Amazon’s Kindle Offers New Route To Publication

Posted by Tom Colvin

December 17, 2007

With all the hullabaloo focused last month on Amazon’s new Kindle e-Book Reader, the new Digital Text Platform has gone almost unnoticed. I missed it altogether during my routine scan of over 130 blogs and websites, and the Newsweek cover story about the Kindle didn’t make much of it either. However, this Kindle platform opens the door for any ambitious writer to publish one’s novel, novella, short story collection, poems, monographs, research papers, memoir — any longish document, in fact — almost instantly and at no cost whatsoever.

KindleDTP_01_230 I stumbled across this new route to publication when visiting the Amazon online bookstore this past weekend. I had drilled down through the top pages down to Karen Blomain’s recent book of poetry [she's a fan of this blog]. Tucked away inconspicuously in a little box with small print is an invitation to writers to find out how to publish a Kindle book. The notice does not show up on upper-level Amazon pages; it’s downright hard to find.

In a rather backhand endorsement, self-publishing guru Dan Poynter has published his seminal Self-Publishing Manual, 16th edition for the Kindle. The Kindle edition, by the way, is available for $6.39, less than half the price of the print version. Moreover, the Kindle edition can be instantly downloaded directly into the Kindle Reader, no additional delivery charges.

The details of the Digital Text Platform, which is described as “a fast and easy self-publishing tool,” is available in a currently obscure corner at Amazon. Available there is a downloadable nine-page PDF document, which gives all the details.

KindleDTP_02_500

Once you have a completed text, it’s amazingly simple to “Kindle-ize” it. The author first sets up a DTP account, or simply use one’s regular Amazon.com account login name and password. Then one places details of one’s book at the My Shelf page. Author and Title are the only required fields to enter, but one is encouraged to add keywords, genre, even ISBN number if available. Next, one uploads and previews the text. The original document can be in one of several formats, but Amazon recommends first converting your text to HTML, which translates into the Kindle format most easily. And last, one enters the price to charge. The author will receive a set percentage of that price [currently 35 percent] for every sale, even if Amazon chooses the book for reduced-price specials. Once all is done, the author clicks on the Publish button — and within 24-72 hours, Amazon says, your book will be listed in the Kindle Store. You will then be a “published” author!

The simplicity of this process does raise some questions. A scan through the DTP forum did not yet yield answers. Does Amazon screen books before accepting them? Are there any standards regarding “inappropriate” content?

One can also assume that lots of “bad” writing will find its way into publication. But that does not, of course, mean that anyone will buy it. As with most self-published books, marketing and promotion are pretty much left to the author.

By the way, TechCrunch has just passed on word that the Kindle has “sold out,” with no more available before Christmas. This has apparently sparked a bidding war on e-Bay, with prices ranging up to $1500. This news must be confounding the tech pundits who declared the device not yet ready for wide consumption.

QUESTION TO READERS: Would you consider publishing your work for the Kindle? Click on the Comment link below to share your thoughts.

Technorati Tags: Amazon, Digital Text Platform, e-Books, Kindle, publishing, self-publishing

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