I know what you’re thinking…
If I’m only making 35% of the list price and Amazon keeps the other 65% why would I want to waste any time publishing my stuff for Kindle users?
NOTE - I know that James Jones has figured out the formula so that he get’s 70% – that’s why I’ve been studying his formula so that I will know how to do that!
It’s certainly much more profitable to sell my info products directly from my own websites and keep 100% of the profits, right?
If you are already selling books in print on Amazon, then you are already used to giving a huge chunk of your sales dollars away so repositioning your print products for use in a digital market and only getting 35% probably isn’t that much of a stretch for you but what about the rest of us?
When you’re used to having absolute control over the profit margins on your products it can take a little bit to get used to giving up 65% of your books final sales price with no other benefit (such as giving a 65% commission to your affiliates for sales you had to make no real effort to achieve and growing your customer list at the same time).
However there is a very distinct strategy to look at this when contemplating how you can leverage Amazon’s Kindle user base to enhance your info publishing business…
Generate a new revenue stream by only selling books made with content that you wouldn’t be monetizing by other means anyway.
You could sell ebooks to generate additional revenue for your business that contain content that you are not using elsewhere in any of your core, higher-ticket info products.It makes no sense to take a ebook that you are selling successfully in your marketplace for $27.00 and list it in the Kindle store for $9.97 (the average best seller price).You can list the price for your products all the way up to $200.00 but I think you’d be hard pressed to get the same amount of money for your info products in the Kindle store that you would from selling the product from a website that caters to a specific niche – remember this is much more general audience.
The idea here is that if you have public domain or PLR content laying around that you’re not going to do anything with anyway, then this could be a good way to monetize that content in some way.
Fiction books, biographies, and books on less popular topics would be a great example of this – remember, it doesn’t cost you a penny to publish an ebook and get it listed in Amazon’s Kindle store so you’ve got nothing to lose if it tanks.
I never sell fiction books from any of my websites but I am definitely considering listing some for Kindle users – Kindle users love fiction!
And… I have a friend (one of your fellow subscribers) that has hit me with a 2×4 and shown me where I’ve been leaving money on the table. Fiction can be used profitable in some very unique ways.
One more thing to think about – there are already several magazines and newspapers publishing “Kindle” editions and charging a subscription fee – do you have an online niche newsletter that you could sell a “Kindle” edition subscription too? You could even sell subscriptions to your blog on Kindle.
Even if the content is otherwise free from your actual website, you could justify your “Kindle” edition subscription fee by explaining that it takes you considerable time and effort to prepare the material for use on a Kindle reader. And, if they don’t subscribe because they find out that they can get your content free just by coming to your site then so what? Either way, you’ve exposed a new prospect to your website and products!
Next in Part Four of this series, we’ll discuss strategies for making sure that your Kindle products stand out above the crowd…
These are the other 3 parts of the Amazon Kindle Tutorial:
Amazon Kindle Public Domain Connection Part 1
Amazon Kindle Public Domain Connection Part 2
Amazon Kindle Public Domain Connection Part 4
How To Publish On Kindle – Free Video and Report
Have I caught your attention yet? I hope so…
p.s. Just so you know… some of the subscribers to the Public Domain Book Club have already used a few of the books for just this purpose! They have made “new” books using of the 5 “Modes” Of Public Domain Publishing.
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Debra,
Thanks for all of the great tutorials and info! As for “only making 35% from Kindle”…I have been selling PD on ebay for several years now as books on CD in PDF format. Awhile after Kindle came out I learned how to publish my ebay books on Amazon. I did it one time and haven’t touched them since! My latest report, from Kindle, shows that my “little 35%” from January is a check for $640.72, plus another 67 pounds from Amazon UK ($109 US). Tell your readers not to let a low number like 35% discourage them!
Hey Lee
OMG! You are one of those success stories I love to hear about.
From what I’ve been learning lately about eBay vs Amazon (or a combination of both) is it’s a golden opportunity to get away from the eBay beast (the beast that keeps changing the rules) and really take a look at all that Amazon offers. And – they don’t change the rules as often. In fact most of the rules that change are for the better.
This new terms of service about public domain and what’s allowed to be published on Amazon should be looked at as a wake up call for all Public Domain publishers.
Rewrite – Revise – Renew – Rework – yadda yadda yadda… I’ve been preaching this forever!
Debra
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