Are you looking for a way to supplement your income?
Writing short e-books and publishing them on Amazon Kdp can be a very profitable source of income and it doesn’t require you to write a novel. You can write very short ebooks and it doesn’t cost anything to get started. This is a great way to start selling a product that you can make easily!
Picking your genre
The first step is determining what you will write about. Think about something you have knowledge of and enjoy writing about. You can educate, entertain or assist. Educate, by teaching your readers something you are good at. Even though something seems simple to you, it may not be as simple for others. Entertain, by writing fiction that will make your readers laugh, cry, think, and, more importantly, come back for more. Assist, by creating self-help books that help your readers to cope with everyday situations.
According to Amazon data, popular ebook genres that are most popular, include:
-Literature and Fiction
Subgenres include:
- Romance
- Mystery & Thriller
- Fantasy & Science Fiction
- Young Adult
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Self-help
Categories include:
- Motivational
- Healthy living
- Self-help that encourages creativity
- Journaling
- Developing new skills
- Non-fiction
- Children’s e-books
Pricing your ebook
Deciding how to price an ebook has been the topic of many online discussions. It’s important to remember that ebooks may not sell for the same price as their print counterparts. While you can set the price at anything you choose, there is a rule of thumb based on the word count.
According to Authormedia.com :
Flash Fiction: Less than 1,000 words — $0.00 — $0.99
Very Short Story: 1,000–5,000 words — $0.00 — $0.99
Short Story: 5,000–10,000 words — $0.99 — $1.99
Novelette: 10,000–20,000 words — $1.99 — $3.99
Novella: 20,000–40,000 words — $2.99 — $5.99
Novel: 40,000–120,000 words — $2.99 — $7.99
Epic Novel: 120,000+ words $5.99 — $12.99
At first glance, you may think that with such low prices and the commission that Amazon KDP will take, you may not make much. Even with the 35% or 70% commission, you will make per sale, the amount adds up quickly. Consider your book is listed for 1.99 and you receive 35% commission, that’s about $0.70 per sale. Now consider you sell 1,000 books, that’s $700.
How many of these small books can you write in a month? Do you see how it can add up?
What about formatting
If you’ve never written e-books, you may be wondering if you have to hire a professional to format them for you. The answer is, no. You can format your e-books simply by typing it into a word document using the standard Times New Roman font in size 12 with standard margins. Make sure you use a larger font for the title and bold. You can also add images where appropriate.
What about the cover
You can create your cover using Canva. There’s no need to pay someone else when Canva provides free templates that you can easily customize to fit your book. You can change everything from images to colors. Then, all you have to do is download the image and upload the pdf to Amazon Kdp.
Repeat the process
Once you have uploaded your book with the cover, write the description, and set the price on Amazon Kdp, you can repeat the process for your next book. Amazon Kdp is just one place where you can sell your short ebooks and they make it easy with the step by step guidance when you get started. They are also a great place to publish because of the amount of traffic the site receives.
Author Page
Your Author Page on Amazon will showcase all of your books in one place. You can customize it with a picture and bio. It is a great way to have one place to send customers to see all of your publications in one place. Anyone can visit your Author page by clicking your name next to any of your books on the site.
Get started today
Now that you have a starting point, it’s time to start writing. There’s no time like the present when it comes to building your ebook side business. Be sure to take the time to properly edit your work. You always want to make sure that you are putting out the best product and not rush to publish.
