Friðrik Karelsson
asked
Timandra Whitecastle:
As an amazon challenged person. Is There a reason that you are Amazon exclusive? Because of regional issues (I am from Iceland) I use kobo instead of kindle, for my reading preferences. I am very interested in your living blade trilogy. Is there no other way to reed you than from Amazon or hard copy? The thing is that there are still some items you cant by or access just because you are from Iceland.
Timandra Whitecastle
Great question, thank you for asking!
Like most Indie Authors, Amazon‘s Kindle Direct Publishing service has allowed us to publish our stories to a wide audience that we likely would never have had.
When you publish a book through KDP, you can decide if you‘d like to enroll in a programme called Kindle Select. Your books can then be read through Amazon‘s Kindle Unlimited subscription service. A borrow of your book through someone’s Kindle Unlimited subscription counts as a sale. For every page someone in KU reads of your books, you get a small amount of money. So you could earn money through a sale of your book OR through someone reading your book in KU.
This option comes with a choice, though. If you choose to enroll your book in Kindle Select, you must be exclusive to Amazon according to their Terms Of Service.
So why do many indie authors choose with exclusionary option? Why did I? Books in KU have an advantage when it comes to store visibility. Visibility turns into sales (and borrows count as sales).
Additionally if you’re enrolled in KU, you have a number of powerful Marketing Tools given to you through Amazon that make visibility easier (but can only be used once every 90 days). These tools are, for example, five to seven days of setting your book to 0.99, so having regularly occurring deals that typically shift a fair number of your books. At the same time, if you do this, you get to keep your 75% of each sale. Instead of being financially crippling, you can actually make a plus on your week long 0.99 deal. Which in turn makes it easier to keep afloat financially, and write and publish more books.
The downside is: you have to be Amazon Exclusive in order to have access to these perks.
Remember, I said you have to make a choice to enroll or not. The thumb on the scale that tips towards Amazon rather than publishing wide (so on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, etc) is that most indies make more money by being exclusive to Amazon than not. (There are exceptions, of course.)
So from a book business perspective, if you want to earn money through writing and publishing books on your own, without the massive marketing might of a traditional publishing house behind you, it makes most sense to enroll your books in KU.
Keep in mind, too, that Amazon is the biggest book retailer worldwide and even owns this site, Goodreads. Millions of readers read through Amazon, for ease. It has enabled many of my indie author friends make careers out of their craft, a route which for many who dream of being published authors would otherwise not have been a viable option.
So on the one hand, yay for Amazon. On the other ... I wish there were a true alternative.
I hope this answers part of your question, even though this isn’t exactly an exhaustive essay on the pros and cons of publishing through Amazon exclusively.
The answer to the other half of your question is this: I’m restructuring my website right now to offer signed paperback editions in my own tiny store. These copies, because they’re signed, do not fall under Amazon’s Terms of Service.
The best way to get my books outside of Amazon is me :) If you’d prefer an ebook, please get in touch with me personally via: tim [at] timandrawhitecastle [dot] com. We can work something out together.
Thank you for reading!
Like most Indie Authors, Amazon‘s Kindle Direct Publishing service has allowed us to publish our stories to a wide audience that we likely would never have had.
When you publish a book through KDP, you can decide if you‘d like to enroll in a programme called Kindle Select. Your books can then be read through Amazon‘s Kindle Unlimited subscription service. A borrow of your book through someone’s Kindle Unlimited subscription counts as a sale. For every page someone in KU reads of your books, you get a small amount of money. So you could earn money through a sale of your book OR through someone reading your book in KU.
This option comes with a choice, though. If you choose to enroll your book in Kindle Select, you must be exclusive to Amazon according to their Terms Of Service.
So why do many indie authors choose with exclusionary option? Why did I? Books in KU have an advantage when it comes to store visibility. Visibility turns into sales (and borrows count as sales).
Additionally if you’re enrolled in KU, you have a number of powerful Marketing Tools given to you through Amazon that make visibility easier (but can only be used once every 90 days). These tools are, for example, five to seven days of setting your book to 0.99, so having regularly occurring deals that typically shift a fair number of your books. At the same time, if you do this, you get to keep your 75% of each sale. Instead of being financially crippling, you can actually make a plus on your week long 0.99 deal. Which in turn makes it easier to keep afloat financially, and write and publish more books.
The downside is: you have to be Amazon Exclusive in order to have access to these perks.
Remember, I said you have to make a choice to enroll or not. The thumb on the scale that tips towards Amazon rather than publishing wide (so on Amazon, Kobo, iBooks, etc) is that most indies make more money by being exclusive to Amazon than not. (There are exceptions, of course.)
So from a book business perspective, if you want to earn money through writing and publishing books on your own, without the massive marketing might of a traditional publishing house behind you, it makes most sense to enroll your books in KU.
Keep in mind, too, that Amazon is the biggest book retailer worldwide and even owns this site, Goodreads. Millions of readers read through Amazon, for ease. It has enabled many of my indie author friends make careers out of their craft, a route which for many who dream of being published authors would otherwise not have been a viable option.
So on the one hand, yay for Amazon. On the other ... I wish there were a true alternative.
I hope this answers part of your question, even though this isn’t exactly an exhaustive essay on the pros and cons of publishing through Amazon exclusively.
The answer to the other half of your question is this: I’m restructuring my website right now to offer signed paperback editions in my own tiny store. These copies, because they’re signed, do not fall under Amazon’s Terms of Service.
The best way to get my books outside of Amazon is me :) If you’d prefer an ebook, please get in touch with me personally via: tim [at] timandrawhitecastle [dot] com. We can work something out together.
Thank you for reading!
More Answered Questions
Alex
asked
Timandra Whitecastle:
Hey I love the Living Blade series. Wondering when book 3 will be out? Thanks!
Kat
asked
Timandra Whitecastle:
Hi, Timandra! I love your Living Blade series. Any chance you know when we can expect book 3?
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Jan 31, 2021 01:11AM