In 2007 I wrote a little book titled Sell Your Book on Amazon, which immediately climbed to #29 on the overall Amazon bestseller list, and won multiple awards, including the BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR award from the Royal Palms Literary Awards. (It also won First Place in that contest’s Educational/Informational category).
The problem with writing about a topic like Amazon is that their website changes so quickly and frequently. So, by 2010, a revision to the book was necessary, and the second edition was published that year.
Say good-bye to forgotten features on Amazon like “So You’d Like to… Guides”, “Amapedia”, and “Listmania.”
Say hello to new opportunities like Amazon Giveaways, Author Central, and Kindle Unlimited (which is more of an obstacle than a benefit … unless you handle it properly — and this book tells you how!).
I hope you enjoy this new edition. Please let me know what you think by writing a review.
I did it! I wrote over 50,000 words in under 30 days for National Novel Writing Month. When I validated my word count, I was lucky enough to witness this video from the NaNoWriMo crew:
Along with the following words of recognition:
You, brave authorial knight, have officially slayed 50K during NaNoWriMo 2014. Now, claim your dragon’s cave worth of treasure!
And the following certificate:
And a picture of a t-shirt (which I have to buy if I want one, and I would… but, I’m sorry to say, it’s just not very appealing):
And some winner’s “web badges”.
In addition, some “winners-only” codes for offers from the NaNoWriMo sponsors will be available to me soon, which I discussed in an earlier post. A better offer comes by way of a non-NaNoWriMo sponsor (they told us they were ‘full’ when we offered to give them money), where you can get a FREE Amazon Extreme Marketing Package when you start publishing your book with Outskirts Press. This marketing package includes a free Amazon Kindle edition of your book once it is published, submission of your book to Amazon’s “Search Inside the Book” program, an Amazon cover enhancement for your Amazon listing, and a free copy of my bestselling and award-winning book Sell Your Book on Amazon. And all our publishing packages always include between 3 – 10 free copies of your book (which is better than 2, right?). All the details of this offer, including the necessary promotion code, can be found here: http://outskirtspress.com/promotion.html. Hey, look at that: you don’t even have to get to the “Winners” page on NaNoWriMo to get this offer!
Or…. if you prefer saving money instead of receiving free stuff, today also happens to be Black Friday (what great timing!), so if you order your Diamond or Pearl full-color publishing package today only, you can save an instant 20% (that’s an average savings of over $200) on the cost of your all-inclusive, full-service book publishing. Simply enter the promotion code: 20DSCT2014 into your shopping cart at check-out.
I’m sure I’ll be seeing the rest of my mentorees and writing buddies on the NaNoWriMo site crossing the finish line soon. Way to go, fellow WriMo’s!
In two days the new Amazon Kindle Fire will be released on September 14, 2012, just a day before Amazon starts collecting sales tax from California residents (perfect timing!)
This handheld device will change the way people read and the way authors publish books. Here are a few of the details:
• 40% faster performance, twice the memory, longer battery life
• Perfect portability – thin, light, and durable
• Over 22 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, books, audiobooks, and popular apps and games
• Ultra-fast web browsing over built-in Wi-Fi
• Free unlimited cloud storage for all your Amazon content
• Kindle FreeTime – a personalized tablet experience just for kids. Set daily screen limits, and give access to appropriate content for each child. Free on every Kindle Fire.
• Kindle Owners’ Lending Library – Kindle owners can choose from more than 180,000 books to borrow for free with no due dates, including over 100 current and former New York Times best sellers and all seven Harry Potter books.
• No Set-up Required
• Read-to-Me — With Text-to-Speech, Kindle Fire can read English-language content out loud to you, when available from the publisher.
• 1-Click Shopping
Readers are sure to love the convenience and upgraded technology offered by the Kindle Fire. Thanks to Kindle FreeTime, even children will be able to enjoy the new device. E-readers are already changing the way consumers buy and read books, and they are becoming increasingly popular. It is important that self-publishing authors offer a Kindle version of their books to meet the needs of readers who prefer using e-readers. By offering both a print and electronic version of your book, you can target a larger market and reach more customers. This will ultimately lead to more sales.
For three weeks I have been examining the top ten funniest self-publishing contractual clauses from competitors and dissecting what the legalese means and why each clause is “funny.” What is perhaps funniest of all is that all ten of these clauses have been from the same single competitor.
#1 Funniest Clause from the Competitor’s Contract – You acknowledge that you have no input or control over the price at which your Titles are sold.
What it means: It seems pretty clear what it means.
Why it’s funny: What’s “funny” (i.e., worrisome) is that some authors are willingly relinquishing control over their own books to such a degree.
Wouldn’t you rather publish a book with Outskirts Press, where the sixth clause in our author-friendly contract is: “AUTHORS SET THEIR OWN RETAIL PRICE to any price ending in .95 cents, provided the Retail Price exceeds the Wholesaler’s Price.” (And between you and me, if you don’t want your book ending in .95, it doesn’t have to).
For the last 2 weeks I’ve been examining the top ten funniest self-publishing contractual clauses from competitors and dissecting what the legalese means and why it’s “funny.” This week we’re doing the top three and yesterday I did #3. Here’s the…
2nd Funniest Clause from the Competitor’s Contract – We will have sole discretion to determine the production, appearance and format of each Unit (for example, bar code placement).
What it means: You have no control over what your book looks like or even what size it’s going to be.
Why it’s funny: Can you imagine thinking you’re publishing an 8×5 paperback book only to receive a 8.5 x 11 hardback instead? I’m not suggesting this competitor actually does such a thing — but… you have to wonder why it’s in their contract…
And tomorrow, the #1 funniest self-publishing contractual clause…
For the last 2 weeks I’ve been examining the top ten funniest self-publishing contractual clauses from competitors and dissecting what the legalese means and why it’s “funny.” This week we’re doing the top three.
3rd Funniest Clause from the Competitor’s Contract – We may terminate this Agreement at any time by sending you an e-mail notice at the e-mail address associated with your account. Our notice of such termination will be effective at the time we send you the notice. Upon termination, you will pay us whatever fees were incurred prior to the date of the termination.
What it means: They can stop working with you and your book at any time for any reason with nothing more than an email, at which time you are still required to pay them whatever you owe them, regardless of whether they actually delivered upon the Agreement’s terms (since, you know, they’ve just terminated it).
Why it’s funny: Why isn’t it funny? And adding insult to injury are the other clauses in this particular competitor’s contract that I covered last week–after the contract is terminated, this publisher still gets to store your entire book’s content on its servers and continue displaying your book on its website, forever…)
For a while now I’ve been examining the top ten funniest self-publishing contractual clauses from competitors and dissecting what the legalese means and why it’s “funny.” We’re to number four…
4th Funniest Clause from the Competitor’s Contract – We may disclose or use Feedback for any purposes whatsoever without any obligation (including any financial obligation) to you. In addition, if you are participating in a beta program, you agree to provide us with any reports we request and to promptly respond to any and all reasonable inquiries, questionnaires, surveys and other test documents we submit to you.
What it means: If you give them any ideas to improve their business or company, they won’t pay you, and if they ask you to do work for them (like running reports or answering questions), you have to do it.
Why it’s funny: The first part is reasonable, although it’s entertaining that they even felt the need to include it in a contract, but the second part is ridiculous. Customers don’t have to run reports for companies and answer surveys offered by publishers, and putting that in a contract doesn’t make it any more likely that people will do what they don’t want to do.
Wouldn’t you rather publish your book with Outskirts Press, where we work for you, rather than the other way around?
For a while now I’ve been examining the top ten funniest self-publishing contractual clauses from competitors and dissecting what the legalese means and why it’s “funny.” Last week I looked at the 10th, 9th, and 8th funniest contractual clauses. So far this week I’ve looked at #7 and #6… We’re half way done.
5th Funniest Clause from the Competitor’s Contract – Accordingly, for each of your written Titles you hereby grant us permission, on a nonexclusive, perpetual basis, to (x) reproduce and store the entirety of each Title in digital form on one or more computer facilities of or under the control of us or our affiliates or our independent contractors;
What it means: They can keep (and reproduce at will) the entire contents of your book’s copyright-protected material on their website (and other ambiguous “affiliate or independent contractors”) computers and servers forever, even after after you terminate the contract with them.
Why it’s funny: You’re basically relinquishing all control over your book’s materials to this other publisher.
Wouldn’t you rather keep 100% of your rights and 100% of the control by publishing a book with Outskirts Press?
For the last several posts I have been examining the top ten funniest self-publishing contractual clauses from competitors and dissecting what the legalese means and why it’s “funny.” Last week I looked at the 10th, 9th, and 8th funniest contractual clauses. Yesterday I looked at #7.
6th Funniest Clause from the Competitor’s Contract – Our use of the Descriptive Materials may become integral to us throughout the term of this Agreement and will continue beyond the term of this Agreement even though we will no longer produce or sell new Units after the term of this Agreement. Therefore, notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, for Descriptive Materials and Promotional Clips, the license you grant us will be perpetual and royalty-free.
What it means: They can display information about your book on their website forever without paying you, even after they stop selling it or after you terminate the contract with them.
Why it’s funny: In most cases, authors terminate their publishing relationship with their publisher for one of two reasons. 1) They’ve either gotten a contract from another publisher and need to pull the “old version” of the book from availability or, 2) They have irreconcilable differences with the publisher and wish to cut all ties. This contractual clause from this competitor prevents its authors from doing either.
President of Outskirts Press 