- Okay, we all know that Kindle Direct Publishing
is a lucrative opportunity for the self-published author
but aren't there other ways
that we can make money on Amazon?
Is there some way
that we can diversify our author portfolio?
Well, I'm gonna talk about that
and ways that we can do that.
In fact, we're gonna talk about
how to make money on Amazon in this video today
so stay tuned.
(intense techno music)
This is Self-Publishing with Dale
where you'll learn to publish books that sell
and build an unstoppable brand.
Before we jump into things,
I wanna know, do you think self-publishing
on Amazon is really worth it?
I wanna hear your candid thoughts inside the comments
so you make sure you drop 'em down there,
and while we're at it,
make sure that you stick around to the end
'cause I'm gonna share some more unorthodox
or unconventional ways
of expanding on the Amazon platform
so that way you have numerous avenues of income
that you can really capitalize on.
Before I talk about those unconventional ways,
I think it's important that we go ahead
and just rehash a few of the avenues
that are available to you
as a self-published author on the Amazon platform,
so here we go, eBooks.
No brainer, everybody knows this,
there's good reason why for in the past oh um-teenth years,
people have been Kindle Publishing, Kindle Publishing,
Kindle Publishing, Kindle Publishing,
Kindle, Kindle, Kindle, Kindle, Kindle, Kindle, Kindle.
It's all too much, folks.
eBooks are fantastic and it's a great way
to break into the business
and probably one of the easiest ways
to really get your book out there to a wider audience,
so I'm not gonna poo-poo on eBooks.
It's really one of the best options
you have available to you as a self-published author.
Print books. (laughs)
So while people are spouting Kindle Publishing,
Kindle Publishing, Kindle Publishing,
they have overlooked the greater market share
of global publication profits in print books,
understanding that a lot of people really love
to have material possessions.
They like to have that in their hands.
They like to have their shelf filled full
of their favorite books and their favorite authors,
so print books is one of the best ways to do it.
And even though I've just kind of touched
on Kindle Direct Publishing,
there are other ways that you can publish on Amazon
and this includes paperback books.
Yeah, we know.
Ever since CreateSpace has merged with KDP print,
there's paperback book options
for everyone to take advantage of,
and you can even utilize other distributors like Lulu.com
or IngramSpark to fulfill print books in via paperbacks
over onto the Amazon platform.
But did you know you can actually do hardcover books?
It's not available through KDP print yet.
This is kinda interesting.
In fact, I cover a little bit about
how you can print hardcover books
through other distributors including IngramSpark and Lulu
and those will actually aggregate
over into the Amazon platform.
And here's the funny thing is,
the printers that are fulfilling it are from Amazon
and so if they're being fulfilled by Amazon,
doesn't it make you kinda think,
will this be an option available for KDP print?
I wanna hear from you.
Drop in your thoughts in the comments.
And lastly, audiobooks.
I've been cheerleading about audiobooks
for the past couple of years
because the growth in sales has been astronomical,
and now I'm starting to see a bit of a gold rush,
kinda like what it was back in say 2013 to 2014
in the Kindle Publishing revolution
that everybody was rushing over and trying to get into it
and audiobooks is the same thing.
I believe right now, it's the Wild West on audiobook
and if you don't have your books on audiobook,
you're leaving a lot of money on the table
and you're also leaving a lot of your audience in the cold.
There are some people that don't want to have an ebook.
They don't have the time to read your print book.
That's where audiobook comes in because it's downloadable,
it's accessible just about anywhere you go
from commuting on the bus to working out in the gym.
That's one of my favorite things
is to listen to my audiobooks while I'm working out.
Okay, okay, okay.
I told you I was gonna talk a little bit
about additional avenues
that you could monetize your author platform on Amazon
and this includes Merch by Amazon.
This is no surprise.
In fact, actually, I did an unboxing
of some of the merch shirts
that I have showcased on this channel before
and Merch by Amazon is one of the other ways
that you can monetize your author brand.
I see a lot of authors leaving a lot of money on the table
on this particular instance.
I don't have to promote my shirts very much.
All I do is I wear them on this channel
and oddly enough, people buy the products.
I didn't have to do a single solitary thing
outside of just wearing it,
and I'm wearing things I would otherwise enjoy anyways.
Merch by Amazon doesn't just have T-shirts.
They have T-shirts, they have long-sleeve shirts,
they have hoodies, they have sweatshirts,
and they even have
something that's called PopSockets for phones.
How many of you use PopSockets out there?
Well, this is another way that you can monetize
your author platform in just having those available,
say through interviews or on video marketing
and anything else in between,
you can really get it to where your audience goes,
ooh, I'd like that, that's really awesome,
and it's another way
that they can help support their favorite author.
Amazon Associates.
This is what is known as affiliate marketing.
In other words, when you become an Amazon Associate,
essentially you share products from their page,
drives traffic on over there,
if somebody makes a purchase,
you get a small percentage of the profits.
Is this sleazy?
Not by any means.
Think of it like this.
If you've got a movie that you really enjoy
and if you share it with people,
you're naturally gonna share it with people
but you don't get paid.
Wouldn't it be sweet though
if you were sharing your favorite movie with someone
and they went to watch it or download it
and you got a small percentage from the theater or the site
just for sending that?
That's how affiliate marketing works.
Believe it or not,
it's not just about spamming people through email marketing.
And something as simple as Amazon Associates
is often overlooked.
In fact, here's really kind of a cool thing.
If you go into the Amazon Author Central page
and you've set up an author profile, which I hope you have,
you will get a prompt from Amazon themselves
that says take advantage of the Amazon Associates program
because you can then share your book
or your product via social media.
Some link clicks on that,
they go over and they purchase your product,
naturally, you're going to get royalties for your book
but you're gonna get a little bit more
for the extra trouble of using Amazon Associates.
This is one of those ones I'm telling you
not enough people are taking advantage of
and I recommend you look into Amazon Associates
to further monetize your author brand.
Oh, and just a note.
If somebody doesn't buy your book
but they end up buying, say, a roll of bouncy paper towels
or maybe even a cat toy of some sort,
you get a small percentage of that.
That's kinda cool.
Even though someone didn't buy your book
and they buy something else, you get a small profit of that.
I call that a win-win.
Prime Video Direct.
I was all gung-ho about Amazon Video Direct,
now called Prime Video Direct about a couple of years ago.
In fact, I was gonna go fully bullish on it this past year
but I'm just gonna have to give you
a fair warning on this one in just a moment.
Let me explain Prime Video Direct first.
Think of it like indie movies on Amazon.
So this is a way that you can further showcase
your author brand.
Here's where it kinda gets a little bit difficult
and this is my reservation on it.
You have to first of all produce the content,
you have to upload it which is a fairly arduous process,
and you also have to caption it.
Captioning doesn't come free.
You can order such services as, say, Rev.com,
or you can painstakingly go through all of your videos
and create the captioning yourself.
And then they've got channel art guidelines
but here, all this to say this.
Think of it like a more strict version
of YouTube for Amazon.
That's what Prime Video Direct is.
So this is just another way
that you can further index your author brand.
So in the instance that you wanna, say,
have a fireside reading of your fiction book
and record that process and upload it there,
that's a great way to do things,
or if you're a nonfiction author,
you can also create short series
that helps further grow your credibility
and your authority within your given niche.
And lastly, Twitch.
Whoa, whoa, wait, hang on a second.
I thought we were talking about Amazon.
Of course we're talking about Amazon!
Believe it or not, a few years ago,
Amazon bought Twitch for an estimated nearly $1 billion.
When Amazon is willing to pony up that much expenses,
it's gotta make you stand up and go, hmm.
Originally, this platform started out for gamers
but now it's starting to evolve
to encompass a lot more than just gaming.
They have many creative people coming there,
including the likes of artists and videographers and editors
and most recently, indie authors.
In fact, one of our fellow authors in Melody Casey
actually runs a fairly regular stream over on Twitch
to where she actually does writing sprints
and she actively participates with her audience
when they show up.
This is a fun way that you can engage your audience
and of course start to really build hype
behind your next release.
And the nice thing about Twitch
is if you become a part of the affiliate program,
you can get paid by way of subscribers
and what's called bits which is kind of like a currency
of tips that your viewers can give to you
for doing such a good job.
In fact, I'm gonna talk a little bit
more about the Twitch Affiliate Program
and this is one of my most popular videos on this channel.
You're gonna wanna make sure you go on over there
because if you avoid Twitch,
you're gonna be missing out on quite a bit.
I will see you over there.
Here are the three different ways
you can earn a Twitch affiliate payout.
One, cheering with bits.
Viewers, followers, and subscribers of your channel
have the ability.