Amazon Prime Members Can Borrow My eBooks with Kindle Owners' Lending Library

Did you know that if you have a Prime membership on Amazon and live in the USA or UK, you can borrow one ebook a month via the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

You can choose from 180,000+ ebooks FREE, including over 100 New York Times bestsellers. And there are no due dates.

A Prime membership has other advantages too. For only $79/year or £49/year, you'll also receive free 2-day shipping on millions of items on Amazon, plus unlimited streaming of over 25,000 movies and TV shows. There are other perks too. You can learn more about Prime here.

You can borrow directly from your Kindle (e-ink versions and Fire):

1. On e-ink devices (regular Kindles & Touch), click on "See all categories" then scroll down to "Kindle Owners' Lending Library" to view titles. Find a book and click on it to either buy or borrow for free.

2. On Kindle Fire devices, the Lending Library is located in the bookstore. Browse books and look for Prime badge. Click on a title and you'll have the option to either buy or borrow for free.

3. You can also borrow and read on an app for your desktop, iPad and more. Download your borrowed books directly from Amazon.com by looking for titles that show the Amazon Prime icon.

Remember, as a US or UK Prime member, you're entitled to 1 free borrow a month. That's 12 free books each year.

Don't own a Kindle? Get yours now. If you're not a US Prime member, start your one month free trial today. If you live in the UK, start your one month free trial of Prime here.


Borrow Cheryl Kaye Tardif books! Look for the Prime icon.

How I Made Over $42,000 Selling My Kindle eBooks

In March 2012 one Canadian author boldly went where few have gone before—into the land of making real money with Amazon's KDP Select program, where she has now earned over $210,000 in 11 months.

This is her story…

My name is Cheryl Kaye Tardif and I am an international bestselling suspense author who earned over $42,000 dollars in March 2012 selling ebooks via Amazon's KDP Select program, captured the interest of a major literary agency, and went on to sign with a foreign rights agent. And I'm about to tell you HOW I did all that.

I don't normally tell people how much money I make, but I believe writers need to know it IS possible to earn a real income from your books. Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can—if you have the right combination of criteria and techniques.

In this book, I'll share with you what I believe are four key elements you must have in place to see high sales. And I'll reveal the strategic techniques I used during my KDP Select promotions that resulted in earning over $42,000—with $32,000 of that from ONE title alone.

Not only did I earn over $42,000 in ebook sales, I was contacted by one of the leading literary agencies in New York. The chairman noticed my success when my one title made #4 in the Top 100 Bestselling Kindle ebooks, right under The Hunger Games trilogy. Since then, I've signed with an agent at Trident Media Group, and a senior editor at Penguin, who also contacted me after my Amazon success, is awaiting my next novel.

So, if you're ready to earn some real money with Select, let's begin…

Available at Amazon (Kindle) for only $2.99.

What do John Locke, Amanda Hocking and Other Independent Authors Have in Common?

If you're an independent author or a writer who has thought of publishing on your own, take heart in knowing that the book industry has had its virtual doors blown right open by the evolution and revolution of ebooks. Over the past three to five years, we have seen huge changes in the industry as traditional-style publishers imploded their usual models and ways of doing business, laid off employees, consolidated imprints under one roof, and basically went into full panic mode. Amidst this chaos, ebooks swept in, gathered hoards of loyal readers, converted the technically challenged into switching to ereaders, and forever changed the face of publishing.

There has never been a better time for you, independent author, to publish your own book!

Read more at The Write Type ~ Multi-Author Musings

Ebook publishers and royalty percentages

Ebook publishers really vary on their terms and royalty percentages, though in general, smaller ebook publishers seem to be more flexible and many offer higher royalties.

Here are a couple of examples:

eHarlequin - (x) On copies of English language electronic editions of Publisher or its Related Licensees sold in North America:
. on the first 100,000 copies of each such edition, six percent (6%) of the Cover Price;
. on the next 100,000 copies of each such edition, seven percent (7%) of the Cover Price;
. on the next 100,000 copies of each such edition, eight percent (8%) of the Cover Price;
. on the next 100,000 copies of each such edition, nine percent (9%) of the Cover Price;
. on all such copies of each such edition thereafter, ten percent (10%) of the Cover Price;
(x) On copies of English language electronic editions of Publisher or its Related Licensees: four percent (4%) of the Cover Price in any country outside of North America.
(x) On copies sold of non-English language electronic editions of Publisher or its Related Licensees: two percent (2%) of Cover Price in any country.

Double-Dragon eBooks - 30 % of the cover price less credit card processing fees for eBooks sold from our site, 30 % of the amount received from a reseller, and 8 % of the retail price for POD print books.

Ellora's Cave - Royalties: 37.5% for digital releases; 7.5 % for print books.
Length of grant of publishing rights: Life of copyright
Includes digital, print, audio, translation, and secondary/subsidiary rights.

Wild Child Publishing - 40% of sales

Wolfsinger Publications - 75% of sales less charges for any handling costs, service fees, or discounts when paid in full by the distributor, bookstore, vendor, organization.

Imajin Books - 50% of sales collected, no charges; term - 5 years.

These are just a few examples of how widely varied author royalties are, and one thing I do advise is to check the other terms very carefully.

How important is ebook pricing?

In today's economy, the answer to the above question is easy to answer: ebook pricing is vital to the sales and success of your book. Price them too high and people may skip your book and go for something less expensive, especially if you are not a "big name author". Price your books too low (with the exception of a special sale) and readers may think you're a hobbyist and not very good.

There has been a lot of discussion of what the perfect price point is for an ebook. The answer? You may have to play with the prices if you've published your own ebooks to determine where the best price lies.

A strong proponent of $0.99 and $1.99 ebooks, author JA Konrath, held those views up until last year, when Amazon raised the royalty level to 70% for ebooks priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Konrath took the plunge and raised his prices and has reported that this hasn't hurt his sales in the least. In fact, he reports he made over $100K last year on his ebooks, across multiple retailers. Not bad income for an author who is self-publishing his own books now, after being published by the big guys for years.

This past week, I've been asked by three authors to advise them as to why their ebooks aren't selling. The first thing I did was head over to their Amazon page, where I discovered ebook prices all over $9. And these are authors with only a couple of books. One only had a single title. You can bet they probably aren't widely known--compared to names like Konrath, Hocking, etc.

Along with high ebook prices, I noted that one author had overly busy book covers. I believe that will hamper his sales. Another author had a poorly worded description. The major problem is that all three authors are published by midstream traditional publishers and this means they don't have much--if any-- say in the pricing, covers or description.

My advice to all three: try to get your ebook rights back and publish these ebooks on your own. Or at least find an ebook publisher (like Imajin Books) that will work with you, price your ebook lower, update your covers and description if needed and give you a higher percentage of royalties. Because without getting that price lowered, you won't have much of a chance selling more ebooks.

In Konrath's latest blog post, he talks about an author who reached the NYT bestsellers list multiple times, who was just offered a $200K two-book deal. After Konrath crunched the numbers and pointed out that her ebooks would be priced higher, it appears this author would be better off publishing these on her own--especially since she obviously already has a platform and a built-in fan base from her existing titles--and setting lower prices.

Kindle Nation Daily conducted a recent survey. Here are some of the results.

"Kindle owners are buying ebooks with ever-increasing frequency, with 13% buying 60 or more paid ebooks a year, 22% buying 30 to 60, and 33% buying 15 to 30."

"A general Kindle reader "buys 4.9 print books and 46.6 ebooks a year. Slightly over half of her ebook acquisitions are free or priced at less 99 cents."

From the survey, here are the top 4 defining factors in purchasing an ebook:

1. ebook is by a favorite author

2. ebook is significantly cheaper than hardcover or paperback edition

3. ebook is priced at $3.99 or LESS

4. ebook comes highly recommended by someone you trust

For great deals on Kindle ebooks, check out Kindle Nation Daily and subscribe to their blog on your Kindle, so you'll receive alerts on exciting new releases, sales and more.

In the end, the pricing issue really boils down to one thing. Publishers and authors should give readers what they want, and they want less expensive ebooks.

Do I Need an ISBN to Publish My Own eBook?

The above question is a common one for authors taking their first dip into the ebook pool. The easy answer is: YES. But there's a bit more to ISBNs than that.

If you've decided to publish your own ebooks using ebook retailers like Amazon's Digital Text Platform, KoboBooks or Smashwords, you will need new ISBNs for each retailer. To understand why this is necessary, you must first understand what an ISBN is and does.

What's an ISBN?

International Standard Book Numbers or ISBNs are a 10 or 13 digit number used to identify your book or ebook and each of its revisions or editions. The first part of that number (the prefix) identifies the publisher. ISBNs are used for tracking sales data. Print books also have the ISBN embedded into the barcode, again for easy sales tracking.

Why do I need an ISBN for my ebook?

Distributors, bookstores, wholesalers and the general public use this number to order your book. If you plan to sell to bookstores, libraries (many are bringing in ebooks now) and some specialty retailers, you'll need an ISBN.

Can I use the same ISBN for one title that's in print and ebook edition?

No. Many retailers won't distribute your ebook or book if the ISBN has been used anywhere else, so it's important to take the time to register individual ISBNs as needed. ISBNs are not assigned by title; they are assigned by edition. Editions are determined by who published your book. If you're publishing your own ebooks, then every time you publish at a different retailer, you'll need a new ISBN number.

Example: My bestselling novel Whale Song has been published by 3 different print publishers, so it has 3 different ISBNs for those paperbacks. It also has 3 different ISBNs for ebooks I puiblished via Kindle, Smashwords and KoboBooks.

How do I get an ISBN?

If you're an author from the US, you can purchase a block of 10 ISBNs from R.R. Bowker at  http://www.bowkerlink.com or http://www.isbn.org. Some ebook retailers, like Smashwords, allow you to purchase a single ISBN directly from them. Just keep in mind that whoever has registered the ISBN (in this case, Smashwords) owns the ISBN and it can't be transferred if you choose not to publish through them. Never use the same number for different books or editions.

Canadian authors are quite fortunate; they don't have to pay for ISBNs. If you're a Canadian author, you can register your ISBNs at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ciss-ssci/041002-2000-e.html. You'll first join CISS -- The Canadian ISBN Service System and be assigned your prefix. After that you can assign ISBNs to your ebooks and books easily and quickly online.

A special thank you to Russell B. for inspiring me to write today's post. :-) I hope I've answered your question, Russell.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
book marketing coach & bestselling author

Should writers pursue print publication or publish their own ebooks?

The above question came up in a forum recently, and while everyone has to determine what's right for them as it is a very personal decision, I gave them my thoughts on the topic.

I say go for both--print and ebooks. If you have a traditional publisher for your print, all the better. But don't let that stop you from publishing your own ebooks, especially the ones your agent and publisher aren't interested in. You definitely don't want to overlook the ebook market. That's where the money is right now for authors, if you publish the ebooks yourself.

As a self-published and traditionally published print author, I've seen the pros and cons to both sides.

If you have a backlist of titles that your publisher is finished with, get them up on Amazon Kindle, KoboBooks and Smashwords right away. Sales of ebooks are on the rise, and they won't be stopping or slowing any time too soon.

Other ideas for ebooks: publish a collection of short stories or an anthology with other authors, publish a novella or novelette, publish a how-to book or a book of poetry.

I have 4 ebooks coming out between April 1, 2010 and Sept 27, 2010. :-) There's only one thing better than promoting your books, and that's writing them!

My agent is holding 2 thrillers. I'm considering taking one back and publishing it as an ebook next spring.

The key is this: you want to build momentum, then try to keep that momentum going. And the only way to do this is to keep releasing books under some semblance of regularity.

With Amazon's recent royalty raise to 70% for qualifying ebooks, it's possible for authors to now make more money selling less expensive ebooks than selling traditionally published print books. But in the end, it depends on the personal goals of each writer.