It Has Happened! An Amazon Kindle Best Seller! Even If Just for Two Days!

I am pretty excited and have to tell someone other than my wife and kids! Below you will see a screen shot proving one of my books actually, even if just for two days, climbed to Number 1 on an Amazon Best Seller List! Actually, The Game of Basketball, was Number 1 on two lists and Number 2 on a third.

If I could tell you just how this happened, I would gladly share the information. I for one would like to know how this happened so if it was anything other than luck, in other words, something I had done in terms of  marketing or promotions, I could replicate it for my other Kindle books.

My best guess is Amazon ran some kind of promotion on its own accord. The Kindle version of the book sells about 100 copies a month and the POD version sells about 35 or so a month. With basketball season entering the conference part of the schedule for college basketball and district play for high school basketball, Amazon might have sent out an e-mail listing basketball related books that sell well to customers who have purchased such books in the past. The book's past sales might have qualified it for inclusion in such a promotion.  

At any rate, it has sold over 700 Kindle downloads in the last 24 hours. Talk about motivating! I really want to sit down and finish the next project as soon as possible so it can be published as a Kindle book. 

Even more encouraging is the fact this book is self-published. I feel pretty confident this would not have happened 10 years ago. Amazon, POD and the Kindle have made a wonderful platform for authors who self-publish. 

I hope every author who visits this blog will feel encouraged by my success, albeit however temporary, fleeting or insignificant. If I can sell some books on Amazon, anyone can!

Guide on Fighting Internet Copyright Infringement Available

Morris Rosenthal, one of the original experts on self-publishing using print-on-demand and marketing books using the internet, has published a Kindle book, An Author's Guide to Fighting Internet Copyright Infringements.

Morris is making the book available for free for several days. My guess is it will be available for a fee after the FREE purchase period is over. Update: The guide is now available for .99.

Copyright violations are bad for all authors, particularly non-fiction authors. Google now seems to penalize authors of original content in internet searches whose material has been pirated, giving the pirates higher rankings in search results. For those of us who rely on our websites and content to drive book sales, this is not just theft of our work, it is further punishment for making our work available to the public.

Morris has written about this problem on his blog several times and has spent considerable effort fighting internet copyright infringement of his own material. He shares what he has learned about the process in this short book.

Book Marketing, Cover Design and SEO - A Different View of Cover Design

The idea of crafting your book's title for effective search rankings for Amazon was first introduced, to me at least, by Aaron Shepard in his book Aiming for Amazon. When I first read Aiming for Amazon, print-on-demand was the way to go for self-publishing authors and is still an important part of the financial equation and overall marketing scheme.

Things have changed quite a bit since I first read Aiming for Amazon. The Kindle and other ebook reading devices have forever altered the landscape in the world of publishing and self-publishing. There are days where I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what I need to learn just to keep pace with what the world of self-publishing looks like.

For me, the Kindle has been a blessing, both financially and in terms of ability to market my books to a larger audience. It also means things like cover design, the internet and marketing have to be viewed in a different way.

With this in mind, I stumbled across an article suggesting authors need to rethink how they design their covers, particularly the rear cover design. In this instance the emphasis is on using the cover design and back cover copy to improve search engine optimization, SEO, to improve the potential marketability of the book on the internet. Rather than rehash the ideas, simply click on the link below to read the article.

http://dogearpublishing.net/wordpress/index.php/2011/12/optimizing-book-cover-copy-for-seo/

Amazon KDP Lending Program Pays Authors $1.70 Per Title for Month of December!

Watching the number of copies of several of my titles being borrowed and not purchased, combined with a corresponding decline in the sales of those titles, made me wish I had not made those books available for loan in Amazon's new book lending program, particularly Amazon Prime. Then I read the press release from Amazon, I will receive $1.70 per copy loaned for the month of December.

While still not the same rate of net profit per sale that I would have earned had those copies of my books been purchased and not loaned, it did ease the sting quite a bit. I will wait out the 90 period involved and re-evaluate at that time my continued participation in the program.  The following is an excerpt from the Amazon press release concerning the program and its results for the past month of December 2011.

The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is off to a strong start: customers borrowed 295,000 KDP Select titles in December alone, and KDP Select has helped grow total library selection to over 75,000 books. With the $500,000 December fund, KDP authors have earned $1.70 per borrow. In response to strong customer adoption of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (as well as seasonal, post-holiday use of new Kindles), Amazon.com, Inc. has added a $200,000 bonus to the January KDP Select fund, raising the total pool from $500,000 to $700,000. 

Paid KDP sales grew rapidly in December — and results show that paid sales of titles participating in KDP Select are growing even faster than other KDP titles. On top of this growth in paid sales, KDP Select authors and publishers on average are receiving an incremental 26% in December as a result of their participation in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. 

“KDP Select appears to be earning authors more money in two ways. We knew customers would love having KDP Select titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. But we’ve been surprised by how much paid sales of those same titles increased, even relative to the rest of KDP,” said Russ Grandinetti, Vice President of Kindle Content. “Due to this early success and a seasonally strong January, we’re adding a $200,000 bonus to January’s KDP Select fund, growing this month’s total pool to $700,000.”

Amzon's Kindle Direct Publishing Book Loan Program - Is it Better for Fiction than Non-Fiction?

I signed up several of my books to be part of this program. For a book to be eligible it must be exclusive to Amazon Kindle in its ebook version. Amazon has set aside $500K for the month of December to compensate authors for books loaned as part of this program. I sincerely doubt I will get rich participating in this program and after the initial three month participation period required, I am undecided if I will continue to participate.

For one book, Kindle sales have plummeted due to its availability to be borrowed. I have no doubt of this being the case as I have loaned more copies of this title in just the one month the book has been part of the program than I had sold in its Kindle version in any given month since it has been available. Since the book has been available for loan I have sold a grand total of 3 copies in the Kindle version.

The other titles I have made available have continued to sell at their average monthly levels while only a few copies being loaned. The availability of the option to "borrow" the book from Amazon does not seem to have impacted these books one way or the other.

It remains to be seen what the impact, other than costing me sales right now, of this program will be in the long term. I will have to wait and see.

Since I do not write fiction books, I have to wonder if this program is a good one to participate in for non-fiction authors. I have little doubt the program is an excellent marketing tool for an author launching a book, particularly if it is the first in a series. Later titles in the series do not have to be made available in this program.

In a few months I will have a better idea of how this will impact sales for the titles currently listed in the program. As I have more information available I will share it on this blog.

Amazon's New KDP Direct Program - New Opportunities for Self-Publishing Authors!

Amazon keeps moving forward in new ways to compete in the publishing market. While undoubtedly some of these new ideas will need re-working or will vanish, they do present interesting opportunities for authors who choose to self-publish their work.

Today I enrolled several of my books that are available in Kindle Editions in the newly announced KDP Select program. This opportunity means I have a chance to share in the $500,000 Amazon has set aside for this program (not that I expect to rake in huge royalty payments) and starting in January my books will be eligible to continue in the program and earn additional royalties.

What exactly does the program entail for authors who self-publish and the readers who choose to participate? Here is some of the information direct from the Amazon site promoting the new program to authors:

• Reach a new audience - Distribute books through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library and reach the growing number of US Amazon Prime members.
• Earn a whole new source of royalties - Earn your share of $500,000 in December and at least $6 million throughout 2012 when readers borrow your books from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
• Promote your book for free to readers worldwide - The newly launched Promotions Manager tool will allow you to directly control the promotion of free books.
• Instant feedback - Check real-time performance of your books in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

I am particularly interested in the promotional aspect of this program for authors. Being able to launch a new Kindle book and make it available for FREE for five days is a great way promote a book and generate some sales rank positioning early in its life on Amazon.

Enrolling your titles in the program is easy and done from your Bookshelf in your KDP Member Dashboard page. It took me less than one minute to enroll the books I decided to make available in this program. You can just as easily cancel the enrollment of the book from the Bookshelf as you entered the title.

Just what is the Lending Program? Again, directly from the Amazon website describing the program, here is some basic information: 

What is the Kindle Owners' Lending Library?

The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own a kindle can borrow once a month, with no due dates. For more information, click here.

How is my share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library fund calculated?

Your share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library Fund is calculated based on a share of the total number of qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles. For example, if the monthly fund amount is $500,000 and the total qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles is 100,000 in December and if your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn 1.5% (1,500/100,000 = 1.5%), or $7,500 in December.

If my books are distributed in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, can customer still buy it?

Yes, your books will still be available for anyone to buy in the Kindle Store, like they've always been, and you will continue to earn royalties from those sales like you do today.

What does it mean to publish exclusively on Kindle?

When you choose KDP Select for a book, you're committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital. See the KDP Select Terms and Conditions for more information.

To learn more about this new opportunity, click here!

Aaron Shepard's Sales Rank Express for Amazon is now functioning again!

I can't say it any better than Aaron himself. So, here is what he had to say about the return of his Sales Rank Express:

"Sales Rank Express, my own Amazon sales rank checker, is officially back in operation, after months offline due to changes at Amazon. And it now offers more than ever, including

• Quick sales rank checking of multiple print books on Amazon in nine countries, including Spain, Italy, and China.
• Sales rank checking for Kindle Books in four countries. (Just select “Kindle” in the Format menu for the country you want—U.S., U.K., Germany, or France.)
• More detailed stats on Customer Reviews, with a breakdown by number of stars.
• Charts of the last week’s sales ranks, with visible peaks that let you make quick sales estimates and spot trends. (To see charts, turn on “Tracking” for each title.)

Enjoy! And please spread the word to all your author and publisher friends!"

www.newselfpublishing.com/blog/#SRErelaunch