KINDLE

[Lily]

With the Kindle outselling every other format, by a large margin, is a writer further ahead to go that route and self publish, or submit to agents and publishers?

[Lily]

This is taken from the Kindle Newsletter:

"Amazon Now Selling More Kindle Books Than Print Books

Amazon began selling hardcover and paperback books in July 1995. Twelve years later in November 2007, Amazon introduced the revolutionary Kindle and began selling Kindle books. By July 2010, Kindle book sales had surpassed hardcover book sales, and six months later, Kindle books overtook paperback books to become the most popular format on Amazon.com. Today, less than four years after introducing Kindle books, Amazon.com customers are now purchasing more Kindle books than all print books - hardcover and paperback - combined.

"Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books. We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly - we've been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years," said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com. Since April 1, for every 100 print books Amazon.com has sold, it has sold 105 Kindle books. This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher."

[avery]

I'll go the Kindle route if I can't get a publisher within three months.

[martinshaw]

You need to hold on with the self publishing; it will make you work harder.

[Lily]

This might be worth checking out:

[zoe]

I'm seriously toying with the idea of e-pubbing.
It sounds like a future of the industry anyway, and I'm not sure I should go on fighting for an agent, to break through in a few years, just to discover the printed books are getting outdated.
I guess in this current state of mind I need more threads like that;)

[Lily]

Print books have been on their way out for years. They're too expensive. They're not interactive. And they're wasteful. Ebooks, on the other hand, are reasonably priced. The text size etc. can be adjusted to suit individual needs. They have no detrimental effect on the environment. Neither do they have to be packed in dozens of boxes when you move. And they don't take up valuable space and gather dust after you've read them.

The chances of a new writer landing a good agent are slim. Even if you do, you only have a 50/50 chance of getting a book deal through an agent, anyway. And it might not be with one of the coveted "majors." Whereas, if a publisher says yes, you're in. My advice is to pitch to both. But concentrate your efforts more on the publishers. Then there's always Kindle, where you're in complete control over your work. What's not to like about that?

I recall getting into hot water for expressing this opinion on "another" site (LOL) a while ago. I was told that the "majors" would not accept unagented submissions. This is not so. Some of their imprints will. You have to do your homework. And their branches overseas often will as well. Think New Zealand, Australia etc. You have to pitch as many irons into the fire as you can, and don't limit yourself to one route, only.

The Internet has levelled the field and eradicated (thank heavens) the snobbery about who is "really" published (LOL) and who isn't. The lines between self-pubbed and "well" published (again LOL) are now so blurry, you'd need a fricken magnifying glass to see them. Albeit unwillingly, publishing has entered the democratic age at last. Enjoy!

[Lily]

hosted.verticalresponse.com/816983/0ef023fd92/1497574063/2a4b2cb188/

[Lily]

Practising what I preach, I uploaded a few of my out-of-contract titles to Kindle. I found their system people-friendly and easy to follow. The formatting is a bit of a challenge on the first book, but you quickly get used to it. I enjoyed designing my own covers too. But the best part about Kindle, as far as I'm concerned, is that you can delete your books at any time, or make changes. The author is in complete control.

There are no nasty binding contracts with hefty "termination" fees. And, your book is up for sale on Amazon within 24 - 48 hours! What a refreshing change that is. I'm with one publisher at the moment, a very good one actually, but they're terribly slow. A novel that they accepted last summer, and was supposed to be released this month, still hasn't been. Now that's one full year! I should have gone the Kindle route. Sigh...

[avery]

Kindle will fix you up with a cover, if you don't have one.

[greenwriter]

Thanks for this. I've been toying with the idea of going with Kindle but needed more info.

[zoe]

Lily, thank you for a mine of valuable information! <more please >

I've battled this formatting issue for a few days and I think I got a handle of it, lol. The Smashwords offers a formatting style guide, which is so detailed, even... hmm... a non-technical type like me could handle

[Lily]

I had problems with Mobipocket Creator, which ironically is supposed to make the process easier. So I bypassed it completely and formatted the story in MS Word instead. All the page numbers, headers and footers have to go. The margins have to be narrowed and after each title page and chapter you have to insert a page break. Uploading the inside cover image can be tricky, until you get the hang of it. And it displays on the finished product in black and white, only.

So far I like everything about Kindle, especially how you can check on your royalties at any time, by just clicking on Reports. I'm surprised and delighted at how well my titles are selling, considering that I haven't done any promotion on them. But most of all it's just so wonderful to be in control of my own work for a change.

Have you read the discussion at AW about Kindle, Zoe? I found it interesting.

www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=193666&highlight=kindle

[Lily]

Of course, there are many services that offer conversion to the Kindle. Anyone who decides to go this route should check them out carefully. Some are considerably more expensive than others.

www.pdftokindle.org/
www.createmagazines.com/services/e-book-conversion-service/
www.publishgreen.com/epublish-your-book-2?_kk=kindle%20conversion%20service&_kt=2365b7a5-4076-4bb6-8805-8076d835d79f&gclid=COySka-61qkCFQEPbAodv16AMg
www.ebookarchitects.com/conversions/services.php

[raemorgan]

Thanks for all the great information, Lily.