Kindle Publishing Questions (Looking for Impartial Info please)

If you are interesting in outsourcing Fiction and you're a member of Kindling, check in the FB group ;-) There are many folks doing it and doing well...

There is a small amount of discussion about Non-Fiction, but not a lot

Many of the Special Offers state they have the book researched, written, formatted, and with catchy cover for 40.00 American money?

I paid a big name book author $250 to write a book for me. This person had fallen on hard times and badly needed the money. Originally, they wanted a lot more. Book just sat on an amazon server with no sales as in zero. It costs lots of money to do promos. However, those are necessary.

Is this possible? To find somebody with proper English grammar and the ability to create content wouldn’t they want more compensation?

Most ESL people do not understand western culture as well as having poor grammar. Basically, your money is gone. Focus on things you know and write with passion. BTW, the most important thing is the cover. Hire a good artist to create one.

If you could find somebody would there be enough folks out there to release the multiple books at the same time the Special Offers talk about (10-20 to start building an immediate brand)?

Better to have one star than many dog-sasters and CAT-astrophes. Focus your power. I have bought a lot of reports and most of the information is wrong. If amazon sees 20 books that are poor... they can ban you. Do not think that you can trick amazon. Look at all the people in court because they were buying reviews.

In order for me to get an indication of money allocation vs. royalty return could you please tell me out of every 10 Kindle books how many would sell nothing or next to zero, average, good, and excellent?

95 - 5 rule says, if your write 100 books, 95 are so - so. Five do well and you will have one super star just one. Basically, 95 of the books will lose money. Wish they were all stars, but that is not our case. Typical sales for a so - so books are 20 copies per day on average.

Books are like video games. They sell a lot the first month, but after six months, sales will collapse, so it is a good idea to keep putting more in the pipe. If you do not believe me... I have a question for you. How many books on Windows 95 did you buy this year. People like to buy books on exciting breakthrough technologies that are brand new. That is because they need to learn about what is going on. However, these high tech wonders will fade out and the book will simply sit on an amazon server. Digital dinosaurs do not sell and these books I do not take down because it costs me zero.

What is considered average sales per month?

20 copies per day seems as average. That is if the book is so - so. If the book is good you can sell 1000 copies in one day, but this is hard to sustain as you will see. Most books will hit saturation and then sales will crash, but you will learn this as time goes on. Think of a romance movie. The first day it was crowded in the cinema. However, a month later you can hear an echo and the place is empty because everybody already saw it and they move on to the next one.

How about good?

I consider 1000 copies per day to be good and that will start to bring in some money. This will get you to position one in a minor genre. Also, you will be top 100 in a major genre. Remember promos are expensive. Most books will lose money.

What constitutes excellent?

OK if you sell over 10,000 per day, amazon steps in. They will promote your book for you. Also, you get attention from bloggers with big names. Frankly, this will propel your sales to the stars. Expect to do TV appearances. Unfortunately, the sequel never does as well as the first one.

Is there an oxymoron in the philosophy of the Special Offers? They talk about building a brand and getting known but if you have numerous titles that sell well and are reviewed superlatively are they negated by the numerous ones that are doormats?

Most of these "report spammers" are not authors and they write @#^%. For example, they tell you to buy a domain name. Basically, your book title dot com. Believe me. This is a total waste of your money. Most authors have few resources. Concentrate on gaining exposure. I believe you need to write a few books and get good at your craft just like a painter needs to learn before you attempt to create your magnum opus. Let me tell you, your first book is never a masterpiece.

One portion of all the Special Offers have somewhat of a red flag going off when they mention a book from an obscure niche with no competition has a monthly royalty of no less than 1,000 U.S. dollars.

This is possible, even in a NICHE as narrow as a razor. People will not find a lot of competition so you are the only game in town and that is an excellent strategy for people starting out, as you will do better as a big frog in a small pond, than a little frog in an enormous ocean.

If you found the niche would the ability to find somebody with knowledge in the industry and the ability to write the content be much costlier than 40.00?

I paid $250 to a big name author for a book when kindle first started up. Back then amazon was very picky about what books they would let in. They did like the book, but it just sat on a server. All it has done is gather digital dust over the years. I did nothing to promote it.

What type of investment would you recommend to get started? Since it has to be a game of numbers would at least (10 books x 40.00) 800.00 total be sufficient to begin or would you hedge the bet and feel 15-20?

Write one book and make sure it is a good one. Get a good artist to do the cover. OK so now start promoting your book as this is the hard part - writing is easy. Getting big name bloggers to review me.... That is not so easy.

Is the 2.99 price point per book recommended or would you go higher or lower?

This is one of the worst prices. I make a lot more with 99 cent books as those are an impulse buy "Learn how to ##### for less than one dollar." Selling one book for $9.99 is hard, but selling thousands of 99 cent books is easy. People are filled with a dollar store mentality and will pinch pennies. Buyers sort by price. First they look to see if there are any FREE amazon books they can download and most times they find none. Then they look at all the 99 cent books with good reviews. If you do not believe me, try it and you are gonna see.

this business requires some funds $$$$$, and they depends by your business goal

well what is the competitors pricing? if you relate your prices similar to theirs or slightly higher , I'm sure you'll make a killing.