3 Myths About Amazon Publishing (And They’re Just Plain Wrong)
I was recently told by an author that he wasn’t going to publish in Amazon due to the following three myths, which I would like to dispel immediately!
1. Don’t publish on Amazon because it’s a race to the bottom, which is why there are so many books that sell for only .99 on the site and why you can’t make any money there.
2. Amazon promotes other books when you are trying to sell your book, so it takes away from your book sales.
3. There are too many books on Amazon, so your book will get lost in the shuffle.
So, let’s start with myth #1. I’m sure there are a lot of books for .99 because the author thinks that it’s a race to the bottom, so they price them that way. But, Amazon has a pricing tool for Kindle Books, and I have never seen a book where the optimal price (i.e. the price at which the most books similar to yours are selling) is .99. Most books are priced between $2.99 and $9.99 and give the author a 70% royalty.
Other times, authors price a book at .99 and take a 35% royalty instead of the 70% royalty because they are using it as a lead generator, a gateway to additional book sales or more expensive products and services, so they aren’t concerned with how much or how little they make per sale on the book itself.
And guess what? It’s true, Amazon will promote other books in your genre when people look for your book. But they will also promote your book when prospective buyers check out other books in your genre. And, if you write a good book with a catchy title and a great cover, your book could make more sales from Amazon’s marketing than from your own.
And as far as there being too many books…how much content is being pumped out every day? Every month? With offers to buy? all over the Internet. It’s over a billion pieces of content a month just on Facebook.
But when you know how to market your book, and it shows up under the right keywords and categories, there are only 10–20 books on a page in Amazon!
And when Amazon sends out an email, there are anywhere from one to twenty books in the email. So, there is very little, if any, competition.
And the truth is that most authors, especially new ones, don’t have a list, and aren’t great marketers, and would benefit greatly from publishing Amazon. So, I would not buy into these myths, and publish your book on Amazon.