Will my eBook come up on Amazon?

[themanuels]

The first of my books which Lulu has automatically processed for distribution as an eBook has now come upon iTunes, for which I'm well pleased. I didn't have to do anything, Lulu merely informed me what they'd be doing and I set the price once they informed me that it was ready for distribution.

But can someone tell me, will it also arrive in PDF format for download on Amazon for Kindle users? All of my books are on Amazon as paperbacks, but I'd obviously like their download versions to come up on Amazon as well.

Incidentally, am I the only one who wishes that the forum pages on lulu would make it slightly easier to find how to start a new topic. I find myself going from page to page, often round in circles, before I find out how to post one of these babies! On the "Connect/Discuss" page, where it says: "Join the conversation, or start one of your own,..." wouldn't it be good if the wording "start one of your own" was a link enabling us to do just that?

Minor gripe, as I love Lulu, but it would make it a bit easier!

[kevinlomas]

No. For a start Kindle use their own file type and it is not a PDF. But having said that, you need to look at the Lulu project section to do with e-books because Lulu may actually also convert to Kindle and send them to Amazon.

[Peter May]

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kevinlomas wrote:
 because Lulu may actually also convert to Kindle and send them to Amazon.

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No they don't. Unfortunately.

But is is quite easy to do so yourself and it costs nothing to upload an ebook to Amazon, you don't need an ISBN and it appears on the Amazon sit ein a couple of days. Go to kdp.amazon.com

[barondzines]

With Amazon you have to do a mobi file to go on the Kindle, it is quite easy to convert a PDF to a mobi file I used this website to make the Mobi and the epub I needed for the Itunes store it was awesome.

PDF to mobi

Make sure you preview the file though as the spacing and some of page breaks are off sometimes.

Baron

[kevinlomas]

"Epub support

The Kindle platform does not support the international EPUB ebook standard. However there is software available (e.g. Calibre) which can convert a non-DRM EPUB file into the unprotected Mobipocket format that the Kindle can read.

Kindle Development Kit (KDK)

On January 21, 2010, Amazon announced the forthcoming release of their Kindle Development Kit.[74] Their aim is to allow developers to build 'active content' for the Kindle, and a beta version was announced with a February 2010 release date. A number of companies have already experimented with delivering active content through the Kindle's bundled browser, and the KDK promises 'sample code, documentation and the Kindle Simulator' together with a new revenue sharing model for developers.[75]

The KDK is based on the Java Programming Language, specifically, the JSR 1.1.2 Personal Basis flavor of packaged Java APIs.

Kindle Direct Publishing

Concurrently with the Kindle device, Amazon launched the Kindle Direct Publishing, where authors and publishers independently publish their books directly to Kindle and Kindle Apps worldwide. In open beta testing as of late 2007, the platform has been promoted to established authors by e-mail[76] and by advertisements at Amazon.com. Authors can upload documents in several formats for delivery via Whispernet and charge between $0.99 and $200.00 per download.[76]

In a December 5, 2009 interview with The New York Times, CEO Jeff Bezos revealed that Amazon.com keeps 65% of the revenue from all ebook sales for the Kindle.[77] The remaining 35% is split between the book author and publisher. After numerous commentators observed that Apple's popular App Store offers 70% of royalties to the publisher, Amazon began a program that offers 70% royalties to Kindle publishers who agree to certain conditions.[78]

Other criticisms involve the business model behind Amazon's implementation and distribution of e-books.[79][80] Amazon introduced a software application allowing Kindle books to be read on an iPhone or iPod Touch.[81] Amazon soon followed with an application called "Kindle for PCs" that can be run on a Windows PC. Due to the book publisher's DRM policies, Amazon claims that there is no right of first sale with e-books. Amazon states they are licensed, not purchased; so unlike paper books, buyers do not actually own their e-books according to Amazon. This has however never been tested in the courts and the outcome of any action by Amazon is by no means certain. The law is in a state of flux in jurisdictions around the world."

[themanuels]

Thanks to all who posted info for me. All  have to do now is find the time to digest it!! One thing though, if you have a website of your own, you can direct people from there to lulu for their download, which can then be transferred by the purchaser to their Kindle [PDF format too], as one of my readers rather helpfully explains here:

http://honorarygreek.blogspot.com/p/buy-books.html

Scroll down to where it says: "DOWNLOADING & INSTALLING THE PDF(s) ON TO YOUR KINDLE:"

I've had responses from others who've done as described and the books are now on their Kindle!!

[kevinlomas]

Why not just direct people to Kindle? :-)

[Peter May · Accepted solution]

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themanuels wrote:

  which can then be transferred by the purchaser to their Kindle [PDF format too],

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You can read text documents and PDFs on the Kindle but if you are serious about selling an eBook you should get it in Kindle format.

Although Kindle can read PDF, PDFs are usually a larger page size than the Kindle so it has to be shrunk to display, then of the print is too small then an area has to be selected for zooming. In other words, most PDFs are a right royal PITA.

It is free and relatively easy to convert to Kindle format and get it listed on Amazons site.

Alternatively the Kindle user can email the PDF to their KIndle email address as an attachment with the subject line 'Convert' and Amazon will auto-convert the PDF to a Kindle format. However if the original PDF has too fancy formating - little boxes with text etc then the finished item is not ideal.

[themanuels]

Thanks to everyone, especially Peter May. Now processed all three of my titles and they should be on Amazon's Kindle lists in a couple of days. The process couldn't have been easier.

[themanuels]

Thanks Peter, I went to that link, see my "solution" above...