# Amazon for Selling Literature



## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

I am not a writer, but this is a serious question.  You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing.  Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee.  Is that the only choice.  Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?


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## Hossfly (Jan 5, 2015)

Nutz said:


> I am not a writer, but this is a serious question.  You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing.  Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee.  Is that the only choice.  Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?


A friend of mine has at least two books published by Lulu.com. Heres the link, Nutz

Self Publishing - Lulu.com


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## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

Hossfly said:


> Nutz said:
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> > I am not a writer, but this is a serious question.  You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing.  Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee.  Is that the only choice.  Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?
> ...


Thank you, sir.  I will check it out.


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## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

Hossfly I was thinking more about E-Books.


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## S.J. (Jan 5, 2015)

What if nobody wants to buy it?


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## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

S.J. said:


> What if nobody wants to buy it?


That happens all of the time, that is why Amazon provides a good service...the cost isn't outrageous...but if you are successful and choose the wrong plan, you screw yourself.  Besides, I hate big box...I like to support small businesses and start-ups if they can provide the services.  

I am just curious as to the options for authors.  Marketing their masterpieces is their responsibility...the cost to Amazon or any other site is minimal if not highway robbery.


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## Hossfly (Jan 5, 2015)

Nutz said:


> Hossfly I was thinking more about E-Books.


You can do that through Lulu.com, Nutz 

Self Publishing Book Printing and Publishing Online - Lulu


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## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

Hossfly said:


> Nutz said:
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> > Hossfly I was thinking more about E-Books.
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Ahh...for some reason your link took me to the hard copy page.

Can you do me a favor and ask your friend if he is satisfied?  I am going to PM you my email address...I don't know how long I will last here this time.


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## Dekster (Jan 5, 2015)

Hossfly said:


> Nutz said:
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> > I am not a writer, but this is a serious question.  You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing.  Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee.  Is that the only choice.  Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?
> ...



at $3.25 per hundred pages, seems like Amazon free print on demand would make more economic sense, or be less risky.


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## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

Dekster said:


> Hossfly said:
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Anyone can format their masterpiece on Microsoft word and post it on any website to sell without any cost to Amazon or Lulu.


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## Dekster (Jan 5, 2015)

Nutz said:


> Dekster said:
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Assuming they can find someone to buy it (though PDF would be a better format than Word)


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## Nutz (Jan 5, 2015)

Dekster said:


> Nutz said:
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The format isn't word...it is a kindle format.  That can be done through word.  AND, there are a number of applications that do the same thing.  

And again, whether Amazon, Lulu or mybook.com, marketing and talent is left up to the author. Hell, I could probably sell a copy of two of transcripts of this discussion for a buck.  My question is about the sites used to deliver the product.


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## Dekster (Jan 5, 2015)

Nutz said:


> Dekster said:
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Best of Luck to you, but it is a saturated field no matter what you write and people are bombarded with people promoting stuff to the point they are desensitized to it.  I know a man who does it for a living and among his 5K or so FB friends, etc he managed to sell a whopping 6 copies of his anthology of some of his short-form writing.  I know another couple who wrote an inspirational, folksy book about their Grandmother and sold a sum total of 1 copy on Amazon.


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## protectionist (Mar 11, 2015)

Nutz said:


> I am not a writer, but this is a serious question.  You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing.  Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee.  Is that the only choice.  Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?


What would you write a book about ?  Trolling computer forum threads ?


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## longknife (Apr 4, 2015)

Another source of self-publishing

Smarshwords
Barnes&Nobel - Nook

There are authors making a living selling self-published works. But they write books that fall into certain well-covered genres. They also extensively use social networks to put their works in the eyes of more people.

Self-publishing gives you a much larger % of royalties and you can pay for certain publicizing services a lot cheaper than the big houses do.

The trick to selling is - and always will be - good writing!


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## Idadunno (Jun 24, 2015)

Nutz said:


> I am not a writer, but this is a serious question.  You finished your masterpiece...all of the publishers show interest but ultimately turn you down....so you look into self publishing.  Anyone can sell their books on Amazon for a fee.  Is that the only choice.  Are there other options out there or is Amazon the only avenue for unestablished authors?


I'm about to launch my father's little book of poetry on Amazon. The only fee I see is when a copy sells, but my dad will get more royalty from them than BAM. BAM's self-publishing thing is really sad. They charge a few hundred dollars and stall about a month before getting it online or on a shelf, and the author has to pay for the book they put on the shelf. You only get 3 months of it too and they will not guarantee the format you want (color of page--I think white is best, they keep printing in cream which is a vanity publishing thing because it's cheaper). For the same retail price, my dad will get almost 5 times the royalty from Amazon than BAM, and that includes shipping if someone orders a hard copy. I order some of my text books from Amazon, and Amazon out sells most all other book stores and online ebook agencies. I also liked that Amazon has free downloads of their ebook creators and viewers. If your ebook will not display properly on an iPad, Kindle, or phone type of device, you're risking potential customers who will want refunds. You have to save your Word document as a PDF to upload it, but that is not a problem. I did not consider all this when I first went about getting dad's book done. I wish I had. I could have saved $300.


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