How to Publish Your Books on Kindle

The very mention of Kindle sends ripples of foreboding trickling through the established fields of traditional publishing and bookselling; and with good reason.

Not only are sales of the Kindle reader booming worldwide but so too are the instances of everyday usage on planes, trains, buses, parks and beaches. Vacationers for example now carry up to 5000 books in a jacket pocket rather than lugging around a dozen or so good reads in a suitcase.

As an established traditionally published author I decided recently to put Kindle Publishing to the test by uploading five of my out-of-print fiction titles; not just any five old titles though; five titles with a linking thread.

I have to say that initial returns were highly promising; 36 sales over just 6 days.

Thus enthused I uploaded my remaining fifteen out-of-print fiction titles but at the time of writing they haven’t elicited a single sale which has prompted me to investigate further.

1. The five titles that took off immediately all sold well as paperbacks ten years ago so could it be that Kindle readers have a longer than average memory? I doubt it.

2. Did I score a bulls-eye with my choice of Kindle publishing category? Very much so.

3. Did my painstaking choice of keywords pay off? Again, very much so.

Clearly what I must do now is to revisit the categories and keywords for the other fifteen titles and strive to accomplish by design what I achieved through happenstance for the first five.

TIPS FOR PUBLISHING ON KINDLE

If you have unpublished works cluttering up your computer (especially fiction) or if like me you have previously published books that are no longer in demand, pay close attention to these tips for publishing on Kindle.

Target market: This is vital work. Ensure that you select the definitive Kindle readership market for your book(s). Kindle provides ample tools.

Front cover: For previously published works scan the front covers; for unpublished works do not use a placeholder image. Design your own images to precise Kindle specifications.

Text formatting: Study the Kindle tutorials and implement exactly what they tell you into your formatting.

Categories: Choose your publishing categories with care. Kindle provides a comprehensive list covering every aspect of fiction and non-fiction.

Keywords: Here is where you succeed or fail on Kindle publishing. Spend more time on choosing your keywords than you would normally on any other type of online marketing. Don’t select keywords with high usage like 100,000; choose tighter usages like 3/4000. TIP: If your prime keyword also features in the title of your book you are automatically on a winner.

Pricing: Be realistic with your pricing. For example, if you have a title which previously sold for $15 as a paperback, lower your sights for the electronic version; $3.50 to $4.95 would be much more realistic.

Promotion: Kindle and Amazon will assist you in a myriad of ways but fail to do your own marketing and returns will decrease dramatically. Use Twitter, Facebook, articles like this one, and above all, create an Amazon Author Page.

PS: I have just checked up to date Kindle Sales for my first five titles: 167 in just 21 days…

Click on the URL in the bio box below to inspect the full range of my out-of-print fiction titles on Kindle. See if you can spot the 5 that are selling well (It shouldn’t be difficult; the core keyword is an integral part of each title).