IT’S A KINDLE

For several months I’ve watched ads for the Kindle. For those who don’t know, that’s a reader for ebooks produced by Amazon. There are plenty of various brands of readers out there. They’ve actually been around for quite some time, but until recently hadn’t attracted much attention. There are those who pooh-pooh ebooks and say they’ll never last. But take a good look at the latest statistics from Amazon, the biggest online bookseller in the world. In their last quarter sales report, 48% of their sales of books were ebooks, and they project that number to double by the next quarter. That’s all books, best sellers, hard cover, paper backs, etc.

Then look around at the best selling authors. Almost all now have their books available as ebooks. Dean Koontz’s latest book came out as an ebook only. Kindle leads the way, mostly because Amazon saw the change coming and met the demand for a sleeker, lighter, easy to read unit.

Some of us older fogeys may prefer to read a “real” book, but watch what and how the younger generation is getting their information, including the fiction they read. They are the future of the book business, and we as writers better see the writing on the wall, pardon the pun, if we want to continue to sell our products. With this in mind, I was quick to jump aboard when Publish America offered to Kindleize my WILLA finalist, Fly With the Mourning Dove. My only question is, why are they charging such a large fee to do so? Nevertheless, this is a step I want to take.

Writers who are interested in seeing their books on Kindle need only to get on Amazon and search for the information. Many writers with a backlist are working to get those books on Kindle as well, a project I intend to get started with this winter. It’s also important for those of you who already have books on the market online, to get an author’s page on Amazon. That too, is pretty simple. I just finished putting all my books that Amazon carries on my author’s page there. Anytime you want to learn something new, I find the fastest way to get my information is to Google a question concerning that subject. You’ll get plenty of sites that will help you accomplish your goals.

Also, here’s something you all need to do. Google yourself with quote marks around your name to weed out the other Marys and Smiths. See what comes up on the first two pages. Is it your Facebook fan page? Your Author’s Den posting, your blogs? This will tell you what work you do online is being noticed by Google and put out there for searchers to find. And work on your key words that help searchers find you. Did you know you don’t have to stick to a single word per label? You can use a phrase that someone might use in looking for the information you’ve posted.

Learn how to use the Web to your advantage. One of the best ways to do that is offer information that is helpful to others, rather than simply promoting your own work. That goes for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blog postings, considered the most important places to get your name and work known.