I've been publishing on the Kindle since December with amazing success.

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Permalink Reply by Stefhen Bryan on August 30, 2008 at 10:01pm

well, after some hesitation, i have finally kindled. BLACK PASSENGER YELLOW CABS is officially kindled and will be live in 12-72 hours. this is my first attempt at getting this work of non-fiction out. correct me if im wrong, but im thinking i would first kindle it, and use the proceeds from the kindling to build a website on which an internet ebook will be available. then use the proceeds from both media to publish in hardcopy. my question now is: how do i market the kindled book. thanks in advance for your advice

Permalink Reply by Stephen Windwalker on August 31, 2008 at 5:06am

Congratulations, Stefhen! Your book's page looks great, and the other bibliographic info that I am sure you posted usually takes another few days. Here are a few thoughts.

Marketing

* Since you've got a nonfiction book, make careful use of the "keywords" and "search categories" fields on the Amazon Digital Text Platform to help people find your book even when they are looking for something else that is similar in some way. Categories are limited to 5, keywords appear to be unlimited.

* Check out and participate in one of the most popular "discussions" on the Amazon KIndle forums: http://www.amazon.com/Have-you-published-book-Kindle/forum/FxBVKST0...

* If someone tells you s/he likes your book, encourage a review.

* Think pebble-pebbles-rocks-avalanche: you'll be amazed what 3-4 sales in a 24-hour period can do to your sales rankings. (Category ranking lists may not kick in for a new title for about a week, but they can be valuable if you climb near the top....)

Other Publishing Platforms

You are on the right track in the way you are thinking about this, but the good news is that you can pretty much put away your checkbook!

* For other digital publishing venues, check out ebookbase.com and Mobipocket (associated)

* Consider using Blogger to build a free author website, whether you intend to blog or not

* Consider using CreateSpace for a free, efficient, fast, distribution-synchronized print-on-demand service that will also allow you to print multiple copies for your own use (signings, selling signed copies on Amazon Marketplace, etc) at a very low price point

Good luck! And I would be remiss not to mention that there's a lot more info in my new book The Complete User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle .

Permalink Reply by Paris E. Tompkins on March 28, 2009 at 12:20pm

I am interested in the Kindle Platform. I have written a series of children's storybooks and designed the characters into rag dolls. I am on the threshold of launching this idea and looking for opportunities to get the most exposure for this project. Any information will be helpful. Thank you, Paris

Permalink Reply by His Work Christian Publishing on March 30, 2009 at 12:10pm

I was told by a Kindle publisher that non-fiction books sell well in Kindle format; fiction books do not sell well unless the author is well-known; and children and YA books do not sell well at all. What is your experience and opinion of this?

Permalink Reply by Corey Dalton on April 8, 2009 at 1:12pm

Hey, "His Work Christian Publishing"! I was told the same thing regarding young adult fiction and the Kindle, but I decided to go ahead and publish my middle-grade novel (The Partial Adventures of Tillie McGwinn) for the device as an experiment. If you're interested, I can report back in a few months to let you know how it's working out. I've decided to charge just $0.99 to see if that encourages sales. Incidentally, it's available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0025VLC5Y, if anyone's interested in giving it a try. I have also created a supportive web site (http://www.tilliemcgwinn.com). We'll see how it works!

Permalink Reply by Gary Kliewer on September 9, 2009 at 11:09am

We're starting to put some of the White Cloud Press backlist titles on Kindle; it will be VERY interesting to see what that does for sales. At the very least, it's an excellent news peg to mention these good older books again. Where is the best Kindle-owner publicity?

Permalink Reply by Mayra Calvani on March 4, 2011 at 5:42am

Hi,

I just joined and I'm looking forward to learning from this group.

I plan to publish some short stories and a novel on Kindle later this year.

For the novel, I plan to hire someone to design the cover, but do I need to do the same for the short stories?

Thanks!