I just bought a Kindle and am waiting for it to come in over the next few days. Part of the reason for this is FPW has a number of the older books that I can't find in print. These books are pretty cheap, $1-3 each. However the Jack novels are all the same price either print or Kindle edition. So does FPW make more off the Kindle editions or the same? At the same price he should be making more from a Kindle since there's no paper to print. But I suspect that someone else keeps the extra money.

I just bought a Kindle and am waiting for it to come in over the next few days. Part of the reason for this is FPW has a number of the older books that I can't find in print. These books are pretty cheap, $1-3 each. However the Jack novels are all the same price either print or Kindle edition. So does FPW make more off the Kindle editions or the same? At the same price he should be making more from a Kindle since there's no paper to print. But I suspect that someone else keeps the extra money.

Kindle books pay 70% royalty on titles priced $2.99 - $9.99. And 35% above that. On the older titles that I essentially self-published on Kindle, most priced at $2.99, Amazon pays me north of $2 per copy. Compare this to my 10% of a paperback cover price ($7.99 these days.) For the titles put on Kindle by my publisher, I get a percentage of what Amazon pays them. Easy to see why having e-rights to your backlist is important to an author.

I'm thinking I need to look into this. I have a Kindle. I have to figure out how to convert a MS Word Document to the Kindle's format.

Auskar: It is really easy - you need to get a free program called Caliber and it is pretty automatic

I'm thinking I need to look into this. I have a Kindle. I have to figure out how to convert a MS Word Document to the Kindle's format.

One (of a few ways) I convert MS Word (.doc/.docx etc) to Kindle (.mobi) format is to first convert them to .pdf, then I use a free program called "Calibre" to convert them to .mobi.

If you are using the 2007 version of MS Office (or if you just have a stand alone version Word 2007), you can download a free add-on to Word from Microsoft that allows you to convert any .doc/.docx to .pdf.

If you are using the 2010 version of MS Office (or if you just have a stand alone version Word 2010), you can convert any .doc/.docx to .pdf (it's now a built-in feature of Word 2010 to convert to many different formats from within word). I have MS Office 2010 Pro Plus, so this is the method I use to convert my .doc/.docx files.

I really don't convert from .doc/.docx to .mobi to use on my Kindle that much, but the rare time I do, I convert to .pdf, then use Calibre to convert to .mobi.

I am certain that others who do the above more regularly, probably have a better way of doing it.

There is a very similar discussion we are having about .pdf/epub/.mobi format conversion under the thread title "What On Earth?" under in this forum section. Start with page 3 of that thread. Lots of great posts/information/format conversion suggestions there too.

I forgot to mention this in my original reply.

I actually used this process for your short story "Faceless".

I copied the story from your website, created a .pdf using Adobe Acrobat CS5 Pro, then used Calibre to get it to my Kindle. Took all of about 3 minutes for the entire process.

Great story, btw. Hope your not angry at me for copying it into my Kindle.

I'm working on putting together an ebook myself. I have the ability to convert .docs into .pdfs, but I don't know what size font I should use or spacing. Will Calibre help me with that?

I'm working on putting together an ebook myself. I have the ability to convert .docs into .pdfs, but I don't know what size font I should use or spacing. Will Calibre help me with that?

If you mean does Calibre have a "wizard" to guide you through the conversion process and make suggestions?

No and Yes.

There is an "auto" conversion option and will "ask" for a couple of options before converting and will use it's "smart" program to convert your file as closely as the original.

I always use the "manual" conversion process. I do this because not all .pdfs/epubs/.mobis etc etc are the same; because of older version/how the file was originally encoded etc. Converting manually allows me to make the output file exactly how I want it.

Calibre allows you to change just about every aspect of a file when converting; it easily will allow you to change every aspect of the "look and feel" of your output file.

If your are making an epub from scratch (i.e. an original work) and are going from .doc to .pdf to epub, then pretty much how you set-up your .doc is how your epub will look after you use Calibre. Converting a .doc (unless it is an older format than a 2003 word doc) to a .pdf essentially converts on a 1 to 1 basis (meaning how the .doc looks is how the .pdf looks). Calibre does the same 1:1 conversion when going from .pdf to most formats.

I'd just suggest getting your originally file set up exactly how you want it to look (margins, spacing,fonts, etc etc) and go from there.


Check out their website for a more in-depth answer:

http://calibre-ebook.com/about

Well then you'll be making more money off me now then when I bought all the paperbacks for years. I just bought 4-5 for my new Kindle. I'll probably buy the rest as well. Good to know you make some good coin off it.

Kindle books pay 70% royalty on titles priced $2.99 - $9.99. And 35% above that. On the older titles that I essentially self-published on Kindle, most priced at $2.99, Amazon pays me north of $2 per copy. Compare this to my 10% of a paperback cover price ($7.99 these days.) For the titles put on Kindle by my publisher, I get a percentage of what Amazon pays them. Easy to see why having e-rights to your backlist is important to an author.

Well this information makes me feel even better about finally taking the plunge into the Kindle market(well that and the fact that books are mostly cheaper for me as well and the whole finding books that I had no luck finding hard copies of).

Glad to hear the authors are getting a fair shake in this new format.