E-publishing should have its biggest year yet in 2012. Are you prepared? Today I discuss what’s been happening, especially with Amazon and the KDP Select program, as well as what’s helped me have my best earnings months for the last two months.
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Show Notes:
- Lots of new e-readers for Christmas
- Discussing the Amazon KDP Select Lending Program. Should you do it or stay away?
- My earnings for October, November, and December, and what I’ve been doing to see good results
- How my podiobook is bringing in new readers
Links to recent posts on my other blog that you may find useful:
- How Editing Works for Independent (Self-Published) Authors
- Should an Indie (Self-Published) Author Create an Imprint (i.e. their own “press”)?
- Creating a Facebook Fan Page for Marketing — One Author’s Experience
- What the Heck is Author Branding and How Do You Do It Anyway?
Have any thoughts on KDP Select, the future of e-publishing, or anything else vaguely relevant? Share them below!
Glad to hear the freebie went well. I’m still waiting for Amazon to price match a book for me… maybe they won’t.
I’m wondering, though, if free books on Amazon will still be that effective now that KDP Select has propelled so many more free books into the system – certainly for the next 90 days while everyone’s trying it out. As a shopper, I can’t even keep up with them all anymore; I’m sure there are a lot of cool freebies that I’m missing.
Thanks for listening, Charlotte! Yeah, I think the deluge of new freebies will make it tougher to stand out that way. EE went free about a week before the whole KDP Select thing started, so I had a bit of a headstart. Right now, I’m planning to leave it free and then try some advertising and such to boost awareness when it’s time for Book 4 to come out.
Good luck with yours. Amazon usually takes its sweet time unfortunately.
Hey Lindsay. I love this blog, what a great resource for those of us getting into the self pub world. I was wondering if you would consider putting a link to the mp3 file in your podcast posts? That way those of us that listen via android phone can just click the link. Unless I’m missing something, then please someone help me out!
Hi Keith,
Thanks for listening! I’ll see what I can do about adding a plain link. I thought that’d be a breeze, but the audio plug-in decided to turn it into a second player.
Can you subscribe to podcasts on your phone? The feed link is http://feeds.feedburner.com/SavvySelfPublishingPodcast just in case. I only have experience with the iPhone myself, but it seems like you ought to be able to get them to download automatically.
I’ll hunt around though and try to get that link working.
Good podcast. Yes, two blogs can be much. A week off and slow internet activity has been great for my productivity.
I’ve not opted for Kindle Select. Mostly, because I’m a Nook user & don’t like the idea of not being able to download my own book. Plus, Amazon’s domination makes me a little nervous. I may give it more thought. But so far, I’m saying no.
I keep your ideas in mind for when I get more titles out. That seems to be the biggest key in all this … and a series. So, that’s my emphasis right now.
Your success is an inspiration.
Happy Holidays, Lindsay! And Happy New Year!
Thanks for posting, and good luck in the new year, Mary! I could use a week with no internet so that I could whip out the next 20,000 words or so.
One quick note on your pricing, as a reader: I did notice you’d increased the pricing, and my reaction was “Oh good, she’s finally not undercharging.”
/takes off my reader hat
Also, I couldn’t find a link on your blog to this one. [in the links/pages, not within a post.] Am I overlooking it?
Thank you for the supporting on pricing, Kryce!
Hm, you’re right. I need to add a link to this site over in the sidebar for my author site. I’ve mentioned in (older) posts, but not many people will stumble across those. Thank you!
Really enjoyed your podcast. Full of useful information. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, Deanna!
Really glad that I found your informative podcast, Lindsay. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Lindsay!
I almost didn’t listen because I worried since this episode was older, it might not be too up to date or relevant, but I found it really informative and enjoyed it. KDP Select still boosts your rankings when you do free days, which I think is a good thing because it helps you get more exposure. I never thought of it as gaming the system, but I guess it could be seen that way. I tried KDP Select for the first time a few months ago and hated the exclusivity, but decided to give it another try for >a href=”http://sandpaperfidelity.com”>my weekly series. So far, so good, but I do still kind of hate that I can’t put it out on Smashwords.
Oh well.
Thanks for talking about Podiobooks.com. I’m a little in love. I’m going to give it a shot once I get into a rhythm with my new series. I think the idea is really cool!