A couple of weeks ago, I posted our Top 12 Ways to Monetize Content in 2012 list and you can bet that Kindle was near the top of that list. In May 2011, Amazon announced that it was selling more ebooks than print books on a daily basis. Later in the same year, they announced that they were selling over a million devices each week. That’s big news.
Whether you write fiction, non-fiction or want to rework public domain or reworked PLR content, Kindle has plenty of options for digital content publishers. To get started, you need to create or log into your account account here. You also need to go through all the tutorials here.
By offering your content on Kindle, you not only have the potential to reach new audiences, but you will satisfy for your audience’s likely growing desire for Kindle-friendly content.
What to Sell:
If you already have ebooks you’ve created or a ghostwriter has written for you, you can sell them on Kindle. Obviously, you can also create new content to sell on Kindle too or rework PLR into a unique piece.
You can also use content that is in the public domain content to create an ebook. Kindle’s policy on using public domain content is that is differentiated from other ebooks using the same content. The website states that you must meet one of the following criteria:
“(Translated) – A unique translation
(Annotated) – Contains annotations (unique, hand-crafted additional content including study guides, literary critiques, detailed biographies, or detailed historical context)
(Illustrated) – Includes 10 or more unique illustrations relevant to the book”
Think outside the box even further. You can put together a collection of your articles, reports, blog posts or anything else that is of interest to your target audience.
How You Get Paid:
How much you get paid on Kindle, depends on a few factors. The first decision you need to make is whether you want to go straight to earning royalties or if you want to enroll in the KDP Select Program.
The KDP Select Program is a way to earn money by “lending” your content in the Kindle Owners Lenders Library. If sign up for KDP Select and you make your ebook exclusive to Kindle for at least 90 days, your ebook will be in the library for the same amount of time. You earn a share of a monthly fund each time your ebook is borrowed from the library. This month’s fund was at $700,000 and $600,000 is available for February.
If you choose to get royalties instead, you can earn 35 or 70% on your titles. Public domain content qualifies for 35% royalties only. Smaller, lower priced books generally qualify for 35% as well. You can find the full details on royalties right here.
Amazon pays out monthly, but you are paid out about 60 days after the last day of the month your sales occurred in. You can get paid by check or Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), but you need to earn at least $100 before a check and the minimum requirement for EFT is $10.
Getting your content on Kindle isn’t complicated, but you should do your homework first to make sure you do everything just write. Next week, we’ll talk about Kindle formatting (it’s probably the most pesky thing about submitting to Kindle), but in the meantime, start here to learn more.
You had said to put a collection of your articles together but i thought i had read over there that the work not be found on your website
thanks
chris
Hi Chris, thanks for your comment. Do you remember where you saw this exactly? I have gone through everything and can’t find those restrictions. With the exception of being enrolled in the KDP Select program, Amazon does not get any exclusive rights to your content. In fact, the Terms and Conditions states that you retain publishing rights.
A few references:
Content Guidelines:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A2AH1EAPH0YKI9
Copyright Guidelines:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A12I95WPPFYFX9
Terms and Conditions:
https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=APILE934L348N
Of course, I wouldn’t just slap up some articles and be done with it. Making the articles into a cohesive documents with a strong introduction, conclusion and additional commentary would certainly make it a quality product.
Hi Alice, i can not find where i read that. i had a link from another article but couldnt find that either. i checked the links you gave and cant recall if it was in there. i “thought” i had read that near the beginning of the year bc i was looking at doing this but thought they said the content couldnt be found on a website. they could have changed it or i could have really read that wrong, lol.
Either way, ill be off to kindle and give start submitting some books
Maybe they did change it, not sure. I haven’t had any publishing issues thus far and I’ve used bits and pieces of things I’ve created in different places. Good luck!
Hi Alice: Have you heard of the course that is out by J. Jonas “Kindle Triangulation? if so, does your PLR “How to Sell Ebooks on Kindle” & “How to Format Your Kindle Ebook” (Basic Template Included) cover what is in his course? Does it offer the answers to these questions:
Which Kindle devices are being used most?
Is non-fiction or fiction purchased more often?
Are people influence by Amazon Suggestions?
What’s the most important part of a book listing?
How important are reviews to purchase decisions?
How likely is a purchase if there are no reviews?
How many use the “Look Inside” feature before purchase?
How do you search for books you purchase?
What is the biggest factor in the purchase decision of a book?
Just trying to make a good choice decision of which information to purchase..your thoughts? BTW, Thanks for the great work that you do!
Hi Cyndy. The PLR guides are just how-to guides for specific tasks (formatting, uploading, selling, reading reports, etc.). They don’t cover the questions you’re asking about. They are meant to be topic-specific guides that people can use as blog posts, add to an information product, etc. It’s not a course on Kindle unfortunately.