It’s true – you don’t know what you don’t know until you have to know it…
I knew I wanted to release the revised version of my book on the Kindle platform, and thought it would go a little quicker. If you’re considering your own e-book, you might find this tale interesting.
Just an e-book
That was what I thought, but I was greatly mistaken.
Since I’ve been selling the pdf version of the book for years now, it seemed like I would just convert the file and make a Kindle version available.
And then I got educated…
Basic layout
Kindle text formatting allows for the most basic of layouts – so that the reader can customize the reading experience.
Authors, editors, and page layout artists construct books to best convey information because ink is relatively permanent…
And these two philosophies contradict each other in places.
For example – I had used bulleted lists to help convey the information – and those are a definite no-no in the Kindle world.
Assistance
Amazon makes a document available that describes what can and cannot be done with their format – you’ll want to consult that if you go down this road. Be sure to read Amazon’s guide here.
And I found CJ’s Easy as Pie Kindle Tutorials – and that was a great help.
In the end, I had to really understand the formatting and methodology in order to get a good looking Kindle book. (And I think I was reasonably successful at it;-)
Pricing
Kindle benefits from Amazon’s “I’m the 800lb gorilla” status.
In order to publish on Kindle, your price has to be the lowest e-book price available – in the world – or Kindle will do a number of things in response. (and those actions don’t make authors happy…)
And that price includes accounting for England’s VAT of 15%…
So that means the list price of the Kindle version is $4.99 – which, with the 15% VAT added on, is still a penny cheaper than my price of $5.75 for the pdf version.
So there you go – a $.76 discount if you want to grab the Kindle version and don’t pay that VAT;-)
Other flavors
My plan was to offer it on the nook platform as well, but when it came down to it, their price restrictions get in the way.
Nook also wants to have to have the lowest price in the world – and I’d get into a never ending cycle. I could never set a price that was lowest for Nook and ensured that no other ebook was sold for less than 15% more than the Kindle price. (Tricky those lawyers at Amazon…)
So – I’ll stick to the pdf and Kindle versions.
Available shortly
The book status is “under review” and my hope is it will get through that process in the next day or so.
If you don’t have a Kindle, “The Revised LinkedIn Personal Trainer” as a pdf is still a great buy. If I can be of help, drop a comment here.
To your continued success,
steve
—
Steven Tylock
http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/stevetylock