Episode 15
This week’s show I cover some recent news about Flipkart in India not being available through Smashwords any more; the fact Kindle Unlimited is now available in India and that the Oyster e-book subscription service is shutting down.
I also talk about affiliates and why as a self-publisher you might want to become at least an Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk affiliate. You get a percentage of any products bought via a special URL link to your products on Amazon. In fact you get a cut of any products bought in the 48 hours after you send someone to Amazon.
For example if you buy my book from the following link to the US Amazon store:
or the UK Store:
Then I will get 4% of the sale price paid to me as an affiliate – the person who sent the sale to their site. If you then go and buy something else I will get a share of that sale as well (it varies by product what rate you get). The price the consumer pays is exactly the same, so it makes no difference to them.
You can recommend any products. For example feel free to buy this using my affiliate link! (Note I’ve never bought one of these – looks cool though…)
I also discuss the concept of Perma-free – making your eBook permanently free. Amazon’s KDP interface does not let you do this directly, so you need to set the book free on Apple and Kobo (and Nook if you don’t go direct with them!?!) and then go to your product page on Amazon and tell them about a lower price:
Sometime, eventually Amazon will then set your eBook permanently free (until you change the price on the other platforms to not be free again). This is a very hit-and-miss affair and can take a while. Also Amazon will set it free in some markets and not in others and it is very unpredictable at times. It does however work.