Questions about Selling on Amazon

[anita]

Yeah, yeah... I know that this is a Smashwords forum, but I have a couple of questions about selling a book on Amazon and I thought that this was a more appropriate place to ask:

First let me say that I am extremely happy with Smashwords, but I know that our books won't be distributed to Amazon unless we request it and we've sold more than 1000 copies of that title.

I plan to upload my books to Amazon myself. I know not to sign up for KDP, since I still want to have my titles listed through Smashwords Premium Channels but I'm not sure about the ISBN issue. Do I use the same ISBN that I'm using on Smashwords or do I request a new, free one from Amazon?

Also, do I have to do the conversion to the Kindle platform myself through the free software that Amazon provides or can I just download the converted Kindle file that Smashwords created and upload that to Amazon instead?

[Ted]

Jun 20, 2012 16:20:49 GMT -8 anita said:

Yeah, yeah... I know that this is a Smashwords forum, but I have a couple of questions about selling a book on Amazon and I thought that this was a more appropriate place to ask:

First let me say that I am extremely happy with Smashwords, but I know that our books won't be distributed to Amazon unless we request it and we've sold more than 1000 copies of that title.

I plan to upload my books to Amazon myself. I know not to sign up for KDP, since I still want to have my titles listed through Smashwords Premium Channels but I'm not sure about the ISBN issue. Do I use the same ISBN that I'm using on Smashwords or do I request a new, free one from Amazon?

Also, do I have to do the conversion to the Kindle platform myself through the free software that Amazon provides or can I just download the converted Kindle file that Smashwords created and upload that to Amazon instead?

Hi Anita, and welcome to our forum.

1) You do need to sign with KDP to upload your work to Amazon, but don't enroll in the KDP Select program or you'll lose your ability to sell through Smashwords or any other retailer.

2) Use the same ISBN. An ISBN goes with a book. If you are Canadian you can get ISBN's for free.

3) You can not use ebook formats generated by Smashwords, like mobi or epub, as that violates the Smashwords TOS.

4) Read the Style Guide published by Amazon to understand which file formats are allowed and how to properly format an ebook for Amazon.

Good luck,
Ted

[anita]

Thanks, Ted!

[russellphillips]

Jun 20, 2012 18:47:50 GMT -8 Ted said:

2) Use the same ISBN. An ISBN goes with a book. If you are Canadian you can get ISBN's for free.

According to the Smashwords ISBN page, "Bowker and the International ISBN agency recommend you only assign one ISBN per ebook format", so they recommend that you don't use the same ISBN for the Kindle version (which will be a Mobi, not ePub, file). Presumably, it being a recommendation rather than a requirement means that you could use the same ISBN if you wished.

Personally, I don't use ISBNs at Amazon.

[anita]

Why is it that you don't use an ISBN on Amazon, Russell? I noticed that it is an optional item when filling out the form to publish there.

[russellphillips]

I don't use an ISBN because I'd have to either use the ePub ISBN, which isn't recommended, or buy ISBNs. At the time I made the decision, I thought using one ISBN for multiple formats was explicitly against the rules, rather than simply "not recommended".

I may change my mind and add ISBNs at some point, but I'm not convinced that an ISBN or lack of one makes a lot of difference to sales.

[Ted]

I agree with Russell that having an ISBN on Amazon doesn't make any difference in sales at this date.

I checked with ISBN in Canada and was advised separate numbers are required for each ebook format. As Smashwords distributes only epub to retailers it is not a problem. I may get new ISBN numbers for my Amazon ebooks some time in the future.

[anita]

Russell, I find it interesting that Amazon doesn't offer a free ISBN option. They do offer it when you publish through CreateSpace. I may just follow the example that you and Ted set and just skip the whole ISBN thing since it isn't required.

[jenniferp]

I suspect that's a numbers thing. I'm not sure how much a large publishing company pays for ISBNs as they buy them in bulk, but given the sheer number of people who upload to KDP (because it's so easy), Amazon probably finds providing ISBNs cuts into their profits a *little* more than they would like.

[Ted]

Amazon is all about the money. Smashwords is too, but they at least offer a much higher royalty for sales on their own site than does Amazon.

If Amazon decides to enter the library lending race then ISBN's may be required.

[anita]

Jun 23, 2012 9:54:32 GMT -8 Ted said:

Amazon is all about the money. Smashwords is too, but they at least offer a much higher royalty for sales on their own site than does Amazon.

If Amazon decides to enter the library lending race then ISBN's may be required.

If that were to happen, it should be relatively easy to obtain one at that time. I'm all for keeping my overhead down whenever possible.

[stephensw]

Anita said, "our books won't be distributed to Amazon unless we request it and we've sold more than 1000 copies of that title"

So that means any newly published book on Smashwords will NOT be distributed to Amazon until it sells 1000 copies through Smashwords first?

[Ted]

The way I understand the Amazon/Smashwords situation as it stands now - regarding Amazon accepting ebooks from Smashwords - is that Amazon won't except any ebook from Smashwords unless that ebook has sold 1,000 copies already.

It's Amazon's way of telling Smashwords to piss off and only ship us the cream.