Part 3: eBook Publishing On Amazon Kindle
This article is the 3rd in a 5 Part Series that reviews the most ideal jobs for people who would prefer to work on their own and create an income. There are now many self-employment opportunities for those with social anxiety to express their talents and find fulfilling successful careers.
In this article we are going to be focusing on the subject of publishing on Amazon Kindle. The publishing process is actually quite simple and the incredible part is that it is one of the easiest ways to start to make money on the Internet. You don’t necessarily have to be a great writer, as the creative process can easily be outsourced.
As with any new venture, there is a smart way to go about it so that you eliminate the mistakes that newbies often make. We will talk more about that later on.
So, lets get started…
Why Self-Publish?
The publishing industry has experienced enormous disruption due to developments in technology. In the bad old days you would have needed an Agent to represent you to a publisher and ‘promote’ your manuscript. To a large extent the traditional publisher maintained control over who did (and did not) get into print.
Now you can write, edit and publish your eBook with full control over the finished product. What is even more impressive is that the Amazon Kindle platform gives your work ‘worldwide’ reach. There is also the option to gather reviews and ratings, which have the potential to generate even more sales.
Amazon Publishing Tools
KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is a great service for self-publishers. Essentially KDP uses a Mobi format that is read by all Kindle devices. So, if you have created your eBook in PDF, Amazon’s conversion tool will easily convert it to Mobi.
A step up from this is KDP Select, which gives you more flexibility to earn higher royalties and offer discounts. Keep in mind that even though both platforms are free, Amazon makes its money by keeping a part of the royalties earned from sales. Having said that, you will still earn a higher percentage of each sale through self-publishing than you would through traditional publishing. Ie: 35% or 70% depending on the Royalty Plan you choose.
What Are The Main Benefits?
These are just some of the key benefits for self-publishers.
1.) Global Exposure.
This is one of the huge benefits for self-publishers. Having global reach means that even ‘small niche subject’ eBooks can find buyers. As a writer you don’t have to stick to mainstream genres to find buyers for your work. In effect you are getting massive brand awareness via one platform.
2.) Instant Distribution.
It’s hard to beat the Amazon distribution model. Your book is uploaded and ready for millions of potential buyers within a couple of days at little to no cost to you. The trick is to get some good reviews for your book as this will help the sales process.
3.) Low Cost.
Areas where you may choose to spend money might be in getting a professional cover designed. The ‘Royalties’ mentioned earlier are only incurred when you sell a book; so you can start to generate an income without carrying huge publishing costs.
4.) Easy Re-Edit.
Publishing online means that you can very simply re-edit any mistakes that slipped through your proofreading phase. If you have a completely new edition for example, then you can upload that at any time.
5.) Passive Income.
Publishing an eBook on the Amazon platform is literally like setting up a shop that is always open. Your product can sell over and over, producing a recurrent passive income. Of course you need to make sure that your book is properly optimized, along with an appealing heading and cover.
The Challenge
There are many success stories of publishers that regularly make thousands every month. However, what many writers don’t realize is that’s its not simply a matter of having a great book that appeals! The challenge is to be able to successfully combine your writing ability with clever sales and marketing expertise. While hustling and marketing may not come naturally to many people with social anxiety, there are a few things that you must do to get your eBook ranked. Some of these are;
- Successful writers will launch a new eBook with a ‘5 Day Free’ promotion.
• Make sure you rank for ‘keywords’ within specific Kindle categories and using a primary ‘Keyword’ in the title of your book.
• Keywords need to be relevant, but not have too much competition.
• Work on getting positive reviews.
Obviously there is more to this process, and that’s why I mentioned earlier in this article that there is a smart way to go about publishing on Kindle. You really don’t want to waste valuable time making the same mistakes that most first time self-publishers make. If you make a conscious choice to invest a little in your education early in the process, then your future passive income will refund that education back to you many times over.
Your Education
There are lots of online courses on Kindle publishing available, but very few that have genuinely delivered results for their students. If you would like to make a start on learning how to self-publish on Kindle and build a passive income, this course comes highly recommended.
Seeing your creative work published and sold can be a tremendously satisfying experience and social anxiety should never be a barrier to achieving this for you too!
I hope you all found this article both enjoyable and informative.