Question: I’ve read Plug Your Book, which discusses online marketing of physical books. Now that e-books are available on Amazon via Kindle editions, how has online book marketing changed?
Answer: The more things change the more they stay the same. Online book marketing works just the same with Kindle editions, except that e-books give you a few additional possibilities.
E-books have some obvious advantages for authors and publishers — lower productions costs, the ease of updating/revising, incorporating reader feedback and suggestions.
Kindle editions give authors the same marketing advantages that you get with traditional books. In a nutshell, free exposure.
For example, where I recommend that you give away “free samples” or excerpts of your book — the Kindle gives you more possibilities. You can publish sample chapters or anthologies/compilations of your work. In the Kindle Store, some books are sold for 99 cents per chapter instead of the customary $10 or $15 per book.
All the regular advantages of Amazon exposure — the way your book can work itself into the recommendations system, and gain word of mouth — works with Kindle editions just as well as it did with paper books. For authors who aren’t famous, self-published or otherwise, Amazon is an automatic book marketing system.
Having said this, Kindle sales are still a small percentage of paperback sales, at least in my experience. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has stated that about 35 percent of book sales are via Kindle. But this doesn’t square with common sense — there are more than 80 million paperback book buyers on Amazon, and less than 1 million (perhaps less than 500,000) Kindle owners. While I can believe Kindle owners buy more books than the average book buyer, I don’t believe they’re buying THAT many more books, and it’s certainly not reflected in my sales reports.
On the other hand, digital editions are an expanding part of the publishing business, while paper editions are flat or declining. So, it’s a good idea to get involved with Kindle editions and to be on the lookout for Kindle competitors and alternatives.
I also believe that the terms for Amazon’s Digital Text Platform are terrible — only 35 percent of revenues go to the author/publisher? Very Scrooge-like on Amazon’s part.
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Steve Weber is author of Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors
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2 Comments
Hi Steve,
What about B&N’s Nook? Do they have a similar marketing plan as Kindle and Amazon?
Regards, Terry
Congrats on your new book – just discovered it through this feed – will order a copy – do you want a review?
My new novel is just released – 2nd one in my trilogy – with Booklocker.com. It’s called THE BLUE-EYED BOY set in China, Tibet and Nepal.
>> I also believe that the terms for Amazon’s Digital Text Platform are terrible — only 35 percent of revenues go to the author/publisher? Very Scrooge-like on Amazon’s part. <<
Very true at the time you wrote this – but as you'll know, this is going up to 70% at the end of June. That will just leave the obscenity of audible.com (an amazon company) who take an unbelievable 80% and let the author/publisher fight over the crumbs.