Amazon Kindle self publishing must surely be one of the hottest make money opportunities of the year. It’s easy to publish your own book on Kindle now, and join the thousands of self publishers making money there. Now, there’s a new Kindle publishing opp you might not have heard about – publishing FICTION on Kindle.
How To Create, Publish And Sell A Novel On Kindle
You can publish all kinds of fiction on Kindle… novels, romances, thrillers, mysteries, even short stories and poetry if you like. If you’re a budding novelist it could be perfect for you. But, even if you can’t write, this could still be a perfect opportunity for you.
Why fiction?
Most Kindle publishing so far has been non fiction. So why does fiction promise to be the next big thing? Well, Kindle is ideal for fiction… it saves carrying heavy, bulky books. People who buy Kindles tend to be avid fiction readers and buy lots of books regularly. Plus, fiction is more mass market than niche, so you could sell lots and lots of books.
What types of fiction should you consider?
The most successful Kindle fiction tends to be popular or genre fiction. That’s fiction that uses a pretty standard type of story, setting, characters and events.
Here are some popular types of genre fiction: Action adventure. Crime. Detective. Horror. Mystery. Romance. Science fiction. Western.
Remember to do a bit of market research before going ahead. Check the Amazon rankings for similar books. Check the well known bestseller lists. This will give you an idea of whether there’s demand for your book or not.
Finding books to publish… for free
Unless you happen to be a writer you’ll need arrange a tie-up with an author. In fact, I’d suggest you look for several authors. This way you can publish more and more books and increase the chances that one or more will be good sellers.
How to find authors:
Look for promising books from new and unknown authors Track them down and ask if they have other books or ideas they’d like to publish. Try small ads, in newspapers, writing and literary magazines. Post on writing forums. Try something like: ‘Fiction Wanted By Ebook Publisher.’ Approach local writers’ groups.
When you find a suitable author make sure you agree all the details with them.
Of course, authors can publish on Kindle themselves. But most don’t have the time or inclination to. Many of them would be keen on a profit sharing deal with a publisher… a 50-50 cut of the net profits would be fair.
Kindle publishing your fiction book
Publishing a book on Kindle is fairly straightforward. Just go to Amazon.co.uk, click on ‘Self Publish With Us’, and follow the instructions.
One important thing about pricing: Kindle fiction books sell for much less than paper fiction books, but that shouldn’t be a problem, as your production costs are much less too of course. So, while £4 or £5 is a perfectly fair price per copy you’ll also find that there’s a growing trend to price Kindle fiction books at 99p or 99 cents or thereabouts.
And here’s a tip: Like lots of successful Kindle publishers you could consider publishing some books for free. Then use them to build a mailing list of prospects to
sell paid-for books to.
Promoting your fiction book
Although Amazon will merchandise your novel for you, you need to do some separate promotion if it’s to sell in decent quantities. Some methods to try include: setting up a blog; build up a following, write about your writing – how and why you wrote the book and so on. Mention your books in forums and chat rooms that are relevant to the subject. And do reviews. Send free review copies to newspapers, magazines and online reviewers. Or review other, similar Kindle fiction books on Amazon and then include a discreet mention of your own book in them.
Social media like Facebook and Twitter is also perfect for plugging digital products like Kindle books.
More Information
If you’d like to read more about publishing books on Amazon here’s an article owhich you might find useful: Publish With Amazon And Cash In On The Kindle Craze.
You’ll also find lots of reviews of Kindle biz opps in our WBO Review Library.