Getting Paper and eBook Editions Linked on Amazon

Now that Kindle and CreateSpace are not altogether the same thing, your paperback and electronic editions of the same book may not be automatically linked. Does this matter? Yes!

If they are not linked, when people find your title, they will see one or the other editions but not both. Where that red oval is in the graphic under "see all formats and editions," it should have another box for "paperback." People are going to think you didn't offer both choices.

This can be solved. If you just published a book, wait at least three days for them to link automatically, but if they don't you can request it be done manually.

You have to log in to your Kindle Account and find a screen where the link for Help appears at the top. It's not on every screen! Click it.


Then find the box called Popular Topics, and choose Linking Editions, then Contact Us in the body of the text. There is a pre-filled list of questions for you to answer. Essentially, they want to be sure everything about the editions matches. They'll ask for the ISBN and ASIN numbers.

Submit the info. I've had to do this a few times now, and the links have been created within a day.

This can also be done if there are problems with audiobooks or multiple editions of a title not being linked.

Ahead of the Curve, But a Long Way to Go

I recently read an interesting article in Galleycat that compared the levels of income made by various types of authors. Their information was taken from Digital Book World. Here's the chart I found most interesting.



It might be a little difficult to interpret. The four bars are different types of authors. I'm not sure how aspiring authors make anything... but I suppose some people label themselves as aspiring even if they make a little money. The blue color is the percent of authors in each category that make nothing. As in $0.00 a year. Zero. One would expect that for aspiring authors. But look at the blue color in the Self-published bar. It's 20%. That's a fifth of all self-published authors who make not one penny from all their work. (And it's almost that many for traditionally published authors- getting a publisher does not guarantee money.)

Now look at that pukey-green color. It's the biggest band of color for the Self-published authors. It goes all the way up to about 78%. Now subtract out the 20% that make nothing, and 58% of indie authors make something, but less than $1000 a year. I guess that's ok if you want to write for a hobby, but it's not even a dent in any kind of income to sustain a person.

So the blue and green together show authors who make under $1000 a year. That is over 50% of traditionally published authors. That suddenly doesn't look so magical, does it. Those who are hybrids- use both self publishing and publishing companies manage to drop that to about 45%, but still not great. For complete indies it's almost 80%.

I think there's an error on the chart for the next band. The band-aid color is the next one up, but in the legend it's pale blue. I suspect the legend is wrong. So look at the band-aid band (who chose those colors, anyway?). This is authors who make between $1000 and $2000 a year. For indies, it's about 10%. And it's the band where I fit.

I'm very encouraged by this. Sure, I'd like to be higher. My goal at the moment is to be in the orange band, but I had no idea that I'm already doing better than about 80% of self-published authors.

Thanks to all my readers, editors, promoters, and fans for getting me there!

You can read the entire article at Most Authors Make Less Than $1,000 a Year: DBW

What is an LCCN and Why Get One?

LCCN stands for Library of Congress Catalog (control) Number. It is a unique identifier assigned to any book which has applied and is accepted into the Library of Congress. Libraries use this number to find information to catalog a book which they have acquired. Some libraries will not accept books that do not have an LCCN.

If you want your printed book to look professional and be readily accepted by stores and libraries, you should apply for this number.

It's easy to do, you just need to do it well in advance of printing.

Go to pcn.loc.gov and create an ID. Then apply for the number. You'll need to know the title, author(s), approximate number of pages, ISBN, and approximate printing date.

Click submit, and wait to hear back!

An Evening with Michigan Author D.E. Johnson

Last night, Michigan mystery writer, D.E. (Dan) Johnson read from his first book, Detroit Electric Scheme, and shared tips with the West Side Gang. The Gang is a group of local writers, some published, others not, who meet twice a month for mutual critiquing and support. This was a special session, and the turnout was good (for us) with about 20 people attending.

First, Dan read the first few pages of Detroit Electric Scheme, a real attention grabber. It's set in 1910 Detroit, with a murder against the background of the electric car industry. It's not only a fast-paced mystery, but serves up a good dose of history without being pushy about it.

He also outlined some tips for getting published:

1. Make sure your first sentence can command attention. Most agents don't read past the first few when receiving queries.

2. Get feedback about your work. Join a writers' group, find "alpha readers," etc. If one person feels that some section or sentence doesn't work, it may not be a big deal, but if multiple people tell you that something needs changing, no matter how much you like it, you can pretty much count on the fact that it needs changing.

3. Maximize your opportunities to get noticed:
• cultivate interactions with published authors- they can give you suggestions for agents, help you make connections, etc
• send lots of queries- he sent over 100
• find the right niche- if you write a successful mystery, your publisher isn't going to let you switch to a thriller for your next book
• put yourself in the right place at the right time- this is like networking, only smarter.



Since I'm a big mystery fan anyway, of course I bought the book. That isn't me in the picture, but it's another satisfied mystery customer.

Another tip he gave, that I've tried to follow, is to send copies of your book to influential people who may actually read it. One person Dan sent a copy to is Jay Leno, because of his large car collection. This gesture landed him a segment on Leno's web site. Great publicity! I have to confess that I almost didn't go because I'd never heard of D.E. Johnson, but I'm really glad I did. He's a newly published author who is going places.

I May Know More Than I Thought

A friend called me today and wanted some advice for her adult daughter who has written an elementary-school level book. The daughter had been talking to some self-publishing company that sounded to me like a terrible choice. Very little concern for the author, very high cost, etc.

I was amazed to discover that I now knew enough about some of the options available to actually help someone else make some choices as to how to proceed- query a traditional publisher, vanity press, print on demand, self publish, etc.

I certainly don't know enough yet to be writing articles about the topic or to lead seminars, but I sure know more than an average person. I think I've graduated to being a "professional" writer.