If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know I’m having problems with Amazon. Not with the Kindle itself, but Amazon won’t let me publish for it because I live outside the US (The original post is here).
Big companies seem very good at giving non-committal and completely pointless answers. Amazon is no exception. After enquiring as to why I could promote the Kindle or any other Amazon product as an associate (affiliate) but not publish for the Kindle I received this:
Here’s an idea for making money with ebooks that you should give SERIOUS consideration to.
Imagine that for an investment of a grand total of $7.00 someone would give you not only an ebook showing you how to build an ebook business from start to finish but also a complete packaged system to make it all work. 
No, I haven’t got that decimal point in the wrong place, that’s seven dollars. Job done.
You get the idea, the methodology, the software and comprehensive instructions on how to install it (it’s a breeze). Not only that but there’s good after-sales support to iron out any little wrinkles you might have AND you even get the rights sell the whole package yourself if you like AND keep all the profit!
Too good to be true? Don’t you believe it. Listen, this is important.
I’m going to start off with a bit of disclosure here. One of the purposes of this post is to encourage you to buy the ebook I’m recommending at the end.
However, I am doing it to illustrate a point, a very important one, and whether you buy the ebook or not will make little difference to me but could make a great deal of difference to you.
A bit more disclosure: if you do buy it, I will make a few dollars.
But then this blog is called the Ebook Income, and it’s pretty clear it’s about making money from ebooks, so what do you expect?
There are in fact a couple of points here. They should probably be under a heading of “income diversification” or, “not having all your eggs in one basket”.
But I’m going off at a tangent, let’s restart.
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Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader is a great step forward. It’s not flawless but the few niggles are easy to gloss over because the thing does what it’s supposed to and does i
t well. As a first attempt it’s got winning technology and the huge publishing support that will almost certainly guarantee its success.
I know some people don’t like the looks (I do) but in use you actually forget that it’s a digital device at all after a while. It’s just like reading a book - which is how it should be.
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Let’s get straight to it. If you’ve ever thought about writing a book then now’s the time to sharpen your pencil and get to it. There has never been a better time to write and sell an ebook. Not only that but the money can get pretty interesting too!
Now you’ll notice I’ve changed the word “book” to “ebook” in the paragraph above. Although there’s nothing to stop you writing and publishing a traditional book, by far the most profitable approach now is ebooks.
It’s also a market which, in part thanks to Amazon’s Kindle, is expanding rapidly - faster than at any time before.
It gets better. Virtually everything you need to start writing a best selling ebook you either already have, or you can get for free.
One of the most fun things about selling an ebook is the residual income any successful ebook generates.
Just think about this powerful effect for a minute - it’s the sort of thing that can change lives.
When you go to work you’re on a fixed wage. You’re a wage slave. In order to earn - let’s say $40,000 - you need to be earning at least four times that for your boss. In other words, at best you’re getting 25% of your worth. At best.
When you sell your ebook you may not get $40,000. Not for your first one anyway. In fact if you’re just starting out you’ll be lucky to get anything like that unless you’ve had plenty of money to invest in the launch.
But let’s say you did the launch as cheaply as you could. In fact let’s say you spent nothing. You did a bit of article marketing, you got the word out on some appropriate forums. As a result, maybe you’ll only get a few hundred dollars your first month.
There are lots of facets to writing a novel. Plot, character, mood, setting, and for those learning to write novels it can sometimes seem overwhelming. There are a number of very good publications that can help you and even some useful software for structuring your ideas, but one of the best places to start to learn how to write a good novel is with your own favourite writers.
I’ve haven’t met a single successful writer who isn’t also a great reader. I’m pretty sure you’ll be the same. You’ll almost certainly be wanting to write in the same genre as your preferred authors.
So if you want to write a romance novel, study your favourite romance author. If you want to write a historical novel, a thriller, whatever style of writing you want to emulate, study the best in the business first.
So you want to be a successful ebook author? Well it would be pretty strange to want to be an unsuccessful one! So perhaps you’re thinking you need to get yourself some education, some good qualifications. A university degree in English maybe?
Baloney.
I guarantee that you have, right now, all the qualifications you need to become a successful ebook author. How do I now that? Well number one, you obviously have access to a computer because you’re reading this and number two, you can read.
That’s it. You can now go on to be as successful as you decide to be. Write your own ebook, write your own check.
I’m really not kidding.
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If you’re an ebook author or publisher, or if you’re thinking of becoming either, a blog might seem like an obvious communication medium. So why would I suggest that “not to blog” is an option?
Let’s say you’re a writer and you’ve self-published your own ebook. A blog is a great way of communicating to your potential readers. Actually, let’s call them customers, after all we would like their money as well as their critical acclaim!
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Ebook income is the blog of Boxabooks.com. It’s where I’ll be jotting down all kinds of news, quick updates, reviews…
You name it, if it’s relevant to ebooks it’ll appear here.
Whatever people say, the money is important so we’ll be focusing not only on how to make money from writing but also other ways of generating income, like promoting other ebooks alongside your own.
And because, as far as I know, none of us like working any harder than we have to, we’ll also be looking at automation wherever possible. Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all techy on you - that’s not my field of expertise - it’ll all be from the simplest point of view possible.
When you need more detailed information on ebook writing, ebook publishing and marketing, and ebook reading devices you’ll want to visit the main site.
Admittedly it’s a little thin on the ground at the moment - but then I’ve only just created it! I’m working hard on getting as much useful ebook information there as possible and it will soon build into an indispensable source of ebook author resources.
You can subscribe to the rss feed here to keep up to date with additions or, if you prefer, go to the main site and sign up for the newsletter that I’ll be sending out every so often.
On the subject of which, I better set that up. Until next time, keep scribbling!
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