You know the saying: “Everyone has one book in ‘em.” But you’ve gone “everyone” one better: you’ve actually written yours. And now you can get that eBook out in front of millions of potential buyers with a few clicks of a button. How? Sell it on Amazon.
Only a few years back to publish a book and have it available to thousands (let alone millions), you’d have had a limited number of choices: to play the endless lottery of agent search, continual rejections, and unwelcome over-the-transom submissions; or simply to pay someone to slap a cover on the thing and do a smallish print run so you could hawk it out of the back of your car, waiting to be “discovered”. Publishing a book was just not one of the viable money making ideas unless you were a serious writer willing to sacrifice the best years of your life pursuing a dream.
Now, with the rise of the eReaders, it is a completely different ball game. According to this wikipedia entry
In July 2010 Amazon announced that e-book sales for its Kindle reader outnumbered sales of hardcover books for the first time ever during the second quarter of 2010
You don’t need to chase publishers to get your book out there in front of millions. Instead, you can put your eBook for sale on bookselling giant Amazon–with over 65 million customers per month to its US website alone–with very little effort. All it takes is a little know-how. Your readers are out there and here’s how to reach them.
A Great Product
This should go without saying but, unfortunately, it doesn’t.
Amazon readers, particularly those with a specialized interest, are more than willing to give a newcomer a chance in the interests of good information or a literary fix. If your book is poorly written and you don’t kindle their sparks however, they will just as quickly throw it off their Kindle. While that may not seem like a big deal because they have already paid for it, think again. Success on Amazon is hugely dependent on how many reviews your product receives, and a bunch of bad review can totally close the doors for you as a new eBook publisher.
If you want to keep writing–and making money from it–you’ll need to put people before profit. Make sure your book is the absolute best it can be before you publish. You may have written it in a mad, joy-filled three week rush, but once you’ve typed “The End,” put your work aside for a few days. When you take it up again, you’ll be amazed at the number of problems you’ll find, from misspellings and run-on sentences to dropped subplots or factual errors. Fix what you find before making your next move.
Request one or two trusted readers to play editor/critic. If you can afford it, pay for a professional editing job. Accept suggestions rationally and implement the sensible ones. You may need to rewrite your material extensively, and more than once, before it’s right. That’s normal, and no reflection on your ability. Revision is an essential part of good writing; your readers deserve no less than the best.
Publication
Once your book is finished, it’s time to go to Amazon. Before you start the publication process, be sure to read the agreements involved, in their entirety. Make sure you understand them completely before agreeing. Ask for help if you’re unclear on any aspect.
Now you’re ready to publish. Currently, the process for Kindle Direct Publishing is simple and explained in detail on the website. Detailed FAQs and forum support are available if you run into problems. Kindle can handle text and illustrations; however, the simpler your format, the better. You’ll need to create the front matter for your book, including the title and copyright pages, as well as the dedication, preface, table of contents, and any other material you need. You’ll also have a place for back matter, such as a glossary. No need to worry about making an index, however; Kindle eBooks don’t have “pages.” Then check the format of your book, making sure all images are where they should be, and take the time to proofread yet again. Amazon instructs you to insert a page break after the end of the last sentence of each chapter, to keep your chapters from running together. Once you’ve finished, you can use Mobipocket Creator to convert your work into an actual eBook. Again, Amazon provides detailed instructions.
After using Mobipocket to create a .prc file, you’ll be able to use Kindle Previewer to see how your book will appear when it is actually on Kindle. This is your chance to catch and fix any last minute problems. Although you’re no doubt eager to send your “baby” out into the world, it’s best to set your book aside for at least a few hours, then proofread with fresh eyes and mind. If you can find one or two skilled proofreading friends to look over your work, that’s even better.
Once any necessary changes are made, it’s time to upload. Just follow the instructions to upload your book to Amazon, and it will be available for its potential readers within 24-48 hours. Now the eternal business of selling begins.
Promote
You can use Amazon to market your book. First, create (or hire someone to create) a professional looking, yet eye-catching cover; browsers will notice it, and it will anchor your book’s page nicely. Amazon provides guidelines on what you should include on your detail page; follow them closely. Pay special attention to your content description. Although Amazon says this is optional, it’s an incredibly important selling tool. Pretend you’re writing inside jacket copy for your book–make your content interesting and compelling. Stuck? Do a little browsing yourself. Study the content pages of best sellers to determine what makes them successful and why, then apply those characteristics to your own writing. After your details page is finished, Amazon will ask you to affirm your rights, choose a royalty option, and set your price. Then the real work begins!
One of the best ways to market your eBook is to build up some pre-publication “buzz.” Talk up your forthcoming book on your blog , Twitter, FaceBook and any other social media format you participate in. And when you do, don’t just screech something like “Buy my book! It’s great!” Instead, focus on your readers’ interests and needs, and seduce them into wanting to buy your book.
Reviews
When your prospective reader pulls up your book on Amazon, she does several things. She looks at the cover image, reads the content description, checks to see “how many stars” it’s earned, and then, if she’s still not convinced, she reads the reviews. Many people won’t even click on a book unless it has a star rating, so it’s important that you get some positive reviews up fairly quickly.
Whatever you do, however, don’t write them yourself! Readers can tell. Instead, provide a free copy of your book to a few people you can trust to provide intelligent comments and ask them to post their reviews on Amazon. They may feel inclined to give you the highest possible rating–but ask them to refrain, unless the book is really superior; again, browsers can tell when a review has been planted. What you’re looking for are honest assessments which will tell your readers that this book is worth their money. Hopefully, new readers will add their own positive reviews to join them.
Of course, not all reviews will be positive. Take a deep breath now and say with me: “I will get a negative review, and that is OK.” Repeat the mantra until you are really OK with negative reviews. No matter how important the topic, how brilliant your idea, and how clear, yet eloquent your prose, someone out there will dislike it, and dislike it enough to let you know. The best strategy would be to not read the negative reviews at all, but since you’re only human, that is probably too much to ask. Now that you have read a negative review, and you find it totally off the mark and absurd; or challenges your core principles; or defiles your work in some way, how should you respond to it? Here is what you do.
Ready?
Ok. Do nothing impulsive.
After a few days, if it still bothers you, then here’s how to proceed.
Continue to do nothing.
Rinse, repeat. That’s right. Do absolutely nothing. Not everyone will enjoy your writing style. Not everyone will share your opinions. Occasionally, a reader will completely misunderstand your book, or outright lash at you. It’s par for the course. Sometimes, the reviewer will make a good point–one you can rectify in future work. Other times, there really is nothing you can do. Absorb bad reviews, deflect them, ignore them–just never, ever respond to them. To do so is eminently unprofessional and causes nothing but bad press–something to avoid at all costs if you are serious about making money selling eBooks on Amazon — or selling anything, anywhere for that matter!.
Get Busy
Ready to join the ranks of published authors? Amazon is a great way to get your feet wet and make some money doing it. And it is one of the money making ideas that can be intensely gratifying. And once your book is up? Don’t just stand there staring at the screen with a goofy “that’s my book” smile on your face! Get started on a successful author’s most important task: your next book!
Nice article! One site I haven’t seen you mentioning is eJunkie, it literally allows you to scale up as much as you want, and for a small fee. It even has a basic form of pirating protection, preventing buyers to spread your book, which is one of the biggest fears of eBook writers.
It sure is a nice way to earn some extra money! Just be passionate about the subject and it will radiate off the pages
J Muller recently posted..Makelaar Utrecht – Erkend Makelaar Utrecht
J Muller .. thanks for the great tip about ejunkie … I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll check it out later.
To anyone out there … on another note … I have 3 (it’s a 3-part series) self-help ebooks coming out in a few months. I am tweaking/editing them at this time.
The problem — I am in a serious financial situation due to recurring cancer and other issues. I normally don’t put all of my eggs in one basket, so to speak. The point is that if my ebooks don’t sell really well, it will be the end of the world for me.
I’m home-bound due to a bad car accident, which was not covered by my auto insurance (hit and run) and due to recurring cancer I’m not well enough to work anymore.
So, after 25 years in the corporate world running small and large companies (plus a related college degree), I authored a few ebooks on success and getting ahead, and so on … real interesting stuff … the inside scoop on corporate career climbing, also drawing from my 25 years experience.
I’ve spent the good part of the last 2 years working on all three of the ebooks and now I am about to start self-editing.
I’m not eligible for state-aid or disability and I cannot work a full-time job. So, I am depending on this working out for me.
Does anyone here have additional suggestions as to how I can sell 100′s of thousands of ebooks in a short time?
I am not a greedy person. I am in financial trouble due to the car accident and the cancer, and I will not be able to buy a car (car was to totaled) or get future treatment for the cancer if my ebooks do not sell really, really well. So, for me it’s a matter of life and death. I live in an area where if you don’t have a car/transportation, you can’t leave the house, except for a walk … not kidding.
I plan to sell the ebooks separately for $9.95 each … OR … the whole 3-Part Series … the whole series will sell for $25.95. I’ll surely need to sell a lot of ebooks to pay for a car to get around … and to pay for my medical treatments and everyday (modest) living expenses.
The ebooks are jam-packed with great ‘inside-scoop’ information … so friends think I should ask more $$$, given what I am sharing and what they are learning … but not sure. Each book is around 150 pages and will be sold as a (PDF) ebook, not hard copy.
I’ve heard stories about ebook authors who say the ebooks were effectively marketed and still had limited sales. They said they only sold a few ebooks here and there, which is scary, as that won’t help pay my bills or my treatments.
I wonder if the ebooks are effectively positioned and marketed to draw traffic, etc, and there is an interest in my topics, do I stand a good chance of selling hundreds of thousands of ebooks within 6 months … realistically speaking OR is that a rumor about making good money by selling ebooks, a pipe-dream or an illusion, or something that only rarely happens?
Any thoughts would be appreciated … thanks so much — Joy-Anne
Hi Joy-Anne, Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story. Looking at your writing style, I think your eBooks will turn out great.
I have personally not written any ebooks yet (ignoring the free ones that are given away), so please take this for what its worth… I have read in many places that writing the eBook is only half the story (some even say less than 20%). In order to have successful sales, you need to work on marketing the book as much, or way more, than writing the book itself. Are you putting in enough effort on that side?
The reason I ask is, after I read your comment, I wanted to find out more about you – but there are no links in your comment. So, others like me (some why may be potential buyers!), who are interested in what you have to say, have no way to find out more about you! I think you may be leaving money on the table by leaving such wonderful comments, but not giving a chance for people to find their way to you.
I don’t know if you will come back to visit and read this, but I sincerely wish you all the best! I think you are earnest… i think with a little effort on the marketing front, you will have a lot of success.
Thanks Sam … I purposely didn’t include links as I’m not quite ready to do so. Let me explain.
I only recently completed the actual content for the ebooks and therefore only recently started editing them. It will take me about 4-6-months to get them up and running. Since they are divided into 3-parts, I still need to decide ‘what goes in which part’ … as well as flow. The content somehow became a little ‘out of order’ as I typed it ‘off the top of my head’. So, this will involve a lot of intense decision-making and I don’t have the help that I really, really need.
I do not feel comfortable moving forward with links as I am not quite in that place. I know a head-start is always a good idea, but in my case, I do not think that applies — cart before horse type of thing. I prefer to wait until I’m halfway through with the editing and have a better idea of when I can actually launch the books. As I said, there are 3-parts and I’m not only self-editing, but I am also shuffling around the content (almost 600 pages, all total combined) so it flows well. There are a few titles for chapters that need to be created as well. In all, this is a huge undertaking.
By the time all is said and done it will be about 4-6 months from now. I am also not comfortable giving away the (catchy) ebook titles or website name until I’m further along.
I was employed in Corporate America for 25 years in a role that didn’t involve a whole lot of writing. Now, I’m not putting myself down here, but the truth is, I am not a professional author/writer with years and years of solid writing experience. I just have ‘the inside-scoop’, the information that most would find extremely helpful, but I do not have the hands-on writing experience. So, the ebooks are taking me considerably longer than it would for a professional writer, as my former job did not entail writing — other than quick email messages or documentation, and so on. I am not at all comfortable putting out a half-arse product. So, I’ll come back and provide links when I am ready to do so but not at this time. Hope that makes sense
In the meantime, do you have any other suggestions as far as marketing the ebooks? I know you said that it’s less than half of the writing project … yikes! I don’t have much of an advertising budget and no experience in this arena … so I am very concerned about selling a lot of these ebooks.
Also, on another note … of the dozen or so people who know I embarked on this venture and who reviewed some of the content, as well as my writing style, based on letters, emails, over the years etc., (unbelievably) YOU are the only one who has ever complimented my writing. Not one other person of everyone I know has ever once complimented my writing — even when I asked them for a critique. They kind of skirted around the question, so I took it to mean ‘average’, at best, writing skills … ouch.
Thanks again for your time and for sharing … and for the compliment — that made my day. Joy
Hi Joy, Glad you came back… Looks like you have a good idea of how to go about. That is great!
I think the fact that you are willing to pour in so much time into editing the content and making sure the final product is perfect is quite commendable. I would really encourage you to start thinking about the marketing aspect of it early on, to ensure that the final product will get noticed by as many people as possible. You can do this by creating a website or blog, and building up an audience without the mention of eBook. Over a period of time, just gently build up the interest in what you have to offer… that way when you have finished the product, you will have people who are already familiar with you and will more likely be interested in “paying” for a product. Are you familiar with copyblogger.com? If not, I would highly recommend them. Skip past their newer posts, and dig directly into the archives where they have a lot of SOLID advice for writers about how to make their writing (services or products) more marketable.
As for the writing, the people around you may be very familiar with the quality of your writing and may think it goes without saying that it is good. It is amazing how much we take for granted people close to us
Good Luck!
Hi Sam
Amazon is the website for purchasing the books online. There is easy to purchasing the books online. We must show the all features of books so that customer is feeling is easy to purchase the books.
thanks,
Now internet has been a wide place for publishing your book in front of thousands of people. it is so easy to share your ideas with other.
Hi
To publish a new book in front of thousands of people is so easy now, because internet has now wide place.
We must include the attractive things so that people attract your book.
Yeah If you want to keep writing–and making money from it–you’ll need to put people before profit. Make sure your book is the absolute best it can be before you publish. You may have written it in a mad, joy-filled three week rush, but once you’ve typed “The End,” put your work aside for a few days.
I came across your post while researching marketing ebooks. I found it well written and informative.
Self publishing has such great potential. The problem is that there are so many people doing it that it’s hard to get your work noticed. It’s so important to produce the most professional quality book that you can. I hope to have my ebook on the market early next year, and I’ve got a budget of $1000 for the publication process. Between cover art, graphic design, and editing, that’s pretty near a minimum of what it will take unless you can (professionally) perform some of those tasks yourself.
Insightful tips on publishing on kindle I have an ebook I wrote a little while ago that I think I will put on Amazon.
I will drop by and tell you how it goes.
Regards
John
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