My new experience with Amazon KDP

For my latest book, I decided to try out Amazon KDP instead of Lulu. I thought people would be interested to know how I found the experience, so here goes:

Ever since Lulu botched up their upgrade a couple of years ago (time flies!), I have lost a great deal of confidence in their service. In addition, I lost trust in my royalty payments, as they declined over the past year or so, even though I now have eleven books in print through Lulu. Something just didn't sit right...

Indeed ...

I released my new book "Paul McCartney The World Tour 1989-90" last week. I decided to publish the paperback on Amazon KDP. Amazon KDP is now offering hardback also as a "Beta" service. Their hardbacks are of the wrap-around kind, glued to the front of the book.

What do you mean? That's just about how all hardbacks are made, the 'extra' blank pages front and back are used to glue the one-piece cardboard to.

They don't seem to offer a hardback with a loose paper cover yet.

Do you mean a dustjacket? Many hardbacks do not have them.

So, I decided to still offer a hardback, but only through my website - people will order the hardback and I will fulfil the order through Lulu. I thought it would make the hardback seem more "exclusive". I also offer the paperback version of the book there - I again use Lulu to fulfil these orders.

I thought you said you used KDP? 

Here is how I sell the book on my website:

paulmccartneyafterthebeatles.com/product/paul-mccartney-the-world-tour-1989-90-paperback/

Not a bad place, even though many of the links lead back to each other, and I do miss Previews.

I decided to sell a KDP version of my paperback on Amazon - for people who wouldn't find my website or who do all their book shopping on Amazon:

Fair enough, but there's even more competition to be 'found' om Amazon. They way to have people take notice is to market a product.

How KDP differs:

The whole process was fairly straightforward but they only pay through your bank account.

I prefer that to any other method.

To do this, I had to find something called an "international banking number" from my bank statement. 

But I don't recall that when I started to use KDP. I simply used my normal everyday banking details, to be found on a debit card. Debit cards able to be used almost worldwide.

When you upload the files for your book, the checks at KDP are more stringent. The software runs a thorough check of your files and tells you where it is up to, such as "looking for blank pages" etc. When it has finished, it tells you if any issues have been found, such as fonts that have not been embedded or words outside the margins. I found this quite useful.

It is very useful, instead of Lulu's software just being vague about any problems it finds.

Then, like Lulu, you can flick through a preview of your entire book. 

Copyright Checks

I submitted the files, but they are then checked by "a real person".

It does seem to be the case, and remarkable considering how many books go through KDP.

There was doubt cast on whether I owned the front and back images of the book, so I had to provide a written release form from the photographers, who were personal friends of mine. This took around two days - and then I was told that the book had been approved. 

Some public figures actually have their image copyrighted, which means one has to pay even to take a photo of them!

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Proof Copy 

You can then order yourself a proof copy with the word "proof" written across your front cover artwork to check the book is ok. 

Royalty Updates

Unlike Lulu, you get a daily update on sales and projected royalties. This is mine so far after four days. 

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So, you can see that the returns are a lot more favourable than Lulu - this was after only 4 books sales at £25 each. 

I will keep updating you on the progress of my new KDP experience. But so far, so good! 

I definitely had to find an international banking number from my bank statement rather than card details. 

Haven't all bank accounts an international number called IBAN (International Bank Account Number)?
Won't you have to pay fees to your bank to cash a foreign check?
With PayPal it's free and instantaneous. I prefer PayPal.

Thanks for your interest - in answer to your points:

Yeah, I meant dustjacket - I could not think of the term. The term for the type of hardback Amazon offers is "laminate"

A transparent, well, laminate, is stuck on to protect the ink, and to also add gloss (although some do offer a matt option.)

When I said that I used KDP, just to be clear, I use Lulu to fulfil private orders because I am used to their quality and ordering process. But I have not added this new book to expanded distribution. I am using KDP for sales on Amazon for people who don't know me, or my website and order from Amazon.

Well, as I suggested, potential buyers will not find you anywhere unless you use some method of telling them where your books are. One problem we self-publishers face (apart from cost of POD) is not usually having the vast amount of dosh that major publishing houses spend on marketing, or in fact the amount of money some who do become successful have available. (They also seem to have the cash to pay editors and cover designers, etc etc.)

In terms of "more competition" on Amazon, for non-fiction (like mine), I think it is a bit different. Because there have been only around 20 books written about Paul McCartney (not the Beatles - which is many thousands), people who search for him on Amazon will see my book on possibly the first page of results. In addition, I see my books regularly being promoted by Amazon in terms of "frequently bought together" or "items related to your search".

I found over 2000 in non-fiction. Some writer called Mark Evans listed at the top, and that's just Amazon UK.

I definitely had to find an international banking number from my bank statement rather than card details.

I am pretty sure I did not, because I would not know how to find it.  

Just to address your points:

I have used extensive marketing to attract customers to my website. In addition, a lot of people in this particular community either know me or know about me. I also do podcasts and interviews.

That's good, but a shame not many people actually use this forum.

In terms of how many books about Paul McCartney, a search result may well list 2,000 as it will lump it with The Beatles.

No it did not, if so then that would have been far far more thousands.

However, in terms of books specifically about that artist and not The Beatles, only around 20 have ever been made. So, if you search "paul mccartney book" on Amazon, my books are near the top.

That's exactly what I did, considering that is who I searched for.

How do your prices compare using KDP as opposed to using Lulu to place you on Amazon? As far as I recall, KDP do not have the middleman of printers as Lulu do, KDP own their own printers.

Sorry, When I said "this community" I meant the community of people who know about this subject matter, no this Lulu forum

Ah, OK, but this is not a Lulu forum.

KDP is cheaper when you order "author copies". I think for the paperback it was something like £5 a copy, which is much cheaper than Lulu.

Not using KDP for printed books, I don't really know, I am just assuming that POD is cheaper retail because Amazon print the books themselves, whereas Lulu pay printers to print them. Then again the retail price of course depends on what you add as profit. But I do wonder why it's called KDP when kindles are e-books.

However, when you add on the postage, the price difference becomes less.

That is surprising because Lulu was always very expensive for shipping, whereas at times Amazon is free.

I need to order some KDP copies of my book. From the evidence of the "proof copy" I have a feeling that the quality of the physical book was marginally lower than Lulu,

Apparently so.

who always give excellent results.

My books are always far better quality than most mass printed books, but they are printed in the UK where I live. Lulu attempt to have an order printed as close as possible to the order address (to reduce shipping costs I assume) so, for example, what is the quality of a 'Lulu' book printed in S. America? I would never know, unless I lived there. However, I think all Lulu hardbacks are printed in the US.

I don't use Amazon Prime which gives free shipping. In essence, if you wanted lots of author copies, Amazon would be the cheaper option.
What I'm not sure about is if you can order author copies and have them sent to somebody else's address. If this is the case, I am thinking it would be a cheap way of me fulfilling orders made on my website.

Amazon Prime seem to have many T&Cs which says not everything can have free shipping. But surely your customers on both your Lulu Spotlight and Amazon, and everywhere else, can order direct from them, therefore they, the customer, pay the shipping costs, not you (twice)? Is that not where your website's links go to? I seem to recall that Lulu even used to supply Buy Now buttons that can be pasted on to web pages. But I do recall that in using them it bypassed the Previews.

I am pretty sure that hardbacks are printed in the UK as well. I know this because, when I have ordered hardbacks, the time between the order being marked as "complete" and it being delivered is normally a day or so.

That's remarkably fast for Lulu no matter where they are printed!

I think they use this company, as my purchase once had a sticker on the parcel saying it had come from there www.bookprintinguk.com/services/print-on-demand

Interesting. I wonder, then, if they now also use printers in other countries to fill hardback orders? Thus reducing shipping cost.

But >>   "The Lulu global network of printers produces books based on the best fit for the job in a given region of the world. Some of the factors that determine where your book will print are: book size, binding type, order quantity, page count, delivery destination, etc. We take great pains to ensure consistency in look and feel for our printed products, but there can be slight variations in printing and binding between orders. This variation is not a workmanship or manufacturing defect and does not qualify for a refund or return."