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Comment by g0atbutt | Hacker News Reader

Would you mind explaining why you decided to go with the Kindle Store instead of just hosting it yourself? Does the Kindle Store restrict you from doing that? Would you mind sharing some of your stats?

Thanks for sharing your insight!

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The Kindle store is where I made 99% of my book purchases last year, so I based the decision off my own buying preferences. Also, it's much easier to publish a book through Amazon than Apple (at least from what I've read).

If you sign up for KDP Select, where people with Amazon Prime and a Kindle can rent your book for free, then the digital version has to exclusively be on Kindle for 90 days.

As for stats, the book has only been out a week and a half so the data isn't that interesting. Plus, I've yet to really make a big marketing push behind it. In a few months I'll have another post sharing some stats and what I've learned.

Are you selling on any other ebook platforms yet; like OverDrive for libraries, or in B&N's store? Do you sell physical copies through Lulu or their competitors? What do you use to track analytics if you use multiple platforms? Did you ever think about formatting with Markdown ever during the process? Can you expand upon why you chose $3 as the selling price for your ebook?

I realize these are quite a few questions, but I value your input given your experience. It's a very interesting world in self-publishing today.

Thanks.

Selling on other platforms: Not yet. KDP Select prohibits me from selling the digital version anywhere else. Unsure of whether this was a good decision or not, but I'm stuck for the next 90 days.

I did consider using Book Baby for distribution. I still might come march.

Physical copies: I'll be submitting the book to CreateSpace once the designer I'm working with finishes the cover.

Pricing: Pricing is a known unknown for me. $3 is as cheap as I can go while retaining the 70%. Below $2.99 and it goes down to 35%. Should I price it at $5? $7? $9.99? I'm not sure. Seth Godin has interesting thoughts on this: http://www.thedominoproject.com/2011/12/how-much-should-an-e...

Also, can someone residing outside US publish in Kindle Store? I see they send payments via checks, but it was not clear whether it's global.

You can. They opened it up for international authors in January 2010.

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