darnygirl
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Jan 19, 2014 1:41:48 GMT -8
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Post by darnygirl on Jan 19, 2014 1:52:31 GMT -8
Hi all. My book has been on Smashwords Premier book list for six months and has been sold through Apple and a couple of other places. However, when I look for it on the Amazon site or via my Kindle (one in the same I guess) it is not there! I thought it would be sold through them too. Any ideas why this isn't happening? Cheers.
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
Posts: 712
Joined: Jan 26, 2013 4:50:56 GMT -8
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 19, 2014 3:22:06 GMT -8
Sorry, darnygirl, but SW does not ship to Amazon. It's quite strange, in my opinion, that Coker still has the Amazon tab in the site's UI. You'll have to either manually add your ebook to Amazon, or you can reach it via a different aggregator, like Draft2Digital for example.
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Post by Ted on Jan 19, 2014 3:57:20 GMT -8
Sorry, darnygirl, but SW does not ship to Amazon. It's quite strange, in my opinion, that Coker still has the Amazon tab in the site's UI. You'll have to either manually add your ebook to Amazon, or you can reach it via a different aggregator, like Draft2Digital for example. Smashwords DOES ship to Amazon BUT Amazon only accepts ebooks which have sold 1,000 copies on the Smashwords site itself. This was part of the original agreement between Amazon and Smashwords which Amazon wouldn't budge on. You can sell 10 million ebooks on all the retail partners like B&N or Apple and your ebook still won't ship to Amazon unless you've sold 1,000 ebooks on Smashwords itself. That's how Amazon negotiates. Most Smashwords authors simply upload their doc to Amazon KDP, after making the necessary changes in format and copyright. Darnygirl, make sure you DON'T enroll in the KDP Select program option when publishing your ebook on Amazon. KDP Select limits your work to being offered for sale only on Amazon and nowhere else.
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
Posts: 712
Joined: Jan 26, 2013 4:50:56 GMT -8
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 19, 2014 4:21:12 GMT -8
Oh, right. Forgot about that rule. My bad. But I remember Coker once saying in a post that "if you've sold more than 1000 books, let us know." So basically, the SW crew is manually uploading to Amazon those books that meet that treshhold. As far as I remember, there is no agreement between Amazon and SW like with the other retailers, in which the whole thing is automatized via their sites.
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Post by Ted on Jan 19, 2014 7:59:30 GMT -8
Yeah, Bezos played Mark like a mark. Bezos didn't want any competition and knew Mark needed Amazon for marketing so Bezos made sure the contract agreement between them took years of negotiating - with Mark promoting the upcoming agreement all the time. Thus Mark looked stupid for promoting a vaporware agreement with Amazon and Bezos made sure any new authors signing with Smashwords would have to sign separately with KDP/CreateSpace. A win-win for Amazon.
Bezos is still sticking it to Mark today by agreeing to allow new competitors to Smashwords, like Direct2Digital, access to Amazon while continuing to restrict Smashwords authors. Not allowing Smashwords authors the same unfettered access to Amazon as it allows Smashwords competitors is just a pissing contest for Bezos.
Smart negotiating on Bezos part, and a great example of business management on the part of Bezos, and a lesson for anyone negotiating with Bezos in the future.
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
Posts: 712
Joined: Jan 26, 2013 4:50:56 GMT -8
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 19, 2014 8:31:17 GMT -8
Yeah, it is unnecessarily vindictive to allow other aggregators and not SW. George Carlin said it best.
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Post by garyweston on Jan 25, 2014 2:28:00 GMT -8
Hi, Nice spin, serbanvcenache. Darnygirl. welcome. Amazon. You have two options. DIY. Not too daunting for the ebook. still a bit of a bitch for the paperback via createspace. (damn stupid tenplates!!!) OR, got to Draft2digital. There you'll have far less hoops to jump through than with smash. Remove the ISBN from smash if you've included it in the MS. I never bother to put it in anyway. If your MS has passed through smash, it is good to go with D2D. You then will have the choice to let D2D do a paperback version with createspace with you. If you have no experience with doing paperbacks yourself for amazon, it will pay you to go that way. Downside's with D2D is they have less affiliates than big boy smash, and you have to price your ebook at 2.99 to screw the 70 % out big bad wolf amazon. A 99cents tiddler only gets a pathetic 30% the D2D way. Also, you can't opt to do a freebie on amazon. This only happens if you are free elsewhere, and amazon price matches it on their site. I have three ebooks in the top 100 of freebies space opera once this happened to my books. now people are buying the rest in those three series. Take a look and see if it is right for you.
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Post by Ted on Jan 25, 2014 4:47:55 GMT -8
TeleRead has an article by Editor-in-Chief Juli Monroe published on December 27, 2013 comparing D2D to Smashwords. Authors considering D2D should read it before making a decision. TeleRead was launched by David H. Rothman of LibraryCity.org in the early 1990's, and is now owned by North American Publishing Company (NAPCO). TeleRead is a member of the Technology Tell media network, and is managed and operated by NAPCO’s Consumer Technology Publishing Group (CTPG). TeleRead is one of the most respected outlets for news on ebooks and ebook publishing.
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darnygirl
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Jan 19, 2014 1:41:48 GMT -8
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Post by darnygirl on Jan 26, 2014 19:08:11 GMT -8
Thanks for the help. I will have to give it a go loading to Amazon.
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darnygirl
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Jan 19, 2014 1:41:48 GMT -8
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Post by darnygirl on Jan 26, 2014 19:09:25 GMT -8
Thanks heaps for the info. I'm glad I jumped on this forum and got some help from great people like you.
Is it worth doing the KDP program for a period of time in order to take advantage of the freed period and try and get traffic?
Regards
darnygirl
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Post by Ted on Jan 27, 2014 2:21:28 GMT -8
Darynygirl, you only get free days of your ebook when you enroll in the KDP Select option. Standard KDP authors don't get any free periods.
KDP Select has gotten mixed reviews from authors who have used it. Some authors say they got terrific downloads when ebook free, others say the KDP Select is a waste of time.
All agree it is better to have your ebook available for sale at as many retailers as possible in order to maximize readership potential, rather than enroll an ebook in the KDP Select option for 90 days
KDP Select - the option offering free days for downloading an ebook - forces authors to remove their works offered for sale at any other retailer than Amazon. KDP Select Terms of Service clearly states authors must offer their ebook ONLY ON AMAZON AND NOWHERE ELSE.
This means authors must ensure their ebooks are NOT FOR SALE ELSEWHERE before enrolling in KDP Select.
Enrolling an ebook in KDP Select MAY result in a large number of downloads on the free days, but according to forums on KDP, on mobileread and on Linkedin, most KDP Select authors have found little actual sales volume from enrolling the the KDP Select option. Yes, a few authors have reported good sales, but one has to wonder if these remarks are mere puffery on the part of the author to make his/herself appear to have written a best-seller.
If you do choose to enroll in the KDP Select option and restrict your ebook ONLY TO AMAZON, be sure to UNPUBLISH ALL YOUR EBOOKS ON SMASHWORDS AT LEAST TWO WEEKS AHEAD OF TIME TO ENSURE YOU DON'T VIOLATE KDP SELECTS' TERMS OF SERVICE.
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Post by galatea on Jan 27, 2014 11:00:36 GMT -8
For a short while I had my free book published via Draft2Digital, just for Amazon. At first I had set the price to 0.99 dollar as the interface said this was the minimum price for Amazon.
So it appeared at 0.99 dollar at Amazon.
But after a while (several weeks) I changed the price to 0.00 dollar in the Draft2Digital interface. Strangely enough this resulted in the price changing to 0 dollar too at Amazon.
I don't know if it's a glitch but it seems like if you publish via D2D and not directly to Amazon, you may be possible to set the price to free without having to enroll in the KDP select program.
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Post by Ted on Jan 27, 2014 13:04:16 GMT -8
You don't have to enroll in the KDP Select program to have your ebook priced free.
None of my free ebooks are in the KDP Select program nor are they published through D2D, just through Smashwords. Amazon KDP TOS states their robot searches for price matching on B&N, Apple, Kobo, and probably other retailers too. Amazon doesn't check price on distributors like D2D or Smashwords, only competing major retailers. Neither Smashwords nor D2D are major retailers.
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