Publishing on Kindle
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sr71plt
Literotica Guru
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Yes, several of us do. I've just exceeded 200 titles using Kindle (but other platforms as well) across my pen names. My experience has been pretty good, because I have publishers who do all the work of getting what I write published and marketed, and after sending off the last proof of what I've written, all I do is transfer royalties from PayPal to my bank account. That said, I don't own a Kindle myself. It's just one of several distribution points and reader methods for my published works. My publishers don't let Amazon tie up my work in exclusive arrangements. Amazon is a major distribution source for my works, but by no means the only one.
sr71plt
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The erotica ones are BarbarianSpy and eXcessica. There have been others, but they went out of business and I got rights back and republished them with BarbarianSpy.
lovecraft68
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Amazon is one of the easiest platforms to publish on. In fact they just made it easier by making it so you can simply upload a word doc or HTML you don't even have to convert it to mobi yourself anymore.
My word of advice is stay out of the exclusive programs. Don't sign up for kindle unlimited or KDP select. It makes you exclusive with them and they're both scams.
My word of advice is stay out of the exclusive programs. Don't sign up for kindle unlimited or KDP select. It makes you exclusive with them and they're both scams.
Zeb_Carter
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When did you have to convert it to mobi before uploading? I've been publishing there for...since 2011, I always just uploaded a word doc. They converted it to a whatever format they were using at the time. They no longer convert to mobi.
ChloeTzang
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Does anyone use smashwords? Seems like they will do all e-book platforms except kindle.
CeasarBoobage
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I think Smashwords is the easiest to publish through. They also have more than 2x the sales rate for Amazon. YMMV, I've heard other people say the opposite. Since SW also distributes to other sites, that's another bonus over Amazon. Why not use them both?
lovecraft68
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I use smashwords and they dont upload to amazon although they list them as an affiliate. They give a few lame reasons but it's really because the owner hates amazon and no one can blame him
lovecraft68
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I was originally told I should do it myself to ensure it came out okay.
In the past they simply said upload your book. Now they specify you can use doc and html. They still take mobi but I think it also is called prc.
Not like it's actual work calibre puts your book into over a dozen formats with not much more than a click
jezzaz
Really Experienced
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So Kindle Select.
People here are advising against it. I've published elsewhere on Amazon before, and used Kindle Select, and had...interesting results.
The bottom line here is that if you enroll for Kindle Select, you basically get Amazon's marketing behind you. Your book gets put into their advertising stuff for other readers, showing up in the ads on the device and on the website. Which is cool. You even get to decide which days which books gets put into that list. You get several attempts for each book, for like a weekend.
Now this is great, for those of you who have more than one book on the store - people see your book, can download it for free, and then if they like it, they go look and buy the other ones. That's the idea.
From the Amazon point of view, it gives them free content to push around, and therefore raises the value to customers of their devices. All well and good.
Except. When your book is in the freely advertised list, it literally is free. You get nothing. You do get eyeballs - I got about 2000 downloads the last time I did this (albeit almost 10 years ago), but that's nothing to sneeze at, especially if it's driving sales of your other books on the site.
But here's the other downside(s). The first is, you only get a portion of the 70% you would have previously earned on the sale of the book. It used to be a flat 30% but it looks like it's changed in recent years; now it's a percentage of the book that's read. So if someone only reads 10% of your book, then you get 7% the purchase cost, not 70%.
This would indicate that anthologies are not a good idea for this kind of thing; the larger the book, the less chance people will finish it and you get the full 70% of the cover cost.
The second issue is that you have to be exclusive to Amazon Kindle. You can't have the same story published either for free here on Lit, or on other Ebook commerce sites. If they find it, then they just suspend that book until it's NOT found free elsewhere.
You can't just add extra stories or authors commentary or anything like that to the Ebook to make it exclusive - the whole thing has to be, according to their documentation.
Now how heavily they enforce this, I don't know. Perhaps others here have had more experience with that. I guess you can decide to say "fuck it" and leave stories here, and then publish on Amazon, and take your chances or not. I couldn't say how risky that is.
The other way is the normal sales method, where you are free to publish wherever you want, and take 70%, but you do lose that Amazon Marketing Might, which to get you started might be worth it to you, particularly if you have multiple books.
Now, the Kindle Select thing is an enrollment option - you don't have to do that. And it only lasts for 90 days. So the best idea might be - just to get eyeballs and a following - take your stories off lit for 90 days, use Kindle Select for the 90 days, turn it off at the end of that 90 days, then go back to the 'normal' Kindle sales method and re-enable your stories on Lit.
Does anyone else here have experience of this?
People here are advising against it. I've published elsewhere on Amazon before, and used Kindle Select, and had...interesting results.
The bottom line here is that if you enroll for Kindle Select, you basically get Amazon's marketing behind you. Your book gets put into their advertising stuff for other readers, showing up in the ads on the device and on the website. Which is cool. You even get to decide which days which books gets put into that list. You get several attempts for each book, for like a weekend.
Now this is great, for those of you who have more than one book on the store - people see your book, can download it for free, and then if they like it, they go look and buy the other ones. That's the idea.
From the Amazon point of view, it gives them free content to push around, and therefore raises the value to customers of their devices. All well and good.
Except. When your book is in the freely advertised list, it literally is free. You get nothing. You do get eyeballs - I got about 2000 downloads the last time I did this (albeit almost 10 years ago), but that's nothing to sneeze at, especially if it's driving sales of your other books on the site.
But here's the other downside(s). The first is, you only get a portion of the 70% you would have previously earned on the sale of the book. It used to be a flat 30% but it looks like it's changed in recent years; now it's a percentage of the book that's read. So if someone only reads 10% of your book, then you get 7% the purchase cost, not 70%.
This would indicate that anthologies are not a good idea for this kind of thing; the larger the book, the less chance people will finish it and you get the full 70% of the cover cost.
The second issue is that you have to be exclusive to Amazon Kindle. You can't have the same story published either for free here on Lit, or on other Ebook commerce sites. If they find it, then they just suspend that book until it's NOT found free elsewhere.
You can't just add extra stories or authors commentary or anything like that to the Ebook to make it exclusive - the whole thing has to be, according to their documentation.
Now how heavily they enforce this, I don't know. Perhaps others here have had more experience with that. I guess you can decide to say "fuck it" and leave stories here, and then publish on Amazon, and take your chances or not. I couldn't say how risky that is.
The other way is the normal sales method, where you are free to publish wherever you want, and take 70%, but you do lose that Amazon Marketing Might, which to get you started might be worth it to you, particularly if you have multiple books.
Now, the Kindle Select thing is an enrollment option - you don't have to do that. And it only lasts for 90 days. So the best idea might be - just to get eyeballs and a following - take your stories off lit for 90 days, use Kindle Select for the 90 days, turn it off at the end of that 90 days, then go back to the 'normal' Kindle sales method and re-enable your stories on Lit.
Does anyone else here have experience of this?
Bramblethorn
Sleep-deprived
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Yep, I use SW. I couldn't say how the sales compare but I've been pretty happy with how the site is run. They also don't have a "lowest price" requirement which means I can charge for stories on SW while having the same stories available here for free. (Buyers on SW get an e-book friendly version and the warm fuzzy feeling of sending me a few bucks.)
It's a petty thing, but one time when I had a question about their content policy, I emailed them and Mark Coker replied in person. Can't imagine Jeff Bezos doing that for KDP authors...
lovecraft68
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Yes, I started there in 2011 and at that time Mark was often the person that replied, and he was always great to deal with. He and I once had a long discussion about rape material being disguised as BDSM and rape for titillation back when he had a solid rule against it....they really don't so much now, but they also have the new category requirements to check off if its in there.
He told me when he started SW he knew nothing about erotica and went to some fetish forums and even a couple of cons to try and learn about it.
SW has blown up a lot since then and he has a bigger staff, but if you send an e-mail directly to him, he will still reply.
The main thing I like is unlike amazon who's kindle platform was originally built by indy authors he is 100% about iundy publishing whereas amazon has done everything they can to squeeze indy out especially in erotica.
Its a well run site and I always advertise them instead of amazon. I'd much rather them get the money....and they only take 15%
lovecraft68
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I have never once in 9 years of selling given a way a book for free(on a platform I have given copies to a few people here or friends) or joined an exclusive program.
Even with the BS Amazon pulls with indy erotica I still manage between $800-1200 a month across the boards on all platforms.
So the whole give it for free because....no thanks. You join the program and give something away for free, the vultures just wait for the next free. The page reads and other gimmicks are pennies at best.
The being exclusive is the worst part of the deal, its BS, put your books on as many platforms you can find.
Wifetheif
Experienced
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Kdp
I've pretty much moved away from publishing here to publishing on Amazon KDP. Yes, it IS exclusive but it allows you to create both an e-book AND a paperback at the same time. I have a fanbase and I have a series of books currently up to eighteen books in an erotic niche that I have pretty much claimed for my own. My books consist of four stories under one cover. I have themed collections for MILFs, Halloween, and Christmas, that sell all year long. My partner does my covers for free with photoshop.I'm not making big money yet, but I sell something virtually every day. I get fan letters and consistent five-star reviews! I sometimes sell all my series in one go to various readers.
Also, and this is my main factor in not posting here anymore, NO MORE TROLLS! I don't have to deal with anonymous jerks insulting my writing, my parentage, my grammar, or anything else!
I make enough each month to cover some bills and my sales have been on a steadily upward curve! For me, it is a great solution. I have total control over my stories and I own the copyrights. Some of the work I posted here has been pirated and posted not only on Amazon but ALL over the internet. I HATE having my work stolen!
I do, from time, give away books. I find that it increases sales. Not all my works are in this erotic niche, I cross-promote one of my more mainstream erotic novels offered when a new niche erotica novel is released.
I'm thankful to L.com because it convinced me that I could write and write well. But giving it ALL away for free? Never again!
I've pretty much moved away from publishing here to publishing on Amazon KDP. Yes, it IS exclusive but it allows you to create both an e-book AND a paperback at the same time. I have a fanbase and I have a series of books currently up to eighteen books in an erotic niche that I have pretty much claimed for my own. My books consist of four stories under one cover. I have themed collections for MILFs, Halloween, and Christmas, that sell all year long. My partner does my covers for free with photoshop.I'm not making big money yet, but I sell something virtually every day. I get fan letters and consistent five-star reviews! I sometimes sell all my series in one go to various readers.
Also, and this is my main factor in not posting here anymore, NO MORE TROLLS! I don't have to deal with anonymous jerks insulting my writing, my parentage, my grammar, or anything else!
I make enough each month to cover some bills and my sales have been on a steadily upward curve! For me, it is a great solution. I have total control over my stories and I own the copyrights. Some of the work I posted here has been pirated and posted not only on Amazon but ALL over the internet. I HATE having my work stolen!
I do, from time, give away books. I find that it increases sales. Not all my works are in this erotic niche, I cross-promote one of my more mainstream erotic novels offered when a new niche erotica novel is released.
I'm thankful to L.com because it convinced me that I could write and write well. But giving it ALL away for free? Never again!
Ada Stuart
Author
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- Aug 28, 2005
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I've published to Kindle for a while now, and I think it's a very good site and easy to publish there. You just have to follow the instructions and have your story as a Word-file or similar. It's much easier than I imagined it to be, so I would strongly recommend it
As for sales and income, I agree with some of the other authors: Don't go exclusive for Amazon. I tried it with one of my titles and the sales were much lower compared to other titles. And, you're basically locked to that decision for the next 90 days. So, I removed it as soon as I could.
But, the book ranked higher on Amazon searches, but that didn't compensate for the lack of sales. So, unless you have a large crowd of followers, publish on as many sites as possible.
Another detail about Amazon: You need to select category and keywords with extreme care. There are a lot of authors that spend an enormous amount of time on this, and it's very complicated to get it right. I've studied it extensively, but I still haven't figured it out. So, bottom line, publish to Amazon but don't expect many sales.
Personally, I publish all titles to Amazon, Smashwords and Google Play.
The reason?
- Amazon is the largest. Either you publish there, or someone else will steal it and do it for you.
- Smashwords is amazing for sales. And as soon as your book gets Premium approved, they send it to all the other sites. The most important is Apple. I get 4,5 times the number of sales through Smashwords/Apple than on Amazon
- Google: You get a few sales, about half the number as Amazon. But, the main benefit is the search engine. After I published here, I can search for my pen name and my books show up right away, instead of on page 3 or something. It's awesome
So, I would strongly recommend you to publish to Lit and learn while you build a list of followers. The great thing about Lit is the voluntary editors and the many readers that will comment and give you suggestions on how to improve your stories. After a while, you'll know what most people enjoy and what they don't, LOL. And if you enter some of the contests you'll get even more people to read what you have written.
Also, you might want to consider publishing the same stories on other free sites too.
Then, when you have done that for a while, try to Self-publish to Amazon. It doesn't have to be perfectly edited or the perfect cover. You'll learn as you go.
But, be aware that everything you post here can easily be stolen/copied and published elsewhere. So, when that happens, you should definitely start publishing on Amazon
Anyway, Good luck and Welcome to Lit
Lanceironhand
Virgin
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How long should E-books be?
I am planning on publishing E-Books. I am planning to write 20,000 words and then wind up the story. One book I have is 15,000 words and I do not want to write more. Another book is 40,000 words. I would like to split that into two or three books.
I might be going back to full time work, so this is important to know. Any answers?
I am planning on publishing E-Books. I am planning to write 20,000 words and then wind up the story. One book I have is 15,000 words and I do not want to write more. Another book is 40,000 words. I would like to split that into two or three books.
I might be going back to full time work, so this is important to know. Any answers?
KeithD
Literotica Guru
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I try not to have an e-book work published in less than 12,000 words, but my primary publisher disagrees and puts some of them out as teasers with a little as 7,000 words. The anthologies I have that are e-booked usually go to 100,000 words. My longest is 350,000 words. I would publish any actual stories/novel--an arced-content standalone storyline--as one piece to the e-book market. I wouldn't split it no matter what wordage it contained. E-publishing doesn't have the cost-effective considerations that the print world does.
Ada Stuart
Author
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It sounds like a good plan not to write more than 15k/20k before publishing. I have published both longer and shorter stories, and you basically have to charge about the same price no matter if it's 20k or 60k. So, it pays off to publish 3 books of 20 k - as long as they are separate stories.
But, I agree with KeithD about not to split your stories. 40k isn't that many pages, so splitting it into 3 books is just annoying for the readers. I doubt you'll earn more by doing it, but I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.
But, readers tend to feel annoyed when the book suddenly stops. Some even leave bad reviews because of it (and lower scores), and personally I stay away from those books. Still, it's often done on Amazon and typically the first ebook is free, so maybe it works? Would be interesting to know no matter what you decide
