Self Publishing on Amazon

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to fill you all in on my new part time occupation as a struggling indie author trying to get my work out there for all of the general public to enjoy (hopefully, anyway).  It’s been an exciting journey so far, and I’m really looking forward to getting more work out there.  That being said, I would like to share with other writers out there my experience, lessons learned, and some helpful information I will definitely apply next time around.

First and foremost, I think for someone that is new to the writing world, the Amazon self-publishing program is the way to go.  I’m sure that there are other ways to get your work out there to a broader audience, but for us newbies this can be a little intimidating.  Smashwords, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, these are all platforms that I would love for my work to be on, for obvious reasons, but not only is the self-publishing world new to me, I also don’t have a lot of time between my day job to shop around for the best way to get my work out there.  I do know, however, that Amazon is dominating the self-publishing market, so it only seemed natural to go with their platform.  There are several perks to making your work available for free for Kindle Prime members, like being offered 5 free promotional days to get your work out there to as many Kindle readers as possible.  You make your work exclusive to Amazon for 90 days at a time, so if you’re unsatisfied with being tied up with them for the first three months then you can opt out later.  I also want to mention that when signing up with Amazon’s Kindle Prime program that this bars you from being able to sell you work electronically through your blog, website, other platforms, etc. BUT you can still sell your book IN PRINT anyway you choose, you’re just giving Amazon the rights to sell your work electronically for 90 days.  There are definite pros and cons to the program, and it’s not for everyone, so do your due diligence before deciding who to go with.

Also, the first book in my erotica trilogy, Sarah’s Shift, has been available on Amazon for over two weeks now, and the reception has been nothing short of amazing for me!  I’m so happy that not only are people buying this book but I’ve also gotten some very warm reviews from other writers out there in cyberspace, so it’s been very rewarding on multiple fronts!  The biggest problem I have come across when self publishing though was jumping the gun before having my second book completed. So, my advice to anyone out there considering publishing on Amazon is this: make sure you have 2-3 short stories, novellas, or books on the back burner before listing the first one on Amazon.  If your first published work takes off and people love it, the first thing they are going to ask themselves is “what else has this author got?”  To which you want to be able to provide them with as much content as possible.  Otherwise, out of site, out of mind, and you don’t want that!

If you’re working on short stories for a series, I would seriously consider getting the first two ready before publishing the first one, that way you’ll always be one step ahead while you’re completing work for the following stories.  It’s always best to stay one step ahead in the fast paced world of self-publishing!

Well I hope this entry has helped everyone out, at least a little bit, and as always feel free to drop me a message sometime if you have any questions about self-publishing with Amazon or just want to talk about writing erotica in general, I love talking to other writers and making new friends online, so I look forward to hearing from you soon

Until next time,

Lindsey