Can Having a Kindle E-book Help Your Book Sales?

It seems that just when the debate dies down, it comes back to the forefront of a conversation, this is most true if you self-publish a book.  I was asking myself now how am I going to get people to review my book? I self published and this means that I will need to sell more to earn back the money I spent.   I have given out about 15 free copies of my book, and two have reviewed it, this is one means of marketing a book, but it is a slow method.  (Reviewing a book is a different story… something I’ll discuss later)

Then I was asked, do I have my book on an e-book format? 

Yes, and mine is Kindle based format, and can be found on Amazon.  I picked Kindle because it was the easiest method to get my book published as an e-book, to publish a Nook e-book, you need to be in the United States, and Kobo still does not have a self-publishing platform, and I’m not too excited about becoming a vendor as a self-publisher on Amazon.

Can having a Kindle edition of your book help your book sales and earn you more money?

Yes, and no. 

Yes:  Because you are selling your book, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Kindle edition or a paperback or hardcover.  You are still getting your book to your audience, you are creating a readership to your book or to several of your books.  That is important, after all I’ve had more than a week of no Kindle sales, and that is disheartening, but that also means I have to plan for some sort of marketing.

No:  For some writers, this takes away from their main source of income — their paperback books, but this is not the side of the argument that I take because often the amount of money a writer can make on an e-book sale is about as much as they can make on the sale of a paperback.

I also think, and firmly believe, that no matter what, you have to love reading to be able to comment and review other books.  Leaving those reviews and comments can help your own sales.  Some people think that if you review other books and readers like your writing style, then they may go on to buy your books as well.  Be careful, though, because a good author can tell in a moment if you haven’t read the book.

Having an e-book is important, and I think that in the end it will help your book sales, if it is priced right.  It helps to know the best price to sell your e-book at based on your target audience.  Kindle is a good format, as it is a large part of the e-readers lives.  Now that Kindle is available to either own or you can download the e-reader on tablets, it is one of the best means to get your readers. 

E-books are an important and not to be forgotten piece of your marketing plan.  Having a good plan means reading a lot of marketing books, but if it will help sales, no matter which kind, then having a Kindle edition is important.