Passive vs Active Income

What person doesn't dream of sitting on a beach, enjoying the sun and a soft drink, while the money in their checking account grows and grows, without them having to lift a finger.

That's what passive income is. Money that comes in while you're busy doing something else.

That's the kind of money you'll receive as an ebook publisher. The more books you have on offer, the more money you'll make.

Active income, on the other hand, means that you have to work at it every day. Any income from blogging is active income. Most people expect a blog to be updated every day, or every other day at worst. If a blog is updated only once a week, they don't feel as if they're getting their money's worth.

A blog can produce passive income also, of course. If you become an affiliate of google ad sense and Amazon (in my opinion, don't bother with Ebay!) people surfing hte web can come across a blog post you made years ago, and be attrached to one of these ads, which are always current. But most blogging inome will come from Kindle subscriptions.

Publishing E-books
The more quality books you publish, the more money you make. Isaac Asimov is an excellent example. For twenty years, as a science fiction and science writer, he produced over 200 books. None of them made the best seller lists, but in the aggregate they sold enough to make him a comfortable living from the royalties. (When he went back to science fiction after a decade's long absence, his new book, a Foundation novel, did hit the best seller's list, but that's a different issue entirely.)

Once you publish a book, it's true that's not enough. You need to publicize it as widely as possible, using email blasts, arranging author interviews and so.

Publishing Blogs
I publish several blogs, and truth to tell only a couple of them have any kind of web presence. 99% of my readership from the other blogs comes solely from subscribers via Amazon.

The keywords you choose when you initially put your blog on Amazon are therefore extremely important - it's the main way your blog will be found. (Another way is to ask for a review from my Kindle Blog Report.)

If someone subscribes to a blog via the Kindle, they receive a couple of pages to five pages of back posts. If the first post they see hasn't been updated for over a week, chances are they'll unsubscribe immediately.

In addition, be very careful what URL you use for your Kindle offering. If you have the type of blog that only shows a paragraph of text, and requires the reader to click on a "read more" button, there is a special URL you need to use for the Kindle, so that the complete article is fed over. Otherwise, the Kindle reader only gets that first paragraph, and is forced to go to the web to get the rest of the article, which typically they don't like to do. Or, even worse, the link might not even appear, and all they have is that first paragraph with no way at all to see the rest of the article.

Ask your blog provide which URL, or "feed" to use to ensure this doesn't happen.

Sacred Poet Press

As the owner of this blog, I'll be covering all aspects of writing and publishing, from a general standpoint. I'll also talk about my own publishing company -- Sacred Poet Press. The name comes from an essay written by Isaac Asimov, in which he makes the point that what people actually do doesn't come down to us through history...it's what writers write about what they do that does. Everyone needs a "sacred poet" to tell their story.

To date I've published one book - not written by me.



And I have a list of 20 books that I intend to write and publish myself. They are non-fiction books, on subjects that interest me. I am in the process of researching the first one, and hope to have it ready to go within another week or so.

Unfortunately, like writing, it's easier to "have researched" then to actually "research". But the internet makes things so much easier for the researcher than they used to be.

In this blog, I'll be covering all aspects, including the growth of my own publishing company, Sacred Poet Press. I won't share the history of each of my books until they've actually been published, as I don't want anyone to get the jump on me in that regard!

Help For Publishers Without A Kindle

If you've published a book on Kindle, but don't own a Kindle, so you can't see if it is formatted properly or if there are any typos hiding anywhere within its pages, drop me a line at Nocturne_CVS@yahoo.com and ask me to review your book in that regard. (So, it's not a book review, it's a formatting and typo review).

If you'd like to give this a try, email me at the address above and we can finalize details.

Manifesto

This blog is designed to help people who want to self-publish their work on Kindle - from blogs to books.

We'll discuss how to format media for the Kindle, and we'll discuss writing tips and tools as well.

Feel free to make comments and ask questions - this blog's for you.