Self Published

I published a Kindle edition guidebook for Yellowstone/Tetons. I began last December and worked through the lockdown last year. I hoped to do a print version after a few updates, but haven't gotten there yet.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0884781B7

Hi Greg, sounds interesting. Have you had much response?

I earn royalties in two ways. I get just under 65% of the sale price for purchased books. I usually sell several each month and hope that will increase over time. I also participate in the Kindle Unlimited program. Members of that program can download free several (I think ten) books each month. So I get paid for how ever many page reads I get. The total fund is divided among all participating authors in accordance to pages read. That varies a lot. Two days ago I had 127 page reads. Yesterday I had just 15.

I was fortunate to get labelled 'best new release in landscape and wildlife photography' when the book came out. I hope sales will continue climbing. We'll see. Writing it was more fun than replacing the laundry room floor, which was my other option during lockdown.

Oh, I will be buying that one very soon.

Hi Ronald,

I have self-published a few children's books and an art and poetry book, via Amazon/Kindle Direct Publishing. I feel it is worth it, it's a bit like my work here, you get back what you put in and have to market the items yourself but it only costs you time and you don't have to pre-order 100s of books as it is a POD service with no minimum. Only down side is I wish they had hard back cover books but when I did mine they only offered soft back covers (I not sure if that has changed).
I live in a very remote, small town in far north Queensland, Australia so I generally order books for myself to sell locally and have them at the visitor centre and some of the resorts on the Cape.

https://www.amazon.com/J-P-Stratton/e/B00JSN6KFY/ref

I've done several....only sold a few....but I helped my husband publish 2 on prayers and addictions and his are selling great. I am going to do another one with my newest "Cute Critters With Heart" soon.

I've sold a few hundred copies of this one. https://amzn.to/3a9V5aT

The average book in the US sells 400 copies. There are somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 books published every year in the US alone.

I just published "Subsurface History of Humanity: Direction of History." under my pen name Victor Torvich. It is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle versions.

A search by "Subsurface History of Humanity by Victor Torvich" will bring you to it on most Amazon marketplaces.

My primary objective right now is to get the first reviews of the book. I got five reviews so far, but they are scattered between Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Even just a small number of positive reviews is satisfying for me. I would say it makes sense to do self-publishing on Amazon.

The responses so far are better than I expected, I know that the particular book I am talking about does not have any illustrations inside, do you think it helps in a novel type of book?

I very interesting question, it made me think of movies and how some spoon feed the audience everything and nothing is left to the imagination.

So at first I thought no, because when I read a novel and read the authors descriptions, I want paint my own picture of the characters, surrounds, story etc based on how well the author writes and how well I use my imagination.
But then I thought it depends on the what the novel is about.
When I read science fantasy books they often have great artwork on the cover, maps and other artwork/drafting pieces which can be great reference material when reading through the story plus they can set the mood which may help the author in the telling of the story.
Now I'm thinking that pictures in novel type books maybe a great option. Oh...aren't they comics :))

I've self published a few. Haven't sold many, but I don't usually advertise them, either. I have mysteries, a couple of short "fairy tale" type stories, a coloring book, and the start of a series that I have yet to write a sequel to.

Ed,

That sounds like the music publishing business.

Selling close to 400 is a win because as the average it is skewed by the top performers.

Dave Bridburg
Bridburg.com
Post Modern Gallery

Yes, I use Blurb. Congrats on the book cover! Cool!

I have a couple of books on Amazon:

"Murder on the Six O'clock News" Kindle edition and paperback: http://amzn.to/1DxMqKO

and

"Southern Planter" Kindle only: https://amzn.to/2XpqmyH