Saturday, March 2, 2013

How to Use KindleGen to Make a Mobi Book File

I must see a dozen posts per month asking about using KindleGen. Here's how to use it although I highly recommend just dragging and dropping your book file onto Previewer's face instead. (You can also drag and drop your file onto "kindlegen.exe" to convert it.)

1) Download the kindlegen_win32_v2_8.zip file to your desktop. You can find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000765211

2) Open your C-drive directory. The easiest way to get to your C-drive is to double click on Computer on your desktop (or My Computer if you're using an OS older than Windows 7.)



Then double click on Local Disc (C).

 
 

You'll see other folders in there such as Program Files, Users, Windows etc.


Make a new folder in this directory and call it KindleGen.


3) Shrink the C-drive window down and go back to the zip file on your desktop and double click to open it. (There's no need to extract it.)

4) Copy the file in there called: kindlegen.exe and paste it into that new KindleGen folder we just made in the C-drive directory. While you're still in the new KindleGen folder, make another folder inside it called: Book

 

5) So now you have a KindleGen folder on your C-drive and inside is the kindlegen.exe file and the Book folder. Find an HTML, ePub, or OPF file that you wish to convert into a Mobi book and paste it into that Book folder. Of course, if it's an OPF file you're pasting, then you'll also need all the other folders and files that go with the making of the book such as the NCX, ALL HTML files, all images, any embedded fonts etc.

6) Go to All Programs\Accessories and open Command Prompt.

7) Copy the following and then right-click beside the cursor in Command Prompt and paste it in. (Control V doesn't work in Windows 7.) Make sure to change "your_book" to whatever the name of the file is you have in the Book folder along with the correct suffix (epub, opf, or html.):

C:\KindleGen\kindlegen.exe C:\KindleGen\Book\your_book.epub

 

8) Hit the Enter button on your keyboard. KindleGen will convert the book and place the new Mobi file inside the Book folder.

9) KindleGen will use the standard c1 compression unless you tell it otherwise. The other choices are c0 (no compression) or c2 (the most compression.) To use c0 or c2, paste in one of the following:

C:\KindleGen\kindlegen.exe -c0 C:\KindleGen\Book\your_book.epub

C:\KindleGen\kindlegen.exe -c2 C:\KindleGen\Book\your_book.epub

The other commands available through KindleGen simply aren't worth messing with because you can do them better and easier without KindleGen. For instance, you can force KG to change all your jpg images to gif. Or you can force it to give a new name to the Mobi file it outputs. And honestly, the three compression schemes produce files that aren't very different in size at all. It might be worth using c2 compression once in a great while if you have a large book that's just barely over (let's say) 2MB in size and you'd like to keep it under 2MB in order to avoid an extra 15-cents in Amazon's delivery fees.

And obviously you can name your Book and KindleGen folders something else and put them somewhere other than the C-drive once you have this directory stuff down. You can also delete the zip file now and all the files inside it. They're all useless except for the kindlegen.exe file that we already copied.

That's about it. Now really, isn't it a lot easier just to drag and drop the file you want to convert onto Previewer?

Friday, February 15, 2013

Places to Get Independent eBooks Reviewed

Indie authors have a hard time getting quality reviews, and many reviewers won't review eBooks at all. However I have here a nice long list of those that will.

www.goodreads.com
www.shelfari.com
www.smashwords.com
http://idreambooks.com
http://www.thebookreviewforfiction.com/
www.bookbrowse.com
www.bookpage.com
www.dannyreviews.com
www.electronicbookreview.com
www.allreaders.com
www.reviewsofbooks.com
http://imprints.simonandschuster.biz/atria/vyou
www.bookreporter.com
http://www.tracknewbook.com
http://www.book-buzzes.com
http://anynewbooks.com
http://www.authoralerts.com
http://www.wowbrary.org
http://www.cheapriver.com
http://www.windowshop.com
http://www.oskope.com
http://amaztype.tha.jp
http://www.lulu.com
http://www.flamingnet.com
http://www.litpick.com
http://www.wattpad.com
http://www.goodreads.com/list
http://askdavid.com/free-book-promotion
https://www.createspace.com
http://www.pebblefootpark.com
https://www.tumblr.com
http://www.arcindie.com
http://succotashreviews.blogspot.com
http://silversolara.blogspot.com
http://www.theindieview.com/indie-reviewers
http://ebookdailydeals.com
http://authormarketingclub.com
http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,114408.0.html
http://addictedtoebooks.com/
http://authormarketingclub.com/members/submit-your-book/
http://bargainebookhunter.com/feature-your-book/
http://blog.booksontheknob.org/
http://the-cheap.net/contact-2/
http://ereadernewstoday.com/
http://fireapps.blogspot.com/p/for-app-developers.html
http://flurriesofwords.blogspot.com/
http://freebooksy.com
http://goodkindles.blogspot.com/p/how-to-add-book.html
http://kindle-author.com/advertise/
http://kindlenationdaily.com/
http://thefrugalereader.wufoo.com/forms/frugal-freebie-submissions/
http://thekindledailydeal.com/contact.cfm
http://super-e-books.com/submit-your-book/
http://www.centsibleereads.com/p/for-authors.html
http://www.ereaderiq.com/free/
http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/
http://www.freeebooksdaily.com/p/contact.html
http://www.indiebookslist.com/
http://www.pixelofink.com/
http://kindlespice.com/submissions
http://www.shainarichmond.com/myblogs/spicy-romance-submission-form/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFNrbUVhS3JUQW5EREtaOTB6UUwtUnc6MQ
http://www.squidoo.com/going-free-kindle-ebook-promotional-campaigns-for-authors
http://ruthnestvold.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/promoting-ebooks-with-kdp-select/
http://www.greatreads.intheuk.me/
http://www.sciencethrillers.com
http://centralcaligrrrl.blogspot.com
http://traditionalmysteries.blogspot.com
http://reviewsbythedragonsden.com
http://srivallip.blogspot.com
http://sammywrites.blogspot.com
http://readingisawayoflife.blogspot.com
http://www.pussreboots.pair.com
http://prettysinister.blogspot.com
http://peaceloveandreviews.com
http://passionreads.com
http://bookbloggerdirectory.wordpress.com/fiction-blogs/action-adventure-mystery-horror-thrillers-espionage/www.partnersincrimetours.net
http://www.anovelsource.com
http://mysterythrillerandromanticsusreviews.blogspot.com
http://www.mmbearcupoftea.com
http://kindlemystery.blogspot.com
http://lostinebooks.blogspot.com
http://ratb2.blogspot.com
http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com
http://genrewench.blogspot.com
http://www.fairdinkumcrime.com
http://existentialennui.blogspot.com
http://cyberbookworm.wordpress.com
http://criminalpages.blogspot.com
http://cmashlovestoread.blogspot.com
http://castlemacabre.blogspot.com
http://www.booksarelife-vitalibri.blogspot.com
http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com
http://bookden.blogspot.com
http://thebestobooks.blogspot.com
http://www.theaudiobookguy.com
http://www.ashedit.wordpress.com
http://booksasportablepiecesofthought.blogspot.com
http://aliveontheshelves.com
http://alchemyofscrawl.blogspot.com
http://www.lawillis.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FreeTodayOnAmazon
https://www.facebook.com/groups/freetoday
http://www.bookish.com/home
http://www.ohioanabookfestival.org
https://bitly.com
http://www.bookbub.com/home
http://digitalbooktoday.com

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Gaming the System at Amazon Kindle Books

I've always contended that there are a number of people gaming the KDP system. Today I'll offer evidence of it.

You can make yourself look very good if you have a few hundred, or even a few thousand bucks, to spare by going to the store and buying "gift" credit cards and then use them to buy your own books after lowing the price to 99 cents (or free) and then leave yourself reviews with a credit card that isn't linked to your real name. You can register a gift card under any fake name, phone #, and address you like. Then Amazon has no way of knowing who you really are, and they'll accept your reviews of your own books. Kid's stuff-101, right?

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The vast majority of mainstream authors will sell about as many print books as they do Kindle books. Providing the Kindle and print editions come out around the same time, their sales rankings will be pretty close. Hardback sales usually take a nosedive after the print/kindle edtions come out, so you generally can't count those. However, sometimes the Kindle edition will come out while the hardback is still selling well and there isn't yet a paperback edition, or if there is one, it's something like a large print edition or a mass produced edition if it's a classic, and those don't sell very good. In that case, the Kindle and hardback editions may rank very close in sales. A good example is Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln. The only paperback edition of that book is a large print edition, so it doesn't sell well at all. But look how close the hardback and Kindle eidtions are in sales ranking:

Hardback - 60 # ranking
Kindle - 174

Here's an example of someone I won't name, but it's a self-published author who sells extremely well through Kindle books, but look at their Createspace paperback sales ranking of the same book which has been out for a couple of years now:

Paperback - 1,365,020
Kindle - 1,352

Now let's look at a book by a good traditional author. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is on the best seller's list again because of the new movie coming out.

Paperback - 17
Kindle - 144

Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by the The Countess Of Carnarvon is big because of the PBS Downtown Abbey series:

Paperback - 38
Kindle - 461

If someone self-published uses KDP (Kindle books) & Createspace (or Lulu) and has their book(s) available in both Kindle and print editions, and they're a big seller, then their sales rankings should run close to the same in both Kindle and print since the buying public purchases about as many Kindle books as print books right now. (Actually, paperback sales are generally still a bit higher.) If you see a large descrepency, between the two, you can bet it's probably somebody gaming the system. After all, it's cheap for someone with a good job to spend a thousand dollars on gift cards in order to produce sales and phoney reviews by just lowering the price on their Kindle books now and then use gift cards to spend a dollar on each in order to make a few purchases and leave reviews, and then raise the price back up the next morning. But how do they do the same with print books without loosing their shirts? They can't. The Kindle books didn't cost them anything to make or sell. But they can't lower the price of print books below a threshhold that covers all the costs of it, and that isn't cheap, so gaming the system with print books is very difficult unless you're very rich.

The gist of things is this: If Kindle sales rankings are very high, and print sales rankings are very low, there's reason for concern.