New to e-publishing or not, you can’t avoid the almighty Amazon and the slew of terms accompanying the behemoth. So, to get you started, here’s a little glossary action. I’d love others to add/ amend/ expand in the comments!
KDP: Kindle Direct Publishing. The web-based platform that allows any writer, anywhere, to upload an e-book to sell across Amazon’s domains.
KOLL: Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. By joining Prime, Kindle owners can choose from over 145,000 titles to borrow for free as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates. Note: this option is not available in the UK. (Boo!)
KDP Select: A 90-day programme allowing KDP authors to promote their books for free up to 5 days per term. Authors must give Amazon exclusivity in exchange.
Tag: a word or phrase customers save on a product listing (chick lit, genre, contemporary romance, bestseller, etc). The more people who tag a product, the higher up it will appear in customer search results.
Sales rank: A book’s rank at any given hour, as determined by sales.
Popularity lists: Accessed from the Kindle book shop front, it’s the list that shows when you click on a genre – confusingly, it’s different from the bestseller list.
Algorithms: The mysterious formula used by Amazon to calculate sales rank and popularity lists. According to algorithms experts (who watch this stuff obsessively), Amazon tweaks their formula every few months.
Alsobots: The books that appear below your product listing. The more books you sell in connection with other books, the higher up you’ll appear on other alsobots.
Royalties: The money, baby! Depending on the price you choose to sell your book for, you will either receive 30 per cent or 70 per cent.
CreateSpace: Amazon’s self-publishing arm for print. Note: CreateSpace now distributes in Europe! Choose extended distribution and opt into the new channel.
Author Central: Any author is eligible to join this programme, providing a space for author bio, blog and Twitter streaming, videos, and events. Remember to do it for each domain, since .com does not filter through to UK and vice versa.
ITIN: Individual Tax Identification Number. A little piece of hell all non-US-based authors must go through to ensure KDP and CreateSpace don’t withhold thirty percent of their profits.
EIN: Employer Identification Number: An easier option than obtaining an ITIN. Had I only know about it sooner…
Your turn! What am I missing? What has always confounded you? What questions do you have?
Talli- what a terrific concise list to get through all of the Amazon lingo- thank you:)
Thanks, Lois!
Now I know. I didn’t know what algorithms are properly but now I do. Great to see you again, briefly, on Saturday. Congrats on your news!
Thank you, Julie! I’m not sure anyone fully understands the algorithms, but I hope that helps a bit.
Oooo…this is great scoop, Talli! Thanks You!!!
I’m adding this post to our page where I list great WG2E posts for beginners!!!
U rock!!!
Thank you, DD!
We could add the Top 100 Paid and Free Books Lists, plus the Movers & Shakers List too!
Top 100 Paid List = Top 100 Bestsellers priced 99 Cents and above (calculated each hour)
Top 100 Free List = Top 100 FREE Books (calculated each hour)
Movers and Shakers = Top 100 Books based on largest sales gains in percentage and rank (calculated each hour)
Thank you, DD! I knew you could add to our list!
Great, informative post, Talli! How do you navigate to the movers and shakers?
Tamara, this one has always confounded me. It takes ages for me to find it! http://www.amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/digital-text/ref=zg_bsms_nav_b_1_b Go to ‘bestsellers’ link in ‘all products’. Then go to books, and work your way to the Kindle store. I’m sure there’s an easier way, but I haven’t found it!
Valuable post, Talli. Thanks for putting it together!
Thanks for dropping by, Ruth!
Thank you for an excellent post. The “popularity list” has always confused me. I think I understand it but never know where people find them. Would it be possible to give an example? thanks, Bill
This is an example of the popularity list in the fiction store: http://www.amazon.com/Fiction-eBooks-Kindle/b/ref=amb_link_355831402_11?ie=UTF8&node=157028011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=left-1&pf_rd_r=16VX4GZR7KDTT12BFN67&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1365330362&pf_rd_i=1286228011. (Sorry for the long link!). No one really knows how popularity lists as calculated, and it’s changed recently according to algorithm specialists.
You can read more about it here: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/03/2012/amazon-the-importance-of-popularity/
What’s the difference between the Popularity List and Bestselling Lists? Isn’t the number of sales, i.e. bestselling, a sign of what is popular?
Hi Deborah! It’s very confusing, I know, and I certainly don’t have my head around all the ins and outs. However, there’s quite a good post here: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/03/2012/amazon-the-importance-of-popularity/. Hope that helps a bit!
POD – print on demand (as in their partnership with CreateSpace)
Thanks for putting this together
Thank you for adding to our list, Anna!
Hi!
Here’s my question: What’s the easiest way to convert print to e-book, especially with color photography? Is there a simpler way than messing with HTML coding? Thank you!
Hi Lori! I did a post on this a while back: http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/e-book-formatting-for-beginners. Have you tried Calibre? It works for me with photos, too. Hope that helps a bit!
This is great information. I appreciate the time it took you to put this all together.
Thanks for popping by, Vanessa!
Excellent guide for all writers to bookmark. As far as algorithms, David Gaughran recently ran a piece saying there are at least three sets, and different ones are used for different browsers. No wonder they’re so hard to figure out!
Great post, Talli! Thanks. Good stuff.
Alsobots … a weird name, but it also make perfect sense. Thanks for sharing the list of terms, Talli!
I’d also add:
Popular Highlights: words or phrases from your Kindle book that users highlight in their own edition of the book. If three or more users highlight the same passage, it can show up on the book’s details page.
Category: Basically this = genre. Different from tags, as these are chosen by the author, where tags are chosen by readers
Amazon Verified Purchase: This seems to apply mostly to the US site and isn’t 100% reliable, in my experience. This notation appears on reviews so you can tell if the person reviewing the book actually purchased it from Amazon. (The only requirement to place a review on Amazon is that you have bought at least one product, any product, from them before. This ensures they have your real name. However, a reviewer doesn’t need to have bought the actual book they’re reviewing from Amazon in order to place a review on that product page.)
Vine Voice: The Vine review programme is something Amazon invites its top reviewers to join. A Vine Voice review will get a lot more exposure!
Shelfari: This is a book community something like Goodreads and LibraryThing, but it’s now owned my Amazon. An author can add details to their books’ Shelfari pages, and those details will often filter through to the Amazon sales pages. A very useful tool to give readers even more information about your stories/characters/settings. (Only seems to apply on the AMZ US site.)
ASIN: The number Amazon uses to catalogue your book. If your book is a print edition, they will use the ISBN instead. For Kindle editions (and non-book products), they use ASIN (pronounced as a word: ay’-sin, not A-S-I-N)
And I always write also-boughts, not alsobots. XD
This is all very useful. My printer is even now covering the floor with stuff!
Thanks
Thanks. You can naver learn enough about this. As someone who is about to go down this route, everything is helpful