Recipe" books, regardless of the specifics. I dunno.
I read something about it in the TOS. Please don't take this as canon, but research it yourself. I think you can use public domain content if you add your own value to it. Maybe if you add some content, stories about how this was the best thing your grandma ever made, pictures, etc. it would be OK.
Maybe you can package it as a "Guy's Cookbook" thought I think that's been done. It should make you popular with women though.
Also, I'm curious, do you find that any of your books, once they reach a certain sales threshold (20/day - 100/day - etc), become self-sustaining?
I imagine it would be tough as hell to balance ongoing marketing plus writing your next title if this isn't the case.
They become self sustaining for awhile because you move up in the rank lists - and that generates more sales, internal Amazon promotions, and maybe some notice by some big bloggers - but it's competitive, and they tend to drop off so I have to do more promotion.
And yeah, right now a good day is a dozen or so - if I was selling hundreds maybe.... I am a relative newbie of course.
Kindleboards has some real pros there on the writer's board. Hugh Howey - the current kind of the Indys even hangs out there.
Serious question though guys,
What about Audiobooks? Are those treated equivalent to ebooks on Kindle store? Like, are they distinguished any differently, as far being less prominent?
What about Audiobooks? Are those treated equivalent to ebooks on Kindle store? Like, are they distinguished any differently, as far being less prominent?
Mark Coker the founder of Smashwords [worth checking out if you want to get into self pub] released a few free ebooks on getting started, marketing your book, formatting. They're not, like, amazing but then they are free. Some good pointers.
Well worth downloading and skimming through anyway for anyone who is interested in getting going:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mark+coker]Amazon.com: mark coker[/ame]
Well worth downloading and skimming through anyway for anyone who is interested in getting going:
[ame=http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mark+coker]Amazon.com: mark coker[/ame]
I've got several small ones published and have a writer who is doing nothing but writing out kindle books/guides for me. Currently just adding a couple hundred bucks extra a month, but it really is truly passive after you hit a certain point. As long as the KDP give aways are timed right I've been doing ok with them.
I'm not in the space myself, but I ran across this Promo Webinar a couple of weeks ago and then grabbed the program for review today because of this thread.
Webinar: Created by Camtasia Studio 8
The Program he launched in the Webinar is here if you use Torrents.
I found it here: http://bestblackhatforum.com/member.php
Don't know how beneficial it'll be. Just got it and extracted it. (So I know the Torrent is good.)
Don't know when I'll get the time to go through the stuff. It's a little over 3 GB of PDF's & Videos.
Just looked through the directories and there's a folder devoted to Kindle
Kindle Directory
Figured I'd post it up here for you guys since the Webinar did give me a few new ideas.
Webinar: Created by Camtasia Studio 8
The Program he launched in the Webinar is here if you use Torrents.
Code:
tinyurl.com/9thapayDon't know how beneficial it'll be. Just got it and extracted it. (So I know the Torrent is good.)
Don't know when I'll get the time to go through the stuff. It's a little over 3 GB of PDF's & Videos.
Just looked through the directories and there's a folder devoted to Kindle
Kindle Directory
Figured I'd post it up here for you guys since the Webinar did give me a few new ideas.
Thanks for chiming in Guerilla.
I have no real world experience with Amazon Kindle Publishing so I'm unable to contribute much to this thread. Hence the share above.
I + Rep'd her for sharing "actual" experience.
Here are 2 tips :
Amazon is both a search engine and a social site.
Search Engine:
Right now i have two fiction books. I can verify that my book with the more popular keyword (also used in the description and tag) sells at a fairly steady rate. Yes, I come up on the front page of Amazon search for it.
My book with the much less popular keyword is a dog. (working on that). I actually come up 2nd on Amazon search for that one - higher than the more popular one.
Q: How do I know which keyword is more/less popular?
A: Google keywords tool, silly!
Social Site:
Don't ignore the impact of reviews, listmania lists, wishlists, etc. This works like any other social /web 2.0 site.
Now it's hard to gain traction so you are going to have to be social here.
Amazon is getting very tough on paid reviews. It shouldn't be that hard to get some friends to buy/read/review your books though. It was hard for me to start asking, but a couple of my friends were really excited about helping. It was asking a lot to get them to purchase, read, and review. That is time consuming. But some people get excited about being part of a book.
Once you get it started, you should get the momentum to get some stranger reviews. Not all of them will be positive, but actually book reviews don't even look real - IMO - if everybody is a fan. I am actually pleasantly surprised with the fact that people took the time to read my book and leave any reviews.
Develop a thick skin and keep going. Look at popular, best selling book reviews. They run the gamut. Besides, it is obvious that there are trolls on Amazon today shooting down competition.
My worst review came from a reviewer who has never left a positive review. But this person still gave me social juice and you know what they say about bad publicity being better than none.
Amazon is both a search engine and a social site.
Search Engine:
Right now i have two fiction books. I can verify that my book with the more popular keyword (also used in the description and tag) sells at a fairly steady rate. Yes, I come up on the front page of Amazon search for it.
My book with the much less popular keyword is a dog. (working on that). I actually come up 2nd on Amazon search for that one - higher than the more popular one.
Q: How do I know which keyword is more/less popular?
A: Google keywords tool, silly!
Social Site:
Don't ignore the impact of reviews, listmania lists, wishlists, etc. This works like any other social /web 2.0 site.
Now it's hard to gain traction so you are going to have to be social here.
Amazon is getting very tough on paid reviews. It shouldn't be that hard to get some friends to buy/read/review your books though. It was hard for me to start asking, but a couple of my friends were really excited about helping. It was asking a lot to get them to purchase, read, and review. That is time consuming. But some people get excited about being part of a book.
Once you get it started, you should get the momentum to get some stranger reviews. Not all of them will be positive, but actually book reviews don't even look real - IMO - if everybody is a fan. I am actually pleasantly surprised with the fact that people took the time to read my book and leave any reviews.
Develop a thick skin and keep going. Look at popular, best selling book reviews. They run the gamut. Besides, it is obvious that there are trolls on Amazon today shooting down competition.
My worst review came from a reviewer who has never left a positive review. But this person still gave me social juice and you know what they say about bad publicity being better than none.
Try selling some through your social contacts and then your friends can be your marketers.At least sell the first copy to your neighbor.
How do you keyword select a work of fiction?
I've had trouble doing it for self-help stuff that isn't generic and doesn't contain a specific mental issue in the title (i.e. Depression, Anxiety, etc)
Short Answer: What are best selling books, in your genre, ranking for?
Long Winded Answer:
This is like any other SEO - part science and part art. I started out by selecting obvious genre related keywords. The fact that one book keeps selling very steady and the other only picks up a sale here and there started leading me down the path to analyzing the problem - but it also gave me some information.
I did notice that the more popular book ranked for a term that has 6,000 plus exact matches a month according to the Google LOL (keyword suggestion) generator, while the unpopular one ranks for a keyword with about 90. That seems so obvious looking back, but certainly wasn't when I started.
Of course, the more popular book has a lot more reviews, social shares, etc. Like everything else, success breeds success. I am working on the 2nd one now and can report back if my efforts work.
The PROBLEM with Amazon vs. the sort of IM I am used to doing is a lack of real statistics. I don't know how many people visit my page so I can't even guess at conversion rates. I don't know where these people come from to reach my sales page. Also, IMO sales come in batches, so it is often hard to tell when the actual sale was made. That makes it hard to really know which efforts were successful.
Amazon knows, but this isn't shared. The problem could be something else - like my cover or description - but i just have to make educated guesses and start trying to fix things one at a time.
Long Winded Answer:
This is like any other SEO - part science and part art. I started out by selecting obvious genre related keywords. The fact that one book keeps selling very steady and the other only picks up a sale here and there started leading me down the path to analyzing the problem - but it also gave me some information.
I did notice that the more popular book ranked for a term that has 6,000 plus exact matches a month according to the Google LOL (keyword suggestion) generator, while the unpopular one ranks for a keyword with about 90. That seems so obvious looking back, but certainly wasn't when I started.
Of course, the more popular book has a lot more reviews, social shares, etc. Like everything else, success breeds success. I am working on the 2nd one now and can report back if my efforts work.
The PROBLEM with Amazon vs. the sort of IM I am used to doing is a lack of real statistics. I don't know how many people visit my page so I can't even guess at conversion rates. I don't know where these people come from to reach my sales page. Also, IMO sales come in batches, so it is often hard to tell when the actual sale was made. That makes it hard to really know which efforts were successful.
Amazon knows, but this isn't shared. The problem could be something else - like my cover or description - but i just have to make educated guesses and start trying to fix things one at a time.
I played around with Kindle publishing for about 2 months so far, and this is what I figured:
1. Stay away from fiction, too many "talented" writers there. Plus, it's a crap shoot.
2. Most books sold on Kindle are fiction (erotic, 50 shades of gay etc)
3. There is still some coins to be made in ever green markets (think weight loss, self improvement, how to give blow jobs etc)
4. Market and keyword research is a must. Blend keywords into your book title, ie: "Lose weight fast for busy moms: melt fat off your stomach without diet or hitting the gym"
5. Format your product description like a sales letter: opening head line, short benefit bullet points, CTA to buy book
6. Likes and tags may boost your ranking but I'm not sure how much
7. Get your friends to write reviews and pay someone on fiverr to like it a thousand times
8. It's a number game - publish more books, get more sales
9. It's possible to scale using shady tactics (no, it's not PLR or public domain work) *cough won't get into this*
I'll report back in 6 months with the numbers.
1. Stay away from fiction, too many "talented" writers there. Plus, it's a crap shoot.
2. Most books sold on Kindle are fiction (erotic, 50 shades of gay etc)
3. There is still some coins to be made in ever green markets (think weight loss, self improvement, how to give blow jobs etc)
4. Market and keyword research is a must. Blend keywords into your book title, ie: "Lose weight fast for busy moms: melt fat off your stomach without diet or hitting the gym"
5. Format your product description like a sales letter: opening head line, short benefit bullet points, CTA to buy book
6. Likes and tags may boost your ranking but I'm not sure how much
7. Get your friends to write reviews and pay someone on fiverr to like it a thousand times
8. It's a number game - publish more books, get more sales
9. It's possible to scale using shady tactics (no, it's not PLR or public domain work) *cough won't get into this*
I'll report back in 6 months with the numbers.