Some of my favourite authors had a lot of trouble getting their first books out, it was common practice at the time to save up a large sum of money, so that you could sustain yourself till you got a publisher.
A lot has changed since then in terms of the difficulty involved with getting your first book out there and a lot of the change has come from Kindle Direct Publishing. You can be a lot more entrepreneurial with your writing now and take a lot more risks thanks to the virtually zero investment required from your side.
“Kindle Direct Publishing is simple & convenient and provides authors with complete control before, during & post publishing. We make it easy for authors to track sales & royalties of their books using the ‘KDP Sales Dashboard’ and monitor sales trends. Authors can filter their sales results by time period, marketplace and title and download Sales & Royalty Reports to get more details.” ?said Neal Thompson, Director of Author and Publishing Relations at Amazon.com
“The most difficult part of the process has always been writing a great book. That’s still the case. But we’ve made the publishing process easier than ever. If you already have a finished and edited manuscript, your book can be for sale around the world in less than a day.” continued Neal.
Many authors have made a name for themselves using KDP. Amanda Hocking, paranormal fiction writer is one of the many writers who made their way to fame by selling her books on the Kindle. A fan of the Muppets, she initially published her work on Amazon so that she could attend an exhibition about Jim Henson, the man behind the Muppets and from that point she never looked back. She is now a bestselling author of 17 novels, including the Trylle & Kanin series.
The biggest example of the success you can achieve by publishing on Kindle is definitely Erika Mitchell, popularly known by her pen name, E. L. James. Mitchell is the author of the Fifty Shades Trilogy that has sold over 125 million copies worldwide and also has a commercially successful film adaptation.
Being an author himself, when asked about Kindle Direct Publishing’s biggest selling point to writers Neal added “The ability to control the entire process of creating a book. Full ownership of the look & feel, the sales price and the markets where the book is sold, were unheard of in the past. KDP helps authors sell their book globally, instantly. That kind of reach — to readers around the world — has never been so accessible.”
“Authors can take advantage of some of Amazon’s promotional tools such as KDP Select, Kindle Countdown Deals, Free Book Promotions, Amazon Giveaways and Kindle Unlimited. These ensure that their books are featured in numerous sections of Amazon’s online bookstore in multiple countries. Authors can also create their own Author Page to help promote their books on Amazon.” he added.
Kindle authors earn up to 70 percent royalty for their work and hence are able to make them available for cheap. There are currently over 500,000 books priced at Rs 99 or less and over 1.5 million books priced at Rs 299 or less, making the Kindle accessible to readers from all economic backgrounds. Since March this year, Kindle ebooks became a lot more accessible with the addition of payment options including local credit cards, debit cards, net banking and Amazon.in gift cards for purchases on the India Kindle Store.
Commenting on the rapid growth of eBooks in India, Sanjeev Jha, Director – Kindle Content, Amazon said, “We are excited by the response of Indian customers to Kindle. Our eBooks business is growing over 200% year-on-year, and eBooks are quickly becoming a large part of our book business in India.”
With such a high growth rate, a lot of Indian authors are making the move to digital and the number of these authors is only likely to increase in the coming years. In an age where information is available through the touch of a button, waiting for long shipping times to get your book across the globe is just not optimal anymore. The writers who have made their books available digitally are gaining additional income from untapped markets and many are moving to exclusively publishing online.
