Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

I am loving how the Amazon Kindle ebook reader is opening opportunities for those of us who have self-published. In addition to being available on Amazon.com, I am excited to announce that my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself is now available from the Amazon stores in:

Newly Created Opportunity by Amazon

Last week I received an email from Amazon announcing Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Select – "a new option dedicated to KDP authors and publishers worldwide, featuring a fund of $500,000 in December 2011 and at least $6 million in total for 2012! KDP Select gives you a new way to earn royalties, reach a broader audience, and use a new set of promotional tools."

By opting in for this, my book is now available through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, which allows eligible U.S. Amazon Prime members who own Kindle devices to borrow the book. I earn a royalty based on a percentage.

The example given by Amazon: if total borrows of all participating KDP titles are 100,000 in December and my book is borrowed 1,500 times, I will earn $7,500 in additional royalties from KDP Select in December. (Doing the math: 1,500/100,000 x $500,000 December Select fund = $7, 500)

Obviously the key here is the number of times my book is borrowed in relation to the total number of books borrowed in one month. And figuring out how to get the word out to the U.S. Amazon Prime members – those who can borrow from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library at this time (of course that could potentially change) – will require some work.

Of course, there are a couple of catches:

• Amazon requires exclusivity to sell the electronic format. This means my book cannot be available for sale on the Nook, iBooks and other ebook reader platforms. This is not a loss to me because I had yet to upload my book to the other platforms; I just hadn’t gotten that far down my to-do list. By opting in to KDP Select (for 90 days at a time) I can focus my time and energy on the Amazon platform and, hopefully, make my efforts worthwhile. However, this also means I can not sell the PDF format on my own site.
• “We will determine in our sole discretion the criteria for determining which borrowing events qualify for this calculation. A maximum of one borrowing per customer will qualify." I interpret this to mean that if an U.S. Amazon Prime member is an avid reader, only one of his/her borrowed books will count towards the monthly calculation. If I’m interpreting this correctly, that sucks! Which borrows will Amazon deem countable: the first borrowed in that month? the most popular? the one  quickly climbing the charts? a random choice?

Despite those two catches, I figure it is worth a shot to roll the dice and see what happens in the first 90 days. I can always choose to opt out after that time – with other catches to navigate.

(For those who prefer holding a real book in your hands, there are less than 160 autographed paperbacks left. I am undecided whether I’ll have another print run done once these are gone. An empty corner in the living room might motivate me to get going on my second book!)