Chris McMullen's Blog

Amazon Customer Service

I’ve had recent issues at diverse aspects of Amazon where the customer service was amazing. In contrast, I’ve had recent issues with one of the major cell phone manufacturers and also with one of the major credit card companies where the customer service was miserable. When you experience both sides of it, that really makes the good customer service seem that much better.

What’s amazing is that some companies don’t fully appreciate the power of excellent customer service....

INCREASED PRINTING PRICES

On June 20, 2023, the cost of printing a book at KDP will increase, which will in turn lower the royalties for paperback (and hardcover) books.

If your book is taller than 9 inches high or wider than 6.12 inches wide, the effect is significant. It will cost about half a penny per page extra (plus about 15 cents on top of that). For example, if a book has 200 pages, you’re looking at $1.15 added to the printing cost, effectively reducing your royalty by $1.15.If your b...

What is A+ Content?

In addition to the product page (and in addition to pages that you can access from Author Central, like the author biography or a From the Author section)…

A Plus Content lets you add additional sections of writing or images to help showcase your book or provide more information about yourself.

It can be a sales tool that you put right on your Amazon product page.

There are several formats to choose from, such as a single wide image (with or without text displayed in front o...

KINDLE VELLA

Amazon just launched the new Kindle Vella.

What is Vella? Stories that are told one episode at a time. It has to be new content (not content that has been made available previously), so there shouldn’t be material that you’re familiar with from the past that gets repackaged in Vella. There should only be fresh new content.

There are a few points regarding Vella that appeal to me:

Customers can read the first 3 episodes for free. This is basically equivalent of the Look Inside for ...

Vella is coming soon.

Writers will publish stories in episodes. A single episode may be anywhere from 600 words to 5000 words.

Readers will read stories one episode at a time.

One neat feature that I like is that the author can include optional notes at the end of each episode. An author might share insights into how the story came about or share a personal note. There are many ways that authors can use this space.

Ordinarily, when you read a novel, such notes don’t appear between th...

AUSTRALIA KDP

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is finally opening a print-on-demand (POD) facility in Australia, which is great news for authors, small publishers, and Amazon customers in Australia.

The new facility is set to begin its launch on May 19, 2021.

KDP authors should check their paperback pricing options starting on May 12, 2021. On this date, you will be able to check your list price and royalty for Australia, and if necessary, you can adjust the list price for AU. Th...

XL Book Stand

My neck was sore from proofreading and revising. Tired of looking down at an angle, I wondered if there was something I could stand atop my desk that could hold books and papers more at eye level. I found this cool book stand on Amazon.

Book Stand

I bought the XL size (15.4″ by 11″). I set my 1700 page Webster’s College Dictionary on this, opened to the page I’m using, and it supports it just fine. I also print out my manuscript and set it on the book stand, and it w...

RECENT CHANGES AT KDP

There have been several changes to Amazon KDP recently. Have you noticed?

SERIES. One interesting change is the introduction of the series page and the series manager. It seems like this new tool isn’t 100% complete yet, but it’s a giant step in the right direction. From the publishing end, it makes it easier to manage series. Now you get a series landing page and you can even write a series description (by default it uses the description from the first book).

From the cus...

Image licensed from Shutterstock.

BEWARE OF BOOK PIRATES

Earlier this year, after publishing a new book, I visited Amazon to check it out. When I finished inspecting the Amazon detail page for my new book, I clicked the link by my author photo to visit my Author Central page. And, boy, was I surprised by what I found.

(A little background: Author Central now shows only my Kindle eBooks by default. Customers have to click the Paperback tab to find my paperback books.)

I noticed one of my better s...

EXPANDED DISTRIBUTION

Amazon KDP now offers two Expanded Distribution channels. In addition to the usual Expanded Distribution channel for the US, they have added an Expanded Distribution channel for the UK.

Authors and publishers using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing for paperbacks may now add the Expanded Distribution channel for the UK. Each title must be individually enrolled. To sign up for Expanded Distribution in the UK, find a book on your Bookshelf, and go to Page 3 of the publishing ...