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Mistake #5 – e-books

The real beauty of self-publishing is the ease of creating e-books.

I’m a big reader of e-books, especially when travelling. Whether you read e-books on a Kindle, a Kobo e-reader, a B&N Nook, your phone, tablet or computer screen, it allows you to carry your library with you when you’re on the move.

It can also be good for authors. Conventionally published writers typically receive 25% of the sales price of an e-book. If you self-publish, that income can rise to 70%.

Many self-published authors also make money from page reads on Kindle Unlimited by agreeing to give Amazon exclusivity. For Phosphate Rocks, I chose not to, for several reasons.

Firstly because as a reader, I don’t subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. I’m guessing it rewards prolific authors with a strong series brand who produce several books a year. That’s not me.

Secondly because I love libraries and if you restrict yourself to Amazon only, your e-book won’t be available on Overdrive and the Library reading app – Libby.

But the main reason was my discomfort with the stranglehold of Amazon in this market.

In all cases the first step is to convert your typeset manuscript (see previous blog – Mistake #4) into an EPUB file. Then you load it up, add the cover image, some METADATA with details about the book and finally set the prices in all regions.

It’s hard to blame Amazon for being so good at what they do. They have an excellent platform for readers, writers and publishers and they deserve credit for making it so slick.

However, I wanted to give others – like Kobo and B&N a try.

My initial mistake was pricing – did I set it too high?

I read a lot of e-books and I know myself that if an author is new to me, I tend to wait until a special offer comes along. Even for authors I already know and like, I rarely pay full price for an e-book. I’d almost always rather spend that money on a physical book.

So here’s an experiment – for the rest of the month of March, the e-book of Phosphate Rocks is available at a special price on KOBO (and FREE via Kobo Unlimited) and from Barnes & Noble at 50% of normal price.

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/phosphate-rocks-3