What’s New at KDP

I’m putting the finishing touches on the update of my book, Formatting e-Books for Writers: Convert Your Word File to Kindle. Wow! I had no idea so many things had changed, especially at Amazon.

“Formatting” was the first book I self-published and listed on Amazon. The e-book is also listed on other sites, including Barnes and Noble, Overdrive (for libraries), and Apple Books. I learned from this first experience.

First lesson is I’m not sure the wide reach is any more profitable than one main seller. The sales numbers from the other sellers don’t match Amazon. Plus, Apple Books doesn’t allow links to “competitor” websites (read Amazon). All of the links to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) needed to be removed. The printed URL can remain, but no direct link. I decided it was easier not to sell in the Apple Books store.

Next is to check the popularity of the name. When I originally wrote the book, I wasn’t aware “Formatting e-Books for Writers” would become such a popular title. An Amazon search results in 30 pages of products related to those search terms. Here’s what I learned recently about Amazon searches.

• The Amazon search engine looks for the individual words in the search box. Thus, War & Peace was on the first page because the editor/publisher, Superior Formatting Publishing, was listed as editor in the contributor section of KDP.
• Adding quotation marks around the search term “formatting e-books for writers” forced the search engine to look only for my book. But how many readers know that trick? I didn’t until I tested it.
• Adding the author’s name also narrowed the search. Using “formatting e-books for writers stewart” narrowed the number of products listed. On the negative side, the original edition is also listed. A used copy of the older edition is available from a third-party seller for $35. Apparently, the seller thinks because it’s a signed copy it has more value.

Finally, Amazon doesn’t remove old listings even if there aren’t used copies available. KDP gives instructions for unpublishing and deleting books, but the book needs to be in the author’s KDP bookshelf. The old version of Formatting is not listed on my bookshelf. WritersWeekly.com published a comprehensive article about why Amazon doesn’t remove old listings. Although the piece was written in 2010, the information is still valid.

Am I going to make major changes in the Amazon listing? Not this time. Now that I know this information, I can begin to slowly make the listing conform to better search results with Amazon.

Person-to-person is still the most effective form of marketing, which is what I’ll pursue for now.

If you’d like to be part of the launch team for the update Formatting book, send me an email. You’ll receive a free copy of the revised e-book before the launch date.