I attended WDC14 this Friday for the Pro sessions and thought I'd share some key takeaways for those who didn't get to make it this year (we missed you!).
The first half of the day was focused on branding and self-publishing:
1.) Advanced Amazon for Authors (Jon Fine)
Success is:
Opportunity
- KDP
- Createspace
- Amazon Imprints
- Thomas & Mercer, Montlake Romance, 47Noth, Jet City Comics, Amazon Crossing, Amazon Encore, Little A, StoryFront, Two Lions, Skyscape, Day One
- Kindle Singles
- Kindle Serials
- ACX (audio books)
- Growth rate is tremendous because of commuters (multi-tasking)
- Members are downloading 17 audio books a year
- You can switch seamlessly between listening and reading with Whispersync (remembers your place)
- There are people willing to record out of their homes (simplify the process)
- How to do it?
- Post your title on ACX and narrators will find you, and offer to record for you
- Give them a tough scene - emotion, dialogue with two different characters, etc
- Two payment options - pay up front (~$3K) or 50/50 earnings
- For every person who buys your book first, Amazon pays you $50
- Amazon also gives out free download coupons
- Kindle Worlds (licensed worlds for fan-fiction writers)
- Licensed the rights to characters and worlds for fan fiction to write about (commercialized)
- Kindle Library
- Paid ~$2.25 when your book is borrowed
- People can borrow one book for free each month if they have Prime
- Kindle Unlimited
- Pay $9.99 for a pool of books
- Author receives payment after 10% of their book is read
- Counts towards Amazon Bestseller's Ranks
- Now means a larger fan base
Availability
- Make it extremely easy for people to find your stuff (print, ebook, audio)
- Think about all the ways it can be digested
Discoverability
- Meta data inside the book
- Detail Page
- Look Inside the Book
- Author Page
- Author Central
- Virtual hand-selling (on site recommendation machines)
- Series Promotions
- Book-scan sales numbers with "heat maps"
- Historical rankings
- Associates
- Kindle Owners Lending Library
Closing words of advice: "Don't write shit."
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