Kindle only self publishing? - Page 2

Rick G · 04-16-2012, 08:06 PM

I've been trying out KDP Select for my latest, mostly keeping track of borrows. So far so good. My borrows have exceeded what I would normally sell at B&N with my other books. Select will be ending next month, so I'll probably be running a control test with this book at B&N to see how it does. If it falls flat, I'll go back to Select. Bottom line for me is that Amazon is giving self-pubbers some decent tools to use, much better than what B&N offers.

The downside is that I don't like "screwing" over readers. In this war of formats, they're the real casualties. All I want to do is entertain people, but the business side of the equation requires that these things be considered.

GA Russell · 04-16-2012, 10:57 PM

I am writing my first book. I expect the Canadian market to be particularly interested.

I don't see how I can not go with Kobo under the circumstances.

VydorScope · 04-17-2012, 06:29 AM

In general, when you are selling [anything at all] the more people you can put it in front of, the better off you are. That is why you can buy the same [insert favorite widget] at dozens of stores both online and physical. It is even more true for indy authors to whom the greatest danger is that of no one knowing you exist.

Authorfriendly · 04-21-2012, 04:26 PM

I am opposed to anyone cornering the market, so when I do publish it will not be exclusively with Kindle. I suppose another advantage not mentioned so far, is that you could focus all your promotional effort in one place.

Authorfriendly · 04-21-2012, 04:35 PM

Can anyone tell me the latest on whether the Lending Library has any advantages and if so, what? If you give up sales it doesnt seem like a plan..
__________________________________________________ __________
" The advantages with KDP Select (Amazon's program for books available nowhere else), are:

1. You can make your book available for free for up to 5 days every 90-day period. Some authors find this to be a useful promotional tool, boosting sales for a couple of weeks after the free period. Others are worried that readers will not buy their book and just wait for a free day.

2. Your book is added to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. People who are members of Amazon's "Prime" program get free two-day shipping on their purchases, some free MP3 downloads, some free video streaming, and they can borrow one book per month from the KOLL. If your book is borrowed, you get about $2 for it (price varies)."

ApK · 04-21-2012, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Authorfriendly

Can anyone tell me the latest on whether the Lending Library has any advantages and if so, what? If you give up sales it doesnt seem like a plan..

You get paid for the lending based on some formula share. That "$0.00 for Prime members" offering is a pretty decent grabber, and by all estimations there is a pretty decent number of Kindle-owning Prime members out there.

kennyc · 04-21-2012, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApK

You get paid for the lending based on some formula share. That "$0.00 for Prime members" offering is a pretty decent grabber, and by all estimations there is a pretty decent number of Kindle-owning Prime members out there.

From a recent announcement (results for last month):

"Hello!

More great news to share with you: With the $600,000 March fund, KDP Select-enrolled authors earned $2.18 per borrow.

From our recent press release:

"Every time a customer borrowed an independently-published book in March, the author earned $2.18. That’s more than many authors earn when their books are sold,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. "

VydorScope · 04-21-2012, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Authorfriendly

Can anyone tell me the latest on whether the Lending Library has any advantages and if so, what? If you give up sales it doesnt seem like a plan..
__________________________________________________ __________
" The advantages with KDP Select (Amazon's program for books available nowhere else), are:

1. You can make your book available for free for up to 5 days every 90-day period. Some authors find this to be a useful promotional tool, boosting sales for a couple of weeks after the free period. Others are worried that readers will not buy their book and just wait for a free day.

2. Your book is added to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. People who are members of Amazon's "Prime" program get free two-day shipping on their purchases, some free MP3 downloads, some free video streaming, and they can borrow one book per month from the KOLL. If your book is borrowed, you get about $2 for it (price varies)."

There are threads here about it, blog posts around the net, and so on. In general the legal terms of that deal are HORRIBLE for authors. I personally can not understand why anyone would agree to the contract. I just have to assume they did not read or did not understand the implications of it. Check around and educate yourself before you sign your books away. I also have to assume that the bigger name authors that use it have different terms then us peons due to their lawyers/etc protecting them.

Rick G · 04-22-2012, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I personally can not understand why anyone would agree to the contract. I just have to assume they did not read or did not understand the implications of it. Check around and educate yourself before you sign your books away

We're talking a 3 month commitment here. That right there justifies the risk for me. It's a short term commitment to try something.

Also, as another poster noted, using it has the advantage of streamlining advertising / marketing. For 3 months I can concentrate on one market and one format. If it fails miserably, then I don't renew. However, so far the "lending" aspect appears to be working. For two months in a row, I've had more borrows than sales at B&N and Smashwords combined. Next month it ends. I'm going to put the book into wider release and see how it does. It it takes off, that's great. If not, then I'll be back to play in Amazon's sandbox.

I'm a big fan of getting in front of as many eyeballs as possible. However, I'm also a believer of continuing to do what works.

VydorScope · 04-22-2012, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick G

We're talking a 3 month commitment here. That right there justifies the risk for me. It's a short term commitment to try something.

Also, as another poster noted, using it has the advantage of streamlining advertising / marketing. For 3 months I can concentrate on one market and one format. If it fails miserably, then I don't renew. However, so far the "lending" aspect appears to be working. For two months in a row, I've had more borrows than sales at B&N and Smashwords combined. Next month it ends. I'm going to put the book into wider release and see how it does. It it takes off, that's great. If not, then I'll be back to play in Amazon's sandbox.

I'm a big fan of getting in front of as many eyeballs as possible. However, I'm also a believer of continuing to do what works.

Do yourself a big favor and read the countless pages on this site and others on the terms of the contract and how dangerous they are. You are likely already in violation of the contract and likely already at risk for having Amazon sue you for breach of contract. If your not wanting to research the terms, well then I hope Amazon never makes good on the threats...

ApK · 04-22-2012, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Do yourself a big favor and read the countless pages on this site and others on the terms of the contract and how dangerous they are. You are likely already in violation of the contract and likely already at risk for having Amazon sue you for breach of contract. If your not wanting to research the terms, well then I hope Amazon never makes good on the threats...

I haven't read the contract, so I am only speaking from my tingling Spidey-sense, but this sounds like a lot of FUD to me, and I'd caution YOU about believing everything you read on the interwebs.

Twice now you post FUD-like warnings, but neither time have you mentioned exactly what you heard the risky evil is supposed to be.

ApK · 04-22-2012, 04:53 PM

VydorScope · 04-22-2012, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ApK

I haven't read the contract,

Did you sign up for the program? If you did, and did not read the contract, then you are being very foolish.

10 secs of searching this sub-forum alone ..

http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/1...dp-select.html
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=160329
http://adarnasf.com/2011/12/09/ebook-hell-kdp-select/

I am sure another 10 seconds would find more links... the information is out there. You have to deliberately not look to miss it.

I do not make stuff up. Esply read the comments and debates on those links. Oh and you might actually want to read the contract itself.

ApK · 04-22-2012, 05:56 PM

Thank you.
I only just skimmed them, but those links seem to pretty clearly illustrate FUD and nothing more.
Those links all say either or both of two things:
1. Amazon exclusivity is evil. OK. But if one believes that, I doubt they'd be considering signing a 90 contract for Amazon exclusivity.
2. If you enter this 90 exclusivity contract with Amazon, then, shock of shock, horror of horrors, you need to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days or else you're in breach and they won't pay you. Wow. What a stunner.

No, I did not enter my one KDP publication into Select because I don't think it would benefit me, so I had no need to read the details of the contract.

"Read the contract" is certainly good advice, but your tone seems rather gratuitously anti-Amazon without any substantiation.

If any one here DOES feel like reading all the fine print (I don't) and posting about any sign of anti-author evilness, I'd be curious to hear about it.

ApK

VydorScope · 04-22-2012, 11:30 PM

If you are not going to actually read it , and look at the contract itself and see how that exclusivity applies to much more then just the book you submit to the program, then really no point in telling you more.

To be clear, I like Amazon. I have a prime account with them. I have streaming with them via my Roku. I sell my books with them. I use their cloud computing platform, and I even have a store front with them. I would have done KDP with them if the terms of their contract were not so overboard. Read the contract, or read the commentary on it that breaks it down line by line if you care to know more.

In fact under their contract it is currently IMPOSSIBLE for me to use there KDP program no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I may want to go exclusive with them. The day I sign it, I am in violation already. Not only today, but EVER. I can never use KDP from this day forward with out being in violation. I suspect that is true for far more authors they realize it. All any of us could do at that point is play the "well I am to small for them to actually care about" card. Again go read the information that is widely available on the topic, or not. Your call. I did, and I am glad I did.

04-21-2012, 04:35 PM	#20
Authorfriendly Psychologist and Author Posts: 8 Karma: 259148 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Charleston, SC Device: none	free books and lending Can anyone tell me the latest on whether the Lending Library has any advantages and if so, what? If you give up sales it doesnt seem like a plan.. __________________________________________________ __________ " The advantages with KDP Select (Amazon's program for books available nowhere else), are: 1. You can make your book available for free for up to 5 days every 90-day period. Some authors find this to be a useful promotional tool, boosting sales for a couple of weeks after the free period. Others are worried that readers will not buy their book and just wait for a free day. 2. Your book is added to the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. People who are members of Amazon's "Prime" program get free two-day shipping on their purchases, some free MP3 downloads, some free video streaming, and they can borrow one book per month from the KOLL. If your book is borrowed, you get about $2 for it (price varies)."

04-22-2012, 04:53 PM	#27
ApK Award-Winning Participant Posts: 7,389 Karma: 68329346 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ, USA Device: Kindle	<deleted> Last edited by ApK; 04-22-2012 at 05:41 PM. Reason: Posted to the wrong thread...whoops.

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04-16-2012, 08:06 PM	#16
Rick G Renaissance Geek Posts: 17 Karma: 127772 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: NJ Device: iPad & kindle	I've been trying out KDP Select for my latest, mostly keeping track of borrows. So far so good. My borrows have exceeded what I would normally sell at B&N with my other books. Select will be ending next month, so I'll probably be running a control test with this book at B&N to see how it does. If it falls flat, I'll go back to Select. Bottom line for me is that Amazon is giving self-pubbers some decent tools to use, much better than what B&N offers. The downside is that I don't like "screwing" over readers. In this war of formats, they're the real casualties. All I want to do is entertain people, but the business side of the equation requires that these things be considered.

04-16-2012, 10:57 PM	#17
GA Russell Ticats win 4th straight Posts: 7,693 Karma: 31487351 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Device: Paperwhite, Kindles 10 & 4 and jetBook Lite	I am writing my first book. I expect the Canadian market to be particularly interested. I don't see how I can not go with Kobo under the circumstances.

04-17-2012, 06:29 AM	#18
VydorScope Wizard Posts: 3,418 Karma: 35207650 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: iPad	In general, when you are selling [anything at all] the more people you can put it in front of, the better off you are. That is why you can buy the same [insert favorite widget] at dozens of stores both online and physical. It is even more true for indy authors to whom the greatest danger is that of no one knowing you exist.

04-21-2012, 04:26 PM	#19
Authorfriendly Psychologist and Author Posts: 8 Karma: 259148 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Charleston, SC Device: none	I am opposed to anyone cornering the market, so when I do publish it will not be exclusively with Kindle. I suppose another advantage not mentioned so far, is that you could focus all your promotional effort in one place.

04-22-2012, 05:56 PM	#29
ApK Award-Winning Participant Posts: 7,389 Karma: 68329346 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: NJ, USA Device: Kindle	Thank you. I only just skimmed them, but those links seem to pretty clearly illustrate FUD and nothing more. Those links all say either or both of two things: 1. Amazon exclusivity is evil. OK. But if one believes that, I doubt they'd be considering signing a 90 contract for Amazon exclusivity. 2. If you enter this 90 exclusivity contract with Amazon, then, shock of shock, horror of horrors, you need to be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days or else you're in breach and they won't pay you. Wow. What a stunner. No, I did not enter my one KDP publication into Select because I don't think it would benefit me, so I had no need to read the details of the contract. "Read the contract" is certainly good advice, but your tone seems rather gratuitously anti-Amazon without any substantiation. If any one here DOES feel like reading all the fine print (I don't) and posting about any sign of anti-author evilness, I'd be curious to hear about it. ApK

04-22-2012, 11:30 PM	#30
VydorScope Wizard Posts: 3,418 Karma: 35207650 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: iPad	If you are not going to actually read it , and look at the contract itself and see how that exclusivity applies to much more then just the book you submit to the program, then really no point in telling you more. To be clear, I like Amazon. I have a prime account with them. I have streaming with them via my Roku. I sell my books with them. I use their cloud computing platform, and I even have a store front with them. I would have done KDP with them if the terms of their contract were not so overboard. Read the contract, or read the commentary on it that breaks it down line by line if you care to know more. In fact under their contract it is currently IMPOSSIBLE for me to use there KDP program no matter how hard I try, no matter how much I may want to go exclusive with them. The day I sign it, I am in violation already. Not only today, but EVER. I can never use KDP from this day forward with out being in violation. I suspect that is true for far more authors they realize it. All any of us could do at that point is play the "well I am to small for them to actually care about" card. Again go read the information that is widely available on the topic, or not. Your call. I did, and I am glad I did.