Hi all- this is akadjian. Horace Boothroyd III hopped on our thread last week and mentioned his Kindle chapbook on Kurt Vonnegut's final work: Chap Book Review: Armageddon in Retropect. I thought it would be interesting to hear about his experiences so I asked him if he'd host.
He wrote this up, but unfortunately is in a bad way this week. I don't know if he'll be available to comment or not. I debated on whether to hold off and decided to publish his diary anyways.
I will add that Horace's Kindle book is quite good, worth much more than the $.99 price tag. The chapbook is a review of Vonnegut's book Armageddon in Retrospect, released posthumously after Vonnegut's death. As Vonnegut's characters try to make sense of their world in the same way Vonnegut did after his experiences during the bombing of Dresden, Horace similarly relates Vonnegut's writing to our own trying times.
If you're interested in Vonnegut and his work, especially as an activist, and/or helping Horace out, the chapbook is available here for 99 cents.
Without further ado, I turn the page over to Horace to talk about his experiences with Kindle Direct Publishing ...
-----
My experience with Kindle Direct Publishing from my ipad was an exercise in frustration. Although the article linked below claims there is a help desk system it is not much more than a list of the same question asked by multiple authors interspersed with spam, making looking for help a time consuming waste because in most cases the solution to all those authors asking questions is never presented.
I was going to include images from the Library of Congress to augment my book but the KDP site did not recognise the html thus the images never surfaced on the book itself.
I also had technical issues with the ipad itself as despite the glaringly short length of my book the ipad simply locks up if I tried to add additional content, thus I had to stop there. I have three more books I've had to just let sit on my ipad because I have reached whatever threshold for data for those stories as well.
It took me almost six months of trying to upload the story to KDP using their approved code, I could not complete the book on the ipad due to this but instead had to go to the library and upload the file from a pc. This is despite making several attempts using several of the code options KDP claims to accept.
I made the mistake of changing the title but the book cover reflects the old title despite the form claiming the information is correct.
To add to my dissapointment kindle takes over 70% of your royalties if you do not choose a higher cost book than the minimum 99 cents.
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) has established itself as the single most recognisable DIY self-publishing platform for authors wanting to publish their books in e-book. Amazon launched Kindle Direct Publishing back in 2007 in beta form and pitched it initially to ‘publishers’ via marketing emails. Amazon had also just launched the first Kindle e-reader hardware—a basic e-ink, black and white text device.So yes, it can be done but don't expect KDP to help you in any way or provide accurate information on how to use their service. While taking the lions share of your royalties.It was clear even back then Amazon saw the Kindle experience as both a facilitator for readers and author/publishers. Since 2007, the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform is available to authors in many countries including USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Australia and Japan, and the supporting Kindle store market now stretches beyond 100 countries. That’s a pretty powerful global reach for any authors, and yet at the heart of Kindle software is mobi; a series of file formats developed by Mobipocket (owned by Amazon since 2005) to develop the software for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, web-based Cloud Reader and for the Kindle reading apps for Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Windows Phone, PC and Mac. This remains both Amazon’s greatest strength and weakness. Amazon might dominate the e-reader market, but the format of choice for most other device manufacturers is e-Pub. Also, despite a wider range of sophisticated colour e-readers, the Apple iPad remains a more suitable device for colour, heavily illustrated and enhanced e-books.
Confused? Put it this way. Publishing through KDP will give authors a huge market reach for their e-books, but if you want the potential to reach all readers using an e-book, you will need to publish your e-book in e-Pub format (outside of Amazon’s walled garden) with another e-publishing platform as well.
They do provide an accounting system:
But since the amounts are so trivial I haven't bothered to try and get the royalties from amazon yet.
-----
Horace Boothroyd III is the author of Chap Book Review: Armaggedon in Retrospect, a look at the release of several Kurt Vonnegut essays after his death focusing on the futility of war and the toll it takes on humanity.
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule:
| DAY | TIME (EST/EDT) | Series Name | Editor(s) |
| SUN | 6:00 PM | Young Reader's Pavilion | The Book Bear |
| Sun (last Sun of the month) | 7:30 PM | LGBT Literature | Chrislove |
| Sun (occasional) | 9:30 PM | SciFi/Fantasy Book Club | quarkstomper |
| MON | 1:00 PM | Grokking Republicans | Mokurai |
| Mon | 8:00 PM | Monday Murder Mystery | Susan Grigsby |
| TUE | 5:00 PM | Indigo Kalliope: Poems from the Left | Kit RMP, bigjacbigjacbigjac |
| Tue | 8:00 PM | Contemporary Fiction Views | bookgirl |
| WED | 7:30 AM | WAYR? | plf515 |
| Wed | 8:00 PM | Bookflurries Bookchat | cfk |
| THU | 2:00 PM | Self-Publishing 101 | akadjian |
| Thu | 7:00 PM | Write On! | SensibleShoes |
| Thu (first each month) | 11:00 AM | Monthly Bookpost | AdmiralNaismith |
| FRI | 8:00 AM | Books In My Life | Phoebe Loosinhouse |
| Alternate Fridays | 8:00 PM | Books Go Boom! | Brecht |
| SAT | 12:00 PM | You Can't Read That!Paul's Book Reviews | pwoodford |
| Sat | 9:00 PM | Books So Bad They're Good | Ellid |
12:41 PM PT: I have wifi at the train station here as I await my chariot.