Kindle eBooks
Contents
Basics
- Amazon (Company) 's eBook Publishing Service
- Essentially the "industry standard" due to the prevalence of the Kindle e-Book Reader and amazon as a Corperate Hegemon
- Can publish Free Books (or in the OSE Book's case FLOSB )
- Should (will?) be used for the OSE Books
- A form of Independant Book Publishing
- NEED TO DO IN DEPTH FINE PRINT READ
How to Publish on It
The "Real Talk"
Pricing
Amazon's Take
- From their Website:
- KDP offers a fixed 60% royalty rate on paperbacks sold on Amazon marketplaces where KDP supports paperback distribution. Your royalty is 60% of your list price. We then subtract printing costs, which depend on page count, ink type, and the Amazon marketplace your paperback was ordered from. Learn how printing costs are calculated.
(Royalty rate x list price) – printing costs = royalty
For example, your list price is $15. Your book is a 333-page paperback with black ink sold on the US marketplace:
(0.60 x $15) - $4.85 = $4.15
External Review
Review 1
- this quora post
- "Yes, but it is a PITA and can be quite disheartening.
Several years ago I decided on the spur of the moment to put one of my several novels up on Amazon. I’ve been writing since I was a child and had shopped my books around a bit, but got quickly discouraged and gave up (long before I should have, but that’s me).
I went over it with a fine-tooth comb (couldn't afford an editor), did pay a friend who is a graphic designer do the cover for me, and voila! uploaded.
Right away I discovered several things. First, Amazon does absolutely nothing to promote your book. Second, if you forget to design something (like the back cover) they don’t let you know. As for payment? Pennies on the dollar. I’ve made less than ten bucks on this book in all the years it’s been out.
Also, I caught several mistakes after uploading and have not been able to replace the file. I have no idea why Word’s spellchecker didn’t catch my misspelled “furnature” but it’s in there, and I can’t get it fixed. Since I’m known as a spelling and grammar Nazi, this is humiliating.
Also, you have to BUY any copies of your book you want. No free copies for the author.
Guess how I discovered that I had forgotten to design a back cover. Yeah, I paid to find that out. No one got a copy of my book for Christmas like I’d planned, they’re still sitting and gathering dust in my basement.
I’m so embarrassed that I’ve never tried to do anything else with it, nor have I self-published any other of my several completed novels. Though I did write a 50,000+ word book for NaNoWriMo 2015 that I think isn’t bad. But unless I can use an editor, it’s not seeing the light of day.
You know I have to include the link. Check out the review from the person who didn’t even READ it.
Sigh.
Amazon.com: The House on the Mountain eBook: Suzanne Feld: Kindle Store
(But doesn’t my friend’s cover look GREAT?) "
Review 2
- this quora post
- It costs nothing to publish on Amazon. However, you'll need to format your work in .mobi format so it can be published as a Kindle file. If you can do this yourself, you'll save the cost of hiring someone to do it for you.
You'll also need a good quality cover (remember, this will draw readers to your publication), and ensure your work is thoroughly edited and error free.
Amazon also have Createspace, which will let you create a publish-on-demand paperback version if your book. This doesn't need a .mobi file, just a MS Word document, loaded onto Createspace's template.
All that remains is to decide which of the royalty options you want to work with, which will largely depend on the price you set.
Liscencing
- From their Website:
- Rights. Keep control of your rights and set your own list prices. Make changes to your books at any time.
