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I publish non-fiction books on Amazon KDP, a way to self-publish paperback & kindle books without a traditional publisher. When a customer orders a book, you m

I publish non-fiction books on Amazon KDP, a way to self-publish paperback & kindle books without a traditional publisher. When a customer orders a book, you make 60% of the profit, minus the cost to print the book. The cost to print the book varies. My books run 30-40k words and cost between $3-4 to print. I sell the books between $11 and $14, so I make a few bucks from each book. It isn't a lot if you consider the price of the book, but it's better than traditional publishers by a LOT, and I don't have to print any books ahead of time. My upfront costs are just getting the books written and the covers made. Then I pay for ads on Amazon as a continuing cost. And I get complete insight into how well my books are selling on a day-by-day basis. I miss out on things a traditional publisher can do, like marketing and real in depth book design, but from what I understand they don't do much marketing unless you're someone famous anyway. I also don't get an advance. I do keyword research before creating a book, and I've looked at technical books, and he's right, they just don't sell very well. Maybe they used to, before stack overflow, but they're just not worth the investment. If you're thinking of writing one, do it only as a resume builder, or to build a community around something you love.

munificent 6y ago
> I miss out on things a traditional publisher can do, like marketing and real in depth book design, but from what I understand they don't do much marketing unless you're someone famous anyway. I've heard the same about marketing and that was my impression when I was interacting with O'Reilly and Apress several years ago. For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. > I also don't get an advance. Sure, but that's just a small loan. If you're in the economic bracket of a typical HN reader, you don't need this.
- genghisjahn 6y ago
  Is there a survey with data about what the economic bracket for the typical HN is?
  - munificent 6y ago
    Not that I know of, but I'm assuming a disproportionate number of software engineers at top-tier companies working in West Coast US metro areas.
- cosmodisk 6y ago
  >For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. So what's the point to go with them? We all can save it as a pdf and upload to Gumroad,or even send it to Amazon to print. I appreciate books on JAVA or Docker don't sell in millions but I'd at least expect the publisher to try to put my book on the shelves..
  - munificent 6y ago
    > So what's the point to go with them? Good question. :) It depends a lot on what the author wants to get out of it and what they want to do themselves. Going with a traditional publisher gives you: * The prestige of your book coming out of a well-known publisher. If your goal is mostly to boost your resume or public speaking fees, then having an O'Reilly animal on the cover of your book can be very valuable. * They provide developmental editors, line editors, copy editors, illustrators, and typesetters for you. If you don't want to do that yourself or find freelancers, that saves you from the headache. * Likewise, they deal with the administrivia and legal stuff around distribution, translations, ISBN numbers, licensing, etc. I imagine they might provide some legal cover for you if you, say, defame someone in your text or use a copyright image. * Your editor will create a timetable and some urgency for you to get the book done. That can be really helpful for people who have trouble summoning the discipline and structure to complete a book. All of that stuff is valuable. The question is whether it's valuable enough for them to take the lion's share of the profit that the book generates.
- anonyxyz 6y ago
  My understanding is that it's very rare for an advance clawback to take place even if sales come in under.
  - munificent 6y ago
    That's correct. It's basically a loan that will be auto-forgiven. But publishers aren't dumb and they scale advance sizes to ensure they rarely lose any significant amount of money. For technical books, my impression is that advances are quite small or non-existent.
klelatti 6y ago
Thank you for an interesting perspective. Could you say any more about how you think about the timing of your book sales - are you looking to maximise sales shortly after publication by concentrating on subjects that are topical or do you focus on sales over a longer period?
- impostervt 6y ago
  I tend to focus on long term sales, vs seasonal books. That said, the first 30 days after a book launch is critical to convincing Amazon that people want your books (or so people like me believe, I haven't seen any real data), so I tend to run freebies and $0.99 kindle sales, and promotions to email lists that cater to people interested in those things. I also start off the books at a low price, and raise them as the month goes on. There are other people who focus on "low content" books like journals, log books, and children's activity books. They tend to more often do seasonal books. I have done one "topical" book, about a new term that is trending on google over the last year, but it basically gets no sales. My mistake for not following the formula.
  - klelatti 6y ago
    Many thanks - that's really interesting.

munificent 6y ago

> I miss out on things a traditional publisher can do, like marketing and real in depth book design, but from what I understand they don't do much marketing unless you're someone famous anyway. I've heard the same about marketing and that was my impression when I was interacting with O'Reilly and Apress several years ago. For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. > I also don't get an advance. Sure, but that's just a small loan. If you're in the economic bracket of a typical HN reader, you don't need this.

genghisjahn 6y ago
Is there a survey with data about what the economic bracket for the typical HN is?
- munificent 6y ago
  Not that I know of, but I'm assuming a disproportionate number of software engineers at top-tier companies working in West Coast US metro areas.
cosmodisk 6y ago
>For technical books today, they expect the author to bring the audience. So what's the point to go with them? We all can save it as a pdf and upload to Gumroad,or even send it to Amazon to print. I appreciate books on JAVA or Docker don't sell in millions but I'd at least expect the publisher to try to put my book on the shelves..
- munificent 6y ago
  > So what's the point to go with them? Good question. :) It depends a lot on what the author wants to get out of it and what they want to do themselves. Going with a traditional publisher gives you: * The prestige of your book coming out of a well-known publisher. If your goal is mostly to boost your resume or public speaking fees, then having an O'Reilly animal on the cover of your book can be very valuable. * They provide developmental editors, line editors, copy editors, illustrators, and typesetters for you. If you don't want to do that yourself or find freelancers, that saves you from the headache. * Likewise, they deal with the administrivia and legal stuff around distribution, translations, ISBN numbers, licensing, etc. I imagine they might provide some legal cover for you if you, say, defame someone in your text or use a copyright image. * Your editor will create a timetable and some urgency for you to get the book done. That can be really helpful for people who have trouble summoning the discipline and structure to complete a book. All of that stuff is valuable. The question is whether it's valuable enough for them to take the lion's share of the profit that the book generates.
anonyxyz 6y ago
My understanding is that it's very rare for an advance clawback to take place even if sales come in under.
- munificent 6y ago
  That's correct. It's basically a loan that will be auto-forgiven. But publishers aren't dumb and they scale advance sizes to ensure they rarely lose any significant amount of money. For technical books, my impression is that advances are quite small or non-existent.

klelatti 6y ago

Thank you for an interesting perspective. Could you say any more about how you think about the timing of your book sales - are you looking to maximise sales shortly after publication by concentrating on subjects that are topical or do you focus on sales over a longer period?

impostervt 6y ago
I tend to focus on long term sales, vs seasonal books. That said, the first 30 days after a book launch is critical to convincing Amazon that people want your books (or so people like me believe, I haven't seen any real data), so I tend to run freebies and $0.99 kindle sales, and promotions to email lists that cater to people interested in those things. I also start off the books at a low price, and raise them as the month goes on. There are other people who focus on "low content" books like journals, log books, and children's activity books. They tend to more often do seasonal books. I have done one "topical" book, about a new term that is trending on google over the last year, but it basically gets no sales. My mistake for not following the formula.
- klelatti 6y ago
  Many thanks - that's really interesting.