# Publsishing via 'Kindle'



## Randyjoe (Jun 1, 2012)

Has anyone here published work via 'Kindle' and so on? I am very inexperienced with technology and have refused to by a kindle, however I have been told it is easier to publish work via this format.

Has anyone published anything via the Kindle? How do you get paid?


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## movieman (Jun 1, 2012)

Randyjoe said:


> Has anyone published anything via the Kindle? How do you get paid?



Direct bank transfer for a US bank account, check for a foreign bank account. Various complex hoops to jump through if you're a non-American writer and don't want the IRS keeping 30% of your payments.


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## Colin Palfrey (Jun 3, 2012)

I've used them, and while I found their format requirements a pain, they do allow you to sell books in another format.  However, I certainly don't believe that as a book format they are anywhere near as appealing as people make out.  My sales figures have always shown a very definite biased towards paperbacks.

As Movieman has said, if you are not US based they are going to hammer you with taxes.  In theory if you dance to their tune they will only hamstring you instead of completely gutting your profit margin.  Don't forget though, all of those those people buying your Kindle eBook were potential customers for your real books.  Don't just assume that by getting Kindle sales you are making pure profit, as it does negatively impact your paperback sales.


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## Baron (Jun 3, 2012)

Colin Palfrey said:


> I've used them, and while I found their format requirements a pain, they do allow you to sell books in another format.  However, I certainly don't believe that as a book format they are anywhere near as appealing as people make out.  My sales figures have always shown a very definite biased towards paperbacks.
> 
> As Movieman has said, if you are not US based they are going to hammer you with taxes.  In theory if you dance to their tune they will only hamstring you instead of completely gutting your profit margin.  Don't forget though, all of those those people buying your Kindle eBook were potential customers for your real books.  Don't just assume that by getting Kindle sales you are making pure profit, as it does negatively impact your paperback sales.



I can echo the statement about paperback sales.  I'm also selling more paperbacks than digital books.  On the digital front I'm selling more for Nook than I am for Kindle.

I believe recent changes in Createspace and Kindle mean that Europeans are being paid from a European satellite of Amazon so the tax issue isn't applicable anymore.


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## Colin Palfrey (Jun 14, 2012)

Baron said:


> I believe recent changes in Createspace and Kindle mean that Europeans are being paid from a European satellite of Amazon so the tax issue isn't applicable anymore.



That's almost how it works for us in Europe, but of course they couldn't make it that simple.

With Createspace, the tax issue doesn't apply to sales made in Europe.  However, sell a book in the US and back it all comes.  They basically run US and European sales as two totally different sales-channels.  

There is a form I filled out to get rid of the problem.  Createspace send you a tax form that you need to fill out and take to an American embassy to get it stamped.  This meant a trip to Dublin for me.  Send that form back to Createspace and your tax rate goes way down on your US sales.  I can't remember the name of the form unfortunately but any authors using Createspace in Europe will get it in the post.


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## WriterJohnB (Jun 17, 2012)

The main problem with Kindle and other e-book formats is that they're inundated with "authors" who can't write, spell, or punctuate and don't bother to get their work edited. If you fall into this category, do all writers the favor of not publishing.

JohnB


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## movieman (Jun 18, 2012)

WriterJohnB said:


> The main problem with Kindle and other e-book formats is that they're inundated with "authors" who can't write, spell, or punctuate and don't bother to get their work edited.



I haven't seen unreadable crap on Amazon for quite a while; probably because hardly anyone buys those e-books so they sink to the bottom of the rankings and stay there.

Plenty of mediocre e-books, but there are plenty of those from trade publishers too.


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## Colin Palfrey (Jun 19, 2012)

WriterJohnB said:


> The main problem with Kindle and other e-book formats is that they're inundated with "authors" who can't write, spell, or punctuate and don't bother to get their work edited. If you fall into this category, do all writers the favor of not publishing.
> 
> JohnB



This is unfortunately true.  One of the things that puts me off Kindle is being association with those books.

Movieman, I wish this happened but it doesn't.  Books are sold, regardless of their format, by the marketing system that is set up to sell them.  A brilliantly written book that isn't marketed properly will sink into obscurity.  An awfully written book that is marketed properly will still flourish.  This isn't limited to Kindle books of course, it is just the basics of launching a new book in any marketplace.


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