Posted on 08/05/2013 9:42:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It's been called a "cure for rejection-letter fatigue."
Amazon on Thursday released new details about the success of its program for authors who want to self-publish on its Kindle e-reader devices. The company, which unveiled a suite of new e-readers and tablets at a press conference in Southern California on Thursday, says 27 of the top 100 Kindle books were created using a system called Kindle Direct Publishing.
That system allows authors to bypass traditional publishers and instead deal directly with Amazon, which claims to be able to publish their books digitally "in hours."
The authors receive 70% of the royalties from the sale of these books. And some of them are doing quite well.
"Most of my months are six-figure months," said Hugh Howey, a 37-year-old Florida author whose "Wool" series of digital books was highlighted by Amazon. "It's more than I ever hoped to make in a year."
The company says some authors, including Theresa Ragen, who appeared in a promotional video during the Amazon event, have sold hundreds of thousands of books.
During the event Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos displayed a quote from Kathryn Stockett, author of best-selling novel "The Help," in which she lamented being rejected dozens of times before a publisher accepted her.
"What if I had given up at 15? Or 40? Or even 60?" she was quoted as saying......
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Thank you for posting this. My aspiring daughter wrote her first fiction novel when she was in college. She has now written three. She is familiar with rejection letters.
She will be interested in reading this article, having recently given birth to a 11 week preemie, and having to separate from her day job.
Again, thanks.
Which was impressive as I pretty much hated it from chapter 1 onwards. It was tedious kack, not much elevated above the lamentable 'Shannara' stuff by Eddings.
I know someone who has the whole WoT series (he brought in bulk) - and he hates it too!
His Conan pastiches are much more interesting, if you can find them.
I have four e-books out on Kindle. Three Novels and a book of short stories. Two are at $.99 and two are at $2.99. I have Made up to $900 in a month.
It’s not easy for me to write and my first book took over three years to do. Lot’s of re-writes, etc. and even with extensive proof-reading and spell and Grammar checks Microsoft Word I got hammered by the ‘Spelling’ Nazis. After they got through putting me on a spit and roasting me over a slow fire. The ‘Content Commando’s’ then showed up and said “Hey wait! These are great stories. Ignore the occasional spelling goof and you’ll have a great read.”
As a voracious reader I love the low prices self-published authors can offer and I mostly read them now. My most expensive books are only $2.99 and my others are $.99.
If you want details on what my books are just Freepmail me. Free-Republic is not and should not be the place for advertising.
“as is the 250-word short-story — the latter is surprisingly hard to do well. “
Sort of like writing a Haiku based on a Shakesperean sonnet.
injured desolate
Lucrease cries out for vengeance
her rape damns them both...
I have a buddy who has been rejected by the major publishers repeatedly. And yet he makes six figures annually selling his e-books on Amazon. . . .
Not entirely. A good editor still provides a valuable service. But overall, this should be a beneficial trend.
Why “Obama Kindles”. Think the model of razors and razor blades.
If you want to sell razor blades, sell the razor for a song, you’re making your money on the blades. . .
Likewise: cheap/free e-readers, and sell e-books. . .
I have about 30 books in print, including 2 NYTimes best sellers and a #1 best seller. There is no doubt e-publishing is going to overtake paper, but there will always be a place for paper as people like me prefer a book to hold, mark up, and dog ear.
bflr
Key line everyone is missing:
“”DIY authors” make $10,000 a year on average, and half of them make less than $500 a year”
A few people make a lot of money.
Most don’t make squat.
I’m glad the option is out there. Realize that there is no filter and no advertising.
I published my first novel last year with Booklocker.com, and then the eBook a few months ago, with good results. I’ve gotten ego building reviews from Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan to the Brooks Range and all points in between.If you self publish, there is a lot of work in marketing that you will have to do yourself. Beware of Amazon and its child CreateSpace. They are currently being sued for under reporting(or no reporting) of book sales to their authors.
In the way of shameless self promotion, my book is “COUGAR!” written under the nom de plume W.W. Brock, and it is not about old women bedding young men. (Be very careful what you select for a title!) It is about a man eating cougar and a government conspiracy. Go Figure! :)
“Does Amazon let customers preview them?. I don’t know how to tell if they are any good”
Yes you can read some of the book right on the Amazon web site. Amazon’s writer business model seems to be to give a book away to get it established with some reviews before the charges are implemented. There are services that you can subscribe too that will send you the free titles in your areas of interest on a daily basis. Even when you do not like a book it is a lot easier to have paid a couple of dollars for it than to have gone to the bookstore and laid out $25
Time to write a book?
I did it starting ten years ago with printed books on Amazon Advantage, and put them on Kindle via KDP 3 years ago.
Here’s my Kindle page. Haven’t had any six-figure months, that’s for sure, but it provides a living.
At least it’s a fair playing field; the P.C. gatekeepers in NYC are now irrelevant.
Writing was always only the first task. Then getting past the gatekeepers, then marketing. Now, writers can skip the gatekeepers, and focus on writing and marketing.
To me, this is the golden age of indie writers.
Yes...thank you for highlighting this. My sister has been after me to try it, and this article makes it seem more attainable. Ping to myself for later consideration....
Ping.
While I would have liked to keep them, I needed to downsize. Sold some on Craigslist (pennies to the dollar) as bulk auctioned off the rest in 2011.
All those books could fit on my kindle. Broke my 1st Kindle, all I had are available on my new Kindle.
Yes, books are great, but the convenience of digital is overcoming owning them.
bttt
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