Life and Times of a Brit Living in the Philippines

Can You Make a Ton of Money From Amazon Kindle Publishing?

February 9, 2013 by Joseph 46 Comments

Before I begin my blog post, please note that for all those folks who scrape images illegaly for their own use – don’t do it with this one. I have full copyright for it, and I’ve payed handsomely too. If you scrape it or copy it in any way, I’ll not be pleased and I’ll have no hesitation in coming after you in terms of legality. Thank you for your concern.

Lots of folks are getting involved with Amazon Kindle publishing and for good reason too. If it works for you, it can change your life around entirely.

Well, let me spell out the reality… for most folks it does not change anything at all and many (although not all) of those internet marketers who keep shouting with the loudest voice that Kindle is where it is at, and they offer a course to tell you how it’s done, are simply trying to take money from your pocket.

Sorry if I’m treading on some toes here, and surely I am (I could name a number of marketers who simply churn out one expensive product after another regards to how to be succesful at Kindle publishing and much of it is utter garbage… I’ll resist naming any names… Well, okay, now that you twist my arm, how about John Jonas and Jay Boyer. Their stuff is generally okay but the problem I have is that they churn out such a gross amount of costly products that it soon becomes apparent that all they want is to make a ton of money from unsuspecting marketers.

Anyhow, here’s my reasoning.

If you, as a marketer, are so good at crafting books for Kindle, and you are making a ton of money from it (Steve Scott comes to mind – he’s seeing some very good success and his books deserve that success – Steve is one of the few top class internet marketers that I highly admire), then why would you want to bother selling your system to the IM world?

I mean, surely you’d be happy to focus on writing (creating) books for Kindle and that’s it. I don’t know – maybe I’m missing something.

Fact is that some folks enjoy teaching others how to do stuff (me included – I like teaching when I have something to teach) so there’s motive enough for “some” marketers to create a how-to Kindle publishing course.

But I still suspect that for most IM’s it’s more about greed than anything else. They concoct a crappy Kindle publishing product then sell it to desperate marketers. Where have you heard that before?

Anyhow, let me put my own Kindle publishing experiences into some perspective here.

It makes sense for me to publish my works on Kindle because I’m actually a half-decent writer (so I like to think) and I actually really enjoy writing for some markets. Another way to put that – it’s a passion for me.

Now, kinda getting off the point here. I listened to a podcast on Pat’s blog recently (Pat Flynn, that is) about why you should NOT focus on your passions if you want to be successful online. Here’s the link – the podcast is fascinating. Nevertheless, as an experienced marketer myself, I couldn’t help but see – or sense – a number of gaping holes in the method being discussed (as the commentor TomL has also pointed out – you can see his comment at the very top. TomL is a friend of mine, and he too is a very experienced marketer). That’s besides the point though. Let’s move on…

Thus far I’ve published seven books on Kindle, covering two different niches/ markets, and honestly, none of them have been particularly successful. Okay and for sure, you can argue that seven books is no-where near enough to (necessarily) see success. Ah well, I’m still working on that… Anyhow, folks like Amanda Hocking hasn’t published a whole raft of books, and yet she makes millions in income each year.

It’s a bit strange really because for one of the niches that I focused on, when I took the books off Kindle (“unpublished” from Kindle) and republished excerpts of those books to cater to a more specific clientele, my work became very popular indeed. On Kindle though, it flopped rather pathetically, regardless the fact that Kindle attracts so many potential buyers each and every day.

That kinda suggests that Kindle is not the be-all-and-end-all to publishing stuff online.

The other niche/ market I focused on was cooking.

As you may know, I set up a website called Fatso In the Kitchen (oddly enough, in recent times I’ve lost quite a bit of weight and am now down to 73 kg. For a 6 ft guy that’s not overweight at all, so the name Fatso In the Kitchen is something of a misnomer ) which details my experiences in the kitchen.

Once again, my (cook) books on Kindle have proven to be something of a failure. For sure, I’ve sold quite a few of the two books I put together, and when gifting those books as freebies on KDP they flew off the shelves. But sales have never really gotten off the ground to any great extent. Not too bad, but not good enough.

For one of my cookery books – slow cooker desserts (you can see it over to the right in the sidebar), I popped it on KDP freebie for 48 hours and it had almost 5,400 downloads within that time. Well, does that mean I’ll make a whole load of sales off the back of the success here? Not on your nelly! I get a couple of sales per day and that’s it. A couple of sales per day nets me about 4 bucks per day. Not exactly IM millionaire status, is it?

[Makes you wonder though... if you can figure out a popular niche on Kindle, and you can figure a way to get folks to click a link within your freebie book, and then take some sort of action... then why not do lot's of KDP freebies... This is more than FOOD for thought - pardon my pun... If you can build a list from freebie books on Kindle - I mean, you get my point...]

For the other cook book which I invested more time in, it’s had quite a few freebie downloads also on KDP although not to the same extent as the dessets book. But then it’s a much more niche niche, if you see what I mean – Crock Pot Vegetarian and Gluten-Free Recipes.

I came a cropper with this book though because a couple of the reviews (the only two reviews I’ve had at the time of writing this blog post) were fairly harsh. One saying that a single fish recipe I’d included in the book was not vegetarian, and the other said that some of my recipes were not exacty gluten-free.

Erm… lesson learned. Don’t try to blag (blag means that you’re pretending to be an expert when you are not) your way through book writing. You’ve got to know what you are talking about or chances are folks will pick up on your shortcomings and book reviews will be poor. I didn’t outsource the writing – I did it all myself. It was hard labour. Hard labour, yes. But it’s not really my passion, and the couple of book reviews I’ve received thus far tend to reflect that.

And yes, I regard myself as a vegetarian, although I now learn that perhaps I am no longer regarded as vegetarian because I eat fish – I’m clinically termed as a pescotarian or something… But I am certainly not confined to a gluten-free diet, which would be close to impossible here in the Philippines, I imagine.

Who should really care though – pescotarian, vegetarian, octogenarian… If I buy a book and I enjoy reading it, I’m hardly going to critice the author for a single and relatively small oversight. People can be so harsh…

Nevertheless, regardless my persistent failures, I still persevere with Amazon Kindle publishing – for better or for worse. For richer or for poorer.

Maybe I’m banging my head on the proverbial brick wall and yet I don’t yet perceive it as such. I think in the English language, that’s termed as being a “dumb-ass”.

I’ve written a further five books specifically for Kindle over the past couple of weeks (again, writing is my passion, so it makes good sense to pursue it, regardless of what Dane Maxwell says). Short books, yes (when I say short, I mean anything between a 1,200 word count and 3,200 word count for each book).

None of which have been published as of yet.

Whether they will be successful is anyone’s guess, although I surely do have my doubts about it, I have to admit.

But… I did have fun putting the storylines together, and I surely do hope that comes across to the potential readers. (Is the word putting spelled with one ‘t’ or two?).

Not only that – I’ve also invested in some really excellent illustrative work for these particular books, and I’m hoping that this will help to get folks to dig in their pockets to find some cents to make a purchase.

There’s definitely no guarantee for success though. If your books are not exactly what folks are looking for, no matter how hard you try, you will not find much success on Kindle. That’s my experience anyhow.

Let me know what you think, thank you!

Filed Under: Amazon, Amazon Kindle - Self Publishing

Self Publishing on Amazon Kindle – Word Count and Pricing

July 16, 2012 by Joseph 31 Comments

In my previous blog post, I discussed how its (potentially) possible to make a great income by selling your work on Amazon Kindle for a mere 99 cents apiece.

Today, I’d like to delve into word count and pricing structures.

Its important to understand there is no right or wrong here. It can be very hit and miss. I’m simply trying to offer some insights for you to consider.

Let’s look at word count first…

What’s right and what’s wrong when you wish to publish your early works on Amazon Kindle (or another self-publishing network)?

Generally speaking, it would seem that “how-to” type books have much less content than say – a work of fiction. Quite often you find that how-to books have around 30 – 50 pages of content, and they also have a few images too, so the amount of text content is not particularly high.

But the fact remains, its all about getting your message across to your intended audience.

If you can explain something thoroughly and express your thoughts vividly with only 6,000 words of content, then that’s all that matters. I mean, you could write for weeks and weeks and generate an 80,000 word tome, but if its not conveying the message you intended it to convey, then there’s little point, is there? You could very possibly convey the message with a 10^th (or less) of that amount of content.

How about fiction?

Fiction is a bit different…

How Can You Make a Great Income by Selling Books on Amazon Kindle at 99 Cents?

July 13, 2012 by Joseph 16 Comments

If you are not into working with Kindle self publishing, then don’t worry. My blog is not going to be fully focused on self publishing. The reason I continue to discuss Kindle at the moment is that much of my time each day is invested in writing and learning about the workings of the self publishing process on Amazon.

I’m not at all claiming to be an expert. After all, I’ve only been self publishing for the previous few weeks, albeit I did use Kindle to publish another book about 18 months ago and to this day its not sold a single copy However, I now understand how to gain sales from it and that’s obviously one of the keys to success.

Now, I think the most asked question for anyone who is considering self publishing using Kindle – or any other online platform for that matter is this…

How in hell can you make decent money if you sell your books for 99 cents apiece????

Let me shed some light on this scenario because its confusing, and I too used to wonder about it.

I mean, my 40 days Challenge eBook – I started off selling that on the Warrior Forum for $9.99 and even then I thought that was a fairly small fry amount. And it is compared to many other eBooks that are internet marketing focused.

It now sells on Clickbank for $29.97. However, I think if I added it to Amazon Kindle, I possibly would make more money than I do now, but I would reduce the price tremendously.

Kindle books attract millions and millions of potential customers every month.

Let’s say that you price your first book at 99 cents. Its a 40 page book about… yoga and health, let’s say. You add in some images to the book. Images can speak 1000 words after all, so you need to show some of the yoga poses to clarify your writing.

And let’s say that this first book is focused on beginners…

What’s Holding You Back from Self-Publishing on Kindle? YOU CAN Do It!!

June 7, 2012 by Joseph 82 Comments

I’m just writing this post off the top of my head (so the post is probably full of grammatical errors – you’ll see why I mention that in a moment), and I’m writing it because I’m fully aware that there are many potentially budding Amazon Kindle eBook writers within the internet marketing arena.

After all, publishing on Kindle is a “relatively” easy way to make money – it potentially can become a way to make a vast PASSIVE income for years and years to come.

And there’s no reliance on Google tactics, which will of course come as a huge relief to many marketers who’ve seen their webpages repeatedly dumped by the ever-changing Google search algorithms.

Now, this is not my typical blog post. Its actually WAY out there. But there’s good reason…

I’ve been reading quite a bit about publishing – self-publishing on Kindle. In fact, I’ve been reading quite a lot about all sorts of ways to earn a very good living by working (or not “working” as the case may be, because a lot of online income models are relatively passive). Let me relate to you a few pointers that I’ve learned for myself, and quite honestly – came as a real breath of fresh air to me too!

If you think you can’t write a book then think again!

And I don’t necessarily mean a book of non-fiction.

You don’t have to write how-to books to make a seriously huge income by self-publishing on Kindle – you can write fiction instead.

I see you shaking your head. You don’t believe that you can do that. After all, you are far from a literary genius, and you have to be a literary genius and have an amazing amount of creativity to be able to write fiction successfully.

Let me relate to you a story at this point. And I’ll try not to bore the pants off of ya!

When I was a kid – between the ages of about… 8 and 12… I had this idea that I wanted to become a writer of fiction books.

In fact, when I was 10 years old, I entered a fiction writing competition and won top prize. The main prize was to have my story read out on national radio.

I never heard it being read out, but I was told it was read out, and apparently – potentially – there were millions of listeners. It was BBC Radio 4 which broadcasts in the UK, and abroad as the World Service (or part of the World Service anyhow).

I’ll tell you exactly why I was good at writing fiction in those days – at the age of 10. My sense of creativity had absolutely NO BOUNDS! I was a child and I thought exactly as a child thinks – BOUNDLESS LEVELS OF CREATIVITY!!

But, when I graduated to secondary school, things became much more systematic. English literature classes were structured in such a way as to knock all potential creativity out of you in order that you followed “their” system.

I “graduated” from my English literature class with a C minus, which quite frankly is a thoroughly mediocre result indeed.

And the reason why I graduated with such a pathetically low scoring was that I was being taught to write like a machine, and was being taught to avoid self-creativity at all costs. And there ended my boundless sense of creativity, which quite frankly had the effect of making me a thoroughly mediocre student!

Selling El-Cheapo Kindle eBooks for El-Bigo Profits

May 17, 2012 by Joseph 79 Comments

Before I do anything else, I best clarify the article title.

By el-cheapo, I don’t mean rubbish quality. I do mean selling your eBooks for a very low price. Low pricing in this instance most definitely does not equate to low quality – let me make that crystal clear.

Ideally, if we venture into selling online, we want to build a quality brand around our product base. By doing so, the chances for long term success rise up dramatically. Previous customers return for more, and the word spreads that our products are excellent.

Thus, striving for excellence is indeed our main goal.

My blog is ranking at 12th in Google.com for “Joseph Archibald scammer“. LOL! I never thought in all my years I’d be labeled as a scammer. Don’t you just love this internet marketers game!

Stumbled upon a goodie here, and its not a scam either, in case you are now wondering

I’ve become something of a prolific reader these days (I’m particularly fond of the weepie romance novels ) and the publication I’m about to discuss with you is defo one of the better purchases I’ve made this year thus far!

For me, the methods discussed are nothing exactly new. After all, I created and uploaded my first Kindle eBook over a year ago. But this publication acts as a good refresher and also adds a few nice twists along the way.

What’s more – its easier now to add eBooks to Kindle and its well worth knowing about the changes that are taking place.

Most of us have heard about self-publishing on Amazon – specifically in this case, publishing eBooks on Kindle.

In fact, Steve Scott wrote a super blog article about his own adventures with regards to publication on Amazon Kindle. You can read that here…

http://www.stevescottsite.com/make-money-amazon-kindle-books

Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever it comes to product creation, including the crafting of eBooks, I tend to have a blind spot.

You hear time and again about the best way to make money online is to sell your own products, right?

But what if you are like me and you suffer from a “creativity blind spot“?

You can read all the books you like about how to come up with ideas, but when it comes down to it, you can sit for hours, days… wondering what you’re going to do.

Here’s food for thought.

Amanda Hocking (mentioned in the eBook I purchased today) who was until recently working a full time job, has made $2 million US from self publishing eBooks on Amazon. You can read about Amanda here…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Hocking

Let’s get back to business.

The gentleman who wrote the eBook I purchased today has managed to make $1300+ from crafting and publishing eBooks on Amazon Kindle over the past 4 months.

Now, okay, that’s not a million. Its not even a livable wage, unless you live in Malaysia and eat only rice and drink home made moonshine (like I do). But fact is, he’s just a normal sort of guy, just like you and just like me. And he’s only getting started.

Can You Make Good Money With Amazon Affiliated Sites?

April 2, 2012 by Joseph 50 Comments

I been busy! What’s new?

Setting up the basis for a new blog/website, which although I fully intended to be focusing on a niche outwith internet marketing, lo and behold – its not – its fully IM focused. Awww shucks – this IM game has a total hold over me!

Cristina – whom you may know because she comments a lot on the blog here – she helped me out with the new site set up, which has a subscriber list optin box in the header graphic. Something that I surely cannot do since there’s quite a bit of hard coding in the css files required. Thanks Cristina!!

More about this website in the days to come though. I believe it will compliment the JosephArchibald.com blog rather nicely.

What else has been keeping me busy?

Facebook stuff – more about chatter with my Bulgarian friend (Yavor) who now lives in Kuala Lumpur, and with John Sia who is part owner of a number of businesses here in Kuching.

Its social chit chat and very much about having a laugh about life, but its interesting all the same. Almost as interesting as the Kardashian’s chit chat, but the difference being that they get paid a few hundred thousand greenbacks per social chit chat episode.

I added a few images to my FB page that I took at a culture show I went to the other evening here in Kuching (Basaga Hotel) which was really very good indeed!

My Twitter efforts have mellowed a bit, as I was intent on adding many more followers than I’ve managed. But the weekends are slow so that’s to be expected. At least I’m now over 500 followers – I never thought I’d see the day, LOL!

Also, believe it or not, but I’ve been buying a few info products.

There’s a good reason for this, and so far I’m very impressed with everything I’ve bought.

Seems you can really develop an eye for what’s hot and what’s not when it comes to IM related info product buying. Although my experience from a couple of weeks ago would beg to tell a different story

Making Money as an Amazon Affiliate

There’s nothing new about making money with Amazon as an associate, or affiliate. Amazon practically invented the concept of affiliation after all.

I first cut my own IM teeth on making money using Amazon.

My choice of niche was terribly poor, has to be said, and my monthly income generally was no higher than $100 even though I’d often spend 60+ hours a week on getting the rankings and doing whatever else I thought needed to be done. Oh yes – I’ve been there too!

Can You Make a Ton of Money From Amazon Kindle Publishing?

Self Publishing on Amazon Kindle – Word Count and Pricing

How Can You Make a Great Income by Selling Books on Amazon Kindle at 99 Cents?

How in hell can you make decent money if you sell your books for 99 cents apiece????

What’s Holding You Back from Self-Publishing on Kindle? YOU CAN Do It!!

Selling El-Cheapo Kindle eBooks for El-Bigo Profits

Can You Make Good Money With Amazon Affiliated Sites?

Warrior Forum 40 Day Challenge eBook

Click the Image to Grab the Book for FREE

The Best Webhosting – Links to my Review

Guide to Self Publishing on Amazon Kindle

How to Discover the Best Non-Fiction Ideas for Amazon Kindle Publishing

Google Top 5

Resources

Who Is Behind This Blog?