I have to admit even though I am a bit of technology geek, I have been reluctant to buy a Kindle or any other electronic reading device. I am still a fan of ordinary printed books. While I regularly buy books from Amazon and have them delivered to Bali, I also enjoy browsing bookstores. I think it will be kind of sad if book stores close down in the same way CD shops largely have.

I only just purchased my first Kindle book. I don’t even have a Kindle reader, but Amazon have software which you can install on your computer. It was the title of the book that got me and I knew I just wanted to read it right away: How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months.

It was only $4.99 and most of the reviews were pretty good, so I thought what the heck.

The experience from buying the book online and making it available on my computer almost instantly is quite amazing and even though I am still kind of reluctant, I might even become a Kindle convert!

Ebook sales have now overtaken paper book sales on Amazon and the whole publishing industry is being turned on its head. It’s now possible for anyone to write and sell a book online, entirely cutting out the publishing phase, which is the barrier to entry for most new writers.

You might be asking what this has to do with Bali, but I know that there are many writers or aspiring writers living here. We all know that writing the greatest book in the world, is never going to sell, unless people know about it. “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months” helps to solve this problem by laying out a marketing plan how anyone can achieve similar results.

The tools that are used should be familiar to most people, Twitter and blogging, but it’s how this author uses them that are in my opinion quite original. While there are thousands of blogs and information on how to use Twitter for your business, I think what he says makes a great deal of sense and is done very succinctly without the usual bs. I also enjoyed reading his take on dealing with negative feedback and how he even uses that information in his business.

Even if you aren’t a writer, I think many of the ideas in the book can be used for marketing or even starting any kind of business.

I was looking for more places to get exposure for my guide to starting a business in Bali. After doing some research, I found that anyone can sell print on demand (POD) and ebooks on Amazon.

I think it is a fairly recent move that Amazon has started or they acquired a site called CreateSpace. CreateSpace allows people to sell books, DVDs, music and MP3s.

I am currently in the process of trying to get my ebook approved. People will be able to hopefully soon be able to buy my book from Amazon in either an ebook or paper book format.

You have to become a little familiar with publishing terms such as “bleed” and “trim”. The interface however to their site is very simple to follow. You can even create a cover for your book from one of their templates.

In terms of pricing, I priced my book at $25, of which I would receive $10.70. There is a PRO version available also and if you pay some money to join, you will receive a little more money.

I have heard of authors traditionally getting paid very little for their books, so I am sure even this amount is pretty good.

Another thing I like about this service is that there are no upfront costs to the author. They even supply you with an ISBN number if you don’t have one. I looked at the self publishing service of Lulu and their basic cost to get your book into their store was $300!

One more advantage is that once your book is online in the store, it should be there forever! It will never go out of print, so as long as your book is on a topic that won’t get dated, you will be able to earn royalties on your sales for the rest of your life.

About the only downside I have seen so far, is that you need create and submit a separate file to create a Kindle version for your book. It is something I will be trying to work out next.

I did read though, that 500 titles are being uploaded to Amazon everyday! It’s a very competitive marketplace, which is why you want to create something that targets a small but specific niche market.

Update: The book was approved last night. I had to order a copy to check it before it goes “live”. The cost was about $4 for the book and $10 for shipping.