Have you published a book on Amazon using HP or other content?

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   promisemposted 9 years ago

   If you have, can you share your experience? Was it worth the effort?

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      LuisEGonzalezposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I have several e-Books published on Amazon (Kindle) and on Booktango. I mostly use articles that I have written on HP. Kindle works better for me because of it ease in using it and Booktango because it sells more.

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         promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Have you learned any lessons about the books you have published? For example, do longer books sell better than shorter books? Does creating a cover of some kind make a difference?

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            LuisEGonzalezposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            There is no difference as to how old books are (in my case) As for the length, longer books tend to do better. But Amazon is just so simple to use that it beats all other platforms. I download everything, including images, onto a word document file and download that into Amazon.

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         TheBizWhizposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         How do you formulate your price? Is there a format or do you just put a price you think will help them sell?

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            If you produce a Kindle book, Amazon offers a guide that will help you to price properly.  Very easy.

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            LuisEGonzalezposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            The price is set (by me) according to the amount of effort  and the length of the book. I also compare books of similar topic and length when deciding on what price to set.

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            TheBizWhizposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Thank you both.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I published a book on flamenco which was a combination of my Hubs and the articles on my flamenco website.   I published it first on Smashwords and yes, that was worth the effort (although if I did it today, I would use Booktango not Smashwords).   
      
      I did also try publishing the book on Amazon but it did not do well at all.

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         promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I suppose the labor cost of producing a book is much lower if it mostly uses articles that have been previously written. But editing and production can take up a lot of time too.

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   WriteAngledposted 9 years ago

   Not worth the effort for me because I live in the UK and the hoops I need to jump with respect to US taxation issues if I publish on Amazon are more than I wish to deal with. Luckily, I have other sources of income so the matter is not pressing

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      psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Amazon now accepts you UK tax ID number.

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         WriteAngledposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Really!  That is an interesting development. Thank you.

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   NateB11posted 9 years ago

   I self published two books, one of them through Amazon and the other through Lulu; both from content from Hubs. Neither of them sell very well. So, in answer to the question, haven't had success with that.
   
   But it might be my subject matter. I tend not to have success with my subject matter.
   
   Aside: Amazon is much easier to use compared to Lulu, in my opinion. Plus, Amazon doesn't make you buy a copy of your book to get it published; Lulu makes you buy a copy to "proof read" before you can get it out to the general market. You can still sell it through a link to their site either way, though.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Nate, does Lulu.com distribute your book so it's available to purchase at Barnes & Noble, iTunes etc?   I found Booktango and Smashwords had a better distribution network and I made most of my sales on iTunes.

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         NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I can't remember the details on that, Marisa. I remember when I initially published the book, it was available at my store on Lulu and, of course, I could post a link to it on my own blog or Facebook, etc. Then I ordered a copy, which makes it available to other markets; I remember Amazon is one market, but can't remember if iTunes or Barnes & Noble were also available.
         
         I will have to check out Booktango and Smashwords.

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         Jodahposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes Marisa, Lulu distributes your eBook to Barnes and Noble, iBooks and Nook as long as it is in ePub format and not PDF. If PDF it is only available through the Lulu store.

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   Richard-Bivinsposted 9 years ago

   I had a series of six hubs that became unfeatured because of traffic back in 2012.  I unpublished them from here and reconfigured them as a kindle book.  I sell an average of 100 copies of that kindle book each month... The effort was minimum... I do not advertise it or promote it in any way... It's not really a book either at only 26 pages long, but it earns more than it ever earned here on HP.

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That's a very impressive response.

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      NateB11posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, that really is cool. And good to know it's possible.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Richard:  I thought Amazon did not permit people to use published articles elsewhere as books on Amazon.  Do you have to unpublish first, or can you keep your work on HP and also publish it on Amazon.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Richard:  When I published my Kindle book, I found that converting it was very tedious.  It was a book I published years ago in hard copy on MS Works.  I used Open Office,but even found that difficult.  Marisa helped me a great deal or I never would have gotten it online.  I would like to publish more, but the work involved was tremendous for me.  Is there some secret to doing this?
      
      I love the idea of publishing short "books" such as those you mentioned.  Did not think you could do that.  Am anxious to hear whether Amazon will allow work that already is online elsewhere.  Also, did you do a formal copyright for each book or just use Amazon's numbering system?

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         Jean Bakulaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         This is all really interesting. I have the "writing bug" again and don't always want to write hubs. Maybe I will try to write and publish something through Amazon.

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   Vic Dillingerposted 9 years ago

   eBooks of the type you noted, Richard-Bivins, can be VERY lucrative.  Under contract I have written about a dozen of them for others and they range anywhere from 2K to 8K words or more (dependent upon subject).  They do well as long as they're good content. I have a novel under my own name (in KIndle's Select program) and it routinely generates a few bucks in royalties as well 
   
   For you, promisem, in answer to your query, yes, it can totally be worth it: 1) it pays to diversify (don't put all your writing eggs in one basket), and 2) the conversion to acceptable format and uploading doesn't really take any more time than it normally would to upload an article (with attendant images, biubliopgpraphy, etc.) on any decent content site.
   
   You should try it on!

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      promisemposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I will, Vic, thanks for the encouragement!

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   Elderberry Artsposted 9 years ago

   I have written several books and many tutorials for Kindle and am currently working on a print book through Createspace.I have found it worth doing.

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   Robilo2posted 9 years ago

   I have 1 book published.  Print version through Amazon CreateSpace, Kindle via Amazon, and the remaining electronic formats via Smashwords.  All three sources have generated some royalties.... worth the effort indeed..

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   Virginia Allainposted 9 years ago

   I was quite interested in the answers here and Richard Bivins answer was most encouraging. I've assembled 2 books using hub content (which I will unpublish from Hubpages). Now I just need to polish them up and get them out on Amazon.

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      Solarasposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You don't need to unpublish from hubpages. There is no duplicate content issue or copyright issue.  People can go to both for different reasons.

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         Virginia Allainposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I thought Amazon did not want books that contained duplicate information that was available for free online.

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            Solarasposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Use booktango and you will get better distribution and not have to worry about the evil empire.

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               WriteAngledposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Booktango forces you to register with the US tax people. This is something I absolutely refuse to do and is the reason have rejected the idea of producing e-books. The idea of the US government poking around in my affairs is totally reprehensible to me.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  WriteAngled, I think you're being overly cautious.   
                  
                  It is not difficult to get a US tax number and it does not mean that the US tax office will be poking around in your affairs, or that you need to submit a US tax return. 
                  
                  http://lissowerbutts.com/getting-your-u … d-edition/
                  
                  Basically, you get a number then declare that you're non-resident and therefore not subject to US tax, so they won't bother with you.

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                     WriteAngledposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     It's not caution, Marisa, it's a matter of principle for me.

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                        eugbugposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        On Amazon the process is very straightforward and you fill in an online form with your name and address. You need to submit a NI tax number ( if you are in the UK ) and declare that you are not a US citizen, an individual and not running a business in the US.  This generates a W8 - Ben form which is a "Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals)" You can then either print out the form, sign it and e-mail or FAX it to Amazon, or sign it electronically. Amazon then hold the form in their records for the benefit of the IRS. All of this is to avoid double taxation, i.e 30% witholding tax in the US and whatever the rate is in the UK. I presume Booktango does something similar.

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                           psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           The Amazon process used to be different and you had to get an ITIN or EIN, that was what was being discussed.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I have never seen any statement from Amazon saying they won't take duplicate content in an ebook or Createspace book.

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               psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               This rule applies to any book you opt into Kindle Select, which you have to do to join the Kindle Unlimited lending program.

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   makingamarkposted 9 years ago

   Those selling ANYTHING digital from a base in the UK might like to take a very close look at the VAT rules and the fact that you now need to register for VAT in every country in the EU that you sell to.
   
   My current thinking is that I'm only prepared to sell digital to the UK and USA
   
   PLUS for those who are a little lax with their tax affairs and declaration of income note that HMRC is currently crawling all over eBay - it can only be a matter of time before they do the same thing with Amazon and the ebook sellers
   
   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers … xable.html

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    makingamarkposted 9 years ago

    It doesn't strike me as very sensible to state online that you refuse to register with tax authorities!
    
    Don't you realise that you need to register tax details with HubPages if you want to get paid and that they need to communicate with the tax authorities....?
    
    Or do you just prefer not to make money?

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       WriteAngledposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       I am registered with the tax authorities in the UK, where I live, and pay both personal and company tax as required by UK law.
       
       And yes I HAVE registered the details required by Hubpages! Fortunately, all that was needed was a statement that I do not live in the US.  HP takes care of everything else at that end. I also work at times for US translation agencies, who also take care of everything.
       
       However, I have absolutely no intention of entering into frustrating and long-winded direct communications with any foreign tax authority anywhere. I do not see why I should kow-tow in this way to a government that has no jurisdiction whatsoever over my life.
       
       LOL to preferring not to make money. ! I make enough in my real work that I do not have to worry about taking up pin-money opportunities if they do not suit my preference and principles.

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          psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          As I previously mentioned, you can publish with Amazon Kindle now just using your VAT number due to the UK/US tax treaty.  It was never really necessary to make foreign content providers get US tax numbers, and hopefully more companies will come to realize this.

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             WriteAngledposted 9 years agoin reply to this

             I took note of that before and thanked you
             
             It is high time that other platforms which target users from around the world got rid of the ridiculous and unjustified hyper-bureaucratic step of demanding a US tax number regardless of place of residence!

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    makingamarkposted 9 years ago

    However the rules changed at the end of last year re how VAT is now handled in relation to digital products which originate in the UK.
    
    If you've not read up on this you need to.
    
    https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati … -consumers

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    psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

    The VAT thing is a pain in the ass, but one advantage of using a large e-tailer like Amazon is that they will price for and deduct the VAT for self-publishers.

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       makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       How the VAT is handled by Amazon has nothing to do with a requirement to register for VAT

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          psycheskinnerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          It does if you are not British.

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    WriteAngledposted 9 years ago

    Reading round the topic I discovered it is not necessary for anyone resident in the UK to register for VAT either if their overall turnover does not exceed the VAT threshold (c. £82,000) and if their digital content is marketed via an intermediary that deals with all VAT issues. This includes Amazon, Fastspring, Paddle and I am sure many more will spring up to take advantage of the opportunity.
    
    The UK VAT threshold is a lot higher than in some other EU Member States, which pleases me no end because I've been able to avoid VAT hassle for the 15 years I have been freelance.

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       makingamarkposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       However that only applies to digital products sold by UK residents to UK customers. It still doesn't tackle the EU countries outside the UK.

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          WriteAngledposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          You obviously did not read my reply
          
          .... if their digital content is marketed via an intermediary that deals with all VAT issues.
          
          Marketing digital through a third party publisher which deals with the VAT means that a UK resident is relieved of the obligation to register for VAT in this respect because the third party publisher is considered to be the entity liable to the VAT rules.
          
          Of course, this means the third party screws you for a large percentage with respect to the VAT obligations, on the other hand it means you avoid all the hassle of recording every individual sale with respect to purchaser's country, VAT due, etc. As someone who hates bureaucracy and paperwork, I consider this a bargain since it allows me to escape both.

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    Duane Townsendposted 9 years ago

    Kudos to all the commenters. I learned a lot from this forum. A damned good, informative and valuable read.

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       Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Rare, innit?

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    Fahad Chaudharyposted 9 years ago

    I have several e-Books published on Amazon (Kindle) and on Booktango. I mostly use articles that I have written on HP. Kindle works better for me because of it ease in using it and Booktango because it sells more.

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