Three Unfortunate Misconceptions
About Kindle Ebook Publishing
by Marcia Yudkin
Take a look around you the next
time you visit a quiet beach, and I'm sure you'll
see that besides the men and women who have plopped
themselves down with a paperback novel under the
shade of an umbrella, numerous others are reading
material on their Kindle. Amazon has sold millions
of these devices in the last few years, to the point
that mainstream consumers who aren't particularly
gadget lovers are using them.
In many cases, those Kindle users
are reading books that also are on sale in
bookstores and available for borrowing in libraries.
But did you know that thousands of authors and
entrepreneurs are now earning extra money and in a
few cases a very good living writing content
specifically to be sold for Kindle?
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I've identified three misconceptions
that keep some writers and experts from pursuing
this exciting new entrepreneurial opportunity.
Misconception #1: You need a
Kindle ereader to get involved in publishing for
Kindle.
In fact, you don't need a Kindle
device either to read works published for Kindle or
to publish them. Amazon provides free tools for
reading Kindle ebooks on your PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone
or other smartphone. Amazon also provides everything
you need for publishing your works for Kindle
without owning a Kindle yourself. |
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I don't own a Kindle. I much
prefer reading traditional books. However, I have
painlessly published 19 ebooks for Kindle. You can,
too.
Misconception #2: You need to
write a full-length book to get involved in Kindle
publishing.
This is also not true. Although
six of my Kindle ebooks are digital versions of
previously published paperback books, the other 13
are Kindle originals and only a fraction of their
length. The shortest is just a little over 5,000
words. It prints out off my computer at 17 pages.
As long as you alert potential
buyers to the shorter length of your compact eBook
and price it accordingly, you can earn money from
selling short reports on Kindle.
Misconception #3: You need to be a
technical whiz to format a manuscript for
publication on Kindle.
This used to be difficult. Amazon
has now simplified the process by allowing properly
formatted "doc" files to be uploaded for conversion
to Kindle format. Amazon performs the conversion,
and you can check in their online previewer to see
if the Kindle version looks the way you intended it.
Now, if you can manage formatting
a Word file according to easy-to-follow
instructions, you can upload your work to the Kindle
store without struggling with software or paying for
technical help. Smashwords offers an excellent free
style guide to preparing your manuscript for
uploading to Amazon. Look for it in the left column
of their home page.
If you enjoy writing, if you have
files and files of useful content, if you have
reports that are no longer selling from your website
but could be easily updated, if you gave up on
finding a traditional publisher for a manuscript you
still love - these are all great reasons to look
into Kindle publishing now. Chances are, any excuses
you still have not to do it also involve
misconceptions!
Copyright 2013 Marcia Yudkin.
All rights reserved.
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