After a lot of thought, I took the plunge. I did it. I decided that I would publish $0.99 Kindle editions of the free short stories that I post here on the blog. (Kindle Direct Publishing puts them on both the US and UK stores, too!)
I’ve considered doing this for a while, but never really felt like the time was right. Something always keeps me from posting fiction to my blog for one reason or another, and I have recently decided to change that. I want people to read my stuff.
On top of that, I’ve been reading around the blogosphere about how more than a few people are using cheap short stories as a way to build exposure and have more products available online. Their underlying message is typically something like “My main regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”
So I figured that since I’m looking at getting my novel on the Kindle Store by the end of the year, I need to be as familiar with the platform as I can be.What have I got to lose?
In general, though, I’ve gotten mixed feedback from readers I’ve spoken with about the monetary worth of a short story. Some people said that a buck was a great price for a short, while others wouldn’t pay that for anything less than novella-length works I decided to split it down the middle. I will post every short story for free on my blog as well as for $0.99 on Amazon. (At least for the foreseeable future, as I have plans for ebook-only collections with particular stories.) That way, those who want to purchase shorts for their Kindles can, and those who want the exact same juju for free can get it, too. Win-win, right?
Eventually, I’ll compile the various stories I publish online into a couple of collections, throw a few new, exclusive stories into each one, and publish them as separate ebooks on the Kindle Store for $2.99.
Does this mean I’m giving up on submitting my stories to paying markets? Not at all! I have multiple stories out right now to various publications, and I intend to write a couple of more shorts and submit them before summer starts. So we’ll see how it goes.
In case you’re interested, I’ll toss the links for the two short stories I have on Kindle at the bottom of this post. And if you’re extra kind, you can write up a quick review of what you thought about the story (whether you read it here or there) and rate my fiction on Amazon, too. I’d really appreciate it.
Anyone else have experience with Kindle short story publishing they want to share?
Very interesting B.J. I hadn’t heard anyone else discuss this from your perspective. I’ll be curious to hear how the experiment goes!
It turns out I read of a rebooted fiction publication (Fantasy Magazine-http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/) that is doing the same thing. They have ebook anthologies of their issues, but all of them are posted online for free, too.
From what I’ve read, it’s a pretty decent marketing strategy. At least for short fiction.
We’ll see!
I will read them tonight. 🙂
You, sir, are awesome. 🙂
What is difficult to format your stories for Kindle? I hear horror stories.
Also, did you do your own cover art as well?
It really wasn’t that bad. I think I messed a couple of things up that I need to go back and fix, but it wasn’t that difficult.
I found this site that really helped me out, and for the most part, it worked. I did a quick google of the PDF he mentions in it, and I was able to find it, too. It helped a bunch, too.
http://sites.google.com/site/sinclairstories/self-publishing/kindle-formatting
And yes, I did my own cover art. I still think I need to do a lot of tweaking to JUST ANOTHER DAY, but I’m pretty happy with the one for FOGGY MEMORIES.
You and your readers may find this of interest. This case is exceptional, but it shows a future for ebooks which could be interesting for both the reader and the writer.
Amanda Hocking: indie author goes viral
Neat idea about selling & giving. When sell your short stories on Amazon do you need to have an ISBN? It doesn’t seem like one should be needed for a short story but you never can tell. Great site, thanks for the resources.
Thanks. I hope it turns out to be a good idea in practice. I certainly like how it feels in theory so far. Glad you like the site. Hope to see you stick around.
And as for ISBNs, you don’t need one for Kindle books. If you decide to make a print copy through CreateSpace or another platform, you will need one if you intend to list it on any websites like Amazon. But for solely ebooks, you don’t need an ISBN.
I’ve put two short stories up and am working on converting one of my novels. Sales haven’t been spectacular, but I think it’s a great way to get your name out there and possibly make some money in the meantime.
I wish you luck with what you are doing. I think this is going to be an uphill battle, as I see a lot of garbage on there.
How’s the experiment going?
I find this interesting as I am working on putting some short stories and a book out there, but am having a lot of problems with covers as I am not very proficient with art and design features on Word.
Good luck.