My short story collection is doing better than I thought it would on Smashwords, but I keeping hearing and reading about the superiority of Amazon. Sales there are said to far surpass ebook sales anywhere else, even though the Kindle application is very limited.
I admit, there's just something about Amazon. I needed a cable last week and went first to Radio Shack, who doesn't carry that cable. I then went to the company who sold the product years ago, but they longer carry the cable. So, I went to Amazon, the WalMart of the cyber world. Yep, there it was, cheap. For less than $10 including postage, I had my cable within a few days.
Therefore, today I saved my Word file as an HTML file using Open Office, opened a DTP account (Digital Text Platform), and uploaded my cover and text. It will take 48 hours for my book to appear for sale on Amazon, but that won't stop me from checking every couple of hours, I'm sure.
I asked a couple of people why they uploaded to Amazon separately when it would migrate there eventually from Smashwords. I never got a good answer--well, I never got any answers, maybe because they didn't quite know--so I just decided to follow the herd. Knowing Amazon, I'm sure they like it much better if you jump through their--I mean go through their channels.
After having already spent a little over two hours formatting my document for Smashwords, it took about an hour to completely fill out the DTP information and load my files up. And that's because I first loaded a file that claimed the publisher is Smashwords, so I took that out and loaded up a better one. Luckily, I noticed this in the preview option before I pushed the final button. I'll bet it would have been harder to take it down and start over than to just do another upload before I finalized and published.
I'll report back in to let the readers of this blog know if sales are good at Amazon. That would be nice!
Congratulations, Kaye! I'll be taking that step very shortly myself. There are two reason that I'm aware of to upload directly onto Amazon. One is that last time I checked (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) Amazon doesn't get content from Smashwords. The other reason is that, if your book is $2.99 or more you'll get a better royalty rate dealing directly with Amazon. Oh yeah, there's a third reason: I have a Kindle and I want your book :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. One more leg of the journey, eh?
ReplyDeleteAmazon gets a mobi file--what more would they need? And I set the price in both places. The royalties on Smashwords are actually better. I get 70% at 1.99. On Amazon, you only get 70% if you price at 2.99 and above. But, being on Amazon makes me raise the price on Smashwords because Big A will penalize me if they find a lower price anywhere on the net.
The third reason is important, though! As soon as I'm done being "reviewed" at Amazon, I'll let you know!
One of my non-writer friends was telling me her thoughts on why she loves Amazon. In her words, other bookstores don't do much other than stock their shelves, but "Amazon knows me!" Their ability to relate to customers is uncanny, if not just the least bit futuristic.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on this step!
I hope you're right. There used to be bookstores like that, The Mystery Bookstore in Dallas, for instance. Geraldine always had something in mind for me when I'd stop in, and it was always something I liked. But, sigh, those days are gone.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Diane! My fingers are crossed.
Thought you might be interested...Blog Jog Day is a one-day event where we all post links forwarding to each others Blogs--most are author and book sites. You can read more about it at http://blogjogday.blogspot.com. Our next Blog Jog Day is November 21st. Warm Regards!
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