KDP Singles - Just So You Know!

Thanks for the clarification, Lil.

I'd known that Singles was a tough nut to crack but this info is eye opening...

Think of it this way, with Singles, you have replaced the traditional publishing gatekeepers for Amazon...

For the privilege of pubbing a short and getting paid WHAT? And this makes sense WHY?

Do yourself a favor, keep writing / self-publishing and ignore the shiny objects ;-)

Tink
(Who needs to keep her head down and her butt in chair to finish Book 3 in her new series. ;-) )

Thanks for posting this.

Most books won’t be approved as Singles. The whole point of Singles is to present only the most stylish, compelling, well-written short works.

By definition, they rise far above the normal work of average writers.

I'm doing pretty well as an author. I'm published by traditional publishers. One of my Kindle books has sold over 10k copies in the past six months. Two others are on the fast track to do equally well.

Despite that, even I'd think twice before submitting a book to Kindle Singles. (I'm working on one right now that might qualify. Maybe. I won't be sure until I've completed it.)

Your advice is exactly right: Focus on your Kindle books. Write. Publish. Repeat.

Build a backlist. After you've written and published 10 - 12 good Kindle books, you should see some results. Until then, practice your craft: Keep writing and publishing.

Write. In fact, write a lot. My motto is: A book sitting on your hard drive can't earn you a cent.

Instead of aiming for the moon, set your sights on moderate, continuing success. Books stack nicely, and -- before you know it -- you'll have a cozy four-figure income every month. Then, it's time to set your sights higher.

Update: Well, someone wasn't too happy about this thread.

If a sincere-sounding author approaches you (especially via PM) to review his or her proposed Kindle Single, with a sob story about how nobody else will review it...just say no. Too late, I realized that the author who contacted me... he's looking for a few honest reviews (for his not-very-good book) to balance his fake five-star reviews.

(Yes, sometimes I'm an idiot. I fell for this and not only gave him the review he asked for, I also gave him sincere advice about editing his book to make it vastly better. I've since deleted my Amazon review, and won't get fooled again.)

The Kindle Singles ruse continues to amaze me. It's like... what part of "high-quality writing, fresh and original ideas, and well-executed stories" don't these people understand? (That quote is from the Kindle Singles submission page: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000700491 )

I'm irked, not just because I was trying to be nice and I was taken advantage of, but even more because some of the Kindle Singles advice I'm seeing... it's a mean trick to play on eager, aspiring authors.

I'm convinced that anyone can succeed with Kindle books, and I wish more WSOs would encourage people in that direction, instead of pitching something like Kindle Singles as if any book can be a Single.

I agree as well. Singles is where Amazon is trying to be more like a publisher than a platform. There is a night and day difference between the two models.

I love writing, have written lots, and have thought about the Singles route. But, after studying it and learning how they are following the publisher model versus platform model, it became clear that the Singles route would not be for me, at least not right now.

It seems that the logical thing to do would be to continue creating your books and get them out there in the normal fashion. Don't waste time trying to get accepted into this small niche because, though the payoff may be great, you shouldn't sit arounding waiting and hoping to be chosen.

Just get on with what you are currently doing. Does that sound fair?

I see that most authors go ahead and publish their short stories as regular kindle books. This is the best way to go. If Amazon sees that your stories are selling like hot cakes, they may approach you for a Singles.

Meanwhile, who cares about trying to qualify for Singles when you can write to your hearts content without it?

Eibhlin is right - just keep writing and publishing to build your own author brand and backlist.