The awful truth about publishing a Kindle e-book
March 19th, 2014 by Bob Bly
Marketing consultant BM recently wrote me:
“Bob, I am so proud! I just published my first Kindle e-book!”
It was a business title.
Of course, I congratulated him.
But being the negative nelly I am, I felt compelled to tell him
what in my opinion is the awful truth about writing and
publishing a Kindle e-book. I wrote:
“I think with rare exception there is almost no money to be
made and very little prestige to be gained in producing Kindle
e-books, precisely because everyone can do it and seemingly is.”
Kindle e-books have greatly devalued the status of being an
author.
It reminds me of a line uttered by Buddy, the bad guy in the
movie The Incredibles.
Buddy is jealous of superheroes. Being an inventor, he designs
an outfit that gives him the ability to fly and shoot paralyzing
rays.
He intends to sell the suit design to the highest bidder,
gleefully noting: “When everyone is super, then no one is.”
It’s the same with Kindle: when everyone is an author, then
being an author isn’t special.
BM replied:
“Well, I agree, but having the Kindle e-book makes for good
marketing and it elevates my image in the eyes of some
prospects.”
Again, I am an argumentative cuss, so I countered: “I am not
sure how it helps with marketing. The best way to use the book
would be to offer it online as a free download, not sell it for
ten bucks on Amazon, who will not share the customer’s name with
you.
“And I do not think being a Kindle e-book author does anything
to elevate image. A REAL book does that.”
BM agreed: “I have a real book, so I agree with you entirely,
even though it was self-published. I sold about 500 and gave
away about 300, and that book landed me huge projects.”
I have booked hundreds of thousands of dollars in copywriting
and consulting projects, and speaking gigs, because of my
physical books, all published by major publishing houses.
One of the problems with Kindle e-books is that, while they are
cheap and easy to publish, the end result is simply having an
e-book that people can buy on Amazon.
Amazon doesn’t market or promote these Kindle e-books in any
way.
Therefore, once posted online, the majority sit there, and many
sell a pitifully small number of copies.
One author, DY, told me proudly that after heavy promotion over
the course of a couple of years, he sold 540 copies of his
self-published book. He then admitted he barely broke even on
the venture.
Yes, I know there are Kindle e-book authors that have sold books
by the truckload and made small fortunes. But these are a
miniscule minority.
The vast majority of Kindle e-book authors toil in obscurity and
barely make enough on their book to take the family to a nice
dinner at Outback.
Most Kindle e-books, including my two — a collection of my
science fiction stories and a collection of these e-mail essays,
“Don’t Wear a Cowboy Hat Unless You Are a Cowboy” — are vanity
publications.
The author produces them for his own ego and from a desire to
make his writing available to the wider world.
But in most cases, including mine, the wider world has little or
no interest.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014 at 10:59 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 21st, 2014 at 3:52 am
Maybe because Kindle wants to promote the idea of “Everyone has an inner writer in them, and all it needs is to tap that potential” that is why most people get to embrace that perspective. I too is a little skeptical in publishing my content in kindle since its a dead end for your dream to be a writer.
That’s why for me, even if kindle wants to promote that idea, I still want to stick on the belief of “everyone can be a writer, but not everyone can be an expert and great writer”.
March 24th, 2014 at 5:29 pm
[…] Go here to read the rest: The awful truth about publishing a Kindle e-book – bly.com blog – bly … […]
April 4th, 2014 at 7:17 am
Victor: another spin: everyone can write. Not everyone can write well enough to justify putting their words and ideas into a book.
April 14th, 2014 at 4:34 pm
Minuscule, not “miniscule”.
April 15th, 2014 at 7:08 am
If Kindle wants to promote the idea of everyone releasing their inner writer, perhaps they should not. What about my inner brain surgeon? Can I operate on their brains? And Rob: seriously?
April 19th, 2014 at 9:08 am
Yes.
April 20th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Depends on how you look at it. There are a lot of good Kindle books and authors that are successful since they focus on a specific topic.
The issue is most writers only focus on writing books and NOT marketing.
May 1st, 2014 at 10:24 am
Rob- both spellings are accepted. Minuscule was the original form, but the popular variant “miniscule” emerged in the early 19th century. Both spellings are in the dictionary.
July 26th, 2016 at 5:02 pm
IGLESIA ALFA Y OMEGA ESMIRNA
Vienen tiempos dificiles. La gente no quieren buscar de Dios.
Todo el mundo vive a su manera. Dejame decirte que viene juicio contra la humanidad.
Dios nos quiere destruir la tierra pero la maldad del hombre y la sangre derramada
ha subido al trono de Dios. Viene una catastrofe mundial.
De la cual no se va a salvar la humanidad.
Dios destruyo Sodoma y Gomorra y no quedo nada de ella.
El armamento militar y todo el dinero del mundo no puede salvar a USA a Mejico y todo el mundo.
Dios puede meter a USA debajo de las aguas.
y no se salva nadie. viene algo aterrador. que va barrir la tierra y va acabar con todo.
El proximo ano va ocurrir esto. Y el mundo va ser cambiado totalmente.
La tierra se va a mover de su sitio. Despues de esta castrofe .
Viene lo peor van a ver millones de muertos posiblemente miles de
millones. Todo lo que conocemos va desaparecer vamos de vuelta a
la edad de piedra. No va ver comida , pestes por los millones de muertos.
Como en los tiempos de Noe la gente casaba hiba y venian hasta que Noe entro en el Arca.
Dios va barrer la tierra porla maldad del Hombre.
No estamos en ese tiempo pero la humanidad a adelantado el juicio.
Lo mas que odia Dios es la pervesidad y abominacion ,
los gay. Si eres gay arrepientete y pidele perdon a Dios. Todos
los pueblos de la tierra le deben a Dios. Y la Ira de Dios viene sobre la tierra.
Clama a Dios y arrepientete… Van hacer mas los muertos por
la enfermedad y peste causado por millones cuerpos muerto en la tierra
y los mares.
En los tiempos de Jonas Dios le dijo ve y predica a Ninive.
Aclaracion Cuando el Rey de Ninive escucho eso dice la palabra que vistio
de cilicio y ordeno a todo el pueblo que se humillaran y pidieran perdon a Dios.
Dice la BIBLIA Que Dios vio lo que hicieron. Y se arrepintio Dios
y perdono la generacion. El arrepentimiento es ahora cuando
venga una ola gigantesca de 500 pies de alto . Ya no hay break.
El corazon de las personas se a endurecido.
Si el pueblo y los reyes de la Tierra. se arrenpintieran Dios perdonaria la generacion.
Si predicas la palabra lleva este mensaje que la gente se arrepientan que los Gobiernos se Humillen delante del Rey de la Gloria .
Ciertamente como en el tiempo de abraham si hubieran 20 Dios no
la destruira. Si hubieran 10 Justos Dios no destruira la Tierra.
Aclaracion Dios perdono la generacion. Pero mas adelante el Pueblo fue destruido por que estaba ya para destrucion.
Clama a Dios Arrepiente . lleva el mensaje para que la
gente se arrepienta.
recuerda son Miles de Millones de vidas . La sangre
de esas caeran sobre tu cabeza y el castigo eterno es lo que te espera al que
no haga el trabajo.
Ezequiel 2 dice Si yo mandase a un profeta a hablar y no habla .
El alma se perdera pero demandare a el su sangre.
Si yo mandare a hablar y esa alma se arrepiente habras librado tu alma y habras salvado un alma.
Si yo mandare hablar y esa alma no hace caso tu habras librado tu alma y esa alma se perdera.
Si mandare hablar y tu salvas un alma . Pero al finar te apartas
no recordara el bien hecho y habras perdido tu alma.
Clama a Dios arrepientete lleva el mensaje a otros . LLevalo a
los gobernantes ,presidentes ,alcaldes, mayors, Gobernadores.
Que clamen de verdad a Dios se arrepientan y pidan perdon .
Porque la palabra de Dios es firme.
Un corazon contristo y humillado no despreciara Jehova.
Pide Perdon.
y a lo mejor Dios nos da un chance y perdona nuestra generacion.
Pastor Ludwig Falkenstein
August 24th, 2016 at 6:33 pm
But Rob, since your post you have published additional 65 books on kindle publishing… Why would you do that given your text here?!
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