Publishing On The Kindle: Top Tips

This was originally a guest post for Marketing Tips for Authors, now re-purposed for you as I am still in flux. Currently, we have a flat to move into at the end of the month in London but I have also started work (day job) so internet access and time is still sporadic. Normal service will hopefully resume in July. (I'm loving being back!)

I love my Kindle! I am a total ebook convert. I now read 90% of books on the Kindle device itself or Kindle apps on the iPad and iPhone. I am also a very happy Kindle author as my thriller Pentecost is still in the bestseller rankings 3 months after launch.

In the video, I go through my best tips for publishing on the Kindle:

• Use a freelancer to do the formatting. I’ve formatted files myself before and found it a frustrating process to get exactly right. It’s affordable to pay an expert to create a file for you and you can also get them to create an epub while they are at it for other devices. It will save you time and a lot of frustration! I recommend B10Mediaworx, April L Hamilton and EbookArchitects.

• Decide on the categories you will use. When you publish onto the Kindle you can choose categories for your book. This is important as it will control where your book is placed and also where you rank. For example, Fiction – Christian with sub-category Romance or Fiction – Romance category with sub-category historical. If you’ve written a romance, it’s important you find the right niche as readers will search here. You can choose a couple of categories but only a few so it is critical.

• Make sure your book cover is optimized for the thumbnail size of the Kindle store. I browse the new releases on Kindle every week, checking out the cover and titles first. Then I click through and download a sample if I like the look of it. So cover and title are still as important as they are on traditional bookshelves.

• Ensure your first few pages hook the reader. Although this should be true of any book, it is particularly important for Kindle books as people will download samples and delete them if they are not interested. I often have 30 or more samples ready to look at and I’ll maybe buy 1 – 2 of those. I have to be hooked. So make sure your book doesn’t get warmed up after 20 pages. It needs to be in the first 5 to get a kindle user to buy the book.

• Use targeted advertising. If you have a budget, Kindle Nation Daily blog has paid advertising to it’s members and has been proven to be more effective than most other advertising, according to many Kindle authors. You need to reserve your place for that months in advance though as it is so popular. You can also try Facebook advertising which can be targeted to those people who ‘like’ Kindle and in a specific country.

If you're a Kindle author, what are your best tips? If you're a Kindle reader, what do you want authors to consider?