Is anybody actually making money with Kindle books?

334 replies
Hey,

I just wanted to ask this question:

Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?

It is a hot topic, but I don't know anybody who would be making money with these little books.

If somebody is making money with that, could you reveal us how much you're making?

I am already making money from internet marketing and I am really curious about Kindle books, but I don't think it is worth my time.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Matt Poc
#books #kindle #making #money
  • Profile picture of the author royljestr
    Well, I'm pretty sure Amazon is :-) Beyond that...most of the "Make Money using Kindle" things are garbage...they basically tell you to take your PLR and sell them as kindle book and then before you know it you will be making millions...or should I say you will actually be making nothing
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    • Profile picture of the author Afreidman
      Heya,

      I saw a webinar recently about it that really made me excited about giving it a try...

      After a day or two i realized that its basically putting out crap on amazons website.

      A better idea is put your reports up on there to get more credibility in your niche!
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    • Profile picture of the author Page-One
      Don't know if I saw the same webinar you did, but a couple days ago I went to a webinar replay about Kindle. Downloaded the vid rather than watching it onsite. Glad I did. Webinar was a couple hours long. Skipping through to the end, I saw the "sell" for a $1,000 "Make Kindle Money" package.

      Into Ye Olde Recycle Binne it went!

      If the guy is making such a killing with Kindle, why does he need to charge an obscene price for his great wisdom?
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve Faber
        Originally Posted by Page-One View Post

        Don't know if I saw the same webinar you did, but a couple days ago I went to a webinar replay about Kindle. Downloaded the vid rather than watching it onsite. Glad I did. Webinar was a couple hours long. Skipping through to the end, I saw the "sell" for a $1,000 "Make Kindle Money" package.

        Into Ye Olde Recycle Binne it went!

        If the guy is making such a killing with Kindle, why does he need to charge an obscene price for his great wisdom?
        He may or not be making that much. I've always wondered however, why people question why, if someone is making money, they need to make more by selling something relating to how they're doing it.

        It is adding an additional income stream, and successful entrepreneurs add additional income streams constantly. If the opportunity exists to do so without jeopardizing your existing income, it would be foolish not to.

        If they can add 10-20% to their income by selling info products the better question is why would they NOT do it. Actually, it is precisely those who are making money that have the opportunity to sell materials relating to how they are doing so, as if they are not, there isn't much opportunity to sell the method, is there?
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      • Profile picture of the author OutSourCed
        Originally Posted by Page-One View Post

        Don't know if I saw the same webinar you did, but a couple days ago I went to a webinar replay about Kindle. Downloaded the vid rather than watching it onsite. Glad I did. Webinar was a couple hours long. Skipping through to the end, I saw the "sell" for a $1,000 "Make Kindle Money" package.

        Into Ye Olde Recycle Binne it went!

        If the guy is making such a killing with Kindle, why does he need to charge an obscene price for his great wisdom?
        I attended that same webinar. It had a little box where attendees could type questions and the administrator answered them. When they got to the end and asked for $1000 it really pissed me off and I went on the attack. I asked why do you need a $1000 for this package when you're making $30,000 a month? I asked how much money do you need? I told him he was profiting off the hopes and dreams of unsuspecting people. I told him that God would judge him. He said his package was legit and seemed completely perplexed why I was so angry. I said, okay if it's so legit, why don't you send it to me and if I make as much money as you say, then I will then I'll send you the $1000. Plus I urged him to think of the PR! He said what's your address? I gave it to him and within two days I had his course, thus far, free-of-charge. I am FLABBERGASTED.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by OutSourCed View Post

          I attended that same webinar. It had a little box where attendees could type questions and the administrator answered them. When they got to the end and asked for $1000 it really pissed me off and I went on the attack. I asked why do you need a $1000 for this package when you're making $30,000 a month? I asked how much money do you need? I told him he was profiting off the hopes and dreams of unsuspecting people. I told him that God would judge him. He said his package was legit and seemed completely perplexed why I was so angry. I said, okay if it's so legit, why don't you send it to me and if I make as much money as you say, then I will then I'll send you the $1000. Plus I urged him to think of the PR! He said what's your address? I gave it to him and within two days I had his course, thus far, free-of-charge. I am FLABBERGASTED.
          Okay, he's put his money where his mouth is. Now it's your turn.

          Of course, simple possession of the course won't make you dime one.

          Use the course, make the money and send him the check. Then see who is flabbergasted...
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Poc
      Originally Posted by royljestr View Post

      Well, I'm pretty sure Amazon is :-) Beyond that...most of the "Make Money using Kindle" things are garbage...they basically tell you to take your PLR and sell them as kindle book and then before you know it you will be making millions...or should I say you will actually be making nothing
      Ha ha, this is a really great point, Amazon is really making money from Kindle books

      By the way, I know a few people who make money with Kindle books, but most of them take regular ebooks and convert them for other people for a fee
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  • Profile picture of the author jonnyrhinestone
    I'm pretty sure the only people that make money with Kindle books are authors, and publishers, not marketers. I think for marketers and others it's more of a way to increase your awareness, visibility, and credibility rather than make money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick30
    i couldnt imagine so.
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  • Profile picture of the author fitz10
    Yes, people right here in the Warrior Forum are making money from it, but they aren't using garbage tactics like using crappy PLR.
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    • Profile picture of the author mmixon
      I make $100 a month every month. I have 500+ plr books uploaded, but sell about 50 of them over and over.
      The books that sell??? The ones that women that watch Oprah would buy. Forget about anything to do with internet marketing.
      Write your own or find some good plr books or public domain books.
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    • Profile picture of the author Realnz
      Originally Posted by fitz10 View Post

      Yes, people right here in the Warrior Forum are making money from it, but they aren't using garbage tactics like using crappy PLR.
      Crappy PLR? Look at the second thing you promote in your signature.
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      • Profile picture of the author mmixon
        For over a year, I made over $100 a month selling crappy plr books. However, a few months ago Amazon started clamping down on crappy plr and crappy plr duplicates and my "library of books was cut in half, and so was my sales.

        Today if you want to make money with Kindle, you must write your own books or outsource your writing efforts and come up with an original, quality book. Still lots of $$$ to be made if you have the time or the gift of writing.

        Kindle and Kindle readers and clones will only become more popular. In a few years, even stores like half price books will fade away just like other big traditional book stores have folded. They just can't compete.
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    • Profile picture of the author slw081066
      Originally Posted by fitz10 View Post

      Yes, people right here in the Warrior Forum are making money from it, but they aren't using garbage tactics like using crappy PLR.
      I don't even think you're technically allowed to use PLR on Kindle. I think they also frown on compiling blog posts into a book. I'm working on a book I plan to sell on Kindle and then read about that, because I do include some things I wrote in the past in there, so now I have to edit the whole thing to ensure that the quality is what Kindle wants. I have purchased a few Kindle books that were total crap though so I'm not sure how great their quality control is.
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      • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
        You are right to take you time and do things the right ways. We people who do it right may not be as fast getting out of the gate, but we will win the race!
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        • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
          Thank you, everyone who has replied to my questions.

          I took some time to look through the 1 and 2 star Kindle ebooks and find there are repetitions of names of negative reviewers. While I did not have time to go and read the look inside feature, I assume the people who gave negative reviews for plagiarism and named exactly where they were copied and pasted from can stand behind those reviews.

          It was not an exhaustive review on the low stars, but I will probably do some more searches again with a bit different slant on looking for self-publishing hatemongers and note some of the screen names as well as view the look inside feature.

          There were low stars given for interactive table of contents that supposedly did not work with the Kindle feature of getting to the exact recipe, plagiarism, poorly written and obvious copy paste due to changing fonts. I also noted the super mean language from various reviewers whose obvious intent was total contempt - possibly justified, but overly mean nonetheless.

          Amazon would do well to weed out and prevent junk books. Since I have not yet published, and won't for quite awhile yet, I have no idea whether Amazon actually checks anything in a worthwhile manner before it is published on their system. Their after-the-fact method has left a lot to be desired. It's certain their refund policy was set up to utilize requested refund numbers to indicate problems.

          It might be possible for good authors to sue negative reviewers. While no author would want to gain this type of notariety, in some cases (basically the ability of their lawyers), it could work to their benefit and the benefit of all honest and capable authors.

          Now I have another question to solve, if the TOC is interactive, why is there conflict with the internal workings of the Kindle? If I hadn't put so much work into this in the first place, I think I would just work on the other types in process instead.

          The worst goofy one-star review I saw was left by someone who complained the ebook (and others purchased in the past) would not download. Now that's just plain down and dirty to leave a review in that manner and one star someone for something that is obviously totally out of their control. That definitely sounded like a troll leaving the review. Why would you keep buying if you can't download?

          My marketing plan, among other things, is to include a blog which will go up first before the recipe books are published. I think a lot will depend on the author the troll reviewers are targeting just what direction their tactics will take. The list of the marketing tactics is also being formed now as I work and write.

          I do not have the business idea that throwing up some Kindle ebooks is supposed to be easy and fast money, but then it all depends on whether you want to be involved for the long term or not. My preferred goal is long term viability and to expand from there.
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          • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
            It might be possible for good authors to sue negative reviewers. While no author would want to gain this type of notariety, in some cases (basically the ability of their lawyers), it could work to their benefit and the benefit of all honest and capable authors.
            It is NOT possible for anyone to sue for negative reviews. People are entitled to express their opinions, and on the whole, buyers are better informed that way because those who have contempt for a product are able to say so. Other buyers are then able to better make up their minds.

            According to my understanding of American law, the only time you can sue for a negative review is if someone maliciously stated something factually false that defames you. For example, there was once a restaurant that sued the New Yorker and their reviewer because the review stated - falsely, the restaurant claimed - that a certain dish used frozen fish. (In that culinary world, back before flash freezing, using frozen fish was a sin.)

            If a review says that the author is a prostitute or thief and that is untrue, the author can sue. If a review says the book is a piece of tripe and not even worth using as toilet paper, that's an opinion and the author cannot sue.

            Authors need to develop a thick skin because no matter what you are writing, there will be some people who look down on it or hate it outright.

            Marcia Yudkin - a published book author since 1986
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  • Profile picture of the author donhx
    I have some full length books I have written on Amazon, both in print and in Kindle format.

    The distributor (Amazon) or the format (print, Kindle) does not change the dynamics of book marketing, and that it you must promote your books like crazy to get decent sales. The distributor and format guarantees nothing. The trick, as always, is in the marketing.

    Personally, I am sorry that PLR and other crap is making making it onto Amazon. More unreasoned "get-rich-quick" opportunism as far as I'm concerned. It won't work on Amazon for two reasons: Amazon takes too big of a bite for it to be seriously profitable, and because Amazon will be clearing out junk just as Google is doing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Canuckystan
      Making sales on Kindle is tough. I have a fiction book on there with a bunch of great reviews and crappy sales numbers. At first I spent 4 hours a day marketing it and it was doing pretty well. As soon as I stopped marketing as much sales tanked. There is just too much crap on there for readers to find you organically.

      The exceptions like Amanda Hocking prove the rule.
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      • Profile picture of the author jwiggens
        Absolutely. I've had success with putting a couple of my ebooks on Amazon and make a few sales a month. The process of actually putting a book up using Amazon DTP is very straight-forward and doesn't cost a cent so I'd recommend giving it a try.
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      • Profile picture of the author donhx
        Originally Posted by Canuckystan View Post

        Making sales on Kindle is tough. I have a fiction book on there with a bunch of great reviews and crappy sales numbers. At first I spent 4 hours a day marketing it and it was doing pretty well. As soon as I stopped marketing as much sales tanked. There is just too much crap on there for readers to find you organically.

        The exceptions like Amanda Hocking prove the rule.

        I agree with you, except I don't think Amanda Hocking is an exception. She had a good blog with a solid following and that was the launch pad for her tremendous success.

        To be successful with a book you need a "platform" like a blog or some other kind of following such as being an expert in a certain filed or famous for another reason.

        Yes, she did have lots of good fortune too--I'd say much of that came from her followers who were not afraid to share how much they liked her book. Word of mouth is still the very best kind of promotion.
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        • Profile picture of the author Canuckystan
          I meant she was the exception to the rule that the vast majority of authors will only see a few sales per month on Kindle, not that she was just fortunate.

          She submitted her books to every single book review blogger out there at one point, which she says was the beginning of seeing big sales, as each review had a direct link to the kindle sales page.
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        • Profile picture of the author housewarrior
          I see that this is a mighty popular post. It has more than 19,000 views.

          I don't know if making money with Kindle is possible or not, but I intend to try it with anthologies I think anthologies are the way to go. Value for money spent.

          Now all I need is short story authors who can write good stories within the guidelines. Pooling resources on an increasingly popular site may just be our ticket to beating the odds!

          Norm

          Originally Posted by donhx View Post


          To be successful with a book you need a "platform" like a blog or some other kind of following such as being an expert in a certain filed or famous for another reason.

          .
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
        Originally Posted by Canuckystan View Post

        The exceptions like Amanda Hocking prove the rule.
        Amanda is selling cheap short Twilight-like novels. She got in at the right time and her work must be good enough to get repeat buyers. If you can get a hot niche like that and actually can write anyone can do it.

        She just happened to be the one who got it to work.

        But yeah uploading crap won't make money unless you just upload loads and hope for very little sales.
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  • We've been testing in the space for a while now and have had mixed results. We're finally fine-tuning what seems to be a profitable strategy and dumping what hasn't worked for us.

    Like donhx said, there's a LOT of crap making its way into the markets now and the real challenge is making your products stand out from the crowd. Doing that has made the major difference between profitable products and busts for us.

    Make no mistake, there's lots of opportunity there but from our experience, the WSO's that were made concerning Kindle marketing were way off mark. I'm not saying that they won't work, but we've been testing the market for well over 13 months now and anything remotely close to what those guides taught were not only not profitable, but were complete busts - meaning that even massive tweaking couldn't turn the project(s) profitable.

    However, a few different approaches have returned promising results but I'm afraid that is information I'll have to keep to myself for the time being.
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  • Profile picture of the author thegotoguy
    I suggest you get into private label publishing. By buying ebooks with PLR rights you can render them to PDF after adding your name and URLS and then list them on Amazon. But you should also list them on your own sites and blogs and then offer them in multiple formats like e-Pub and mobi as well as PDF. I sell a few books on Amazon here and there (not enough to brag about), but I sell tons of tablet books in my tablet book store. But just like Amazon, you have to market your own sites and blogs (if you choose to sell on them) day in and day out. So in essence, there is no easy fix for increasing your sales but I'd rather keep 70% of my book sales (minus the paypal fee) than to get a 30% commission for working my tail off to push Amazon books. I hope that makes sense.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kierkegaard
    I put stuff on Amazon as a book, people buy it and I get money. As long as you get an ISBN, somewhere like lulu will sort out getting it on Amazon for free. I don't market the Amazon side, the sales I get must be from people browsing Amazon and finding it. Although I noticed the other day that the Amazon page was appearing Google for my keywords.

    Scaling things up I could make quite decent money selling books on Amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author thegotoguy
    I agree, it all boils down to your marketing potential and the willpower to invest your time to do it.
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    • Profile picture of the author imon32red
      I make a living from selling Kindle books. I don't sell PLR or any other crap. I have sold public domain titles in the past, but Amazon doesn't allow them. In order to make money on the Kindle these days you must have first rate work, multiple books, and you have to build your own following. There was a time when you could put a book up on Amazon and people would at least try it. Those days are gone thanks to all the people selling PLR and other crap.
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      • Profile picture of the author edlewis
        I sell thousands of ebooks a month on Kindle.

        A large portion of those sales come from maybe 3 or 4 ebooks....however, I have around 50 more that make sales. Some only make a couple sales a month...others make a few sales a day.

        It all adds up.

        I'm not a fan of those who basically "SPAM" Amazon with junk PLR...and I'm not a fan of those who line their own pockets by teaching others to do it.

        With that said, I do have several ebooks I've published from PLR content. However, I take the time to re-brand these ebooks. I give them a new title, a new cover, and edit some of the content.
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        • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
          Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

          I sell thousands of ebooks a month on Kindle.

          A large portion of those sales come from maybe 3 or 4 ebooks....however, I have around 50 more that make sales. Some only make a couple sales a month...others make a few sales a day.

          It all adds up.

          I'm not a fan of those who basically "SPAM" Amazon with junk PLR...and I'm not a fan of those who line their own pockets by teaching others to do it.

          With that said, I do have several ebooks I've published from PLR content. However, I take the time to re-brand these ebooks. I give them a new title, a new cover, and edit some of the content.
          What sort of sales rank are you getting to sell an ebook with the numbers your suggesting. Is it under 10,000 for instance
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          • Profile picture of the author edlewis
            Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

            What sort of sales rank are you getting to sell an ebook with the numbers your suggesting. Is it under 10,000 for instance
            It's lower than that...

            My best-selling ebook is on pace to sell a tad under 2,000 copies this month. (US & UK combined)

            It's rank is under 2,500 on most days. But that rank is the US ranking...and in my total sales I am counting UK sales, which has it's own ranking.
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        • Profile picture of the author JayPeete
          Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

          With that said, I do have several ebooks I've published from PLR content. However, I take the time to re-brand these ebooks. I give them a new title, a new cover, and edit some of the content.
          That's how you take it from junk to palatable.
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        • Profile picture of the author imon32red
          Originally Posted by edlewis View Post

          I sell thousands of ebooks a month on Kindle.

          With that said, I do have several ebooks I've published from PLR content. However, I take the time to re-brand these ebooks. I give them a new title, a new cover, and edit some of the content.
          Congratulations with your sales Ed. Without trying to toot my own horn, I sell thousands of ebooks a month on Kindle.

          I know that I said that PLR on the Kindle is crap. It really is. But if you are changing the content and putting some work into it like you are doing, that is different. I meant no offense to you. I have come across quite a bit of PLR recently and it is really quite bad.

          There is plenty of money to be made on the Kindle. It just takes work. However, if you put the work into it you can have a book that makes tons of sales each month.
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          • Profile picture of the author edlewis
            Originally Posted by imon32red View Post

            Congratulations with your sales Ed. Without trying to toot my own horn, I sell thousands of ebooks a month on Kindle.

            I know that I said that PLR on the Kindle is crap. It really is. But if you are changing the content and putting some work into it like you are doing, that is different. I meant no offense to you. I have come across quite a bit of PLR recently and it is really quite bad.

            There is plenty of money to be made on the Kindle. It just takes work. However, if you put the work into it you can have a book that makes tons of sales each month.
            No problem....

            I take no offense to the PLR comment. I've said many of the same things myself about PLR. Most of it is crap and most of those uploading it are just polluting Kindle with garbage because they have either been sold the idea it will make them rich with "no work" or because they are just plain lazy.

            PLR content accounts for only 5 ebooks I have published.

            You hit the nail on the head when you said, "it just takes work"....I've had some people asking me what my "secrets" are lately. Sure, there are some tips and tricks...but the real "secret" was hard work.
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            • Profile picture of the author stingrays06
              I created a kindle site not too long ago...still waiting for it to rank. Ill let you know how it works out.
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        • Profile picture of the author grafiplanet
          hello Edlewis,)

          I bought your kindle info product and find that really great,
          thanks a lot for such a nice product = simple, efficient, rich in information

          I have a question for you =
          I am newbie on emarketing and I noticed that a lot of Kindle ebooks for the"" how to ""(specially in France, cause it is from where I come..) need kind of Autority level to let readers buy the kindle ebooks with blind trust. I am not at all an autority in any field,...how can we avoid this obstacles , this kind of Autority syndrom that sine qua non pretend your content is worth buying?
          Cause for now i get this bloody feeling from all theses litterate overgraduate experts that write topics I like, that if you re not enough Autority identified, you can not really make it seriously (at least in France)
          Thanks a lot for your time to reply, but I think this question is very usefull for a lot of people concerned to make a great deal with Kindle
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          • Profile picture of the author Sonomacats
            Originally Posted by grafiplanet View Post


            I am newbie on emarketing and I noticed that a lot of Kindle ebooks for the"" how to ""(specially in France, cause it is from where I come..) need kind of Autority level to let readers buy the kindle ebooks with blind trust. I am not at all an autority in any field,...how can we avoid this obstacles , this kind of Autority syndrom that sine qua non pretend your content is worth buying?

            Cause for now i get this bloody feeling from all theses litterate overgraduate experts that write topics I like, that if you re not enough Autority identified, you can not really make it seriously (at least in France)
            If you want to look like an Authority, create a separate website using WordPress and blog about the subject. Do a Twitter and Facebook post every time you post something, plus social bookmarking.

            It also won't hurt if you put up a few articles on the subject on the article directories, create a Squidoo lens, do Pinterest, forum posting, and all the other things that will help increase your visibility.

            You can also give away the first 4 chapters for free in a PDF on your website with appropriate links to your book on Kindle, Smashwords, etc.

            Also, if your subject lends itself to doing teleseminars or webinars, start doing a bunch of free ones.

            When Jeff Herring was just starting out in early 2007, he did free teleseminars 3-5 days a week, plus he had articles everywhere. In 6 months he was seen as THE article marketing expert and has made a lot of money since.

            It's not hard to look like an Authority if you're everywhere on that subject.
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  • Profile picture of the author cage73
    I published my first book on February 19th of this year and so far to date I have made 74 sales from that one book. My second book which was published around the 1st of March has garnered 27 sales. That is definitely not going to break the bank but I was able to find a hungry market that is willing to spend money for information on this particular subject. My plans are now to upscale my efforts and write more books in this particular subject. I actually have two more books that should be completed within a day or two. So far I have not done any marketing for these books but plan to get the ball rolling in the next few days.

    I'm not using any PLR for these books but a combination of Public Domain material and my own knowledge of this particular subject.

    Publishing on Kindle is no different than creating products for any particular market. Find a market with hungry buyers, create a quality product and if your lucky the sales will start rolling in.
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  • Profile picture of the author limestone614
    I've read a bunch of stories where people are making money from kindle, in a number of ways too.

    Kindle is a huge market. 60,000 x 99c = ....

    Write a short Story....
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    • Profile picture of the author georgebush
      Originally Posted by limestone614 View Post

      I've read a bunch of stories where people are making money from kindle, in a number of ways too.

      Kindle is a huge market. 60,000 x 99c = ....

      Write a short Story....
      i am writing a story which i will finish around april 2012

      i have written 2 non fiction ebooks which took ages to create from scratch
      having first researched the numbers on google beforehand and got a good covers etc
      but i have made 3 sales on 2 ebooks in 3 months!!!! what a poor investment in time. i hope my story works out much better
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  • Profile picture of the author drmani
    Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    I am already making money from internet marketing and I am really curious about Kindle books, but I don't think it is worth my time.

    What do you think?

    Thanks,
    Matt Poc
    In a 'book launch' for the Kindle, I sold over 100 copies of "47 Hearts"
    with a week's promotion.

    If you already have ebooks that are selling online, then the Kindle
    store offers a nice additional channel to get your ideas out there and
    read by a fresh new audience you can't reach otherwise.

    From that aspect, how much "money you make" depends upon so much more
    than just how many copies you sell on the Kindle store, or what your
    royalty payments from it are!

    Smart digital publishers are jumping all over this opportunity because
    they see Amazon.com as doing them a massive favor - by AGGREGATING an
    audience, and letting them sell to it!

    The equivalent, in IM terms, would be for someone to build an email
    list of 5 million people - and then let you post your ad on it, for
    FREE!


    With *any* form of "book marketing", you need a 'platform'. With it,
    even a mediocre piece of writing can become a "best seller". Without
    it, you could be the next J.K.Rowling - and sell a copy every month,
    if you're lucky!

    All success
    Dr.Mani
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Jordan
    Yes, when it was still starting. But now that Amazon imposed so many rules it's getting harder and harder to add new ebooks. However, the old ebooks that were posted are still making money but not as it used to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rambo007
    For those that are making money,

    How did you promote the books?
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    I am from oz, i thought it was harder for us to make it with kindle books.

    Isnt there some strange clause for aussies. I would love to know.

    Cheers

    Celente.
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    • Profile picture of the author ebooks4u
      Amazon has announced that they will delete all PLR Kindle books from their site.

      Here's their email that I got recently:

      "Undifferentiated public domain titles will no longer be offered for sale in the Kindle Store. Examples not considered differentiated include a linked table of contents, formatting improvements, collections, sales rank, price, freely available Internet content, etc. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation. Regards, Kindle Direct Publishing"
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  • Profile picture of the author lalou
    Perry Marshall recently did a webinar on the subject. (And he wasn't trying to sell anything that day!) He reckoned it's a nice little earner. Like others have said you can't publish crap, because stuff does get reviewed.

    The 2 things I got from Perry's presentation were 1) it's very easy to put something up, but a lot of people are 'frightened' so you can get paid just to do that. And there are a few SEO-type tricks in terms of what title you give the thing.

    And 2) the real key lies in underpinning it with good SEO
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?
    Yes ... this gentleman, who had no previous writing experience, has recently sold over 1,000,000 very short books on Kindle for $0.99 each, and made a lot of money out of it.

    There's more information here and on this blog he answers maybe 100 questions about exactly how he does it (that one was written a few months before he joined the "million seller club").
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Yes ... this gentleman, who had no previous writing experience, has recently sold over 1,000,000 very short books on Kindle for $0.99 each, and made a lot of money out of it.

      There's more information here and on this blog he answers maybe 100 questions about exactly how he does it (that one was written a few months before he joined the "million seller club").
      Thanks Alexa - I was just getting ready to click over to kindle to see if maybe that is where I'll want to put my estory "Saving Ricky". All I see as being a problem is trying to figure out how to format the thing. I am soooooo not a tech.

      I will, though, be using it in the next month or two and will be glad to post my experience with it on the WF. If I can figure out how to get it loaded up and formatted anyhow. LOL.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sandra Martinez
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Yes ... this gentleman, who had no previous writing experience, has recently sold over 1,000,000 very short books on Kindle for $0.99 each, and made a lot of money out of it.

      There's more information here and on this blog he answers maybe 100 questions about exactly how he does it (that one was written a few months before he joined the "million seller club").
      Fiction seems to be selling better than non fiction, isn´t it?
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      • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
        Originally Posted by Sandra Martinez View Post

        Fiction seems to be selling better than non fiction, isn´t it?
        Fiction has far more books/writers than non-fiction, so although there are more sales, there is also stronger competition.
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  • Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    Hey,

    I just wanted to ask this question:

    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?

    It is a hot topic, but I don't know anybody who would be making money with these little books.

    If somebody is making money with that, could you reveal us how much you're making?

    I am already making money from internet marketing and I am really curious about Kindle books, but I don't think it is worth my time.

    What do you think?

    Thanks,
    Matt Poc
    Sure, you make make a few bucks. But: Can you make a living from it? I really dont think so. Just my 2 cents.
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    no doubt that you can make a living from it......some very simple guidelines;

    1. Original content only that is also quality (write or buy)
    2. good 2d cover - don't bother with 3d ebook cover
    3. good reviews.....links to first point
    4. correct tags (based on decent search terms)
    5. decent title (based on good search terms)

    THATS IT.....5 SIMPLE LITTLE SO CALLED "SECRETS"......AND YOU WILL GENERATE A DECENT PASSIVE INCOME.....

    enjoy!
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    • Profile picture of the author georgebush
      hasn't helped me.
      i have 2 original kindle ebooks that took me months to write!, both have good covers and tags but i've only sold 3! in three months. it seems you have to hit a jackpot with the topics -- even though i did research the topic and (numbers per month before hand so it is strange that i haven't made more sales. is it just the lucky few?
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  • Profile picture of the author neoo28
    I think if use public domain book and rewrite it you can sell it on amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    Avoid PLR and trying to rewrite it. There is a good chance that Amazon will reject it. See my previous post - totally original quality content is the only way to go............
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  • Profile picture of the author davejug1
    Definitely unique content sells, not particularly in my opinion but I haven't put much effort into testing. I'm doing about $50 per month (slowly diminishing) which helps towards my total takings, but i don't have the time or the desire to test it fully, I use it mainly as branding.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jacob Cuculiza
    You can make money, of cause, but other things are much better!
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    • Profile picture of the author Andrey
      Originally Posted by Jacob Cuculiza View Post

      You can make money, of cause, but other things are much better!
      For example?
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Lepore
        I just purchase a Kindle PLR from a fellow warrior "siteline" it seems great I am looking forward to selling it.

        I will reply back with results.
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    Doing more but you have to concentrate on the books that really sell.....as someone has already pointed out - avoid the internet marketing genre.........too specific a niche
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  • Profile picture of the author yesdoab
    i ebook is worth it and insightful, people will buy it.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
    I often buy Kindle books. I usually download a sample before purchasing the ebook. I like to see the author's writing style beforehand. I notice a lot of people are giving a real chincy one-page sample that usually consists of a few lines of copy and links to their website. I pass on these because I think the author didn't put much thought into their offering. I buy the ones that give a good well-written sample because the sample entices me to want more.
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    • Profile picture of the author KenJ
      I am deeply puzzled by this thread title.

      It is blatantly obvious that many Authors are making a living with kindle books. I am happy to be one of them.

      The people who are not making money are Marketers - Go figure!!!!

      This is good news for us writers who create quality books to sell on a number of platforms. e.g. Kindle, Createspace, Lulu, and heaven forbid through a publishing deal with a traditional publisher.

      If you are a writer then Kindle is the future for you IMHO.
      If you are a marketer then go and do something else - you are playing with the wrong toy.

      Kenj
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      • Profile picture of the author KarimPPC
        Originally Posted by kenj View Post

        I am deeply puzzled by this thread title.

        It is blatantly obvious that many Authors are making a living with kindle books. I am happy to be one of them.

        The people who are not making money are Marketers - Go figure!!!!

        This is good news for us writers who create quality books to sell on a number of platforms. e.g. Kindle, Createspace, Lulu, and heaven forbid through a publishing deal with a traditional publisher.

        If you are a writer then Kindle is the future for you IMHO.
        If you are a marketer then go and do something else - you are playing with the wrong toy.

        Kenj
        Gad to hear that, there are far too many people who can't make a cent online from a legitimate business, but they make their money but regurgitating info found online on making money.

        The make money online genre is full with crap on the kindle right now. It's only a matter of time when amazon takes measures to cut out the junk.
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      • Profile picture of the author OutSourCed
        Originally Posted by KenJ View Post

        I am deeply puzzled by this thread title.

        It is blatantly obvious that many Authors are making a living with kindle books. I am happy to be one of them.

        The people who are not making money are Marketers - Go figure!!!!

        This is good news for us writers who create quality books to sell on a number of platforms. e.g. Kindle, Createspace, Lulu, and heaven forbid through a publishing deal with a traditional publisher.

        If you are a writer then Kindle is the future for you IMHO.
        If you are a marketer then go and do something else - you are playing with the wrong toy.

        Kenj
        LOVE IT! Thank you!
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Worthington
      Yeah, I'm definitely on board with that. You have to ENTICE me to get my 99 cents.
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  • Profile picture of the author Suze Thomas
    The notion that you can just spin some plr and throw it up on Kindle has been proved false. They are deleting books that are basically copies of already listed books.
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    • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
      Originally Posted by Suze Thomas View Post

      The notion that you can just spin some plr and throw it up on Kindle has been proved false. They are deleting books that are basically copies of already listed books.
      I'm glad to hear this. This will make for a better Kindle buying experience. These plr books were messing up the search for buyers. There were 1000's of this type of book on Amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author nixn
    My friend and I are partners on a project for a book she's written and we're selling on Amazon Kindle, Smashwords (which automatically sells through Barnes and Noble, Diesel etc.) and our site.

    The Kindle sales were off to a very slow start - also considering that the book is about Sudoku (she's developed her own methodology) and it seems the craze has certainly gone downhill since a few years back.

    Having said that since March - August 2011, we've made just over $100 (52 units). This is the royalty amount ie. you have 35% or 70% - for the first 3 months we only had the option of selecting 35% as we were not in the accepted countries for a 70% royalty.

    We've tried various pricing: $16.95 (our first sale was a week later after putting up the book), then we experimented with these prices: $9.95, $12.95, $7.95, $2.99. The more reviews and more sales you have, the higher your ranking, pretty obvious.

    We've driven traffic to our page through Google Adwords as well as putting out press releases.

    All in all, not enough to quit our day jobs of course but, all good, we're taking this as a great learning experience. Obviously we would love more sales but this is the reality.

    I think it all comes down to the popularity of your topic and how well you market it.
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    • Profile picture of the author raven007
      Hi guys, has amazon changed the way they accept articles ? I purchased james jones course a while back but now i understand it is useless

      please pm me.
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      • Profile picture of the author Haroon Ballim
        To really make money on kindle , writing should be a hobby . If you are looking at it in purely a business sense you could end up highly frustrated.

        The guys selling you stories on how you can make thousands on kindle are just selling you that , a story . It aint that easy . Everone and their dog would be doing it otherwise.

        Now if writing is your hobby and passion , kindle and even selling hard copies on Amazon is for you .
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        • Profile picture of the author gareth
          Originally Posted by Haroon Ballim View Post

          To really make money on kindle , writing should be a hobby . If you are looking at it in purely a business sense you could end up highly frustrated.

          The guys selling you stories on how you can make thousands on kindle are just selling you that , a story . It aint that easy . Everone and their dog would be doing it otherwise.

          Now if writing is your hobby and passion , kindle and even selling hard copies on Amazon is for you .
          I partly agree - I have put up books that I had already written in niches of personal interest. So it was not a made for kindle market research job

          Yet these seem to be selling the best at present. But I completely disagree with your cynicism. There definitely are many people making many thousands of dollars on Kindle.

          But it will all end in 2-3 years time. Just like adsense mania did.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    Yes, I am making good money from Kindle books but I don't sell PLR or anything like that. To make money with Kindle books, you need to:

    1. Choose the right topic to write about
    2. The right market to write to
    3. Write an excellent quality book
    4. Have perfect formatting for the Kindle
    4. Market yourself, your book, and your brand
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  • Profile picture of the author Rick88
    There is a line that seems used by many selling the "Sell Your books On Kindle" flavor of the month club which is, just put it on Kindle and they will promote and sell it for you. While this is technically true there is a disconnect in the understanding that Kindle will handle the money transaction for you, you still need to do some marketing yourself to drive traffic to it. Sure you might get a few sales from people just browsing and happen upon your offering but there is much more than what is being told in the sales.
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    • Profile picture of the author Daniel Evans
      A few of my associates are making good money from Kindle products however they play their cards close to their chest.

      It is something I intend to eplore in the near future and I can only imagine (at least for me) traffic might be the most challenging factor - with the dedication aside to write my book of course!
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      Originally Posted by Rick88 View Post

      There is a line that seems used by many selling the "Sell Your books On Kindle" flavor of the month club which is, just put it on Kindle and they will promote and sell it for you. While this is technically true there is a disconnect in the understanding that Kindle will handle the money transaction for you, you still need to do some marketing yourself to drive traffic to it. Sure you might get a few sales from people just browsing and happen upon your offering but there is much more than what is being told in the sales.
      How do you drive your traffic?
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      • Profile picture of the author Rick88
        Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

        How do you drive your traffic?
        Same way you drive traffic to a website. Viral works best.
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  • Profile picture of the author redfieryheart
    The sales depend on how you market the kindle books. It is so sad that you need to continue marketing this all your life or else, the sales stop there too. Maybe there are exceptions for those well-known writer with lots in their lists building and have a solid reputation to their fields.
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  • Profile picture of the author xtortionx50
    I have personally published a health guide on kindle a few months ago and have yet to see any profit. In my opinion I think your better off just using amazon associates I have make some good money there.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    The biggest mistake that I see people making with Kindle books are two things:

    Putting up some crappy PLR and/or writing about topics that people aren't willing to spend money for. If you eliminate both of those issues and know how to do a little marketing for your books, things can be VERY nice.
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  • Profile picture of the author Carmen_Hudson
    Well, not all PLR is crap. However, even I as a seller of PLR would not suggest that you try to put together a PLR book and throw it on Kindle. I'd say that is something you can get away with if you're selling Ebooks off your own website, but Kindle is for real authors. People going to Kindle do expect "bookstore quality" work. You're not going to get that by rewriting someone else's PLR, no matter how great it is. The PLR would be better for filling up content to market a great book.
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    • Profile picture of the author Azarna
      Yes, but they are 'real books', written in the old fashioned way, mostly about history subjects (I am a nerd like that).

      They are also available as physical books. At the moment the physical versions outsell the kindle ones about 2 to 1, but this time last year it was 6 to 1, so things really are changing quickly.

      I personally buy a lot of books, especially when they are published by a proper publisher - sadly the bulk of self-published and POD ones are not proofread or edited.

      The same goes for Kindle books- if there is a not a physical version also available, I am unlikely to buy it. It is so simple and economical to create Kindle books and far too many people are just churning out rubbish. At least I can get a sample with Kindle books though - and ALWAYS do before buying. This has saved me a small fortune, lol.
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      • Profile picture of the author KenJ
        Originally Posted by Azarna View Post

        Yes, but they are 'real books', written in the old fashioned way, mostly about history subjects (I am a nerd like that).

        They are also available as physical books. At the moment the physical versions outsell the kindle ones about 2 to 1, but this time last year it was 6 to 1, so things really are changing quickly.

        I personally buy a lot of books, especially when they are published by a proper publisher - sadly the bulk of self-published and POD ones are not proofread or edited.

        The same goes for Kindle books- if there is a not a physical version also available, I am unlikely to buy it. It is so simple and economical to create Kindle books and far too many people are just churning out rubbish. At least I can get a sample with Kindle books though - and ALWAYS do before buying. This has saved me a small fortune, lol.
        Hi Deborah

        I agree with you on this, in the main.

        But there are writers that write in such a small niche that a main stream publisher will never look at them. They are good writers but do not get published in the traditional way. The self publishing route offers the authors and their readers the opportunity to serve a market that could never have been served in the past.

        Kenj
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        • Profile picture of the author Azarna
          Originally Posted by kenj View Post

          Hi Deborah

          I agree with you on this, in the main.

          But there are writers that write in such a small niche that a main stream publisher will never look at them. They are good writers but do not get published in the traditional way. The self publishing route offers the authors and their readers the opportunity to serve a market that could never have been served in the past.

          Kenj
          Ooh, I didn't mean to sound as if I was anti self-publishing! I publish my own books, hehe. And yes, it is wonderful that people can now write niche books etc.

          My only concern is that as well as all the quality stuff being self-published there is also a huge amount of poorer stuff, which is giving self-publishing, POD and eBooks in general a bad name.

          A quick flick through the Lulu site, looking at previews of books on there, will show how many are really badly written, not edited at all, not proofread at all etc. It is a shame - I am sure some of these are great books, fantastic stories that I would want to read, or fascinating non-fiction books, but who wants to read a book that is full of typos and sentences that don't make sense?

          If your book is worth writing then it is surely worth getting someone to look through it for you? A professional is the ideal, but even just getting a friend or two to do a double check can make a huge difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author Casper C
    I wouldn't say that this is the way to look at the Kindle. The Kindle is about making books available to people who want to read them electronically.

    There's no point writing a book for the sake of making it available on the Kindle. Write one for the sake of serving quality, helpful content to a target audience. Then, look at delivering it in as many formats as you can, such as a downloadable PDF, a Kindle version, and even a website version.

    The more ways there are to read and download your book, the more potential sales you can make. It's a bit like when a game is released on multiple platforms.

    The Kindle is just a reading device; one that is growing in popularity. In my opinion, its existence shouldn't be the reason to write a book.
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  • Profile picture of the author sal64
    The biggest mistake most authors make is that their product is as boring at bat****.

    You need a killer title and compelling content.

    Unfortunately, without revealing what they are, it's impossible to give any advice. It might be the genre, it might be the marketing.... it might be the title and chapter titles.

    Search for John Locke in kindle and get his book on how he sold over 1m copies of his non fiction books.... How I Sold 1 Million eBooks.
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    • Profile picture of the author Carmen_Hudson
      In regards to there being a lot of self-published crap--well, there's crap everywhere. As a writer I don't worry much about the crap because I try to market myself in such a way as to demonstrate that what I have to offer is high-caliber. You can tell a lot about the quality by looking at the marketing that writer is doing, I should think.

      Making money with Kindle, making money with Lulu, making money with a PDF e-book or e-course or whatever else...it's all one.

      If you can market it successfully, attract the people who care about what you care about, and connect with your audience, then you can make your sales and make your money.

      If you give up because your first month is crap, or you don't market at all, or your product doesn't match what you promised in your marketing, then you're not going to make money.

      If your product is outstanding, word of mouth will spread, people will sit up and take notice, and you'll make sales.

      If your product is crap, that word of mouth will spread as well, and you won't make sales.

      Kindle is neither a magic bullet nor an automatic repository for crap, any more than the internet is. It is just a platform that people can use to get their work out there. What happens to that work in the end is up to the person who put it there in the first place.
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      • Profile picture of the author nixn
        Well summed up there Carmen. The platform that one chooses to utilize is really not as important as starting off with the attitude of care, quality and belief in your product as well as carrying this attitude across when marketing and connecting to your intended audience. People will immediately pick up on this and if they decide to buy, it won’t really matter what platform you may be using to market and sell, they will go out of their way to find out more and to buy your product.
        I know I have, as I’ve gone out of my way to buy something because it created trust, it hooked me, it had a lot to offer and it delivered.

        “A market is never saturated with a good product, but it is very quickly saturated with a bad one.” - Henry Ford
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  • Profile picture of the author RAMarketing
    It's the same way you'd make a lot of money in a bookstore: write something you enjoy writing that people will enjoy reading, then tell everyone that you possibly can about it. Stop over complicating things with 'spin the PLR with a new cover and ISBN then tweet and post and... ad nauseum' Does that work? It can, though I don't think they take duplicate work at all anymore. Will it make as much as a well written book that you put a ton of work into writing and marketing? No.
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  • Profile picture of the author dagaul101
    Possibly when Kindle books came out a few made some money, before the entire thing became flooded with get rich quick eBooks
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  • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
    I started publishing Kindle books last November. Made $10 the first month.

    My sales have increased every month so far. I'm up to $1400 per month now and hope to keep rising.

    Lambert
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      Originally Posted by lklein View Post

      I started publishing Kindle books last November. Made $10 the first month.

      My sales have increased every month so far. I'm up to $1400 per month now and hope to keep rising.

      Lambert
      Is this just writing one book after the other then an accumulative effect or just a better idea of what is needed?

      What sort of price range are you aiming at?

      Peter
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      • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
        I only have five books on Amazon right now. I started with one.

        The last book was published in April and it's the one pulling in the most. It's ranked number one in it's category.

        Somethings that has improved sales are;

        The right title and description

        Getting reviews

        Getting tags

        Getting Sales ( I know, but the more sales you get the better rankings)

        The right niche

        Having a great cover that looks good small and great big

        Also having several books out there has the effect of helping each of the other book.

        I just wished I had more books up there. Working on it.

        Be sure you submit quality books if you want lasting results.

        What the heck. Here are my sales numbers in dollars; As you see, you have to wait a few months to get paid for previous months.

        Nov 10
        Dec 65
        Jan 192
        Feb 211
        Mar 257 (may27th paid)
        Apr 411 (6-30)
        May 662 (8-1)
        June 1266 (8-27)
        July 1350 (9-27)
        Aug 1377 (10-31)
        Sept 1469

        Others are doing way better than me though.

        Aiming for 7000 per month at first. ( Better get my B*tt moving)
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        • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
          Do you stick with the same niche or branch out a little bit?

          Are they books that you have written?
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          • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
            I started with a health book that I thought would sell great. Just a few sales per month.

            Went to internet marketing books about SEO, blogging etc and they produce much better.

            I have written all of these books myself from scratch.

            These books have taken a while to write because I do a lot of research and go for quality. I don't want to put my name on trash.

            You can see my books on my website which is in my sig
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            • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
              Originally Posted by lklein View Post

              I started with a health book that I thought would sell great. Just a few sales per month.

              Went to internet marketing books about SEO, blogging etc and they produce much better.

              I have written all of these books myself from scratch.

              These books have taken a while to write because I do a lot of research and go for quality. I don't want to put my name on trash.

              You can see my books on my website which is in my sig
              Did you know much about your subjects before researching?
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              • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
                Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

                Did you know much about your subjects before researching?

                Yes I did, but I still had to do some research.

                BTW the Kindle books usually have to be priced a lot lower than PDFs. I price mine from .99 to 3.97.
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    • Profile picture of the author todawg_not
      Originally Posted by Lambert Klein View Post

      I started publishing Kindle books last November. Made $10 the first month.

      My sales have increased every month so far. I'm up to $1400 per month now and hope to keep rising.

      Lambert
      Well done Lambert
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      • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
        If you love to write kindle is the place to make a decent living. I've replaced my 9-5 job doing nothing but writing kindle books.

        As long as your content in original and easy to ready you will make money, hands down. I write both non-fiction and fiction. What I do is create a pen name for each type or genre of book. Use that pen name for everything in that genre. That also build the reputation of my pen names so people will buy more books from that name.

        If anyone needs help with kindle you can always PM me.
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        • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
          Originally Posted by chrisg942 View Post

          If you love to write kindle is the place to make a decent living. I've replaced my 9-5 job doing nothing but writing kindle books.

          As long as your content in original and easy to ready you will make money, hands down. I write both non-fiction and fiction. What I do is create a pen name for each type or genre of book. Use that pen name for everything in that genre. That also build the reputation of my pen names so people will buy more books from that name.

          If anyone needs help with kindle you can always PM me.
          Do you do much marketing?

          How many books do you have?
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            • Profile picture of the author ebooks4u
              You may believe it or not... but Kindle is a GOLDMINE... if you do use it right, and play by Amazon's strict rules. Don't use public domain stuff or PLR content to sell via the Kindle store. Write your own high quality books/novels, and Amazon will reward you for it bigtime.
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              • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
                Originally Posted by ebooks4u View Post

                You may believe it or not... but Kindle is a GOLDMINE... if you do use it right, and play by Amazon's strict rules. Don't use public domain stuff or PLR content to sell via the Kindle store. Write your own high quality books/novels, and Amazon will reward you for it bigtime.
                How do you go about marketing them?
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                • Profile picture of the author ebooks4u
                  Well, you don't need to market them, as Amazon does all the marketing for you. You just need to collect some reviews (can be easily done by giving away a copy of your Kindle book to a few people), and get one book sale. From there, it's automated selling :-)

                  Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

                  How do you go about marketing them?
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          • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
            Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

            Do you do much marketing?

            How many books do you have?
            I have over 100 books on Amazon.

            As far as marketing: most of what i do now is update my blog on Amazon and let people that have bought from me before know when I have a new title coming out. I do have a system for releasing a book, (press release, KDP promotion days, along with blogs and stuff like that. For the most part my marketing is over because I get regular readers and they always buy my books and review it for me.

            Until you're an established writer with an audience, you will have to market a lot more than i do.

            Hope that help out.
            Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Blade Runner 77
      Originally Posted by Lambert Klein View Post

      I started publishing Kindle books last November. Made $10 the first month.

      My sales have increased every month so far. I'm up to $1400 per month now and hope to keep rising.

      Lambert
      Ok, er, how, what in your opinion, has set you ahead of the others I see commenting here that they get no sales despite doing their research? Thanks BR
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  • Profile picture of the author WebPen
    NO! Nobody is making money with it!

    It's just scammers trying to get you to to buy their Kindle book for $2.99 on how to make money with Kindle!
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  • Profile picture of the author fredlee
    I bought many books from amazon.com. Were those books from Kindle?
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      Originally Posted by fredlee View Post

      I bought many books from amazon.com. Were those books from Kindle?
      If they were ebooks then they would be Kindle
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  • Profile picture of the author jaiganeshv
    Ive tried with one ebook as i saw the how to kindle recording webinar from Jason Fladlien. No success but it gets some good SEO... (idea!!)

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author rghdesigns
    I am making vary little, I spend more time trying to get books approved.

    I have 3 books on and only brought in about 1700 total.

    Ive kind of dropped it now as there isn't enough income for the time it takes.

    Especially since I found my magic pill lol

    I Wish you all the success
    Ryan
    Empower Network
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      Originally Posted by rghdesigns View Post

      I am making vary little, I spend more time trying to get books approved.

      I have 3 books on and only brought in about 1700 total.

      Ive kind of dropped it now as there isn't enough income for the time it takes.

      Especially since I found my magic pill lol

      I Wish you all the success
      Ryan
      Empower Network
      Are you talking about books or the Kindle ebooks?
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  • Profile picture of the author perfectlovehere
    Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    Hey,

    I just wanted to ask this question:

    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?

    It is a hot topic, but I don't know anybody who would be making money with these little books.

    If somebody is making money with that, could you reveal us how much you're making?

    I am already making money from internet marketing and I am really curious about Kindle books, but I don't think it is worth my time.

    What do you think?

    Thanks,
    Matt Poc
    I've got one up called "Perfect Love Here I Come" but I don't think I've made a single sale yet. Hopefully someone else has had better results than me!
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  • Profile picture of the author jacktackett
    The Kindle (Nook, iPad, etc) are not panaceas - they are just a medium to deliver content.

    There are several great resources for self publishing - Alexa Smith gave 2 great ones, you should also check out 2 books are well:

    How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months by John Locke. One of the hardest genres to self publish is fiction - but John - and others - have done it. He goes over his process and how he markets his fiction books.

    The king of self publishing is Dan Poynter - his signature work is The self-publishing manual. This targets non-fiction projects and covers promotion and marketing as well as construction.

    best,
    --Jack
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  • Profile picture of the author PandaPoacher
    I know a few people who write books and publish them on the kindle store, some making a decent amount while others making sales every once in a while. I've actually wanted to start writing my own books, but I'm not sure I'm into the whole thing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Lilly
      Around half of my income comes from sales of my Kindle book.

      I started out with an ebook I'm selling through ClickBank. Then I created a second, smaller guidebook that I sell both on my own site and on Kindle. That book gets almost 10 sales on Kindle for every direct sale from my site. And, based on my Amazon Affiliate tracking, most of the Kindle buyers are not coming from my site (or they are, but the cookie is expiring before they purchase it).

      I'm working on two new guidebooks to put on Kindle, and once I finish the updated edition of my ClickBank book, it will probably go on Kindle too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mizzy Princess
    Yes, there are people who make money with kindle books.
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    Know more about paper crafts and be amazed!
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  • Profile picture of the author Anang Andriana
    I think making money from kindle is very suit for publishers or authors. It is harder done if you aren't expert on writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    I think that in order to make money on the Kindle you need to approach it as a business. Not just slap some books on there and keep your fingers crossed.

    Sounds like lklein above has a great model - he has books in a related niche and a website to direct people to. They buy one book, like it and then want to buy more from him. I know that's what I do when I buy a book and like the writers style and want to learn more about the subject. Notice how he stresses that he is going for quality.

    You can't really slap PLR up on there anymore, they have filters now so only the first person to publish it will get their book in. Even slightly rewritten PLR doesnt pass muster.

    So, I think the answer is that if you are an author that likes t write quality books and can market them then you can make a lot of money on the kindle.

    As mentioned above the John Locke book is a must read for anyone wanting to get into Kindle publishing.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
    Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?
    Yes

    If somebody is making money with that, could you reveal us how much you're making?
    Wrong question - you need to be focusing on ROI (money and time)

    Here are some tips on making profit from Kindle:

    1 - Don't bother re-labeling and selling PLR eBooks - most are either junk or already flooding Kindle.

    2 - Every time you write an article/blog post/forum post/email on a topic - save it under a folder on that topic. Glace at the folders each month to see what topics you have gathered a fair bit of content on, then throw it together into an eBook and publish. That way you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours to compile.

    3 - Compile good quality PLR articles on a topic, then throw them together into an eBook and publish. Again you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours.

    4 - Always price below $10 so you get 70% royalty.

    5 - Create your own cover. Just grab a royalty free image and write your heading/author details on it. You can do this in under 10 minutes.

    5 - Send in form to get tax reduction.

    5 - Also upload your ebook to Smashwords to get extra sales. Takes about 10 minutes.

    6 - Promote! Twitter, Facebook, your blog posts, forum signature links, sidebar of your blog, at the end of your ebook put links to your other ebooks, write a guest post on a blog on your topic and have your link included.

    I can usually get an ebook done and promoted within 4 hours. The amount per sale is low, but it is genuinely passive income as once you publish (on an evergreen topic) you continue getting sales months/years later.

    Case study:

    Ebook Niche: Dinner Recipes
    Length: 59 pages (about 5,000 words)
    Compiled PLR recipes
    Total Time (compiling/editing/publishing/promoting): 5 hours
    Published: September 2010
    Pricing: $4.84 - $9.95
    Avg Sales per Month: 14
    Avg Royalty per Sale (after tax): $4.41

    Royalties received to September 2011 (after tax): $740.88

    This ebook is still selling on Kindle.

    I don't know about you, but I think $740.88 in my pocket for 5 hours work is a good return on investment

    The effect is cumulative. I now have over 50 different ebooks published on Kindle in various niches/pen names. Some do better than others, but the ebook case study above is about average

    By the way - Kindle is not really something I focus on to earn money. I generally try to publish 3-4 a month (12-16 hours) and just keep letting that cumulative effect grow
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    • Profile picture of the author ElleA
      Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

      Yes




      Case study:

      Ebook Niche: Dinner Recipes
      Length: 59 pages (about 5,000 words)
      Compiled PLR recipes
      Total Time (compiling/editing/publishing/promoting): 5 hours
      Published: September 2010
      Pricing: $4.84 - $9.95
      Avg Sales per Month: 14
      Avg Royalty per Sale (after tax): $4.41

      Royalties received to September 2011 (after tax): $740.88

      This ebook is still selling on Kindle.


      Do you include pics of the recipes and is it better to include images/pics to Kindle books?
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    • Profile picture of the author research
      Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

      Yes



      Wrong question - you need to be focusing on ROI (money and time)

      Here are some tips on making profit from Kindle:

      1 - Don't bother re-labeling and selling PLR eBooks - most are either junk or already flooding Kindle.

      2 - Every time you write an article/blog post/forum post/email on a topic - save it under a folder on that topic. Glace at the folders each month to see what topics you have gathered a fair bit of content on, then throw it together into an eBook and publish. That way you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours to compile.

      3 - Compile good quality PLR articles on a topic, then throw them together into an eBook and publish. Again you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours.

      4 - Always price below $10 so you get 70% royalty.

      5 - Create your own cover. Just grab a royalty free image and write your heading/author details on it. You can do this in under 10 minutes.

      5 - Send in form to get tax reduction.

      5 - Also upload your ebook to Smashwords to get extra sales. Takes about 10 minutes.

      6 - Promote! Twitter, Facebook, your blog posts, forum signature links, sidebar of your blog, at the end of your ebook put links to your other ebooks, write a guest post on a blog on your topic and have your link included.

      I can usually get an ebook done and promoted within 4 hours. The amount per sale is low, but it is genuinely passive income as once you publish (on an evergreen topic) you continue getting sales months/years later.

      Case study:

      Ebook Niche: Dinner Recipes
      Length: 59 pages (about 5,000 words)
      Compiled PLR recipes
      Total Time (compiling/editing/publishing/promoting): 5 hours
      Published: September 2010
      Pricing: $4.84 - $9.95
      Avg Sales per Month: 14
      Avg Royalty per Sale (after tax): $4.41

      Royalties received to September 2011 (after tax): $740.88

      This ebook is still selling on Kindle.

      I don't know about you, but I think $740.88 in my pocket for 5 hours work is a good return on investment

      The effect is cumulative. I now have over 50 different ebooks published on Kindle in various niches/pen names. Some do better than others, but the ebook case study above is about average

      By the way - Kindle is not really something I focus on to earn money. I generally try to publish 3-4 a month (12-16 hours) and just keep letting that cumulative effect grow


      >>>>> Excellent post . . . interesting and informative

      I just really need to master how you are able to produce and create and then simply throw it together into an eBook and publish.

      I don't seem to be throwing correctly.
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    • Profile picture of the author OutSourCed
      Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

      Yes



      Wrong question - you need to be focusing on ROI (money and time)

      Here are some tips on making profit from Kindle:

      1 - Don't bother re-labeling and selling PLR eBooks - most are either junk or already flooding Kindle.

      2 - Every time you write an article/blog post/forum post/email on a topic - save it under a folder on that topic. Glace at the folders each month to see what topics you have gathered a fair bit of content on, then throw it together into an eBook and publish. That way you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours to compile.

      3 - Compile good quality PLR articles on a topic, then throw them together into an eBook and publish. Again you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours.

      4 - Always price below $10 so you get 70% royalty.

      5 - Create your own cover. Just grab a royalty free image and write your heading/author details on it. You can do this in under 10 minutes.

      5 - Send in form to get tax reduction.

      5 - Also upload your ebook to Smashwords to get extra sales. Takes about 10 minutes.

      6 - Promote! Twitter, Facebook, your blog posts, forum signature links, sidebar of your blog, at the end of your ebook put links to your other ebooks, write a guest post on a blog on your topic and have your link included.

      I can usually get an ebook done and promoted within 4 hours. The amount per sale is low, but it is genuinely passive income as once you publish (on an evergreen topic) you continue getting sales months/years later.

      Case study:

      Ebook Niche: Dinner Recipes
      Length: 59 pages (about 5,000 words)
      Compiled PLR recipes
      Total Time (compiling/editing/publishing/promoting): 5 hours
      Published: September 2010
      Pricing: $4.84 - $9.95
      Avg Sales per Month: 14
      Avg Royalty per Sale (after tax): $4.41

      Royalties received to September 2011 (after tax): $740.88

      This ebook is still selling on Kindle.

      I don't know about you, but I think $740.88 in my pocket for 5 hours work is a good return on investment

      The effect is cumulative. I now have over 50 different ebooks published on Kindle in various niches/pen names. Some do better than others, but the ebook case study above is about average

      By the way - Kindle is not really something I focus on to earn money. I generally try to publish 3-4 a month (12-16 hours) and just keep letting that cumulative effect grow
      Thanks Jamie. That's $997 worth of information. I kid you not.
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    • Profile picture of the author plongmire
      Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

      Yes



      Wrong question - you need to be focusing on ROI (money and time)

      Here are some tips on making profit from Kindle:

      1 - Don't bother re-labeling and selling PLR eBooks - most are either junk or already flooding Kindle.

      2 - Every time you write an article/blog post/forum post/email on a topic - save it under a folder on that topic. Glace at the folders each month to see what topics you have gathered a fair bit of content on, then throw it together into an eBook and publish. That way you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours to compile.

      3 - Compile good quality PLR articles on a topic, then throw them together into an eBook and publish. Again you are not spending any time producing content, just some minor editing/formatting. This should take a max of about 3 hours.

      4 - Always price below $10 so you get 70% royalty.

      5 - Create your own cover. Just grab a royalty free image and write your heading/author details on it. You can do this in under 10 minutes.

      5 - Send in form to get tax reduction.

      5 - Also upload your ebook to Smashwords to get extra sales. Takes about 10 minutes.

      6 - Promote! Twitter, Facebook, your blog posts, forum signature links, sidebar of your blog, at the end of your ebook put links to your other ebooks, write a guest post on a blog on your topic and have your link included.

      I can usually get an ebook done and promoted within 4 hours. The amount per sale is low, but it is genuinely passive income as once you publish (on an evergreen topic) you continue getting sales months/years later.

      Case study:

      Ebook Niche: Dinner Recipes
      Length: 59 pages (about 5,000 words)
      Compiled PLR recipes
      Total Time (compiling/editing/publishing/promoting): 5 hours
      Published: September 2010
      Pricing: $4.84 - $9.95
      Avg Sales per Month: 14
      Avg Royalty per Sale (after tax): $4.41

      Royalties received to September 2011 (after tax): $740.88

      This ebook is still selling on Kindle.

      I don't know about you, but I think $740.88 in my pocket for 5 hours work is a good return on investment

      The effect is cumulative. I now have over 50 different ebooks published on Kindle in various niches/pen names. Some do better than others, but the ebook case study above is about average

      By the way - Kindle is not really something I focus on to earn money. I generally try to publish 3-4 a month (12-16 hours) and just keep letting that cumulative effect grow
      This is a great post...and a very effective model to follow. thank you for this post...
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  • Profile picture of the author jerry25
    I have some books out on kindle and was up to $150 month average. Then Kindle decided that some of my topics had too many books. They discontinued several books that were selling well. I had used PLR and rewrote the material. However, you could tell that other people took the PLR book/cover and didn't change a thing. This made it bad for everyone.

    Now I am consistently pulling in $35 month. I will still write books and put them out there, but I do better research on my topics before I submit books. I also make sure that I use PLR for ideas only. The content needs to be original, or kindle will not publish your books.
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    • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
      Originally Posted by jerry25 View Post

      I have some books out on kindle and was up to $150 month average. Then Kindle decided that some of my topics had too many books. They discontinued several books that were selling well. I had used PLR and rewrote the material. However, you could tell that other people took the PLR book/cover and didn't change a thing. This made it bad for everyone.

      Now I am consistently pulling in $35 month. I will still write books and put them out there, but I do better research on my topics before I submit books. I also make sure that I use PLR for ideas only. The content needs to be original, or kindle will not publish your books.
      Kindle has to take these steps because of all the low quality content, repeat content and spammers.

      Good for them.

      Everyone should write their own unique content. The WWW is becoming a big garbage dump because of this.

      Just a little rant.....
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      • Profile picture of the author Canuckystan
        In my experience, forget fiction unless you have a great love for writing fiction and tons of time to promote and a very long timeline to make money. Fiction is really tough to make money with. I've got a fiction book up with a 4.5 of 5 star review, "like" clicks, lots of great written reviews and I'm at about 10-20 books per month. 4 hours of day marketing and I can hit 70 books per month.

        If you're looking to make money, write non-fiction with good keywords that people will find and buy. With fiction, a lot of people are browsing and it's often only chance if they find you. Or they buy on word of mouth, but you need a lot mouths for that to work for you.
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        • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
          Originally Posted by Canuckystan View Post

          In my experience, forget fiction unless you have a great love for writing fiction and tons of time to promote and a very long timeline to make money. Fiction is really tough to make money with. I've got a fiction book up with a 4.5 of 5 star review, "like" clicks, lots of great written reviews and I'm at about 10-20 books per month. 4 hours of day marketing and I can hit 70 books per month.

          If you're looking to make money, write non-fiction with good keywords that people will find and buy. With fiction, a lot of people are browsing and it's often only chance if they find you. Or they buy on word of mouth, but you need a lot mouths for that to work for you.
          I always stick with non-fiction. Instructional type Kindle books sell best for me (eg. recipe books, how to guides, etc).

          Overall the fiction writers I have met write more for the love of writing than thinking about the $ side of it
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          • Profile picture of the author ElleA
            Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

            I always stick with non-fiction. Instructional type Kindle books sell best for me (eg. recipe books, how to guides, etc).
            Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of uploading some romance-style short stories, but now, I'm sticking to how to guides.

            I did publish one book on a technical how-to guides and sold a couple copies every month on Kindle. It was my own work and thought I'd just test the water a bit. Forgot all about the book and after a couple of months later, surprised to see that it did have a bitty audience, minus any promos.
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            • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
              Originally Posted by ElleA View Post

              Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of uploading some romance-style short stories, but now, I'm sticking to how to guides.

              I did publish one book on a technical how-to guides and sold a couple copies every month on Kindle. It was my own work and thought I'd just test the water a bit. Forgot all about the book and after a couple of months later, surprised to see that it did have a bitty audience, minus any promos.
              If you have already written your short stories you can upload them to Kindle. You could also use them for promotion by uploading them to fiction self-publishing sites

              Most how-to guides tend to be evergreen (if not about technology or software). They are also easier to promote.

              Two easy and effective ways to promote your how-to guides are:

              Yahoo Answers
              Do searches for your topic, provide basic answers to questions and link to your book for more info.

              InboxQ (Twitter)
              Do searches for questions on your topic, provide basic answers to questions and link to your book for more info.

              Some advantages of using these methods:
              - Increases traffic
              - Increases sales
              - Helps build your list (Twitter Followers)
              - Raises your reputation in your niche
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              • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
                Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

                If you have already written your short stories you can upload them to Kindle. You could also use them for promotion by uploading them to fiction self-publishing sites

                Most how-to guides tend to be evergreen (if not about technology or software). They are also easier to promote.

                Two easy and effective ways to promote your how-to guides are:

                Yahoo Answers
                Do searches for your topic, provide basic answers to questions and link to your book for more info.

                InboxQ (Twitter)
                Do searches for questions on your topic, provide basic answers to questions and link to your book for more info.

                Some advantages of using these methods:
                - Increases traffic
                - Increases sales
                - Helps build your list (Twitter Followers)
                - Raises your reputation in your niche
                Interesting, I had not heard of InboxQ.

                Just to say though, be careful with any promotion you do on Yahoo Answers. Not only has Yahoo been known to close Yahoo Answers accounts, but they have sometimes closed the email and groups associated with that account. So you could potentially lose your mail and groups you are a member of.
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                Pen Name + 8 eBooks + social media sites 4 SALE - PM me (evergreen beauty niche)

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        • Profile picture of the author cashcow
          Originally Posted by Canuckystan View Post

          In my experience, forget fiction unless you have a great love for writing fiction and tons of time to promote and a very long timeline to make money. Fiction is really tough to make money with. I've got a fiction book up with a 4.5 of 5 star review, "like" clicks, lots of great written reviews and I'm at about 10-20 books per month. 4 hours of day marketing and I can hit 70 books per month.

          If you're looking to make money, write non-fiction with good keywords that people will find and buy. With fiction, a lot of people are browsing and it's often only chance if they find you. Or they buy on word of mouth, but you need a lot mouths for that to work for you.
          Have you read the John Locke book and applied his techniques? The books which he sold 1 million copies of were fiction and he is, by his own admission, not that great of a writer - lol.

          Lee
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          Gone Fishing
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  • Profile picture of the author wealth2moms
    Hi,

    I am making some money on Kindle and will now start uploading to Nook. It is passive income. You can promote your Kindle Book through RSS promotion and that will help.
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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    I am a little confused, I thought Amazon cracking down on PLR ebooks
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert H Cwik
      Originally Posted by onegoodman View Post

      I am a little confused, I thought Amazon cracking down on PLR ebooks
      They just do not accept duplicate content, so to say. Lot's of folks took a PLR, slammed a cover on it, and off you go. This flooded the place with hundreds of copies of the same book. So you have to be more creative.

      My last published e-books were pure PLR, but I made them combining and editing articles and obtaining 100% original content.

      Apart from that you can try your hand with public domain e-books. Yes, they are accepted if they meet one of three conditions:

      1. (Translated) - A unique translation
      2. (Annotated) - Contains annotations (unique, hand-crafted additional content including study guides, literary critiques, detailed biographies, or detailed historical context)
      3. (Illustrated) - Includes 10 or more unique illustrations relevant to the book

      Books that meet this criteria must include (Translated), (Annotated), or (Illustrated) in the title field.

      As easy as that
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    • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
      Originally Posted by onegoodman View Post

      I am a little confused, I thought Amazon cracking down on PLR ebooks
      Well let's hope so. We all want quality and unique content. I'm sure Amazon does also
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      • Profile picture of the author mrbanks
        I finally hit the $100 mark on both my Kindle ebooks this month. It took since April to do it. It was done completely through Organic results. I did absolutely nothing to market or promote them.

        I didn't do any of the writing myself, although I did write the outline. I found an expert on the subject to do that for me. Pretty much the only work I put into it was write and outline, sent a few emails, and editing. Then uploaded to Amazon.

        This was my first attempt to try and test a theory I had and it worked out well. It's not a lot right now but over time it will do very well because it is an evergreen topic.

        Now that I have a proven strategy I just need to rinse and repeat!

        I don't think the answer is to rewrite crap (which is pretty much what PLR's are). I don't think the answer is to rush your content. If you provide quality content that people will find useful, you will see a return.
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        • Profile picture of the author edlewis
          I've done fairly well on Kindle, although I think starting the way I did helped me.

          I started off publishing print books on Amazon thru CreateSpace - almost exclusively public domain content, although I did publish a few projects of my own to kinda "try it out".

          The thing I learned in that process was how to create quality books.

          Because the content was PD, I only really had to focus on the other things of the book - layout, adding extra content like introductions or forewords, designing covers, and writing descriptions for the product.

          I think having those abilities helped me immensely when I moved over to Kindle.

          That and learning how to research on Amazon. I became obsessed with publishing and would just browse Amazon for hours on end - sounds crazy, I know. But over time I started to see what books sold better than others...and start to understand why.

          Nothing I did in publishing was new or ground-breaking....I just really engulfed myself in learning how and why things worked...and what worked...and then I started doing those same things....or something similar.


          I still remember what drove me to publish my first original Kindle ebook.

          I was browsing Kindle trying to learn some things and saw an ebook I thought was interesting. It was cheap, so I bought it and read it...

          And I wasn't very impressed...

          All I could think in my head was, "Man, I could write a better ebook on this topic than this."

          From my work on CreateSpace, I also knew I could create a better cover.

          So I did...
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  • Profile picture of the author research
    Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    Hey,

    I just wanted to ask this question:

    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?

    It is a hot topic, but I don't know anybody who would be making money with these little books.

    If somebody is making money with that, could you reveal us how much you're making?

    I am already making money from internet marketing and I am really curious about Kindle books, but I don't think it is worth my time.

    What do you think?

    Thanks,
    Matt Poc
    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?

    Do you have to offer your Kindle & Kin ebooks on Amazon? Does Amazon have the marketplace all sewn up.

    Are there no alternative successful markets to offer ereader ebooks?

    If the rules and regulations of Amazon do not meet the needs of the wealth of potential marketers, surely there are different routes that may prove more satisfactory.

    I would like to hear about any alternative ereader ebook markets that you have had experience with . . .

    Be seeing you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert H Cwik
    I'll be blunt and honest: yes, I do earn money from kindle e-books, although I have only a few of them published now. I just did it as a test, setting prices really low, so my earnings are minute, but I sell around 10 copies a month, earning around $25 month in month out
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    • Profile picture of the author J Bold
      Originally Posted by onegoodman View Post

      I am a little confused, I thought Amazon cracking down on PLR ebooks
      As far as I know, they have. There are probably still some out there. I am not sure which post you are reading, as this is like a 6 month old topic. It's been maybe some time in the summer that I started hearing about this? So, yeah, not a good strategy to take. Original content is what they want, which shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone!

      Originally Posted by robertcwik View Post

      I'll be blunt and honest: yes, I do earn money from kindle e-books, although I have only a few of them published now. I just did it as a test, setting prices really low, so my earnings are minute, but I sell around 10 copies a month, earning around $25 month in month out
      That's cool, because it sounds pretty scalable. If you had a few hundred on there you could be making a nice passive income, whether significant or extra money.

      I really really want to get into publishing Kindle books but haven't yet. I'm interested in the passive income potential. It sounds pretty huge. It would take a lot of work though. Imagine if someone could stick at it for a year, adding a book a day (short books obviously) and then when you build up some income, paying others to write short books for you. I think the potential is there for a full-time passive income once you reach that point.
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  • Profile picture of the author zamzung
    It's possible to make money with Kindle ebooks... I would even say that's a funny question because there is a lot of authors on Kindle and they are making money, especially those that are in top 100 of bestseller list... so, it is quite logical that it's possible to make money with Kindle ebooks...

    The thing here is that people on The Warrior forum and other forums are looking for some type of "magic bullet" that will put money in their account immediately... if that doesn't happen then "programs teaching you making money with Kindle are garbage"... that's not true... some WSOs on Kindle publishing were more than great!

    Therefore, suggestion is to take your time and learn how to publish Kindle ebooks and how to make money with them... someone obviously said that it's easy to make money with Kindle, because you don't need to do any promotion, Amazon already have traffic, etc ... in most cases, bull****... you have to do promotion like with any other website or product... there are many factors included in how well will you perform on Kindle...
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  • Profile picture of the author WBO
    I think there's a lot of money to be made publishing using the Kindle and could really take off. Richard Bullivant makes £1,000 a month doing this and i think he's releasing a product on how to do it soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author edward180
    If you check the competition for Kindle e-books through Amazon then, I think that will give you the answer. The competition is ferocious with it being their best selling product and you're better putting your efforts in to other items.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pinkysoll
    Banned
    I've been thinking about checking out the kindle market one way or the other. Maybe I'll give it some research time and see what i come up with.

    Kindle seems to be a growing market not only for kindle book writer and marketers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Terri LC
    I agree with those who say, take off your IM hat and write a short story, (then put it back on) for those more creative types here....I'm preparing my 1st ebook for Kindle for that ' women who watch Oprah crowd'...the kindle and other tablets are not going away so you may as well get in the game.

    Ken Hicks has a great Kindle Publishing package that I found very useful, which you can sell as your own product and/or use for yourself complete with your own landing pages, blog theme, blueprints, etc.

    Amazon now promotes your ebooks in the U.S., Canada, the UK and now France....that's ALOT of readers out there downloading content....yes, reports are a great idea too!

    Cheers,
    Terri
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    • Profile picture of the author research
      Not only, but also

      I would like to hear about any alternative ereader ebook
      markets that you have had experience with . . .
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      • Profile picture of the author nubchai
        Just a couple of thoughts here

        1. When you sell an e-book on Kindle one way to increase sales is to get good reviews. If you publish revamped PLR or even public domain material you run the risk of bad reviews. I always look at the Kindle reviews before buying. So if you don't want a bad brand for your real name or if you don't want to torch a pseudonym then publish quality material.

        2. I just got the John Locke book but haven't read it yet. John Locke is a fiction writer and his books don't float my boat. But with fiction there are writing styles that people will buy even if they're not stellar. John Locke and Joe Konrath are examples of fiction writers who really know how to successfully self-promote their books. For the average fiction writer you'll probably make more through self publishing (at the 70% level) than you would with a traditional publishing house. But the key is the ability to write a good story, sales, self-promtion and generating word of mouth interest

        3. I also saw that Kindle webinar by the guy who's selling a $1000 course. One of his "bonuses" is the ability to pay in 3 easy installments lol. That went in my trash bin too
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        • Profile picture of the author research
          Originally Posted by nubchai View Post

          Just a couple of thoughts here

          1. When you sell an e-book on Kindle one way to increase sales is to get good reviews. If you publish revamped PLR or even public domain material you run the risk of bad reviews. I always look at the Kindle reviews before buying. So if you don't want a bad brand for your real name or if you don't want to torch a pseudonym then publish quality material.

          2. I just got the John Locke book but haven't read it yet. John Locke is a fiction writer and his books don't float my boat. But with fiction there are writing styles that people will buy even if they're not stellar. John Locke and Joe Konrath are examples of fiction writers who really know how to successfully self-promote their books. For the average fiction writer you'll probably make more through self publishing (at the 70% level) than you would with a traditional publishing house. But the key is the ability to write a good story, sales, self-promtion and generating word of mouth interest

          3. I also saw that Kindle webinar by the guy who's selling a $1000 course. One of his "bonuses" is the ability to pay in 3 easy installments lol. That went in my trash bin too


          I don't know if you are aware of it, but if you get yourself over to Fiverr you can have as many good reviews for your Kindle Book publications, just as long as you are prepared to pay for them.

          There are folk over at Fiverr who will buy you "book" and submit a 5 STAR review for you.

          It's one way to go . . . .
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          • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
            I don't know if you are aware of it, but if you get yourself over to Fiverr you can have as many good reviews for your Kindle Book publications, just as long as you are prepared to pay for them.

            There are folk over at Fiverr who will buy you "book" and submit a 5 STAR review for you.
            According to FTC regulations, if you pay someone for a review it must be disclosed, and that pretty much makes this method useless, not to mention also unethical.

            Marcia Yudkin
            Signature
            Check out Marcia Yudkin's No-Hype Marketing Academy for courses on copywriting, publicity, infomarketing, marketing plans, naming, and branding - not to mention the popular "Marketing for Introverts" course.
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            • Hi,

              I'd like to add to the discussion about paid reviews.

              I don't think that noting that a review was paid for or based on a free review copy would necessarily render the review useless. Book reviewers just don't normally note any kind of connection.

              In the publishing world, providing free copies for review is a standard practice. Book reviewers receive free copies, professors and teachers receive free review copies of textbooks, etc. Also, the publications in which the reviews appear often have advertisements placed by the publishers, so there is arguably a material connection between the two.

              One reason that this practice is acceptable in the publishing world may be that books are not considered "products" in some legal respects. For example, books are not subject to product liability in the same way that other products are.

              When reading the FTC guide regarding endorsements, I note the guide refers to "products." Books may not fall under the umbrella of products for the purposes of the FTC Guides.

              Sorry if I sound too much like a lawyer here. Not trying to be overly legalistic, but the fact that books are not subject to traditional product liability is an important feature in my opinion. This makes book publishing an attractive business from a liability perspective.

              Also, the FTC refers to advertising for the seller of the product. It isn't clear to me from the FTC guidelines that the rules apply to an author that buys a review for publication on a website operated by another company (e.g., Amazon). Of course, I can see the connection, but I'm not sure that the rules reach the author.

              Steve
              Signature

              Steve Aycock, Patent Attorney
              Cygnet IP Law, P.A.
              Patents ~ Trademarks ~ Copyrights
              Visit my website to learn how to get a patent.
              or call 863-514-8077 Office: Lakeland, FL

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  • Profile picture of the author mhdeaton
    Theres a kindle book called "how i sold a million books" and this guy sells thousands of books a month for the kindel. He writes a lot and i think mostly its about developing a fanbase - people that are guaranteed to order your new releases its by john locke and its a great read
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  • Profile picture of the author eskimoto
    i think Kindle is great for fiction. There is too much crap when it comes to non fiction ebooks. Also the competition is very tight.
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  • Profile picture of the author tracy821
    What I've seen is that Amazon, or anything else for that matter, is that it's just one part of a strategy to make money online. Once you find a niche, you work it into a brand, and get as much exposure to sell it as possible. Each venue provides trickles which eventually lead to streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.

    After quite some time, I have finally found my footing and am starting to make those trickles pay.
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  • Profile picture of the author avikaye
    Just a quick word - as someone who has been selling a book via Kindle for the past couple of months now, I'm doing everything I can to move over to Blurb, or Lulu, or any other place that doesn't take such a hefty percent of the profits. In my case, most of the sales are made from word-of-mouth or my marketing, and much less via organic search, so it makes more sense for me (not sure how many searches lead people to Lulu).
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  • Profile picture of the author Alohatom
    I tried Kindle through a WSO and while the WSO was great the sales were terrible...as the idea was to basically re-write PLR on topics that had been beaten to death...So I abandonned this fairly quickly...doing much better with Jan Roos type review sites using ClickBump Amazonia theme...hope this helps.
    Signature

    "Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about." ~ Benjamin Franklin

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  • Profile picture of the author giseo
    How much are you selling your Kindle books for on average?
    Signature

    Tired about blogging about tedious subjects like blue widgets and four slice toasters? Learn how to have fun and profit blogging about a continually growing massive multi-billion industry. Find out how to do it for only $5 here!

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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    I'm certainly making money.....the nice thing is that once the book is written its all autopilot. I have noticed that even with 9 books listed on Amazon, only 3 really contribute to those earnings. the other thing is that the earnings do slowly increase over time. So yes, it is possible to make money!
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  • Profile picture of the author kdb1001
    I wrote a nonfiction eBook this past July and published it on Amazon and Smashwords. I have since sold 33 copies. I suspect that the secret to making big money with eBooks is to publish a bunch of them. That way all the small amounts could equal big money in aggregate. I have heard that non-fiction eBooks sell better than fiction.
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    • Profile picture of the author netcowboy
      Originally Posted by kdb1001 View Post

      I wrote a nonfiction eBook this past July and published it on Amazon and Smashwords. I have since sold 33 copies. I suspect that the secret to making big money with eBooks is to publish a bunch of them. That way all the small amounts could equal big money in aggregate. I have heard that non-fiction eBooks sell better than fiction.
      Karen, you have the right idea. I'm creating one kindle book every week and you never know which one is going to take off. I have one fiction novel and the rest are non-fiction. Both do well for sales. I'm compiling a bunch of my fiction short stories now and they will go up next.

      While the amount of books is important to get a lot of sales, quality is critical. You will get reviews and they affect your sales so quality of the content should be the main priority. Always create a killer cover with quality graphics. I had one book not selling at all and changed the cover to a better graphic and it sells copies every day now. Remember, once you upload the kindle book you never have to touch it again so get it right the first time and then you can move on to the next one.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    Ty Cohen is meant to be making $30k a month on kindle. Yes I did say $30k...but someone said he has over 800 titles and sells paper backs too.

    He did a webinar with john reese a while ago, and gives out some handy tips.

    Watch it for FREE here => john-reese | Kindle Cash Flow

    Warning it goes for a few hours.
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      Originally Posted by celente View Post

      Ty Cohen is meant to be making $30k a month on kindle. Yes I did say $30k...but someone said he has over 800 titles and sells paper backs too.

      He did a webinar with john reese a while ago, and gives out some handy tips.

      Watch it for FREE here => john-reese | Kindle Cash Flow

      Warning it goes for a few hours.
      He must have totally redone his kindle list of books. At the beginning of the year when he said he making $10k a month it was all PLR and Public Domain books
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      • Profile picture of the author vinvinlee
        Just want to add my 2 cents here.

        Personally, I have enter Kindle Direct Publishing on 5th Dec 2011. Profit till end Dec is $163. (9 titles on $2.99 with 70% and 35% Royalty)

        On Jan 2012, till today units sold are 35 (just check stats), do not know how much I earn till end of week.

        I do not wish to disclose the markets that I am in. Nor any screen shot to proof. Secrets are secrets.

        However, what I would say is to:

        1) Fish where the fishes are.
        2) Fish where not much other people are fishing.
        3) Book Titles either make or break the Sales.
        4) Design good cover. Rotten Cover = Rotten Sales
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  • Profile picture of the author richrowley
    If you do your research well and put good quality books on Amazon/kindle then yes you can absolutely make money.

    Dont even bother with putting up PLR - Amazon are removing them 1 by 1. Put up real and good content, just make sure its what people actually want to read.

    Rich
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  • Profile picture of the author daveyboy312005
    Yeah! Amazon doesn't allow MRR or PLR products on their site. So you need to rewrite/render them as your own if you want to go that route. It also doesn't hurt to customize the covers too. Make them stand out more and seem more unique. And its a great way to brand yourself too for any niche and get your books read on mobiles and tablets as well as PC's.
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  • Profile picture of the author kamalmix
    Not me i didnt even try it
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  • Profile picture of the author StephanieMojica
    I'm earning about $20 a month selling an eBook on Kindle. I haven't devoted much time to it, hence why the return seems low.

    I know one of my mentors Kathleen Gage has had huge success drawing people to her e-mail list by publishing free reports on Kindle, so that could be a worthwhile strategy to use.

    Good luck!

    Stephanie
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  • Profile picture of the author Paleochora
    The best way to make money from Kindle books is to find Kindle authors and charge them for helping to market their works more efficiently.

    Like this: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-N...03633939735984

    That's not my book BTW
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  • Profile picture of the author Tadresources
    At lot of the key with making money with Kindle books is to get above the piles of stuff listed in your niche. Reviews, sales and promoting are key to making it anywhere. Having a loyal customer base from a personal site or other source does not hurt things either. The key is persistence and having a popular topic.
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  • Profile picture of the author koaxfrax
    I haven't been here long but I think the same rules apply - deliver value, get results. Good content, a variety of avenues, hard work .. amazon and kindle are just tools ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    There are million dollar authors selling their books on Amazon via Kindle, so yes, people are making money. I also personally know someone who has 9 original books on Amazon, BN.com, and a couple other platforms making a nice, six figure income - it took her 2 years to get there. I'm hiring her to show me the ropes because this is a very viable method of earning income.

    Just beware of the How-To Kindle products out there, I've found most of them to be pretty worthless. Stay away from PLR content. Original, valuable content is going to rule the day here; if you want a long-term income stream.

    RoD
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    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
    - Jim Rohn
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  • Profile picture of the author Ewan1998
    Banned
    Not sure how successful this method would be but here goes...

    Create a small basic site for your books. Include a blog, front page, contact us etc...

    Advertise it on there. Then ask people who own other blogs about eBooks etc to post an article about one of your books. This might attract attention to not only your book, but your website where the rest of your books may be. Simple but possibly effective.

    Good luck.
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    Two years ago I put a book on Amazon Kindle and it only sold 3 copies (no promotion) I then focused on my ghostwriting business and have been making a living doing that. However, I still had the burning desire to write things of my own, so I studied up on writing for Kindle. So far what I have done seems to be working.
    3 1/2 weeks ago I put a small book on there called Death of A Spouse - how to Survive. It was based on my own experience, but here is the key. I did some keyword research first and found that Death of a Spouse is searched for quite a bit, so made sure it was part of my title. With no advertising as of yet, this little book has already sold 7 copies. I had another book that I had been working on for some time about how I research the articles I write for others and get paid. I put it on a couple of days ago and it too is starting to sell with no promotion. The phrase "writers research" is a good keyword as well.

    So the point I want you guys to know is that write something you know about, not plr, or something you have a passion about. But that is just the first part. Then do your keyword research BEFORE giving your book a title.

    My next plan is to learn some marketing strategies for the books as this should help sales even more. If you have a short story or book in you, or even a hundred of them, get them out and share them with the rest of us.
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  • Profile picture of the author ashloren
    I published my eBook on Amazon back in November of 2010 and it has consistently generated between $200-$500 each month since then.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Archer
      I have 3 sons of which 2 are having a friendly competition as to who can sell the most Kindle books. They are both doing great right from the start. Their biggest problem has been how to cash dollar cheques in the UK.
      One of them has done a WSO about his experience too. They are loving it and they dont use PLR to do it
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  • Profile picture of the author Cash37
    Become a real writer and write fiction. Thats what Amanda Hocking (#1 seller, made over a mil) did
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    • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
      Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

      Become a real writer and write fiction. Thats what Amanda Hocking (#1 seller, made over a mil) did
      Just wanted to point out there are plenty of people making really good money by writing non-fiction (or both).

      RoD
      Signature
      "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
      - Jim Rohn
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  • Profile picture of the author Anton Nadilo
    Kindle is a massive opportunity and you can make a LOT (6 figures+) of money selling books on Kindle and the various other ebook platforms. Someone in this thread made the comment that "only author and publishers" make money on Kindle...duh....that is how it works in the hard cover/paperback world of book publishing. Why would it be any different with Kindle? It is a marketplace for readers to buy books to solve their problems not a marketplace for IM Marketers to market books. Once you understand the difference the results will flow like the river Nile. The fundamental reason why people fail to make any serious money with Kindle is that there books don't sell because they are 90% of the time rehashed PLR s**t . If you don't have a passion for what you are writing about and producing quality content you will never make a dime....stop now and go and buy the next "shiny object WSO" that promises instant push button riches!!
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    • Profile picture of the author jbpatlanta
      I just recently published 4 books on Kindle. 2 of them are selling ok. I made $225 in 16 days with them. Not much, but then again, I did not know they would really make any money.

      JBP
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  • Profile picture of the author JamSlam
    Originally Posted by Matt Poc View Post

    Hey,

    I just wanted to ask this question:

    Is anybody actually making money selling Kindle books?

    It is a hot topic, but I don't know anybody who would be making money with these little books.

    If somebody is making money with that, could you reveal us how much you're making?

    I am already making money from internet marketing and I am really curious about Kindle books, but I don't think it is worth my time.

    What do you think?

    Thanks,
    Matt Poc
    I make money selling kindle books. The only way that I have found that works is to publish "hot topics" and then advertise heavily.
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  • Profile picture of the author itrepreneur
    I've got a great niche idea I want to get written and published in the real estate section.

    It sounds like there is going to be quite a bit of promotion involved to make any money.

    It also sounds like I'm going to have to write some other similar books to compliment the

    original one.
    Thanks to all for the great info.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gloria Labbe
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    • Profile picture of the author rodman74
      It's been mentioned a few times here already but I guess I will back it again. If you want results you need to have quality ebooks, not PLR rubbish or 1st grade writing. You can make money from it. I have been starting to make a little money out of it but as it is early days I hope to make more as the months progress.

      It's very true what many have said, you do have to advertise your book heavily or as I did go the keyword specific to write your ebooks. I use googles keyword tool to search specific keyword phrases and find terms that are not too high in competition and obviously not too low either, generally something below 110,000 searches. I then base my book on that phrase and get a HIGH QUALITY ebook written for me. You don't have to promote your ebook so heavily this way.

      Would love to hear from anybody who is doing something similar and share notes.

      Hope this helps you a little.
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      • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
        Originally Posted by rodman74 View Post

        I use googles keyword tool to search specific keyword phrases and find terms that are not too high in competition and obviously not too low either, generally something below 110,000 searches. I then base my book on that phrase and get a HIGH QUALITY ebook written for me. You don't have to promote your ebook so heavily this way.
        Better to look at Amazon's internal keyword search terms to see what people are actually buying on their site.
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  • Profile picture of the author richrowley
    I think its also a good idea to look at popular books and popular topics on Amazon and go down that route or similar.

    Yes there are options if there is a need/desire for a book and none have been written yet, but there's also a lot to be said about copying whats already working. If knitting ebboks for example sell like hot cakes then write one yourself!
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    Does anyone know if getting refunds on your kindle books will get your account banned. I've been on Kindle about six weeks now and doing pretty well but I have had about 10 refunds. I've sold close to 200 books and had almost 4000 free downloads during promotion. I was just wondering if this was normal or if I was missing something. I went back and made sure my descriptions told what the book was about, etc, and even the page length. Also checked spelling and all those good things.

    Oh, I also love borrowing of books. I'm making as much or more off that! KDP select
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    • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
      Originally Posted by RhondaG View Post

      Does anyone know if getting refunds on your kindle books will get your account banned. I've been on Kindle about six weeks now and doing pretty well but I have had about 10 refunds. I've sold close to 200 books and had almost 4000 free downloads during promotion. I was just wondering if this was normal or if I was missing something. I went back and made sure my descriptions told what the book was about, etc, and even the page length. Also checked spelling and all those good things.

      Oh, I also love borrowing of books. I'm making as much or more off that! KDP select
      Refunds are normal and should be expected after a certain number of sales. I regularly get refunds on most of my kindle books and it is always a very small percentage. Don't worry about them...you won't get banned. Just keep producing more great product for folks who like what you offer.
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      • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
        Thanks for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. I have a book I've been working on for a while so it will be up on there soon, which will make my 5th. I am just wonder if I should also be using createspace. This book I'm writing now will only be around 40 or so pages so didn't know if that was large enough for a paperback. But I hear that many authors are making extra money by using this avenue as well.

        Also I would like opinions on the 99 cent sales. I started off at 2.99 and wasn't selling that much but changed to 99 cents for the small books and guides and things have really gone much better. It sure takes a lot of those to make a good sun thought, lol. I will try experimenting with different prices on different books and see what happens.
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        • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
          Originally Posted by RhondaG View Post

          Thanks for the encouragement. I really appreciate it. I have a book I've been working on for a while so it will be up on there soon, which will make my 5th. I am just wonder if I should also be using createspace. This book I'm writing now will only be around 40 or so pages so didn't know if that was large enough for a paperback. But I hear that many authors are making extra money by using this avenue as well.

          Also I would like opinions on the 99 cent sales. I started off at 2.99 and wasn't selling that much but changed to 99 cents for the small books and guides and things have really gone much better. It sure takes a lot of those to make a good sun thought, lol. I will try experimenting with different prices on different books and see what happens.
          I only have experience with novels with a previous POD publisher, but plan to put some of my fiction on the CreateSpace platform. In my opinion, a paper book works better for longer novels and non-fiction topics. Hopefully, others will chime in on this.

          As for the 99 cent pricing. I have permanently ditched this. For me, I'd rather sell 1 book and make a 70% commission than get stuck with 30%. At 2.99, you'll at least make $2 in commissions. You have to sell several at 0.99 to reach the same amount. Just not worth it to me.

          I use 1 FREE promotion day when launching a new title (for rankings). Then, it's at regular pricing at $2.99 and above. My titles are selling just fine. Don't limit yourself or your work to the cheap commissions. People will pay for perceived VALUE.
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          • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
            I've been thinking the same thing. I have sold many books this past week after the free day of promotion and putting the price at 99 cents but i'm not sure it's worth it. I will let those that are already online stay that say because I was learning, but my next book will be a different story. I also have started on a couple of fiction books so I'll be sure and your your book to read as well. Thanks so much for your help.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
    Don't think you need to worry. There are several reasons for refunds besides that they don't like your book.

    They may have accidently bought it. Easy to do with the Kindle. They may have wanted to borrow the book and since it's not clear how to when you are using a PC they may ask for a refund.

    Your book may be fine but the customer is weirld.

    There are many reasons.
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    • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
      Originally Posted by lklein View Post

      Don't think you need to worry. There are several reasons for refunds besides that they don't like your book.

      They may have accidently bought it. Easy to do with the Kindle. They may have wanted to borrow the book and since it's not clear how to when you are using a PC they may ask for a refund.

      Your book may be fine but the customer is weirld.

      There are mant reasons.
      Thanks, that makes me feel better. It is important to me to turn out quality work as well as something that informs or entertains people.
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  • Profile picture of the author Noel Cunningham
    I find Kindle ebooks good for a variety of reasons (building a list being the most prevalent click here for thread). I tend to not concentrate too much on amazon revenue but from the upsides that arrive downline if someone clicks thru and joins my mailing list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ray Charles said
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Kage
    Interesting, most of the kindle product WSO I have seen kind of deal with PLR stuff, so I guess they are misleading when it comes to Kindle.
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  • Profile picture of the author JennyBizz
    I've been making a little money with Kindle and I can see that it has HUGE potential. I am currently working on my next ebook and I can't wait to get it listed!
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  • Profile picture of the author mark33
    Making money with Kindle seems to be the new IM buzz... there is a new "how to make money from kindle" product popping up everyday. Like anything else, the only way to make real money from a low margin product (like selling cheap kindle books) is to have an upsell built into the plan. Even if you sell 100,000 copies of your ebook (which is a dream that very few realize), the math just doesn't add up to a lot of profit. Using Kindle to give street credibility and to promote your more expensive products seems to be the best game plan. It is a creative way to promote and get qualified leads...and the price is right! I'd rather make a couple hundred dollars then pay a couple hundred dollars!

    If you look at the returns on using PLR to generate Kindle wealth... there are better ways to spend your time.
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    • Profile picture of the author specialized
      Originally Posted by mark33 View Post

      Even if you sell 100,000 copies of your ebook (which is a dream that very few realize), the math just doesn't add up to a lot of profit.
      Uh... I guess this is highly subjective. Maybe for you this wouldn't be an acceptable result, but I can tell you (and I bet I speak for a whole lot of people) that this would be a fantastic result in my mind. If priced for a 70% author cut, this would be about $70,000---an amount that would absolutely transform my life right now.

      If that amount for you is "not a lot of profit" I sure envy you and whatever else you must have happening. Even at 30%, $30,000 would be a very good result for one book.
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  • Profile picture of the author socialmassmedia
    Hey Guys,

    I have just 1 ebook on Kindle Direct Publishing just to test the waters I make average 2/3 sales per week in kindle US and UK. This is roughly about $40/profit/month on autopilot. I outsourced the creation of it as Im not so good at writing myself and just don't have the time for it. I've just been really lazy with it and can definitely see the potential of bringing in $ if I went and did my research and created a dozen or 500+ like the warrior mmixon

    My advice is this if you do it, if you are going down the PLR route....make it unique. I had mines created from scratch. Im firm believer in quality over quanity and giving value.
    1. First do your keyword research (google keyword tool, market samurai)
    If you have absolutely no idea on topics, products or niches then I would start with looking at particular sections on amazon kindle where ebooks are selling. Also google trends
    2. Get your keyword/phrase down to very specific topic/niche etc
    3. Go to freelancer.com or odesk.com and put up a project for your keyword based on your research.
    4.When listing your ebook on kindle, make sure your keyword/phrase is exactly in the title, description and keywords. Make sure the category is highly relevant to the topic.
    5. Create an eye catching kindle cover (cheaply done on fiverr.com)
    6. Get 2/3 testimonials written for u from fiverr.com
    7. Choose price point carefully, so you get 70% of share rather than 35%

    I hope that helps anyone who wants to do this.

    Hamed
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  • Profile picture of the author Tadresources
    The only way to make money on Amazon is to write high quality work and publish it. Marketers are making ziltch. Even great writers are having problems making money, so I see no hope with a marketer plugging some PLR garbage.
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    • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
      Originally Posted by Tadresources View Post

      The only way to make money on Amazon is to write high quality work and publish it. Marketers are making ziltch. Even great writers are having problems making money, so I see no hope with a marketer plugging some PLR garbage.
      Actually I think the #1 rule is to write a book that is high quality content and is very easy to read. I use simple English, probably at the 8th grade level and no higher unless your writing technical manuals.

      That works best for me.

      Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author John Sweet
    I wrote a book back in 1996 called "How to Make Money backing Horses" and I have sold just under 5000 copies, self published with direct sales at $40 a copy.
    I am now thinking of publishing it on Amazon Kindle and would like to know how to go about getting affiliates to promote it and make thier commission.
    A search in Google with that title is interesting.
    Advice would be welcome, I do have it in a pdf file and I do have around 30 videos which could be put into the book.
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      Originally Posted by John Sweet View Post

      I wrote a book back in 1996 called "How to Make Money backing Horses" and I have sold just under 5000 copies, self published with direct sales at $40 a copy.
      I am now thinking of publishing it on Amazon Kindle and would like to know how to go about getting affiliates to promote it and make thier commission.
      A search in Google with that title is interesting.
      Advice would be welcome, I do have it in a pdf file and I do have around 30 videos which could be put into the book.
      If you are putting it on Kindle then you may wish to alter your price at least to begin with to get the book noticed. Although I haven't really checked to see what similar books are going for. It's a case of getting that 'sweet' (no pun intended) spot where the number selling x royalties given are the greatest.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
    I find you don't need affiliates for the Kindle. Amazon promotes it for you and many websites will post your book ad to get commisions.

    In other words, Amazon provides most of the promotion and affiliates without you lifting a finger. Just write a great book that will be popular.

    Of course you can help it along with blog post and social media.
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    If you want affiliates to sell the book you might want to think about putting on Clickbank by being a vendor. You can sell the book for more on clickbank than kindles in most cases, it's still delivered digitally, and you will have affiliates selling it for you.
    The only way affiliates can sell for you on Amazon is to be an Amazon affiliate which they will get 4 to 6 percent from.

    If you want to sell a physical book then Amazon is probably not the best place to get affiliates
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Ogbin
    PLR articles no more acceptable to be amazon kindle eBook. I think that the best thing is hire someone write a story for you about a category that are so interested such as relationship about 40 pages or so. Create a eye catching cover, title, description and sell it.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Sweet
    Thanks everyone for your feedback, perhaps I would be better to first put it on Clickbank
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Earned my first $80 plus dollars this month and am putting up 4 more titles (non-fiction). What also excites me is that Amazon isn't the only market place. It's the biggest, but there are others out there such as BN.com / Nook.

    There's definitely a lot of potential here. I'm working on my first fiction story that I've been dying to write for years.

    RoD
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    • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
      Way to Go Rod! I started with my first book in January, not really knowing much at that time. Got the check for January a couple of days ago and it was only $10.47. But.....I worked hard and wrote two books in February and two this month (March) and things are looking up. Only one of my books is in the 70% and the rest are at 35% so it takes a lot of books to make anything.

      Last month in February I made $112.00 which was better than the $10 the month before. This month looks like will only be around $150, which is not as much as I wanted, but still better than February.

      This is with low priced books and no marketing, so now I have been studying how to market and have some good ideas for promoting that I will implement in April. I also have a couple of fiction in the works but for now am writing non-fiction.It all a learning experience!
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    • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
      Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

      Earned my first $80 plus dollars this month and am putting up 4 more titles (non-fiction). What also excites me is that Amazon isn't the only market place. It's the biggest, but there are others out there such as BN.com / Nook.

      There's definitely a lot of potential here. I'm working on my first fiction story that I've been dying to write for years.

      RoD
      Start small and build on it. Good luck Rod
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  • Profile picture of the author Vid Yo
    I haven't tried placing my ebook on amazon, nor considered it up to this point, but i have downloaded a whole bunch of ill-formated, ill-written books myself. unfortunately the christmas gift my husband bought is collecting dust right now...
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    I agree with you Chris. Good content and an easy read for most people is important. All my work is original and done by myself. Thanks for your imput
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    • Profile picture of the author maggie2
      I put my first books up on Kindle at the end of January so I didn't make much money in January...somewhere around $10 - $15. However, in February I had 3 active books and one other that had not been put through the promotion program on Kindle Direct Publishing.

      The month of February I made roughly $1600.00 from those 3 books. Then in March I ended up having to delay my promotion program on Kindle Direct Publishing for 2 weeks for a variety of reasons. However, for March I'm on track to earn around $2,000. But don't forget I missed 2 weeks in this month with no promotion. If I had not missed those two weeks I think I could have been looking at around $3,000 for the month.

      I can't give exact figures of course as we're not allowed to do that but those rough figures are understated rather than over stated. I plan to continue to work with my books and grow my readers and also my list. I'm offering a free book at the back of my paid books so anyone who decides to get the free book signs up for my list. I've only had very few unsubscribe. However, I only send out about 1 to 2 at the most emails a month as I don't want to inundate people.

      I do have to say that I've bought a lot of the Kindle WSOs and found most to be useless. Especially the ones that say you don't have to do any work. That just ain't so! I have found that I have to take some time each day to work on my books...not hours, but probably about an hour a day does it. Then I can move on to writing more books or doing other things.

      Marg
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      Marg

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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    Great Job Marg. I wish I had experienced that good of luck. There are so many factors, like what price do you sell your books for, are you promoting them, and is the niche itself the main reason. I didn't make anywhere near what you did and worked very hard to make original books about subjects I actually had experience in and care about.

    Now I'm starting to wonder if we should just pick a hot niche and research and write. Also I don't know how you are working just one hour a day and getting anything done. I guess I'm just slow and maybe agonize over every thing trying to make sure it's perfect. Of course they never are!

    If you don't mind I would like you to share more information on what are the reasons you feel make these three books such a success for you. Are they small, or 300 pages? Do they have pictures? If you don't want to share your secrets, I certainly understand, but hoping you might give us your insights.
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    • Profile picture of the author maggie2
      Originally Posted by RhondaG View Post

      Great Job Marg. I wish I had experienced that good of luck. There are so many factors, like what price do you sell your books for, are you promoting them, and is the niche itself the main reason. I didn't make anywhere near what you did and worked very hard to make original books about subjects I actually had experience in and care about.
      I sell one for $0.99 and the others for $2.99. Did you do any research on your books to find out if books in those categories actually sell? While it is really important to write about things that interst you and that you have some experience in you also need to be in a category that actually has some sales.

      Now I'm starting to wonder if we should just pick a hot niche and research and write. Also I don't know how you are working just one hour a day and getting anything done. I guess I'm just slow and maybe agonize over every thing trying to make sure it's perfect. Of course they never are!
      I guess I need to clarify. What I meant to say is that I now work about 1 hour a day on promoting the books that are already up there. I work many, many hours writing, editing, and proofreading new books. The hour is just my marketing efforts. Sorry I didn't make that clear. You are not slow at all.

      If you don't mind I would like you to share more information on what are the reasons you feel make these three books such a success for you. Are they small, or 300 pages? Do they have pictures? If you don't want to share your secrets, I certainly understand, but hoping you might give us your insights.
      You ask why these books are successful. I think there are several reasons. Here are some:
      1. Understanding that this is not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of business and that it takes work and commitment. This is probably the number 1 reason I have succeeded. I did not take any shortcuts or try to make money without doing something to help create it.
      2. Thorough research to determine if the niche could be profitable
      3. Thorough research to determine who my target reader is and then writing to them
      4. Thorough research to scope out my competition and what they are doing
      5. Picking a topic that I felt would sell in the niche
      6. Good titles
      7. Good cover art
      8. Unique, original, superior content
      9. Hours and hours spent making sure the books are as professional as possible by proofreading, editing, etc. etc.
      10. I love the niche and have written in it before
      11. Understanding the difference between an author and a publisher and also understanding the need to wear both those hats at different times
      12. Support from a Mastermind group in which we are there for one another
      13. Working to get good reviews
      14. Participating in the Kindle Direct Publishing program is probably one of the most important things I did
      15. Keeping on keeping on. Building a back-end business with a website and a mailing list and social media.

      I think that covers most of it. I also had a good teacher who helped me understand the Kindle Direct Program. None of us ever really make it totally on our own. And if you have a good support system in place that really, really helps.

      Hope this sheds some light on it for you.
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      • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
        Thanks so much Marg for your thoughtful reply. I think I'm own the right tract because I did my keyword research for the titles and worked very hard to make sure books were professional and cover art good. I have also used the free promotion offered by Kindle Direct as well.

        What I did not do was check out the competition first(should have) and some of the other things you mentioned. I certainly will do those things in the future. I am certainly glad you clarified the part about not just working one hour per day, lol. I thought at first there was something really wrong with me because writing, editing, research, and formatting take me so much time.

        I just bought my domain name for a site I'm about to build and will be able to help promote my books and books for others on it as well. It sounds like you will go far with Kindle and I wish you great success. Most of all I want to thank you for taking the time to share in length some of the things you do. Today so many people will not take the extra time to help others, yet here on the warrior forum I have met so many wonderful people!
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      • Profile picture of the author frankp57
        Originally Posted by maggie2 View Post

        I sell one for $0.99 and the others for $2.99. Did you do any research on your books to find out if books in those categories actually sell? While it is really important to write about things that interst you and that you have some experience in you also need to be in a category that actually has some sales.



        I guess I need to clarify. What I meant to say is that I now work about 1 hour a day on promoting the books that are already up there. I work many, many hours writing, editing, and proofreading new books. The hour is just my marketing efforts. Sorry I didn't make that clear. You are not slow at all.



        You ask why these books are successful. I think there are several reasons. Here are some:
        1. Understanding that this is not a set-it-and-forget-it kind of business and that it takes work and commitment. This is probably the number 1 reason I have succeeded. I did not take any shortcuts or try to make money without doing something to help create it.
        2. Thorough research to determine if the niche could be profitable
        3. Thorough research to determine who my target reader is and then writing to them
        4. Thorough research to scope out my competition and what they are doing
        5. Picking a topic that I felt would sell in the niche
        6. Good titles
        7. Good cover art
        8. Unique, original, superior content
        9. Hours and hours spent making sure the books are as professional as possible by proofreading, editing, etc. etc.
        10. I love the niche and have written in it before
        11. Understanding the difference between an author and a publisher and also understanding the need to wear both those hats at different times
        12. Support from a Mastermind group in which we are there for one another
        13. Working to get good reviews
        14. Participating in the Kindle Direct Publishing program is probably one of the most important things I did
        15. Keeping on keeping on. Building a back-end business with a website and a mailing list and social media.

        I think that covers most of it. I also had a good teacher who helped me understand the Kindle Direct Program. None of us ever really make it totally on our own. And if you have a good support system in place that really, really helps.

        Hope this sheds some light on it for you.
        Some really useful tips there from someone who is obviously "walking the walk". Thanks for those tips.
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  • Profile picture of the author orssi
    i used to make $$ with it but stop long time ago
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  • Profile picture of the author colinph970
    Nice post and I agree that Kindle publishing is not a set and forget method but then again no real business is. The trick is to spend at least as much time on marketing your titles that you do in writing them. Most people spend far more time writing and very little marketing. Rebalance the equation and you will see far more sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    This is really cool your sons are doing something together. My sister and I both do Kindle books. Although she is a preacher and her are a lot different than mine, we still have fun talking them over.
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    Yes I am making money on Kindle. Many people are & many people are not.

    I went to an Armand Morrin seminar a couple of years back & he touted the idea to put up hundreds of public domain books - I gave it a shot & made immediate cash but was put off by the 60 day wait for payment & I could also see it would require an outsource operation.

    I was distracted by other things. At the time kindle could have been a flop - right like google TV.

    Kindle was not a flop - its exponential & Armand Morrin has probably made hundreds of thousands on it by now.

    I put up 5 new books last week and made $100 off them last week. Those books dont even have reviews yet.

    I will do a few things with them and they shall be bringing in more than $100 per week indefinitely.

    This week I'm using a different strategy to put up 30 related books which are sitting near completion on my hard drive right now. I dont know if they will be a success or a flop but I will put them up during the week and find out.

    Then I have a huge backlog of projects planned for kindle.

    I can work producing Kindle content for at least the next 10 weeks. I will do so.

    I know it will make me more than $1000 per week easy. Plus all the content is mine and can be distributed in about 8 other ways some of which are substantially more lucrative than kindle.

    Just do the work & produce decent content - its worth it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      How come you've got so many books so lined up?
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    Much of it is content I already have - the rest is content I can easily create
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      How do you easily create content?
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      • Profile picture of the author Henry White
        Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

        How do you easily create content?
        Something you already know and can do, something you're genuinely interested in or passionate about - even if you have to do a little further research, you immediately get a personal reward.
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      • Profile picture of the author gareth
        Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

        How do you easily create content?
        Now that is my business ;-)
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      • Profile picture of the author Henry White
        Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

        How do you easily create content?
        Focus on something you are genuinely passionate about and build your niche around that. Passion is the key element. You cannot teach/learn passion; but all the other "necessary evils" you can learn - or learn to outsource.

        And as pointed out already, once you're an established authority in your niche(s), you have your "following" and they will be more than happy to help you build your business through unsolicited reviews and word-of-mouth advertising better than anything you could ever buy. Best of all, they'll actually give you topics for your blog or next project!
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  • Profile picture of the author sloanjim
    Everyone must be making at least $20k+ month because of al lthe WSO's saying so.
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  • Profile picture of the author gotmerunnin
    Hoping maybe all the Kindle people in this thread know the answer to this question:

    If I edit a Kindle book (add an "About the Author" page or something like that) that's already for sale, and has been for awhile, will that affect the rankings I've earned in my category, as well as the position when someone searches relevant keywords?

    Apparently, adding an About the Author page to drive traffic to either a relevant blog or to other related books is one powerful technique that I did not even think about when I published my first books.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
      Lots of useful info here, it's one of the few times I'm really grateful for an old thread being resurrected.

      I'm late to the kindle stuff and only put my first book up a few weeks ago.

      I had absolutely no idea what I was doing to start off with, its been baby steps all the way so far. At the moment I'm now great with uploading, formatting etc, I just need to learn how to market it.

      I've just uploaded an authors bio page, and I'm in the midst of having an authors website created, After that I'm not sure what I'm meant to do to promote it, but I'll get there. I'm writing fiction, (the hot norty kind) and I'm in the middle of writing my second, hoping to get it up within the next couple of days). I'm also using a pen name for my norty stuff.

      A couple of themes running through this very interesting thread which I'd like to comment on.

      Someone mentioned writing for Kindle as a hobby may be best especially to start with. Yup I'd agree, I work with another writer at the moment, she writes the bare bones of the novel for me then I flesh it out, it cost me a couple of 100 bux for the service, but I'm a big believer in delivering quality. I'm useless at getting the original stuff started but even though I do say so myself, I'm damned good at finishing it off. I'm rather proud of our books so far. I've been writing articles etc for years, (And I'm good), but writing fiction sure beats the hell out of writing health articles.

      The problem with Amazon kindle as far as I can see is as usual marketers have jumped on the bandwagon and spoilt it for others by churning out drossy crap. No wonder Amazon want to crack down and get rid of the stink and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned, it leaves the field open for those of us who like to write and offer decent stuff.

      At the moment I've only had 3 buys of my book, I'm surprised I've had that to be honest as I've not promoted it whatsoever, but once I learn the promotional and marketing ropes (and I will) then I have no doubt sales will soon take off.

      My next steps (not sure if this will help anyone else)

      * Finish my authors page, (still debating whether to add a photo or not) and if possible link to my soon to be created author website)
      * Get my second book up and link to the first. (Get started on the 3rd)
      * Get Kay Porter's website up (that's my pen name BTW) and make sure all links etc point to my amazon books
      * Start a Kay Porter twitter feed pointing to my books
      * Sign Kay up with her very own Facebook page
      * Start a blog for Kay

      Any other suggestions would be grafully received

      Cheers
      Kim
      Originally Posted by gotmerunnin View Post

      Hoping maybe all the Kindle people in this thread know the answer to this question:

      If I edit a Kindle book (add an "About the Author" page or something like that) that's already for sale, and has been for awhile, will that affect the rankings I've earned in my category, as well as the position when someone searches relevant keywords?

      Apparently, adding an About the Author page to drive traffic to either a relevant blog or to other related books is one powerful technique that I did not even think about when I published my first books.
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    My mum is 76 & has written novels since she was 40 and never had a thing published. She has I think 5 full novels and other romantic stories . I have been trying to tell her to self publish & I will help her to do it but she knows nothing of the Internet at her age.
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    • Profile picture of the author cashcow
      Originally Posted by gareth View Post

      My mum is 76 & has written novels since she was 40 and never had a thing published. She has I think 5 full novels and other romantic stories . I have been trying to tell her to self publish & I will help her to do it but she knows nothing of the Internet at her age.

      That's very cool - you should get those up there for her! I bet that would really be a kick for her to see those selling on Amazon. After you do that, head on over to createspace and make paperbacks out of them - be sure to order some so she can see her own book in print and hold it in her hands.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kim Standerline
      Oh bless

      Gareth I agree with Lee, please get at least one of them edited and published for her, how wonderful for her to see her name in print and up on Amazon
      Originally Posted by gareth View Post

      My mum is 76 & has written novels since she was 40 and never had a thing published. She has I think 5 full novels and other romantic stories . I have been trying to tell her to self publish & I will help her to do it but she knows nothing of the Internet at her age.
      I think there will always be a market for proper print books, (gosh I hope so anyway), I love reading and much as I like my kindle, I much prefer print books.

      Originally Posted by Des Lau View Post

      I think kindle is still in the premature stage and will only grow as time goes on. Publishing is a massive industry and as the death of the paperback becomes more apparent and the generations adapt, there will be whole new market demand for more products and opportunities.
      I'm noticing a lot more mail about new kindle money making opportunities so I'd imagine there is money to be made. It's actually on my pipeline, so will be watching these threads closely
      Hi Sevaans, yes I will do that, lol what about a wso on how I became a Kindle legend, (that's a joke BTW)

      Been told the twitter probably isnt a viable idea so wont bother with that.

      Bit of hard work at the mo, but hopefully once its all set up then it will all practically run itself with a minimum of work
      Originally Posted by sevaans View Post

      Kim Standerline - It'd be interesting to know how you get on. Do come back and tell us if you've managed to make it into a liveable income stream. It does look like a lot of hard work though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Des Lau
    I think kindle is still in the premature stage and will only grow as time goes on. Publishing is a massive industry and as the death of the paperback becomes more apparent and the generations adapt, there will be whole new market demand for more products and opportunities.
    I'm noticing a lot more mail about new kindle money making opportunities so I'd imagine there is money to be made. It's actually on my pipeline, so will be watching these threads closely
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  • Profile picture of the author sevaans
    Kim Standerline - It'd be interesting to know how you get on. Do come back and tell us if you've managed to make it into a liveable income stream. It does look like a lot of hard work though.
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  • Profile picture of the author QWE
    Originally Posted by webboy View Post

    Yes I am not but not large amounts , I had friend that made over 2000 in sales over xmas
    How many books does your friend have?
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  • Profile picture of the author Elvis Michael
    Kindle is the best thing that's happened to me these past 6 months or so, lol. Like many others, i was just jumping from one WSO to another. One day i decided to put my foot down and start somewhere. So i thought:

    - Ummm, what do i enjoy doing most? I could either work on something that i DONT enjoy, or i could start out with something I consider more like a hobby.

    I love writing. I write for Demand Media and other outlets, so the answer was pretty simple: Let' write some damn books. I put my passion into action and have been making money consistently on the Kindle.

    I have listed many tips, ideas and earnings on my blog (follow sig) if anyone wants to read a bit. Granted, this month my sales have decreased due to some being unpublished and due to an obsession with other projects. Aside from that, though, I plan to continue my ebook journey and see how far it gets me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dean Shainin
      Originally Posted by Diablo2 View Post

      Kindle is the best thing that's happened to me these past 6 months or so, lol. Like many others, i was just jumping from one WSO to another. One day i decided to put my foot down and start somewhere. So i thought:

      - Ummm, what do i enjoy doing most? I could either work on something that i DONT enjoy, or i could start out with something I consider more like a hobby.

      I love writing. I write for Demand Media and other outlets, so the answer was pretty simple: Let' write some damn books. I put my passion into action and have been making money consistently on the Kindle.

      I have listed many tips, ideas and earnings on my blog (follow sig) if anyone wants to read a bit. Granted, this month my sales have decreased due to some being unpublished and due to an obsession with other projects. Aside from that, though, I plan to continue my ebook journey and see how far it gets me.
      Do you mind me asking which niche the books you had to unpublish? Was it the recipe niche? The reason I ask is it looks like the new Amazon slap will be on recipes books...

      Cheers,
      Dean
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      • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
        Originally Posted by Dean Shainin View Post

        Do you mind me asking which niche the books you had to unpublish? Was it the recipe niche? The reason I ask is it looks like the new Amazon slap will be on recipes books...

        Cheers,
        Dean
        Where did you get that information? And could you please elaborate on what Amazon finds wrong with recipe books -- PLR material, copyright violations, etc. ?? What are authors doing with recipe books to upset Amazon?? If you could post more information, that would be appreciated.

        I had recently heard the recipe niche was a good one.

        Thanks.
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        • Profile picture of the author cashcow
          Originally Posted by AprilCT View Post

          Where did you get that information? And could you please elaborate on what Amazon finds wrong with recipe books -- PLR material, copyright violations, etc. ?? What are authors doing with recipe books to upset Amazon?? If you could post more information, that would be appreciated.

          I had recently heard the recipe niche was a good one.

          Thanks.
          Unfortunately a lot of people had heard this and the result is a lot of poorly made recipe books up on kindle. Poor formatting, incorrect instructions etc.. Believe it or not, making a recipe book is one of the hardest kinds of books to make and if you don't know a lot about recipes then the results will be of poor quality.

          This is resulting in a huge backlash among readers and there are a couple of reviewers in particular that will tear apart your book without mercy. Recipe book buyers are now going and looking up your recipe online to see if the recipes in the books can be found online (of course most of them can, unless you are a master chef creating your own recipes and even then there is probably some variation online) and saying so in their review which of course makes the person who authored the book like like a plagiarizer.

          Anyway, Amazon is of course in the business of providing quality books to their readers so its only a matter of time before they put some sort of measures in place for recipe books in particular. Just like they did with PLR.

          It may already be happening because I've noticed some of the poorer books have suddenly disappeared from kindle this past week.
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        • Profile picture of the author Dean Shainin
          Originally Posted by AprilCT View Post

          Where did you get that information? And could you please elaborate on what Amazon finds wrong with recipe books -- PLR material, copyright violations, etc. ?? What are authors doing with recipe books to upset Amazon?? If you could post more information, that would be appreciated.

          I had recently heard the recipe niche was a good one.

          Thanks.
          And probably at least 5,000 fellow Warrior members also heard the recipe niche was a good one. I actually intuited there was going to be an issue once I was already deep into my project and spending money on beautiful covers and creating a couple of quality books that following full copyright law.

          Not just copy past and upload. It was actually a painful process creating recipe books because they are NOT easy when you do things the right way.

          Here is the actual start of their notice sent and I don't want to post the entire notice here...

          "During a review of your catalog, we found that several of your titles contain content that is freely available on the web. Copyright is important to us – we want to make sure that no author or other copyright holder has their work claimed and sold by anyone else."

          END NOTICE

          It looks like this is going to be the next slap. First is was PLR, then it was Public Domain and now it's recipe books from my point of view.

          Plus there were a few WSO's that went into detail about how wonderful, and easy recipes are to publish on the Kindle platform. Since about January of this year there were probably at least 300 people that actual followed some course regarding recipes cookbooks and started uploading them to the Kindle platform. One WSO sold over 3,500 copies from what I remembered a couple months ago.

          NOTE: I'm NOT coming down upon any of the WSO's in any way. Just trying to keep it real.

          Like someone just mentioned in an earlier post, recipe cookbooks are actually NOT easy. I know first hand and co-created the very best quality cookbooks following copyright law, formatting perfectly for Kindle and all Mobile devices. If I showed you the actual books, anyone with recipes cookbooks will know the hammer is going to come down very soon.

          WARNING!

          Now our accounts are at risk of being terminated whether anyone likes it or not.

          Why?

          Because probably about 95% of all recipes can be "found freely on the web."

          It probably will not matter if you follow copyright law in detail like I did.

          It looks like even if every single recipe has been completely re-written and also comments added to every single recipe following recipe copyright law it will still be an issue with Amazon simply because the Ingredients will show a footprint as well as the names of recipes which = freely available on the web.

          The only aspect NOT changed were the Ingredients according to copyright law.

          Almost every single recipe book ever written would be in violation if this were the case.

          Here is what it says about recipe copyright below.

          "Copyright protects creative works (written or artistic). Though we think of cooking as art, that does not make a recipe copyrightable.

          "A mere listing of ingredients is not protected under copyright law. However, where a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a collection of recipes as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection."
          — The Copyright Office of the US Government


          A list of ingredients cannot be copyrighted. An idea, concept, system or method of doing something cannot be copyrighted either. Only the the substantially literary expression associated with a recipe can be copyrighted. To the extent there are only so many ways to say "boil water" it is not creative, or therefore protected as copyright. If the recipe directions or description are a wholesale copy of another person's creative literary expression, they are in violation of copyright. So even if the recipe originated elsewhere, even if the ingredients are still the same, if the directions and description of your posted recipe are in your own words, it is your recipe."

          Read more: Food.com

          END OF COPYRIGHT LAW EXPLANATION

          I think this is starting to get off topic but just trying to help someone avoid future heart ache.

          I'm actually hoping I'm wrong in regards to the next slap part because there are so many fellow Warriors that are doing things the right way that would be smacked along with people that are creating poor quality recipe books and not following copyright law...

          Cheers,
          Dean
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          • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
            Actually thank you very much to all who replied. Three of the books I am currently working on (for a very long time, by the way) are recipe books. I've put a much different spin on putting them together.

            I cook using my own methods that I have developed over many years which are not the usual way, methods, or even ingredient list that most people tend to use, I even cook differently than my own mom.

            My own way and list of ingredients was developed either by myself, or after using someone else's suggestions and rejecting a lot of it, perfecting a lot of it, the next times around. However, as pointed out, there will always be things in common as there are only so many ways to describe boiling a pot of water and other common things.

            Like some of you who are concerned, after a lot of original work, it would be awful if Amazon kicked us out.

            I would also think that the names of recipes which are in common use will be difficult to rename so the reader understands it is one of the recipes they are wanting, just my own version of it.

            Perhaps Amazon will just get rid of the junk that has been put up and keep the cream of the crop recipe books where it's obvious a lot of good, original work and love for food will appeal to their customer base.

            The thing that does concern me with recipes put into book form for sale is the sheer volume out there. It could happen that something you have developed on your own is already out there.

            Will we have to check every recipe title and every ingredient list out there before publishing? Yikes!

            With so many people on this Earth, is it possible there is something new under the sun?
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            • Profile picture of the author Dean Shainin
              Originally Posted by AprilCT View Post

              Actually thank you very much to all who replied. Three of the books I am currently working on (for a very long time, by the way) are recipe books. I've put a much different spin on putting them together.

              I cook using my own methods that I have developed over many years which are not the usual way, methods, or even ingredient list that most people tend to use, I even cook differently than my own mom.

              My own way and list of ingredients was developed either by myself, or after using someone else's suggestions and rejecting a lot of it, perfecting a lot of it, the next times around. However, as pointed out, there will always be things in common as there are only so many ways to describe boiling a pot of water and other common things.

              Like some of you who are concerned, after a lot of original work, it would be awful if Amazon kicked us out.

              I would also think that the names of recipes which are in common use will be difficult to rename so the reader understands it is one of the recipes they are wanting, just my own version of it.

              Perhaps Amazon will just get rid of the junk that has been put up and keep the cream of the crop recipe books where it's obvious a lot of good, original work and love for food will appeal to their customer base.

              The thing that does concern me with recipes put into book form for sale is the sheer volume out there. It could happen that something you have developed on your own is already out there.

              Will we have to check every recipe title and every ingredient list out there before publishing? Yikes!

              With so many people on this Earth, is it possible there is something new under the sun?
              Maybe you could send this to Amazon as that's part of issue. But I think it would be a waste of your time. You can't change something like 'water' to 'wine' in a recipe ingredients list whether you may have developed it yourself or not. Well, maybe if you're a spiritual guru like Jesus.

              Most everything is now available on the web kinda like you mentioned about "something new under the sun".

              And as mentioned in an earlier post about being an authority on food, I went so far as to actually try the recipes and even change my diet and shopping habits. I can't even eat fast food anymore. I've been cooking for well over 25 years and studied and took classes for a while to be a chef but decided I did not want to be cooking full time.

              We were cooking all kinds of healthy recipes and had fun doing it so not all is lost.

              Another thing I'd like to point out is that my books were loaded with how to tips, ideas strategies on ways to follow the type of recipes from actual experience. All 100% original content.

              So the issue comes to mind about Warriors who are NOT trying to scam the system. Why would it be trying to scam the system?

              Most of the recipe books are a far cry from PLR content but I think there is just too many recipes books going up and the fact that the top reviewers with Amazon have the power to get together and seek and destroy.

              There are several top reviewers that are hell bent of getting rid of the inflow of recipe books. On top of that there are actually people paid to seek out and destroy other recipe books with negative reviews because they have become a massive threat to some of the hard cover books.

              With so much money at stake, you're going to see issues between traditional hardcover publishers and the little ol publisher that's able to put a book up without having to go through a traditional publisher. In fact there was a big law suite that was settled with the top 3 publishers for something to do with price fixing.

              It was a big win for Amazon and KDP.
              http://paidcontent.org/2012/04/11/am...kindle-owners/

              And that my fellow Warriors is what some of this is REALLY about. The kindle platform is a BIG threat to tradition publishers and from my point of view are going through a slow death. Actually maybe faster than I realize.

              I could post actual links to some reviews that have the sole intent to get rid of books in the Kindle platform paid for from the BIG BOYS but that would open a real can of worms... You can quickly spot them yourself once you know about it. And they are NOT only in the recipe niche.

              Cheers,
              Dean
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    If you will look at the terms of publishing on KDP you will see they tell you all your work must be original unless it's public domain, and that still has to meet certain criteria. If you are using PLR, or stealing recipes offline that is not good.

    Think about this from the customers point of view. They are paying money for what they feel should be a good books, not something they already bought under a different title name. If Amazon didn't step in and stop this customers would start getting their reading material from another site and no one wins.

    As a writer I"ll admit it bothers me that so many marketers are using this as a money making platform only and not because they love to write....Having said that I understand that it's okay to do so and I'm probably just being a little to pissy about it. I really do understand that everyone is looking for the pie-in-the-sky way to make some extra money. So...please, if you are putting something on Kindle be sure it's something that would either help a person or entertain them, and it's not just thrown together in 3 hours with no thought to the reader.

    If you just think of making money and not about delivering the very best product you can, it will hurt all of us Kindle authors in the end.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ellie Days
    I still remember that I published my eBook on Amazon back in September of 2009 and it has consistently generated between $200-$500 each month since then.
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    I know that recipe books are popular no matter if they are in the bookstore, or on the Kindle. I had thought at one time about writing one but only had a few recipes of my own and just had a good idea that copying anymore would be a no-no So my idea is why not write something similar to recipes but maybe about herbs and spices that go in the recipes. I started to write a book about all the seasonings there are for making Mexican dishes and was overwhelmed with how many. I decided not to write the book so feel free to go ahead and steel, lol.

    There are other niches that also surround the food industry that would probably be very successful. Don't let anything stop you if you want to write, just learn to think out of the box.
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  • Profile picture of the author cashcow
    Well the whole problem with this recipe book thing is that Amazon bans your account first and asks questions later. They have some crazy bot that goes out and if it thinks that your stuff looks like other stuff on the web, your entire catalog is purged and your account banned.

    And I'm not talking about it doing a copyscape kind of thing either, I know people that have had books they wrote themselves - totally unique taken down due to the "similar material as found on the web" thing.

    The whole recipe book thing is crazy and out of control. If you noticed in those reviews, if they even find a recipe thats name is similar to one in your book, they ding you. The assumption is that if they find a recipe on the web -the website is the originator and a lot of times that isn't even true.

    Plus as mentioned above, you can't copyright a list of ingredients for a recipe but the reviewers don't seem to know that.

    Also, to me, a recipe book that compiles a theme of recipes (like maybe all recipes using apples, or recipes that use dark chocolate or whatever) has value even if the recipes can be found somewhere else. It's worth $2.99 for me to have them all in one place as long as they are good recipes and easy to follow.

    Anyway, I feel like the whole recipe book thing is so volatile over there that I have shelved my idea to do a book of recipes based on old recipe cards my mother had in her file. I even paid $85 to have a cover made for it and now it sits on my hard drive since I don't want to risk the rest of the books in my account. Sigh.
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    • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
      Lee I agree with you that if someone takes the time to put together a good book with recipes and pictures that I might pay for that just to find it all in one place too, but Amazon doesn't see it that way.

      I also agree that big corporations are banning and asking questions later. Earlier in the year my Adsense account was deleted and for no reason. In fact they apologized to me and reinstated it. The problem is that Google also controls the You-tube stuff and that account was deleted at the same time with all my videos.

      They told me they could not find my account or videos and I never got them replaced so had to start over. It's sad to say that I got caught in someone else mess, but it happens.

      It taught me one valuable lesson. Don't have all your marketing eggs in one basket. Since that time I market on blogs, kindle, and other places so if one goes away I have others. I still use you-tube but found other videos sites I'm using as well.

      Didn't mean to get off the subject but even for Kindle authors, don't count on that being everything you do. Branch out and see what's out there in the world that can compliment our Kindle Sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
    Marcia, thanks for your reply, putting more succinctly what I actually meant - an act of malice and not just an opinion. I believe in freedom of speech, but not malice. I think I had too much to say and am getting ready to run out for a few minutes, so I really appreciate the correction you made.

    Cashcow, if what you have is a good book, keep the contents. Let's wait this out and see what develops. I can't imagine that Amazon wants to lose out on sales of good cookbooks because of their popularity. Most women and the men who cook want recipes. People would only go to other sites and buy them.

    Some things are surely going to change, have to change and shake out here. In the meantime, I intend to continue working on them, as I said, it's going to be a good while before they are ready. All we can do is watch as it develops and hopefully the situation solidifies into something stable. Surely Amazon is not going to get rid of all the books in this topic, so it will be telling by watching Amazon and taking note of the survivors.

    What choices do we have? Perhaps starting with other sellers and ignoring Amazon as a seller for our recipe ebooks? Publishing in paperback and not ebook format on Amazon, or just ignoring Amazon altogether? Are the other places having the same problem? Amazon is huge and we surely want to be able to use their platform, but they aren't the only game in town.
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    • Profile picture of the author cashcow
      Originally Posted by AprilCT View Post

      What choices do we have? Perhaps starting with other sellers and ignoring Amazon as a seller for our recipe ebooks? Publishing in paperback and not ebook format on Amazon, or just ignoring Amazon altogether? Are the other places having the same problem? Amazon is huge and we surely want to be able to use their platform, but they aren't the only game in town.
      Yep, thats exactly what I was thinking. As far as I know other places are not having the same problems.

      Plus, as RhondaG pointed out, its good not to have all your eggs in one basket so publishing your books on many platforms is smart. Maybe bypassing Amazon for now until everything dies down is the thing to do.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        I have a cooking book on the back burner right now - not a recipe book exactly, but near enough that this tangent caught my eye.

        I think there are a couple of things at work here.

        > The nasty reviews are often done by pretentious wannabes that believe that to review means to criticize, and that saying anything positive is selling out. It's also a chance for frustrated writers to show off their poison pens. It gets to the point where showing off for the other piranhas is more important than the product itself.

        > Couple this with the easy target recipes made for scraper sites and autosploggers. Do a search for a recipe like "chicken pot pie", and copy/paste a ten-word snip covering two sentences into the search bar using exact match ("in quotes"). Odds are, you'll see dozens to hundreds of copies. Now take that same sensibility, scrape the recipes into a book and dump it into the Kindle marketplace.

        It's fuel for a perfect storm - a **** storm, that is.

        Like others have said, I'm just waiting on the sidelines to let the stuff settle before making my push.
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        • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
          Marcia, thanks for your reply, putting more succinctly what I actually meant - an act of malice and not just an opinion. I believe in freedom of speech, but not malice. I think I had too much to say and am getting ready to run out for a few minutes, so I really appreciate the correction you made.
          I'm sorry, but you misunderstood the point.

          Malicious or nasty opinions are perfectly OK as far as the law is concerned. Where someone stated something false and defamatory, knowing that it was false and defamatory, that is where the malice comes in as far as the law is concerned and where someone has the right to sue.

          Marcia Yudkin
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          • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
            Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

            I'm sorry, but you misunderstood the point.

            Malicious or nasty opinions are perfectly OK as far as the law is concerned. Where someone stated something false and defamatory, knowing that it was false and defamatory, that is where the malice comes in as far as the law is concerned and where someone has the right to sue.

            Marcia Yudkin
            Marcia, I think you and I are talking about the same thing, but your explanation certainly makes the point much more clear. There comes a point when things someone says deliberately are malicious (being false) and calculated solely to cause harm to someone and it's not just an opinion.

            In one of my posts above I listed a few things I read that people were saying and mentioned that I did not go look at the look inside feature to see if I could pick up something from that to determine if the mean review from the same screen name(s) was telling the truth.

            Since I am more interested in writing than buying cookbooks, I won't be a buyer to test out the truth of what was said and try to determine a reviewer's motivation. Right now I don't have a Kindle, but could use the PC viewer if I wanted to go to that length to investigate the statements made and I am not going to do at this time.

            One thing I did pick up right away was notice there were some of the same screen names leaving these mean comments. Can it be some people really looking for good cookbooks and just sorely disappointed with the quality of purchases or there are other motives at work? I am definitely looking for patterns here.

            In any event, as I mentioned in one of my posts above, Amazon ebooks might not be the place to start. It will, of course, preclude any book started elsewhere from participation in the special program, but it might be the price paid to avoid the controversy that seems to be brewing over there from more than one direction.

            If you, or anyone else has any more insight or first-hand knowledge as to what is happening to the cookbook section over there and this thread is long gone, I'd be very happy for a private message if you are not comfortable posting in the forums.
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  • Profile picture of the author savesulli
    I have read this thread with great interest and am genuinely impressed by the time and thought given by a lot of people to help other people. I am interested in kindle however would like some help from someone who has published from Australia as it appears that we have different rules regarding kindle. If anyone could clarify this for me it would be much appreciated.
    thanks Sue
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    • Profile picture of the author craig2012
      Originally Posted by savesulli View Post

      I have read this thread with great interest and am genuinely impressed by the time and thought given by a lot of people to help other people. I am interested in kindle however would like some help from someone who has published from Australia as it appears that we have different rules regarding kindle. If anyone could clarify this for me it would be much appreciated.
      thanks Sue
      I'm Aussie. What are these rules of which you speak? Payment/tax issues? Like Createspace, Kindle will only pay you by cheque which your bank will charge you between $10 and $20 to cash.

      On top of that, you're automatically losing 30% of your earnings as US tax withholdings. Apparently the taxation rate issue is too complex for amazon, so they simply hang onto a big chunk of the earnings made by "foreigners" such as ourselves. You can apply for a TIN (Tax ID No.) with the US IRS, but be aware that you'll need to provide them with original primary ID (birth cert/passport, etc.) and it can take 4 weeks to process. Best bet is to call up the US embassy in Can'tberra or the US Consulate in your state and see if they can accommodate a personal visit for you to fill in the forms, get the ID no, etc. Once you have it, you need to post it to Amazon. They'll process it and your tax withholdings will be reduced to 5%. This 5% is a consequence of some tax treaty between Australia and the US.

      There are ways and means to avoid being paid by cheque, but I don't know the details - I'm currently looking into opening a US bank account in a couple of weeks when I visit the Big island, but I'm not even sure yet whether I can. I'll report back.

      apparently Smashwords has trialled a direct deposit payment system for Australian and selected other overseas authors, which is heartwarming. This makes Smashwords a viable alternative to Kindle, especially since they assume that we will look after our own tax withholdings.

      As for the general topic, yes, I have made money. I'm only new at Kindle, but I made over $100 my first month and will aim to at least double that this month.

      Please note that I'm a writer, not a marketer, so this is my livelihood, not a get rich quick scam. I've conquered the print biz, but I'm determined to learn the ropes with ebook publishing in general and Kindle in particular.

      Can't say I'm sorry that Amazon has slapped all the PLR peddlers. They weakened the Kindle machine. If the machine stays strong then everybody benefits - except the PLR peddlers, but by that time they've already moved on to the "next big thing".
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      • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
        Originally Posted by craig2012 View Post

        I'm Aussie. What are these rules of which you speak? Payment/tax issues? Like Createspace, Kindle will only pay you by cheque which your bank will charge you between $10 and $20 to cash.

        On top of that, you're automatically losing 30% of your earnings as US tax withholdings. Apparently the taxation rate issue is too complex for amazon, so they simply hang onto a big chunk of the earnings made by "foreigners" such as ourselves. You can apply for a TIN (Tax ID No.) with the US IRS, but be aware that you'll need to provide them with original primary ID (birth cert/passport, etc.) and it can take 4 weeks to process. Best bet is to call up the US embassy in Can'tberra or the US Consulate in your state and see if they can accommodate a personal visit for you to fill in the forms, get the ID no, etc. Once you have it, you need to post it to Amazon. They'll process it and your tax withholdings will be reduced to 5%. This 5% is a consequence of some tax treaty between Australia and the US.
        Actually, there is an easy way around that. Check out my Warrior thread Tip to Get an Extra 20% Royalties for Australian Authors Publishing Through Amazon or CreateSpace to find out how you can overcome the tax saga in 10 minutes! The tax treaty used to be 10%, but has now dropped to 5%
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        • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
          Update re: Recipe Books

          Yep - Amazon has recently been paying closer attention to recipe books, so PLR recipes are now a no-no.

          However, you CAN still sell recipe books, just need to create them differently.

          Ingredients are not copyrighted, and taking a recipe and adding your own spin to make it unique is what chefs do all the time!

          The new way of creating the recipe books takes me longer (about 3-4 days), but still works out very profitable.

          My old recipe book made from PLR recipes had to be unpublished, however Amazon has no problems with the new recipe book I have published that does not use any PLR.

          The new recipe book sold over 947 copies in the past 6 weeks, and I just recently published a paperback version as well.

          It is in the Special Diets niche... ah heck, I may as well give you the link so you can check it out yourself...

          Gluten Free Recipes for Dinner: Jamie Cawley:...Gluten Free Recipes for Dinner: Jamie Cawley:...

          The Title and Tags are vital to helping readers find your book.

          A good cover gets great conversions.

          For Kindle books that you specifically create for the purpose of making sales, I highly recommend pricing between $ 2.99 and $ 9.99 so that you get that 70% royalty.


          After helping out a bunch of Warriors get started publishing on Kindle I decided to launch a service and blog specifically aimed at getting new writers published and their books promoted. If you're interested feel free to check out Alotta.Info to find out more.
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  • Profile picture of the author brownmarketing1
    I know most posts are old, but I am seeing a lot of products coming out pushing Kindle and I am starting to look.
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    • Profile picture of the author cashp0wer
      I haven't gotten into Kindle just yet but I do know of some close personal friends that are doing very well with it.
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      • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
        Although I don't write recipe books, I know a several people that have and they have met the wrath of these reviews. There is one person in particular that leads the reviews for recipe books (most people in this genre know her name) from what I understand. From some of the reviews I've have been told about she gets nasty.

        That's why I recommend people sticking to fiction for the most part, thats what I do.

        Chris
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        • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
          Originally Posted by chrisg942 View Post

          Although I don't write recipe books, I know a several people that have and they have met the wrath of these reviews. There is one person in particular that leads the reviews for recipe books (most people in this genre know her name) from what I understand. From some of the reviews I've have been told about she gets nasty.

          That's why I recommend people sticking to fiction for the most part, thats what I do.

          Chris
          That wouldn't stop me from publishing an original recipe book on Amazon. I've seen those do pretty well. You can't let fear rule your business decisions.

          RoD
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          • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
            Originally Posted by Rod Cortez View Post

            That wouldn't stop me from publishing an original recipe book on Amazon. I've seen those do pretty well. You can't let fear rule your business decisions.

            RoD
            That's not fear, I just don't write recipe books. I write original content.

            I'm not worried about my business decisions, you shouldn't be either. I sell a lot of books on kindle, I have been doing this fulltime for over 9 months and sales are skyrocketting on what I'm doing.

            Chris
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            • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
              Originally Posted by chrisg942 View Post

              That's not fear, I just don't write recipe books. I write original content.

              I'm not worried about my business decisions, you shouldn't be either. I sell alot of books on kindle, I have been doing this fulltime for over 9 and sell are skyrocketting on what I'm doing.

              Chris
              Point well taken. I've been fulltime for a long time too and you're right, I shouldn't be worrying about your business decisions.

              I'm glad to hear you're doing well on the Kindle platform. It's definitely going to continue to grow. I've been putting up about one book a month and I'm fascinated with the whole tagging, keywords, getting reviews, etc. Amazon is behemoth.

              RoD
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              • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
                Sorry if last post came off as snarky. I didn't mean it to be like that. Just hard in forum to express yourself sometimes.

                Yeah Rod there is a science to it all, I experimented with the whole process many times to get what I have now. I still try new things in the process daily.

                Chris
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                • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
                  Originally Posted by chrisg942 View Post

                  Sorry if last post came off as snarky. I didn't mean it to be like that. Just hard in forum to express yourself sometimes.

                  Yeah Rod there is a science to it all, I experimented with the whole process many times to get what I have now. I still try new things in the process daily.

                  Chris
                  No worries. If anything, I came off that way. I'm cranky when I wake up this early (it's like 6:50 am over here hahaha). So it was my bad.

                  One of the best things I ever did was sign up for KD select and sell one of my short e-books for free for a day or two, as it helps with the whole ranking thing (you get more reviews, more downloads, etc.). I'm learning a lot as I go. There are a lot of little "tricks" within the Amazon system to help one's books rank well and get more traffic.

                  I also hear that putting your e-book in physical format and sending it to Amazon's distirbution warehouse (fulfillment) is also another way to go, they handle all of it for you and you don't have to wait 60 days to get paid. But I'm not quite there yet. I'm juggling too many pins in the air as it is.

                  RoD
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    I'm confused about recipe books anyway because people are slapping them up and the recipes are copied from somewhere else. I was told that if the recipe can be found online for free don't make a book out of it, yet I was on a webinar last night where this guy has a huge recipe book that is doing well. Personally I would not take a chance getting my Amazon account banned by copying recipes or the work of anyone.

    This guy did outsource the book and I don't think a writer would just "know" over 100 recipes off the top of their head.

    hmmmm???
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    • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
      Right Rhonda!

      Unless I was a Chef maybe. I know quite a few people that are writing recipe books, more or less because there to compile and submit.

      Strangely I hardly ever take the easy route, maybe that's why I have been successful with my kindle books.

      Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
      Originally Posted by RhondaG View Post

      I'm confused about recipe books anyway because people are slapping them up and the recipes are copied from somewhere else. I was told that if the recipe can be found online for free don't make a book out of it, yet I was on a webinar last night where this guy has a huge recipe book that is doing well. Personally I would not take a chance getting my Amazon account banned by copying recipes or the work of anyone.

      This guy did outsource the book and I don't think a writer would just "know" over 100 recipes off the top of their head.

      hmmmm???
      Hi RhondaG...I'm doing some recipe books myself and waiting around to see how this all shakes out before rushing to finish them and publish as ebooks. That's okay because I do have some other types I am working on for now.

      It wouldn't surprise me one bit that a lot of ebooks are copy and paste work--easy, profitable, probably in violation of someone's copyright.

      My husband has complained since we were first married that I don't write down recipes while I cook. Since I've been actually measuring what I use and writing the recipes as I do them, it doesn't take all that long to get a rather large assortment.

      I wanted my recipe books to be very different from what is already out there. While I won't divulge what is different and ask for opinions--although I'd love to--with all the negativity going on in the Amazon recipe section reviews and who knows what Amazon will do about it, it just seems best to wait it out on Amazon or perhaps start them, whenever they are finished, somewhere else.
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      • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
        Thanks April for the info. I like to experiment with recipes too but I have never written them all down. I wish you the best of luck because people LOVE recipes, lol
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        • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
          It's good to see so many people making money with kindle books.

          Best advice with any book is to have something that sets it apart from the others in that genre. That will work with cook books also. I have a line of fantasy books that has little or no competition because how they're written. Most people haven't seen anything like them.

          Well I'm headed out in the morning. On a well deserved vacation for the next couple weeks. Yes I will be writing on my laptop while I'm gone, so it's not 100% vacation.

          Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    Well thanks Chris and Rod. I only write original too and I guess it just makes me mad to see someone not writing original material making more money. I just need to do more experimenting and then I can maybe add some zeros to my monthly check. And no matter what the size of the check I sure was happy to get my Amazon check in the bank this morning, lol.

    I wish everyone on this thread the best of luck with kindle and I know that those of use who care about what we put on there will eventually win the race!
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    • Profile picture of the author creativeways
      Hi there,

      I just started out like last month publishing ebooks to kindle.

      And I have started to make money not much but it is a start. I believe that if you keep adding more ebooks to kindle that are quality ebooks well written and to a good audience you will make good money.

      That crap with PLR well people who just add ebooks to kindle from just PLR well I am not into that I write my stuff original and written by me.

      even though PLR can help with idea's for a ebook I would never just take it rewrite and then put out there. I like my ebooks original.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aditeo
    Hey , Jamie tnx for this great ideea :d will give it a try and report back 1
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  • Profile picture of the author lossman29
    I tried the whole Kindle thing a while back. It's really difficult getting conversions. I wouldn't get into it unless you have some serious high volume traffic. Conversion rates are extremely low for this sorta thing, at least they were for me.
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  • Profile picture of the author aaaa33030
    Well without marketing or promotion of any sort, a kindle book I have on "youtube for newbies" sells about 2 a month
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  • Profile picture of the author Suzanne Morrison
    I published my first book on Kindle just over a month ago as a bit of an experiment. It's just a small 5000 word EBook, in a very small niche, but I am surprised at the number of sales that it made without me having to do much in the way of promotion.

    So far after just over a month I am sitting at 94 sales.

    I'm not going to get rich from that little EBook, but I am now working on a second book in a slightly larger niche this time and it will be interesting to see how it sells and if having two related books can increase the overall sales.

    Cheers,
    Suzanne
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    • Profile picture of the author chrisg942
      Originally Posted by Suzanne Morrison View Post

      I published my first book on Kindle just over a month ago as a bit of an experiment. It's just a small 5000 word EBook, in a very small niche, but I am surprised at the number of sales that it made without me having to do much in the way of promotion.

      So far after just over a month I am sitting at 94 sales.

      I'm not going to get rich from that little EBook, but I am now working on a second book in a slightly larger niche this time and it will be interesting to see how it sells and if having two related books can increase the overall sales.

      Cheers,
      Suzanne
      Having two related books or a series of books is a very smart way to increase sales and get your name/pen name out there. It's all about gathering a following for your content. Also don't forget to make a page at the back to link to your other book.

      I only write books in a series of volumes and that does very well for me.

      Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author PhilJensen
      94 sales in a month doesn't sound bad. What is it priced at?

      Phil


      Originally Posted by Suzanne Morrison View Post

      I published my first book on Kindle just over a month ago as a bit of an experiment. It's just a small 5000 word EBook, in a very small niche, but I am surprised at the number of sales that it made without me having to do much in the way of promotion.

      So far after just over a month I am sitting at 94 sales.

      I'm not going to get rich from that little EBook, but I am now working on a second book in a slightly larger niche this time and it will be interesting to see how it sells and if having two related books can increase the overall sales.

      Cheers,
      Suzanne
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  • Profile picture of the author xTrav
    Banned
    My cousin is a writer and told me that most book authors make less than $500 per book. Is this not true? Is he just settling and accepting the fact that his book is no good?

    I feel that thousands can be made on selling your own Kindle books, but like anything else, there is a strategy to it.

    Am I correct?
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  • Profile picture of the author golfer57
    I have seen a bunch of stuff about kindle publishing, does this stuff really work? I have been thinking about doing this.
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    • Profile picture of the author lbradshaw
      I just published my first kindle book last week. I have made a few sales (friends and family haha). The person that I learned from said that in order to really make money from it you do have to promote it through a blog. I plan on getting that done soon as it will be a series.

      I wrote the book myself in its entirety, no PLR. Did all the research on it and put it in my own words and used personal experience. Whether it makes a lot of money or not, I am still pretty proud of it.

      I'm sure that if you use good keywords in your title and book description it will come up in organic search results but it also helps if you promote it yourself.

      Liz
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  • Profile picture of the author bloomingrose
    Working through Geoff Shaw's course on Kindle - which I think is the best out there. Both fiction and non-fiction.

    There also is a woman Deborah Drum who sells quality information on fiction, and Tink who sells some stuff on erotica - all are quality products.

    Have I made money yet? No, because I have not got any books up yet. But that will not be the case by this time next year, as I am convinced in this method of marketing and I am interested in writing.
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  • Profile picture of the author eddywebs
    Changing the cover and title to rebrand the PLR/MRR to sell it at amazon is that viable ?
    or does amazon do a content check against duplicate content in the kindle store ?

    I do understand flooding PLR eBook at amazon is decreasing the quality of overall marketplace (and thats is why they are cracking down on it) however there are some really good eBooks out there with genuine quality advice under the PLR rights, its just matter of digging through the pile and find the right book to sell.
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    • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
      Originally Posted by eddywebs View Post

      Changing the cover and title to rebrand the PLR/MRR to sell it at amazon is that viable ?
      or does amazon do a content check against duplicate content in the kindle store ?

      I do understand flooding PLR eBook at amazon is decreasing the quality of overall marketplace (and thats is why they are cracking down on it) however there are some really good eBooks out there with genuine quality advice under the PLR rights, its just matter of digging through the pile and find the right book to sell.
      Don't do PLR or MRR or plagiarize anyone. You will lose your Kindle publishing privileges. Read all the terms and conditions on any site you want to publish before you do something that will give you such a headache!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sonomacats
    Do NOT simply rebrand PLR or anything else that someone else has written. You won't get far with it.

    However, you can take that material and use it for research. Then write your own. Then it will be original and will pass the Amazon inspection just fine.

    Which makes sense if you want to build a true business, i.e., a publishing house with multiple books - both digital and physical through Create Space. Plus with more than one solid original title, you start getting a following and cross-pollenization which helps you sell more books.

    And don't sell them for .99 unless you're using that as a temporary enticement to get people to check you out. People now equate the .99 price with dreck. Plus, you only get 35% commission on that instead of the 70% for titles priced $2.99+.
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  • Profile picture of the author ImamHariyanto
    Good Idea
    You can run that business and get profit, just be focus and be optimist
    I think many members of this forum have a success guide for running that business
    I am sorry, I am a flipper, can't tell you about the guide

    Imam Hariyanto
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Ten
    Some people are earning lots of money with Kindle books.
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  • Profile picture of the author lerxtjr
    I have a couple of kindle books out there and we've had trickle-in sales for a few months. That process showed us that we'll have a lot better potential success by producing a product line, book series, instead of just one book. So, we have our next "5" ebooks set to launch in the next two weeks while working on the other 20 to be complete and launched throughout the summer. Remember, they don't have to be 300-page works here.
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  • Profile picture of the author anymore
    I purchased a number of courses on the WSO on how to make money with kindle

    After doing a little research on kindle, I can see that most of the best selling books on kindle are romance related books.

    This is not helpfull for me because I can not write interesting points about romance
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    • Profile picture of the author planetlubs
      Originally Posted by anymore View Post

      I purchased a number of courses on the WSO on how to make money with kindle

      After doing a little research on kindle, I can see that most of the best selling books on kindle are romance related books.

      This is not helpfull for me because I can not write interesting points about romance
      You are right, romance and Fantasy sell alot on Kindle. But you do not have to be a writer or know how to write romance to benefit from this. Most successful marketers use what is called outsourcing. You can outsource the writing of all most anything you want.

      A good place to outsource if Elance.com and Odesk.com . So do not let that stand in your way.
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      • Profile picture of the author Zimmerp
        I just became aware of publishing on Kindle

        Great information on the thread.

        Thanks to all
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  • Profile picture of the author WinstonTian
    One of my students is a Kindle publisher, and she's
    published over a dozen titles. All of them are bringing
    in the bacon!

    The key thing is to leverage your skills. If you're good
    at writing, then get into noveling after research.

    No one wants a half-assed story.

    Get an education in storyboarding, screenwriting or
    something along that sort.

    Nothing's easy. I often tell the students who venture
    into writing novels/non-fiction to EDIT. There are really
    two things that matter in the whole process:

    1) The preparatory setup phase
    2) The editing phase

    You need to set up the plot outlines, and all the
    "turning-points", like where to place all the plot points,
    climaxes, etc.

    And then the next thing after you complete the whole
    draft, is to edit... edit over 10 times until you turn the
    coal into diamonds!

    Nothing's easy, as you'll realize once you start writing.

    Winston Tian
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    Winston
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    • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
      Originally Posted by WinstonTian View Post

      The key thing is to leverage your skills. If you're good at writing, then get into noveling after research.

      No one wants a half-assed story.

      Nothing's easy, as you'll realize once you start writing.

      Winston Tian
      The essential question for non-fiction books: Does it inform?

      The essential question for fiction books: Does it entertain?

      One of the biggest stumbling blocks for new writers is ending the 'editing loop'. While editing is important, it is worth limiting yourself to a certain number of edits and then committing to actually publishing.

      When publishing to Kindle, you can always make further alterations later and upload a new version. Obviously, you still want your work to be good, but the writers I have worked with have usually failed to get published because they just keep editing, then editing their edits, then editing that... it becomes a never ending cycle.
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  • Profile picture of the author planetlubs
    Are people making money with kindle? Yes they are. Very ordinary people like me are making money from kindle. And if any one would ask me of the most honest and easy way to money online if you are just starting out, I would tell them kindle. The reason being that, unlike other internet marketing fields where you have to learn alot of stuff to start making any dime, with Kindle, you only have to learn a few things, publish your book (which is also easy) and apply what you have learn t, then the money will come in. It is that straight forward and I do not think it is going any where so soon. You just have to play to the amazon.com terms.

    The only problem is that people think in terms of PLR. That no longer cuts it on amazon because it is deleting them as fast as they can spot them. If you are unlucky, your account goes with the PLR.

    Some people have been copying content from the internet, modify it a little bit and submit it as a book. Now amazon is also coming after that with what they call content freely available online. I am sure many people have got their recipe books deleted.

    What amazon wants now is pure quality not spam content that can be got any where or which has no value. You can easily write this if you dedicate your effort on it. I have some good courses here on the warrior forum that show you how to get good ideas and write a good book out of that. For example some WSOs from Sam England can help.

    You can also write fiction. Though people say it is hard to market, it has always made me the most money. I am not a writer so I outsource everything or 90%. But I do alot of marketing.

    When it comes to marketing your Kindle books, you have to think outside the box. You have to experiment on alot many things to bring traffic to your books.

    Like anything else in life, in order to succeed on Kindle, you must apply your self to learning everything you can about it. Try to look at the Kindle authorities on this forum. You will see that they breath and live kindle. They have put all their time into mastering it. They do not hop from this to that. I am not saying that you should not diversify. Suppose it were perfectly certain that the fortune you seek depend upon your winning or losing a game of chess. Would you consider it your primary duty to learn atleast the names of the pieces and how to position them on the chessboard?

    Lastly, I do make money from Kindle. Not too much as Amanda. But just enough to make me provide the best for my people. But I keep on scaling up and learning new things as the platform and the dynamics change. So, I would encourage you to give it a try.
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  • I hope this isn't lost on anyone, but whenever I find myself getting really bogged down in the details of the how to... I stop and take a breath and simply remember that everything is energy and it is all in alignment. All we can do is just keep planting seeds and wait for them to grow, water them, watch over them, and give them plenty of love and sunshine, one day they will bear fruit. There is no magic formula or secret bullet in this business, unless you have lots of money to throw around... haha Cheers to all those who tend their garden daily, just keep showing up and following the simple directions of the day, no need for us to be chasing our tails... ~ christian locke
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  • Profile picture of the author msu
    Isn't this the same as anything? If you work hard, learn what you need to do and do it you can be a success. Checkout this guy / girl:
    Broke $1000 in one day for the first time yesterday from self-published books. $1001.50. : writing

    Ultimately, if you peddle crap - no matter what the platform - that's not a sensible, long term business plan.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaggieDavid
    Ok the Amazon changes are you can not put up rehashed PLR content! They will come down on you BIG TIME, you can get your account suspended or closed. If it can be found freely on the web, then it out big time.

    Yes I make money with Kindle books. It is no good just slapping up books and expecting them to sell. You need to make sure you have good seo!

    Are kindle books worth it? Yes.
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  • Profile picture of the author JeanneLynn
    You need to make sure your book is excellent quality. Amazon has been cracking down on poor quality content and closing accounts.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dean Shainin
      Originally Posted by JeanneLynn View Post

      You need to make sure your book is excellent quality. Amazon has been cracking down on poor quality content and closing accounts.
      Also, beware of recipe books as there are recipe website owners that are on a war path to get rid of recipe books even when you are following copyright law. Amazon does not bother asking questions and say to deal with the 3rd party complaint. It's become more difficult to keep your recipe books live.

      Cheers,
      Dean
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      • Profile picture of the author Elvis Michael
        Originally Posted by Dean Shainin View Post

        Also, beware of recipe books as there are recipe website owners that are on a war path to get rid of recipe books even when you are following copyright law. Amazon does not bother asking questions and say to deal with the 3rd party complaint. It's become more difficult to keep your recipe books live.

        Cheers,
        Dean
        Sounds like an abuse of power to me, since recipes cant be copyrighted. Unless, of course, people are blatantly pasting everything as-is without changing the wording, at least.
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        • Profile picture of the author Dean Shainin
          Originally Posted by Diablo2 View Post

          Sounds like an abuse of power to me, since recipes cant be copyrighted. Unless, of course, people are blatantly pasting everything as-is without changing the wording, at least.
          Even with recipes that have been completely re-written following copyright law, there are still issues because the recipe website owners know your books will get canned in some cases and they know Amazon simply does not have time to police 3rd party complaints...

          I got a bit off topic here but trying to give a heads up to fellow Warriors.

          Cheers,
          Dean
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  • Profile picture of the author forester1985
    i think i'm not interested......
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  • Profile picture of the author keshavjha
    What's the biggest challenge with pumping out tons of Kindle books? Content!
    You can't put out PLR because Amazon will just take it down. You have trouble writing enough of your
    own content to get a ton of books out fast. Outsourcing can start getting expensive.
    I've found a work-around that allows me to publish 1-5 Kindle books a day, 100% original, without
    sacrificing quality, and I'm charging $2.99 for each of these books. Plus, the best part is, these sell like
    HOTCAKES! I don't even have to promote them. I upload them and go!
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    • Profile picture of the author MrFlippy
      Congratulations Keshav. Sounds like you've cracked the Kindle game.
      Any chance of sharing how you do it?

      Cheers

      Mr Flippy
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    • Profile picture of the author cashcow
      Originally Posted by keshavjha View Post

      What's the biggest challenge with pumping out tons of Kindle books? Content!
      You can't put out PLR because Amazon will just take it down. You have trouble writing enough of your
      own content to get a ton of books out fast. Outsourcing can start getting expensive.
      I've found a work-around that allows me to publish 1-5 Kindle books a day, 100% original, without
      sacrificing quality, and I'm charging $2.99 for each of these books. Plus, the best part is, these sell like
      HOTCAKES! I don't even have to promote them. I upload them and go!
      Here's the thing, you don't need to "pump out tons of Kindle books" to make money in book publishing.

      You can make good money with just a few really high quality books.

      Find a topic you like, create or outsource high quality books around that topic. Build a brand around that topic. Gain fans. etc...

      It's actually the same formula you could use to make money with a website, or any other type of "product".

      They key is in the quality.

      You'd be surprised at how much you can make with only a handful of books.

      Lee
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      • Profile picture of the author Pat Flanagan
        Originally Posted by cashcow View Post

        Here's the thing, you don't need to "pump out tons of Kindle books" to make money in book publishing.

        You can make good money with just a few really high quality books.

        Find a topic you like, create or outsource high quality books around that topic. Build a brand around that topic. Gain fans. etc...

        It's actually the same formula you could use to make money with a website, or any other type of "product".

        They key is in the quality.

        You'd be surprised at how much you can make with only a handful of books.

        Lee
        You are 110% correct there. A few quality books will make money for you long-term. Too many people are obsessed with making a quick buck, that's where the people putting up PLR books got it all wrong. PLR is great, as long as you're willing to rewrite it and add value to it.

        But slamming up thousands of cheap junk books just poisons the pool. Amazon canned the PLR books because they create a negative perception about Kindle books. Don't feed into the negative perception, create quality, and go for the long dollar.
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      • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
        Originally Posted by cashcow View Post

        Here's the thing, you don't need to "pump out tons of Kindle books" to make money in book publishing.

        You can make good money with just a few really high quality books.

        Find a topic you like, create or outsource high quality books around that topic. Build a brand around that topic. Gain fans. etc...

        It's actually the same formula you could use to make money with a website, or any other type of "product".

        They key is in the quality.

        You'd be surprised at how much you can make with only a handful of books.

        Lee
        Absolutely spot-on! Sure, you can get anywhere from a trickle to a lot of traffic just from being listed on Amazon, but as a marketer-publisher, you should still promote your Kindle offerings!

        Btw, I'm up to $108 plus dollars this past month and I'm adding another listing shortly. This is pretty exciting stuff!

        RoD-ness
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      • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
        Originally Posted by cashcow View Post

        Here's the thing, you don't need to "pump out tons of Kindle books" to make money in book publishing.

        You can make good money with just a few really high quality books.

        Lee
        I agree completely. The majority of my income comes from a handful of books.
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  • Profile picture of the author tkboy101
    Wellp, I am separated by 1 degree from a dude who is making about $1500/month from a single kindle ebook he released. Put out a few of those, done right... you've got an automated income for months to come. I know it's a solid business. I trust my peeps, they tell me truth.

    Best bet is, if you're planning to do it... JUST DO IT. Nike Try not to think about it too hard. I tend to discourage myself when I do.

    Best of success to you
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  • Profile picture of the author marketwarrior06
    Banned
    I know some people who are doing really good with kindle. but most of them are authors. So I don't know actually if its possible for normal people or not
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    • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
      Originally Posted by marketwarrior06 View Post

      I know some people who are doing really good with kindle. but most of them are authors. So I don't know actually if its possible for normal people or not
      I am not what you would normally class as a "writer". The only stuff I ever write down is non-fiction and usually instructional, like how to guides, recipe books, etc.

      When I decided to start publishing on Kindle I decided to measure my work against what I personally look for in a good non-fiction book:
      - It answers my questions
      - It is easy to understand
      - Paragraphs are well spaced so that you don't get overloaded with text
      - Gets straight to the point
      - Better to have less pages with high relevancy than a massive book

      If you can write a blog post, you can write a book. It's just a matter of choosing to write about a topic that you enjoy!
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  • Profile picture of the author Gsdlady
    Yes I think there is money that can be made from selling books for the Kindle. The key is to make your book unique, title unique and something that would be of value to the reader. I have been doing research for a couple of ideas I have for creating a Kindle book and I myself will soon be venturing into the Kindle Book world. There are millions of Kindle books so marketing and interesting topics can help with your book sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author sdingram
    Wow, long thread! I thought I would chime in with my two cents here. I took Jonny Andrews Kindle course in late December and published my first Kindle book in January 2012. His training was excellent. I have 6 books now on Kindle. It seems like no one wants to admit numbers on here but I don't mind. Those 6 books make me on average $1000 a month. My best month was $1700.

    I LOVE IT!

    You do have to know how to market them though. You can't just throw a book up there and hope it sells. There's a lot of tricks that I have learned through other WSO's and mastermind groups.

    If I could make all my living from Kindle, I'd be happy. I have parlayed my Kindle success into some other income producing ventures, like consulting, so it's wise to take a look at your overall marketing business and see where Kindle fits and if so, what else you could do with it.
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    • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
      Originally Posted by sdingram View Post

      You do have to know how to market them though. You can't just throw a book up there and hope it sells. There's a lot of tricks that I have learned through other WSO's and mastermind groups.
      Absolutely! That is the same with any type of product you create. It can be the best thing since sliced bread, but no one will buy it unless you find a way to tell them the product exists!

      I'm actually writing a book at the moment for self-published authors (eg. Kindle writers) with advice on how to optimize their book listing to get found more often, and free ways that they can promote their books.

      If you have something you would like to see covered, or you have any suggestions feel free to PM me
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      • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
        Look forward to it.

        Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

        I'm actually writing a book at the moment for self-published authors (eg. Kindle writers) with advice on how to optimize their book listing to get found more often, and free ways that they can promote their books.
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      • Profile picture of the author sdingram
        Originally Posted by JamieSEO View Post

        Absolutely! That is the same with any type of product you create. It can be the best thing since sliced bread, but no one will buy it unless you find a way to tell them the product exists!

        I'm actually writing a book at the moment for self-published authors (eg. Kindle writers) with advice on how to optimize their book listing to get found more often, and free ways that they can promote their books.

        If you have something you would like to see covered, or you have any suggestions feel free to PM me
        Hi Jamie,

        Thanks! I can't PM you because I don't have enough posts (I'm working on it) But your book sounds really great. All the best and please let me know when it's ready. I can write a review for you if you want.
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        • Profile picture of the author JamieSEO
          Originally Posted by sdingram View Post

          Hi Jamie,

          Thanks! I can't PM you because I don't have enough posts (I'm working on it) But your book sounds really great. All the best and please let me know when it's ready. I can write a review for you if you want.
          I'll definitely take you up on that

          I'm hoping to finish it this weekend.
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    • Profile picture of the author Peeps66
      So what methods do you use? This is an area which is a weakness for me.

      Originally Posted by sdingram View Post

      You do have to know how to market them though. You can't just throw a book up there and hope it sells. There's a lot of tricks that I have learned through other WSO's and mastermind groups.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dean Shainin
        Originally Posted by Peeps66 View Post

        So what methods do you use? This is an area which is a weakness for me.
        Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can say I generated $6,438.47 Within 90 Days without any outside promotion beyond Amazon's internal system.

        It's a good idea to do the proper research first and then let Amazon do most of the work for you. There's plenty of advertising done for you within Amazon and you don't have to spend a single dime on advertising...

        To Your Success,
        Dean
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        • Profile picture of the author sanjaysharma
          Originally Posted by Dean Shainin View Post

          Now that the cat is out of the bag, I can say I generated $6,438.47 Within 90 Days without any outside promotion beyond Amazon's internal system.

          It's a good idea to do the proper research first and then let Amazon do most of the work for you. There's plenty of advertising done for you within Amazon and you don't have to spend a single dime on advertising...

          To Your Success,
          Dean
          How many books you have on Kindle which able to generate this good money. and i am really curious how this is possible that you just upload the ebook and done nothing else and have a great results.

          Sanjay Sharma
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  • Profile picture of the author ebiz1
    Not sure if it works....I personally as an internet marketer wouldn't invest .
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    I had a go with recipe book and did not sell a single one - my preferred niche sells well
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  • Profile picture of the author devonm
    I am doing kindle books. I started into it for REAL last night. Reduced the price and put a free promo on Select for a few days. Promoted that at a site and putting another book on Kindle and promoting that for a few days free. Then the avg. price will be 3.57 or 3.17.. but these are avg's. Thinking of sticking to the last digit being Seven rule to see what that does.

    I am avoiding PLR. I don't know whether to withdraw the Summer syrups for sodas book here for now or what. From what I hear now here, I am putting the brakes down hard on recipe books. I may do kids and humor books for some. and other niches will be looked into. I am always studying niches and seeing if I can pop an idea.
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  • Profile picture of the author Anoopchawla
    I know some people who are making a nice income with kindle books, of course they have many titles on amazon.
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  • Profile picture of the author murphyslaw
    I'm thinking of trying this out. I've been researching on a few niche evergreen topics that shouldn't be too tough to write about. The size of the market is very difficult to ignore now that Amazon has made the Kindle app available on IOS, Android and regular web browsers.
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    • Profile picture of the author devonm
      I am now well into Kindle. I have written 3 ebooks and withdrawn the cookbook one. It is 3AM in the morning, the first day of free promo for 2 books. Seven downloads before 3AM. I hopefully will get reviews and be able to sell these. That is a good sign.

      I even prettied up the book covers before beginning the promos. Hopefully that may have been a small factor in attracting them in as well as content matter. The little free moneymaking book really got the bulk of the downloads. It has the %$#%&^ of the ecovers there. hmm.
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      • Profile picture of the author cpolitique
        Hi! I'm new to this forum, however I had read it through it for some time now. I think all the information in here is great and this is my first post!

        I'm toying with the idea to write a Kindle book a while ago, and I'm reading all I can about the subject, and let me tell you that many of your testimonials are very inspiring indeed!

        I wanted to write to the forum because after reading the 7-long-page thread and searching around the site I had a question about ebooks and product placement. I was wondering if any of you in the forums have any experience with it and how effective it is to make extra money with Kindle books.

        I read that some people use referral links for marketing products on the books, but I was thinking if some people have deals directly with providers or websites, in order to get money for name their products inside the Kindle books, and if Amazon would think that as Spam or something like that. I mean for example like to contact a specific provider to make a character who likes to drink a certain soda brand, or to elaborate a how-to guide that recommends a fixed product to do this or that.

        I really appreciate any thought about the subject and thank you so much for the useful and insightful posts! You people rock!
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