Have you published your blog on Kindle?
If not, you should do it, pronto! It’s easy, it’s productive and it’s free.
We’re not talking about publishing ebooks or PDFs, but your dynamic and regularly updated blog.
Rather surprisingly, not a lot of bloggers have considered this option hitherto, but some big guns, including The New York Times, PC Magazine, Amazon Daily, Huffington Post, and others—that realize the potential—are already there.
On a positive note, that means less competition for you.
Is it really worth the effort?
Kindle publishing for blogs has already opened the doors to myriad opportunities for many businesses that have a blog.
Amazingly, all you need to do is invest just five minutes of your precious time. Here’s what you get in return:
New readers
Millions of people use Amazon Kindle as their ereader.
So, by publishing on Kindle you’ll pull in people who might never hear about your business otherwise.
As per the International Data Corporation report, Worldwide and U.S. eReader 2012–2016 Forecast, new models of Kindle Fire are more than likely to disrupt the market once again.
So, will people really pay to read your content?
Yes!
There are several reasons, but the main ones are that it costs only 99 cents to subscribe to a blog on Kindle, and it offers added handiness. Obviously, not all the Kindle owners want to be reading ebooks all the time when they can access more vibrant and au fait weblogs.
SEO
How on earth can kindle publishing help your SEO? It does not. Apparently, it doesn’t improve your blog’s ranking in SERPs.
But it can raise your profile.
Amazon is an authority even in the eyes of Google, and having your blog there gives you more exposure.
So even if nobody subscribes to your blog via Kindle, you’re getting free publicity and people searching for relevant keywords will surely be tempted to take a look at your blog after seeing it listed on the largest online retailer.
Added income
It’s free money. You get 30% of the total price, which is set by Amazon and can be anything between $0.99 and $1.99. So if you get, say, 1000 people to subscribe to your blog via Kindle, and the price is $0.99, you’ll make $297.
It may not be that lucrative for large publications, but it’s still a decent choice for solopreneurs and bloggers who don’t want to clutter their blogs with ads.
Higher conversion rate
Kindle readers are paying to read your content and conversion rates are always higher for paid subscribers.
Unfortunately, the JavaScript and ads are stripped off Kindle-displayed blogs, and only text content, links and images are displayed. So if your Call to Action involves more than just clicking a plain link, make sure you encourage your Kindle subscribers to view the page on another device.
Feedback
If your blog’s available for Kindle, people will be able to rate it, just like they rate any other product on Amazon.
If your blog features high-quality content (which I am sure it does), this is the easiest, and arguably the most efficient way to get endorsement and feedback.
3 steps to publishing your blog on Kindle
Ready to get your blog onto the Kindle platform? Great!
Note that this functionality is currently available to the residents of the USA and the UK only.
1. Create your Kindle Publishing Account
The standard Amazon account won’t work, so you’ll need to sign up for the Kindle Publishing Account if you don’t already have one.
2. Add and publish
When you log into your Kindle publishing account, click Add Blog, and fill in the signup form.
Once you’re done adding all the info, hit Generate Blog Preview.
- If you get the blog preview, cool. Go to step three!
- If you get an error as shown in the image below, don’t get teary. Just click the Save button and then hit Return to Dashboard. Here, you’ll see your blog has been saved as a draft. Open it and try again, and this time there will be no error.
Now go ahead and click the Publish button.
Don’t forget to add a screenshot (choose the most appealing page on your blog), as it will be displayed on the Amazon sales page.
At the end of the day, it should look something like this:
3. Choose payment options
You’ll be redirected to a page where you can enter your address, business type etc. and choose the desired payment option. After that, your blog may take 48 to 72 hours to appear on Amazon.
How it works
To make a long story short, this is a quick self-publishing tool to help you sell your blog on the Kindle store.
Its working is similar to RSS: your updates are auto-delivered wirelessly to the Kindle and updated throughout the day.
The only difference is that instead of just the headline, your readers can access the full text content plus most images on your blog. Moreover, the updates are downloaded to the Kindle and can be read even when the device is not connected to the internet.
A couple of moans
On a 70-30 revenue share, the bossy retailer walks away with the lion’s share and the publisher gets the smaller piece for all his hard work. That sounds cruel, but your blog is available freely on the internet … remember?
The more annoying aspect is that you can neither regulate the price, nor give away your blog subscription for free.
And in addition to the advertising, the useful social networking links for Twitter, Digg, Reddit, and Facebook are also removed> I don’t have much respect for that!
Is it really the Next Big Thing?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Yes, you can reach out to a sizeable readership through the Amazon Kindle, but don’t expect to make big bucks out of it. However it goes along, it’s a fascinating idea and part of the constant move to mobility.
Do you have any questions or suggestions about Kindle publishing for blogs? Let’s discuss them in the comments.
This guest post is by Ali Abbas.