My son bought me a Kindle for my recent birthday and I have to say after initial reservations 
– it won’t be the same as a book ( it’s not of course ) I was quickly sold. I love books – the smell, the feel the look, the way you can flick through from start to finish. But I love my Kindle too – it’s light – great for travelling, I can have the font size as large as I like – great for my eyes and I I find it’s just as easy to get lost in as a book.
For writers Kindle has brought a new world… in which publishing is no longer the preserve of an elite but is now a democracy. People can and will argue about the pros and cons of this new world but in the meantime more and more authors are publishing on Kindle. Why?
Six Good Reasons to E Publish
- No submissions to agents and publishers, no endless waiting for news
- Returns on sales are much better, an author can choose between 35% or 70% royalty on sales (depending on price and where downloaded) as opposed to something more like 10% or less in conventional publishing.
- Nil outlay means you can sell at a very reasonable price which encourages people to buy. After all £2.50 is just about the price of a cup of coffee.
- Because you’ve written it, put years of work into it, edited it again and again to make sure it’s the very best it can be and you would like to have someone read it.
- Because you know its as good as other books out there – not a boast but we all know there are many good books that don’t make it because publishers are always looking to the market as they see it.
- Its fun – it puts the joy back into writing and if you don’t fancy doing it yourself you can get someone like Bookbaby to do it for you very cheaply $90 ish – without cover
But if you’re going it alone stick with me and I’ll tell you what I learn over the next few weeks. I am aiming for publication by September 1st.
Next Kindle post – Editing For Publication
I also have the Kindle store in my sights as the eventual publishing option for my book(s). As if I didn’t already think self publishing an e-book was a good move, you gave some stellar arguments in favor of it! Great post. I loved it.
Hi – thanks for stopping by Jessie – clearly great minds think alike. I’m getting very excited now and have even been working on the cover – look forward to seeing you in the KIndle store!
It was interesting talking to writers last night at the Durham Book Fest event – several of them mentioned they are going to try Kindle. It’s an excellent way of making the book available – looking forward to downloading it! Good to catch up yesterday, Avril – I felt really heartened about writing and keeping at it after our chat.
Thanks Jo – I agree, writers were definitely talking about the Kindle option at the Book Fest launch last night. I felt really heartened by our chat too – given how difficult the world of writing/publishing can be its so important that we share experiences as we did last night and also get some power back into our world.