Selling Your Content As eBooks On Amazon

11 years ago

I haven't personally done this, but know of several people who have. And it's interesting how many sales these people report, knowing that the readers could just get all the content for free on their blog. But it's the ease of having all the content combined in one place around one subject that readers like.

So, in short, yes I know it works. It's actually a great way to get going with Kindle publishing.

Thanks

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marketingva

11 years ago

Hi,

The information in your Amazon Kindle book must be unique. They will not publish anything that exists on a website.

Bonnie

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LilBlackDress

11 years ago

Originally Posted by marketingva

Hi,

The information in your Amazon Kindle book must be unique. They will not publish anything that exists on a website.

Bonnie

This is not true Bonnie, but it is a common misconception.

You can publish a book on Kindle that consists of your blog posts etc. if you have the publishing rights. Here is a quote from Amazon regarding this...

"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. If you have the sole publishing rights for the content, you may sell it in the Kindle store and also make it available on your web site. If the book(s) are in the public domain, they may also be sold in the Kindle store and be available for free on the web. However, just because you find content on the web does not mean it is in the public domain. We can’t accept content that closely matches content that is freely available on the web, for which you do not hold the sole publishing rights, or that which is not in the public domain. For example, content from Wikipedia and content with private label rights are not allowed since it disappoints our customers to pay for content that is freely available on the web. If you would like to review our Content Guidelines, please refer to the sections titled “Illegal and Infringing Content” and “Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content” by following this link: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?ie=UTF8&topicId=A2AH1EAPH0YKI9"

And they state in their content guidelines
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishi...3KIRDTX1UQJX0:

Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content
Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books.

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marketingva 11 years ago

Originally Posted by LilBlackDress

This is not true Bonnie, but it is a common misconception. .

That is strange. I have had more than one client have a Kindle book rejected when it included material on their website that they own. My clients verified and proved they owned the material and the Kindle staff said they do not approve books where information is available and free on the internet regardless of who it belongs to. I've seen this happen three times this year alone. It seems that the staff at Amazon is not following their own published rules.

Bonnie
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Klumper

10 years ago

[DELETED]

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JohnMcCabe

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Klumper

In the area of travel guides, there are Apps on the kindle fire which will access Wikipedia articles on specific places of interest and copy the article for offline display. Yet, if I want to create an eBook and provide information about the same place of interest, I cannot provide the same Wikipedia article by copying it into my eBook. Can this really be correct?

It depends.

If your entire book, or the lion's share of it, are copies of content easily found for free (such as Wikipedia), your "book" will not be approved.

If you have a 100 page book, and two pages are an article you have permission to use, and that article is highly relevant and adds value, and you attribute it, you should be okay.

One of the things Amazon clamped down on, along with PLR and public domain offerings, was people "compiling" ebooks from places like Wikipedia or EzineArticles and filling them with affiliate links, then dumping them on Kindle thinking Amazon would promote for them.

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Klumper

10 years ago

Thank you John I understand the logic but why doesn't it apply to apps on the kindle fire too? Amazon have control over their App Store so why allow Apps that make Wikipedia articles and other information available, despite the fact that you could find all the information for free with a browser? The answer is that the App adds value because it collects that information together, presents it well and makes it available offline. People use the Facebook App as opposed to the web interface because of this. People are prepared to pay for this convenience. To stop people from collating information and selling it in an eBook, when a customer is willing to pay is not good business. The fact that all the information can be found for free with a browser should not be an issue. If affiliate links are the issue then the review process should reject books based on this only. In summary I would like to see any content allowed. If eBooks are to be rejected based on using freely available content, then I want the same applied to apps.

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JohnMcCabe

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Klumper

Thank you John I understand the logic but why doesn't it apply to apps on the kindle fire too? Amazon have control over their App Store so why allow Apps that make Wikipedia articles and other information available, despite the fact that you could find all the information for free with a browser? The answer is that the App adds value because it collects that information together, presents it well and makes it available offline. People use the Facebook App as opposed to the web interface because of this. People are prepared to pay for this convenience. To stop people from collating information and selling it in an eBook, when a customer is willing to pay is not good business. The fact that all the information can be found for free with a browser should not be an issue. If affiliate links are the issue then the review process should reject books based on this only. In summary I would like to see any content allowed. If eBooks are to be rejected based on using freely available content, then I want the same applied to apps.

"To stop people from collating information and selling it in an eBook, when a customer is willing to pay is not good business."

If that were the sum total of things, I would agree with you. There is precedent that customers are not willing to pay, at least not enough of them to offset the customers that would protest should the marketplace get flooded with such collations.

Back when the Kindle reader first came out, there was very little to choose from in the Kindle store. One popular get-rich-quick plan was to grab public domain books from places like the Gutenberg site, slap a cover on them, and put them up on the Kindle marketplace. You ended up with dozens of copies of the same book, all by different "authors", and it nearly destroyed the Kindle market before it properly got started. Amazon clamped down on PD, and extended that to any content freely available on the net.

" If eBooks are to be rejected based on using freely available content, then I want the same applied to apps."

Hard to disagree with you there.

My gut reaction, based on Amazon's prior history with both print and ebooks, is that you'll see a crackdown on apps just like you did with ebooks. Which will lead a few to moan and complain about how unfair Amazon is, and a slew of "Does compiling wikipedia articles into apps for Kindle still work?" threads.

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justlukeyou

11 years ago

Thanks,

So does someone check if an ebook is unique?

Obviously I wouldn't do this but could I copy a site for example based on mountain biking techniques and sell it as an ebook or would some check to ensure the content was unique?

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LilBlackDress

11 years ago

Originally Posted by justlukeyou

Thanks,

So does someone check if an ebook is unique?

Obviously I wouldn't do this but could I copy a site for example based on mountain biking techniques and sell it as an ebook or would some check to ensure the content was unique?

It is not a matter of the content being unique. It is a matter of you being the copyright owner and having the publishing rights to it.

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JohnMcCabe 11 years ago

Originally Posted by LilBlackDress

It is not a matter of the content being unique. It is a matter of you being the copyright owner and having the publishing rights to it.

Repeated for both truth and emphasis.
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justlukeyou

11 years ago

What about public domain content or creative commons content. Can that be used?

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ragnartm

11 years ago

Originally Posted by justlukeyou

What about public domain content or creative commons content. Can that be used?

Ahem, this was already answered.

Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content
Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books.

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Ragnar.

Quality over quantity. Hire me to write highly shareable, user focused blog posts or articles.

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yukon

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by justlukeyou

What about public domain content or creative commons content. Can that be used?

Originally Posted by ragnartm

Ahem, this was already answered.

Public Domain and Other Non-Exclusive Content
Some types of content, such as public domain content, may be free to use by anyone, or may be licensed for use by more than one party. We will not accept content that is freely available on the web unless you are the copyright owner of that content. For example, if you received your book content from a source that allows you and others to re-distribute it, and the content is freely available on the web, we will not accept it for sale on the Kindle store. We do accept public domain content, however we may choose to not sell a public domain book if its content is undifferentiated or barely differentiated from one or more other books.

Public domain content isn't a one size fits all situation on Amazon. I'm working on a book (fiction) right now that is based entirely on public domain content, all I'm doing is cleanup, organizing, & targeting a completely different niche than what the original public domain content was targeting.

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ashloren

11 years ago

I actually just did this. I decided to publish a book of my top blog posts centered around a single topic I cover regularly on my blog (the most popular topic, that is). I published in in the Kindle store with no problem at all. (Moderated)

I reviewed their guidelines carefully before submitting it too. I am led to believe that this is a gray area...they don't like publishing stuff that is free elsewhere on the web, yet they seem to be willing to allow it if the author has the copyright to the material on a SOMEWHAT individual basis...see this link for a good example (no affiliate links, obviously): http://cheapassfiction.com/2012/09/2...***-copyright/

That author chose to release their work under a type of creative commons license that is basically "no rights reserved" and is completely open...they forfeit their copyright altogether using this. Amazon locked up the title and she wrote them, explaining it was available elsewhere on the web because she had put it in those places and was the author, they invited her to resubmit it.

I find this interesting and am unclear on Amazon's real stance due to what their website says and what others experiences have been.

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AshlyLorenzana@gmail.com

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bestadservice

11 years ago

Originally Posted by justlukeyou

Hi,

Has anyone converted the content from their site and sold it as an ebook on Amazon?

Is it a way of making money if its a popular subject?

It is popular but many will use that to build a list. For example then can give it for free and then use the people who downloaded it to future marketing. Or just give for a smallest fee possible like $1-$2

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bestadservice

11 years ago

Originally Posted by bestadservice

It is popular but many will use that to build a list. For example then can give it for free and then use the people who downloaded it to future marketing. Or just give for a smallest fee possible like $1-$2

I think it is all about to give it a try yourself and focus on the goal it is more interesting for you at the moment

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justlukeyou

11 years ago

Thanks,

I was going to sell produce an ebook of my existing blog for around $1.49 just to test it but currently I have technical problem with my site.

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Phil Steptoe

10 years ago

You need to produce a LOT of books in order to generate solid and reliable monthly income. Using them as a lead generation system is a great method. However, remember to provide quality before anything else. If you don't have the quality unique content, it will not sell - at all.

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Selling Your Content As eBooks On Amazon

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