Ebooks

Any author publishing with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) knows about free Kindle ebook promotion. You can offer your ebook for free for five days during your ninety-day enrollment in KDP Select. Some may not know that free ebooks for Kindle have now become another little industry in itself. There are many, many sites on…

There is a lot of discussion about Smashwords vs. Amazon KDP Select exclusivity, especially among indie authors. A blog post by Mark Coker from Smashwords sparked a debate about the pros and cons of open publishing versus Amazon KDP Select exclusivity. It is well worth reading and especially the comments on his post. Amazon exclusivity…

Everyone wants something for nothing, so giving away free ebooks seems logical. But is it worthwhile? Many sites that offer lists of free Kindle ebooks are doing it to attract traffic for pay-per-click advertising on their website. Or they are trying to make Amazon Associate income from paid book sales and luring traffic by listing…

With Draft2Digital Universal Book Links, readers can buy your ebook from their preferred bookstore. Book buy links have always been a problem. Which store do you choose to add to your promotions, or do you add a long, confusing list? Most authors choose Amazon links, of course. But this is not ideal if your ebook…

After a four-week blitz, I have to say that the defining answer to whether free Kindle ebook promotions work is yes, no, and perhaps. Many factors are at play when you use KDP Select’s free book promotion. In all honesty, it can become a bit confusing. Let me start at the beginning, and the confusion…

How many pages make a book? There is an old story that goes like this. When an author submits a new 35,000-word manuscript to their literary agent, the agent says, “Um, looks good, but can you pad it out to 90,000 words?” That was when the physical dimensions of a book were an important consideration.…

Do you ever think about your ebook reading privacy? Is someone tracking what you read? If you read ebooks, the answer is definitely, yes. Amazon Kindle Unlimited pays authors by the number of pages read by ebook readers, It is proof enough that when you read an ebook, Amazon is monitoring what you read. Ebook…

Style and typography are the preserve of books. But there are ways to make an ebook look more like a real book. An ebook differs from a real book because ebooks use flexible, flowing text. The length of a line of text and the font size change depending on the size and orientation of the…

Ebooks have forever changed reading and book buying. Yet, unlike print books, ebook pricing remains a variable factor. Ebooks have no one-size-fits-all price point, especially between US and UK readers. Authors should consider various factors to strike the right balance between perceived value and their royalty earnings. Understanding reader expectations of price is crucial, as…

Have your books or ebooks been pirated? Probably, because ebook piracy is so common now. When I released my last book, God Has Gone Fishing, I made sure not to list my new title on Google Books. The problems regarding book piracy are well-known on the site. However, it made no difference at all. The…