Quick Survey for Kindle Publishers (And Other Authors)

You'll want to have at least 2,500 words of content in anything you publish with KDP, so flash fiction is best published in anthologies.

Certainly, learn how to make the covers yourself.

It sounds simple, but that's been the key to my success. I downloaded gimp for free and I bought a subscription of stock images. I practiced how to make covers over and over until it was to a high standard, and that allows me to stand out from the crowd. It's much easier than you'd think as well, because I had no experience when I first started doing it. It allows me to have total control over my books, and it gives me a massive boost over my competitors. (not to mention that you learn a valuable skill that you can then monetize as well)

There is a direct correlation between sales and the quality of your cover. Recently, I started writing under a new pen name. I put up 4 books (3000 words at 99c each) and each book has been averaging 4-7 (only including .com) sales a day. I then put them into a collection and the collection has been doing similar numbers. Those 4 stories took me less than a day and will make around 500-700 dollars (probably more as sales have been increasing) this month. I have 16 books (12 are 99c, 3 are compilations and one is a stand alone book) and they are all doing these numbers.

I haven't promoted these books, and I only made the author's page a couple of days ago. I don't have a twitter, facebook or even a blog. Also, they are pretty generic (ie, the sales are not attributed to being part of a taboo genre/niche). I've never asked for reviews on any of my books, although they do tend to get pretty good reviews as I make the word count abundantly clear to the reader.

If you don't want to invest in stock images then just download gimp and use images from google to get some practice (only use them for practice, never try to sell them). You can watch tutorials on youtube to help you along as well if you want. Then when you feel you are ready you can sign up for a stock image subscription and start selling!

Besides, with your mad skills you can try to sell covers on fiverr, enter contests on 99 designs, or (like I've been doing) set up your own website and sell premium covers for a handsome price.

Well it's good to know that you make your own Kate, and I haven't seen any of yours so I can't be sure, but I'm talking about having them up to a very very high standard. For example, whenever I write a military themed book I will alter the person on the cover so that he/she is wearing a military uniform. I add dog tags, change eye color/hair color and skin tone. Often he/she will be wearing denim so I change that to look like military combat pants.

Or, for example, I made a cover for a customer recently in the YA niche and I made it look as though the man on the cover was transforming into a werewolf. Gave him sharp teeth, black claws, some fur on one part of his body and glowing blue eyes.

Another customer wanted an angel book cover so I gave the man on the cover wings.

Just a few examples, but this really does help. It's important that the cover is not only of a high standard, but relevant to the story. It's okay to go to these stock image websites and look for a picture of someone that already has wings/ is transforming/ has a military uniform, but don't forget that everyone else can do the same, and the only way to be truly unique is by learning how to edit a cover image to suit the narrative of your story.