Fiction Writers, Have You Published on Amazon?

13 replies
I can't say I know much about publishing on Amazon, but from the looks of it it's a lot easier to get published on Amazon than any other form.

I know the vast majority here would stick to publishing information, or non-fiction, but I'm just curious if any fiction writers have given this a try?

I've loved writing fiction since I first learned how to write, so I'm wondering if this is a good avenue to pursue
#amazon #fiction #published #writers
  • Profile picture of the author Teresa Coppes
    Emily,

    While I've not published any fiction on Amazon (it's a work in progress) here are two sites that I have bookmarked:

    Absolute Write Water Cooler - Powered by vBulletin
    AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher

    Neither site is about Amazon specifically but are great to gain insight into the publishing/writing world should you decide to go that route. And who knows, if you do self publish on Amazon and then hit up one of the agents on the 2nd link there it might get you even more publicity, worldwide publishing/translation rights, and money

    Good luck!
    Teresa
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    • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
      Originally Posted by Teresa Coppes View Post

      Emily,

      While I've not published any fiction on Amazon (it's a work in progress) here are two sites that I have bookmarked:

      Absolute Write Water Cooler - Powered by vBulletin
      AgentQuery :: Find the Agent Who Will Find You a Publisher

      Neither site is about Amazon specifically but are great to gain insight into the publishing/writing world should you decide to go that route. And who knows, if you do self publish on Amazon and then hit up one of the agents on the 2nd link there it might get you even more publicity, worldwide publishing/translation rights, and money

      Good luck!
      Teresa
      I've bookmarked both sites as well - I think bouncing ideas off a community of writers will really help me get my novels going again Thanks so much!
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      • Profile picture of the author webwriter
        I tried my hand at writing a story and submitting it to a magazine. It got this close to being accepted for publication. However, the editor wrote a note on the rejection slip, encouraging me to submit more stories. I hoped to get a novel written as well, but that hasn't happened just yet.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by Teresa Coppes View Post

      I've been known to hang out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author paulie888
    I'm just basing this on what I've seen so far, but it appears that there's a lot more competition and rejection in fiction writing; when you write about non-fiction or "how to" type material, you're addressing a very real and pressing need, whereas fiction is more of a "luxury" read, and people just tend to go for established names in the business that they know and like. You only need to take a look at the NY Times' fiction best seller list to see what I mean.
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    • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
      Originally Posted by paulie888 View Post

      I'm just basing this on what I've seen so far, but it appears that there's a lot more competition and rejection in fiction writing; when you write about non-fiction or "how to" type material, you're addressing a very real and pressing need, whereas fiction is more of a "luxury" read, and people just tend to go for established names in the business that they know and like. You only need to take a look at the NY Times' fiction best seller list to see what I mean.
      True that

      Fiction's been a passion of mine since I was four or five - to me it'd be more about expressing my own creativity and having fun with it, any money made from it would be considered extra cash as opposed to bread-and-butter (unless I became the next J.K. Rowling )
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      • Profile picture of the author Justin Jordan
        Writer JA Konrath has been writing quite a bit on publishing for the Kindle at his blog. He's had seven or eight novels published, and has been making a killing by releasing his unpublished work on Amazon.

        A Newbie's Guide to Publishing

        You can also download a PDF of all his tsuff about getting your work out there. It's good stuff.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by paulie888 View Post

      You only need to take a look at the NY Times' fiction best seller list to see what I mean.
      Take a look at a library's "new release" shelf. It's FULL of fiction. Scads of it, on all kinds of subjects. Dozens of books come out every single week.

      Go to Costco. Look at the book table - it's full of even more stuff. All kinds of it.

      Who had ever heard of J.K. Rowling before Harry Potter? Nobody - because she hadn't done anything. The authors of Eragon and Diary of a Wimpy Kid came out of nowhere, too.

      And let's not forget something else.

      A lot of those books that come out every week suck.

      If you want to know just what losers we have in charge at publishing houses, look at what they published instead after turning away the authors of runaway hits.

      Which is why I just roll my eyes when people talk about getting the crap out of the WSO forum. Haven't you looked around? Every market is full of crap. It doesn't matter how smart and capable and dedicated you are, when you start trying to eliminate crap, you're going to eliminate a lot of good stuff along with it... and a bunch of crap will still get through.

      If you want your book published by a major publisher, all you have to do is:

      - not suck
      - keep trying

      End of story.
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  • Profile picture of the author jacktackett
    Emily,
    technically publishing fiction on Amazon via Create Space is no different than non-fiction. The challenge is marketing - but that's the challenge for all publishers.

    You need to produce a good product - novel etc - and in the traditional world market it to an agent (so few publishing houses accept non-solicited material any more) or to a publisher. Then if you do get a contract - and as all aspiring fiction writers know - that's not easy - then you have market the book yourself as well.

    Only a handful of authors get the full marketing roll out. We all can't be Jim Butcher or Steven King.

    Having said that - its not impossible either. Eragon is an example of a self published book (by a teenage no less) that went on to be a best seller.

    There are some great resources given here so check them out and keep writing!

    The only things I would suggest if you go it yourself are:

    1) Get a good editor to review things.
    2) Create a "publishing company" so it appears to be the publisher rather than you.
    even if you use Create Space's ISBN numbers, you can still claim a different company. But a block of ISBN numbers is like 300$ ( I paid like 250 10 years ago when I got my block of 10).

    If you need some help just let me know- I've helped several people get their book published via CreateSpace and on Amazon's site and published as a Kindle book - which isn't hard, you just have to follow their formatting guidelines.

    Again - keep writing and get that novel finished and published!

    --Jack
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    • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
      Originally Posted by jacktackett View Post

      Then if you do get a contract - and as all aspiring fiction writers know - that's not easy - then you have market the book yourself as well.

      Only a handful of authors get the full marketing roll out.

      That's true for non-fiction as well. It's best to get an agent, but even through an agent a publisher will want to know your marketing plan. You'd better submit a good plan with your synopsis or your odds of being published go downhill fast.

      Being in the IM field, I think most people here could put together a better than average marketing plan, but that makes me wonder...if we have to do all the marketing, maybe we're better off self-publishing via POD and eliminating the publisher's cut. I know if my publisher asks for a 4th edition, I'll probably decline.

      Unless you've got a big name, what do they really do besides provide editing, pay for the first printing, assign an ISBN number, and get your book into the wholesale channels? All that can be done via any good POD service, only you don't have to pay for a big printing...you can order as few as one book.

      This leads to an interesting question...how will Amazon, Createspace, and other POD services change the traditional publishing world? Perhaps the big publishing house will start choosing books and writers based on self-publishing sales via POD. Perhaps they have already started looking at that.
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  • Profile picture of the author rickstooker
    Of course it's easier to get published on Amazon through Print On Demand and Create Space. It's free to register with Create Space. You must submit a Microsoft Word doc of your novel that can be published as is, which means you decide size of book, page margins, typography, and so on. Should include page numbers in footer and book title in header. It's a pain, but a lot easier than getting an agent, taking years to submit to New York City editor and, if you're lucky enough to sell it, wait two or three years for the book to be published and -- unless you promote it well yourself -- it dies in bookstores. By that time, you should have sold your second novel. But if it doesn't sell more than the first, you're dead -- the bookstores don't want you, so the editors don't want you.

    Besides a publishable as is MS Word doc file of your book, you need a cover. You can use Create Space's cover creator, which is free and easy, but you need a 300 dpi stock image which you can get from istockphoto for around $15-20.

    The big problem is then promoting it. One book advises contacting top 1000 Amazon reviewers. However, Amazon changed site so you can't do that unless they include their email in their profile. And they're no longer so willing - must get a lot of requests.

    I do have a horror novel published this way. It's good. Has one 5 star review. It has sold some - but not as much as my nonfiction books.

    I would like to promote it by becoming active in SF/F/horror fandom again, but don't have time.

    Rick
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  • Profile picture of the author justin.helloall
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by justin.helloall View Post

      Twilight was a big one for the author.
      And a great example of how you don't actually have to be any good to be published.

      I mean, I'll admit, she doesn't live in the Northwest. She doesn't know how we get from one place to another when it's over the water. But we have an extensive series of bridges and ferries in this state, and a plane was really not necessary.

      She also really does not get the way we view time and distance over here, and has people casually traveling distances no real Washingtonian would even consider.
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      "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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      • Profile picture of the author paul wolfe
        If you're looking at 'self publishing' you'll make more money if you use a company called Lightning Source as your POD (print on demand) company.

        There's a book that details this process - it explains why you'll make more money than using Amazon's Create Space. It's called AIMING AT AMAZON.

        HTH
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