Publishing eBooks
 

I wrote my first eBook in 2007 and sold it on my own website. I sold some copies, one to a famous, wealthy person and the others to homesteaders or people who wanted to be. It is really just my story and how I did it. Nothing unusual for someone who came from the life of luxury to being self-reliant. This year, I put it on eBay and am still selling there where it comes as a disc instead of digital, per eBay rules. I added a cookbook of my recipes also. Both have a sold a few copies. But.............not like I hoped!

Then three weeks ago, my husband bought me the Kindle Fire. In using it, I discovered Kindle Direct Publishing. I now have both of those books, My Homesteading Journey, and Breads & More and added another one, The Pantry cookbook to the Kindle store on Amazon. I listed them there for only .99 because I read a book by John Locke, called How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months. Took his advice about the pricing, cheaper brings more sales on the kindle. For one thing, the people who get a brand new kindle for Christmas will want to load it up with books. How many can they afford at higher prices? So I am selling them at the low price to get more sales.

It is working. I have sold more books in a week than the whole time on eBay or on my own site.

If you have a book that has been rejected by publishers or one sitting in your computer doing nothing, what would it hurt to work on it a bit and sell it as an eBook for .99? I remember SuzieM had written about selling stories there on this board sometime back.

Most of us on this forum have knowledge that can be turned into an eBook. Like Ken's book. What a great way to bring in a bit of money to your homestead!

I posted a link to your My Homesteading Journey book on my Facebook page! Hopefully you will get some hits...and buys! :)
Ok, found the other two and added links in the comments for them!

Thank you, Pam! It will be helpful I am sure. If you link to it with your affiliate account, you will make a few cents! :banana:

I am already doing some of the things she tells about in this article. Not paid reviews though. At this point, I cannot afford them. But I am happy with KDP! :bouncy:

How I Became A Bestselling Authors

Another place to look to self-publish is at Smashwords They do not limit to only the Kindle but offer various formats including .epub, .pdf, etc. This is good to reach others that have other readers. The books that are published there are also offered on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

My friend wrote a novel that is on Smashwords and they told her it would be on Amazon, but it still doesn't show up there. I read it, and want to review it there for her as I loved it. I check every day and still not there. I will go back to Smashwords and check their information out.

I cannot complain about the sales on Amazon in the Kindle store. I am doing better than I expected there. Of course, my price is probably helping. I have other books in the works right now.

I am finding the eBook publishing to be so much easier on amazon. Selling books while I sleep is nice! Nothing to package up. No customer problems. If someone here has knowledge about goats or chickens, I bet you could sell some eBooks about them. People love them!

My first review of my book, My Homesteading Journey! And it was a good one!!!!http://bestsmileys.com/dancing/14.gif

WOOHOO!! Congrats Katlupe! That is awesome!!

After reading this thread I decided to complete my small book (16 pages) on telecommuting and get it up in the Amazon Kindle site - it took a little research and mucking around, but its up and I am pleased as punch. My guess is I will not sell many even at 99c. But is was a great learning experience and maybe I will write some more.
Thanks for push along! Appreciated.

Put the link here so we can check it out! I think you will sell more at .99 then at a higher price. I read some books on using the lower prices and it makes sense to me. You see all those people who got kindles for Christmas want to load it up with books. But how many can they afford at $14.99? $9.99? $4.99 or at $0.99? All I know is that I am selling more books than I ever dreamed at this price! I am happy! People are emailing me asking questions! It is good. So I am working on another one.

Murramarang, congrats on getting an ebook published!

Katlupe that is awesome that your sales have picked up!

This an awesome and informative thread. Thanks for sharing Kat...and best of success!

Here is the link to my first eBook :)

Its a quick read - just 16 pages - on how to start telecommuting. I know there are other books on the same topic , but I hope some people might like the idea that its a quick summary rather than a 80+ to 250+ page book (way too many pages if you are just trying to get started)....

I have been thinking about this for a while. Everytime I talk to my mom she tells me to write a book. My life is a juicy story. I lived thru 7 divorces before I was 18, lived on the streets with a baby, grew up in ghetto schools (I'm white), well indoctrinated in white trash youth, dirt poor, then turned it all around, now we have a farm two businesses, my child is fine, and I am happily married.

I have actually been reading Luis Rodriguez new book. He is a new York times bestseller (grew up an LA Chicano gang member) and I am surprised at the straight forward simplicity of his book. Almost like he is just talking about his life. No literal embellishment. Just telling it like it was.

If you are selling your ebook for 99 cents, how much are you actually getting paid for it? (in your pocket)

WOW! That is a life that is definitely worth documenting!! I am so glad you were able to turn your life around!
Your mom was married and divorced that many times or was that both or your parents? It sounds like your mom should write a book too!

my mom is on husband 6 and my dad is on wife 3. they both started their 'final' marriages when I was an older teen. She thinks she should write a book too, she would be better at then I would be, but I dont think she is doing anything about it.

I dont know how I would even put it together. I think about it all the time, but I dont do anything, because my brain goes so much faster than my conscience ability to get it on paper. Its like a block. I cant even talk as fast as I think about what has happened in my life. I think I would need help with the organization.

I get 35c out of the 99c. Not great - but that's 35c more than I would be getting with it just an idea in my head!

So go do it!

Very impressive indeed!

35c out of 99c? thats pathetic! Not even half. is amazons fees 65%?

$0.35. Not much but I do not have to do anything except write. No packaging up disc to mail. No worrying that it will not work on someone's computer. No worrying about bad feedback. I love it. You can price them higher and make more per book. But I think you get more sales at a lower price. I am more interested in moving up the ranking on Amazon's best sellers' list.

Yes, but some authors are selling so many books that their checks are over $1000. a month. One guy said he had his book downloaded over 20,000 times in December alone. I read John Locke's book and he made over a million dollars in 5 months on his Donovon Creede series. If you write novels, I think you may do more than I am doing.

I have 2 cookbooks and one book about my homesteading life. I am working on another homesteading one, that is not personal. Just a how to book. And I am turning my fictional blog into a novel to sell as an ebook.. I love doing it! It is fun, not work and I hope it stays this hot for me. I am just so tired of selling a physical product.

You can always try it at one price and change it if you want more or less if you think it will sell more. I know I sold my books on my own site for $14.99 and never had a lot of sales. I had some, but not enough to get excited about. Now I have sold over 25 of my homesteading book this month so far.

Yipeeee....someone bought my eBook! I am 35c richer!

I have shared it on my FB page, and will tweet it today for you. Do you write a blog? I promote my books on my blog and even have my Amazon affiliate links linked to my books so I make a few pennies if someone does purchase from my links. Promotion is everything!

One thought I have about these fees is that my niece wrote a novel and had to take out a loan to self-publish it. She got turned down by the publishers she sent it to. Then once she had the book, she had to promote it herself. Even take it to book stores and get them to carry it. She hasn't done well at all with it. Takes a lot of her time and she is a stay at home mom who homeschools 5 children. She has not been happy with her experience at all.

Many of the authors in the Kindle store said they were turned down constantly by publishers. Now their books are on the bestsellers' list. They are all happy.

A strategy that many use, is to put their first book up for free. Then the next books in their series are paid. If your readers love your first books they will buy more. I have done it myself. One book I loved was free. Her following ones are $2.99 and I already bought one and will buy the others. Now another author I like sells her books for $0.99. I bought one and just bought her second one yesterday. Her books are not in a series, but I know I like her writing.

You can build your following. Just keep adding more. From instruction how to manuals, your life, or novels. There is a new market out there. I am not saying that you will end up on the NY Times Bestselling list by writing an eBook. But it is a way for us frugal people who homestead, to earn some money from our homes.

Here is what bestselling author, Tim Ferriss has to say about book publishing:

How Authors Really Make Money

Thanks Katlupe :D

I don't have a public blog....so i appreciate any mentions at all!

They even have small portions of the book for free and the whole book costs $2.99. I have downloaded a few books that once you get to the really good part it ends and says go to 'here' to purchase the whole story!!

I think all the books have a sample available. Actually, I showed my brother the sample of my book and it went pretty far before it said to order the book for the rest of it. It gives the buyers a little taste of it, so if they think they might want to read the rest they can.

I have a lot of free ones though. Now that I have replenished my AGC from Swagbucks, I will buy a few more. Though I was supposed to be saving for the ingredients to make my own shampoo before I run out. :confused:

Self-Published Authors Find e-Success

Thought this might be of interest here. Mentioned in this article is the fact that some authors have sold their books for $0.99, and still made a lot more money than some of the better paying jobs!

Is Amazons fees a percentage or is the % so high on a $0.99 book sale because of a flat fee plus a % ?

It is 35% or 70% of the price you set. No fee that I know of. Here is what it says on the KDP page:


"If you select the 35 percent royalty option, your royalty will be 35 percent of your list price for each unit sold. If you select the 70 percent royalty option, your royalty will be 70 percent of the list price (but if we sell at a lower price to match a competitor’s price for a digital or physical edition of the book or our price for a physical edition of the book, you will receive 70 percent of our sale price) for each eligible book sold to U.S. customers, net delivery costs, and 35 percent of the list price for each unit sold to customers residing outside the 70% territories listed above."

New Romance Author Now working on this.
 

I have started writing a horse romance myself. I plan on epub, as well as POD. If you would like to see a preview my site is
www.sarahmadderra.com
I have a FREE first chapter lead. If you choose to read please let me know what you think.
Romance Novel: Story of a abused horse, an abused woman and their road to recovery with the help of a Veterinarian that rescues both from their past.

Thanks,
Sarah

That is a beautiful website you have set up! And the book sounds great! I have sent my email address to receive the sample chapter.

Am I reading this correctly? If you set the price then you get 35% if you want 70% then they set the price and they can change the price whenever they want to?

I am not sure. I just copied and pasted that from their information. I believe some of these prices has something to do with the international sales. But I am not sure how or why. All I know is that I get $0.35 for each of my books. That is the only fee I pay. I thought, that if you wanted 70%, your book had to be $2.99 or more, but I am not positive on that.

Thank you for sampling my chapter. Please let me know if you enjoy it.

I have just read this out loud to my husband and son. My husband really liked it. You know why? You described perfectly, my horse, Georgie Girl, when she was on the track! She would not race either. She went over backwards in the chute too. In fact, the Fingerlakes track banned her. She was the fastest in the breezes. Would have been a winner. The woman that was in charge there at that time said she was a perfect racehorse. Just would not do it.

I will definitely be buying your book if you publish it in the kindle store!

Thank you
 

I appreciate your positive feedback. I am so glad your family enjoyed it, and that my description was able to help you relate to your experiences with your horse. Yes, I will be publishing it as an ebook. You will love the cover as well.
I will be sending folks and update and notice when it will be released. I am finishing up Chapter 12. Please feel free to join me on facebook everyone.
www.facebook.com/SarahMadderra
Hope to see you there.

I am just beginning to research this but have any of you looked at Clickbank? It seems like a great way to self publish and it's also a way to generate sales.

I was an affiliate of Clickbank for a number of years. As for publishing my books there, I am very happy with Amazon and will just keep writing and adding books there. I am not sure what the terms are with Clickbank, but I believe you have to set up a web page for a sale page. I do not want a sale page for each book. I am sticking with my blogs for that. At least for now.