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I Made My First Kindle Sale! lol

by HigherPrThanGod
17 replies
This week I thought I'd give Kindle a shot. I have written some screenplays over the last few years and even had some people wanting to produce one. It did not happen, but I thought why not put it on Amazon?

The only negative is Kindle abuses the format, but I believe it's still readable. I am also putting a warning about the format problems. I've sold 2 within a few hours of being live. I think the fact that this is a niche screenplay, helps. Anyway, just excited. Kindle gives us poor writers a chance. Until it becomes flooded and abused.
#frst #kindle #lol #made #sale
  • Profile picture of the author Marketing Cheetah
    Congrats! Two sales in few hours is awesome.
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    • Profile picture of the author HigherPrThanGod
      Originally Posted by Marketing Cheetah View Post

      Congrats! Two sales in few hours is awesome.
      Thanks.. I wasn't sure how good that is. The negative is I had to remove it and make some changes But the test has shown me the potential.
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      • Profile picture of the author scott william
        sounds good..congrats and keep spirit
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        • Profile picture of the author edlewis
          Beware - formatting issues will give you problems rather quickly. It's one of the things customers on Amazon are most averse to.

          It will get you negative reviews quickly.

          There are a few guides in the Kindle Store that are very good.

          Either that or find a template.

          I have a template that I recently offered as part of my WSO and now as part of my membership site...but I'm not sure how it would work with a screenplay.

          I might be willing to help with formatting and a cover if you are interested.
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          • Profile picture of the author HigherPrThanGod
            Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

            Beware - formatting issues will give you problems rather quickly. It's one of the things customers on Amazon are most averse to.

            It will get you negative reviews quickly.

            There are a few guides in the Kindle Store that are very good.

            Either that or find a template.

            I have a template that I recently offered as part of my WSO and now as part of my membership site...but I'm not sure how it would work with a screenplay.

            I might be willing to help with formatting and a cover if you are interested.
            I added a warning that the format was "disrupted" once uploaded. And as far as I know, a screenplay doesn't upload properly at all on Kindle unless it's all .pdf pages, as images in a zip file.

            I tried shrinking the text, tried rich text, pdf, word and all to no avail.
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            • Profile picture of the author edlewis
              Originally Posted by HigherPrThanGod View Post

              I added a warning that the format was "disrupted" once uploaded. And as far as I know, a screenplay doesn't upload properly at all on Kindle unless it's all .pdf pages, as images in a zip file.

              I tried shrinking the text, tried rich text, pdf, word and all to no avail.
              Hmm...I don't know anything about screenplays, but if you format it correctly - it should turn out okay.

              The problem would be getting it from it's current format to one that behaves nicely with Kindle.

              What format is it in now? What type of file did you upload to Kindle?
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              • Profile picture of the author HigherPrThanGod
                Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

                Hmm...I don't know anything about screenplays, but if you format it correctly - it should turn out okay.

                The problem would be getting it from it's current format to one that behaves nicely with Kindle.

                What format is it in now? What type of file did you upload to Kindle?
                I think RTF format was the best.. but my head is cloudy. Oh and just got another sale. Up to 3 for just a few hours and at 3.99 per one, thaz not bad

                I'm more worried about reviews and refunds than I let on, but as I said above, I really just wanted to test the screenplay market.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ofthemix
    Congratz! I'm happy for you. I remember you were posting a question about it in my thread the other day. It's nice to see that you've taken action and are being rightly rewarded for it.

    I just published my second novelette on there this morning and it's already gotten a sale. I love how sales seem to come pretty easy right out of the gate. Hopefully we'll both continue to see sales.

    All the best.
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    • Profile picture of the author HigherPrThanGod
      Originally Posted by Ofthemix View Post

      Congratz! I'm happy for you. I remember you were posting a question about it in my thread the other day. It's nice to see that you've taken action and are being rightly rewarded for it.

      I just published my second novelette on there this morning and it's already gotten a sale. I love how sales seem to come pretty easy right out of the gate. Hopefully we'll both continue to see sales.

      All the best.
      On your Novelette, how many pages was it in Word? If that's what you used. I'm taking an idea I had for a new screenplay, and turning it into a short story and just trying to get an idea on an ideal length.

      Thanks and good luck with your "Kindling".
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      • Profile picture of the author Ofthemix
        The first one was only 30 pages (of writing, with the title page and all of that stuff it came out a bit longer), and my second one was 34 pages long.

        Originally Posted by HigherPrThanGod View Post

        On your Novelette, how many pages was it in Word? If that's what you used. I'm taking an idea I had for a new screenplay, and turning it into a short story and just trying to get an idea on an ideal length.

        Thanks and good luck with your "Kindling".
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  • Profile picture of the author veenafurtado
    How does one actually market on Kindle?
    Getting something published there is easy!
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    • Profile picture of the author Ofthemix
      Originally Posted by veenafurtado View Post

      How does one actually market on Kindle?
      Getting something published there is easy!
      You can promote your book through press releases, youtube videos, and article marketing. These methods should work well for driving targeted traffic to your ebooks. I highly recommend creating and distributing a press release for each individual title.

      I also recommend building an authors website where you can showcase all of your work and add a blog. This would be a method to use if you plan on writing a multitude of books under one author name or pen name. That way people can subscribe to your RSS feed or sign up to your list so that they'll be informed of whenever you publish a new novel, which could equal a good spike in sales every time you publish something new. You could also alternatively create a niche website if you plan on only writing for a certain niche, then drive traffic to that website. For the website I built, I'm using all of the tried and true traffic generation methods that I use on my income producing websites.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diane S
    Congratulations on your sales - even with less than optimal formatting to boot! That is great. I will enter kindle once color is available... I have a travel journal that would just be boring with black and white supporting images...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Duncan
    Hey...2 sales in such a short time...way to go!

    Sounds like you have a "Kindle author" success story in your future.

    I've got a few Kindle books that the formatting is screwed up on, but in most cases, they seem to do a pretty good job handling this.

    Seems like they always screw up charts though.

    All the best,
    Jack Duncan
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    • Profile picture of the author edlewis
      Originally Posted by Jack Duncan View Post

      Hey...2 sales in such a short time...way to go!

      Sounds like you have a "Kindle author" success story in your future.

      I've got a few Kindle books that the formatting is screwed up on, but in most cases, they seem to do a pretty good job handling this.

      Seems like they always screw up charts though.

      All the best,
      Jack Duncan
      Yeah...charts and tables can get a little funky in Kindle.

      One way around this is to take a screenshot of the table or chart, and then just insert the image into your Kindle ebook as a jpeg.

      This way you take the formatting out of the equation.
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