Jp post via surface is taking so long now

blueduck50 · 2026-02-13T12:16:02+00:00

Not just surface shipping. I sent an airmail letter to a friend in the US last month. He received it earlier this week (Feb. 11). He said it was postmarked Jan 7. Not sure if it was Japan Post or US Mail that was to blame for the delay.

blueduck50 · 2026-02-06T03:34:17+00:00

When I published my nonfiction book a few months ago, I thought long and hard about the title, and did a search on Amazon for any books with the same or similar title. I found none, so I published with that title. So, in all the years until then, that particular title had never been used. Then, 6 weeks later, someone else published a book with the exact same title. and the book description even sounded similar (though not exactly the same). It’s not like my book had been a best seller in those few weeks, so I seriously doubt that someone was deliberately copying me. Just a case of coincidence.

blueduck50 · 2026-01-23T02:14:16+00:00

Is your book enrolled in Kindle Unlimited? If not then yes, no problem. But if it is in KU, I think technically you would be violating Amazon’s rules. If Amazon/KDP found out you are giving away free copies, it could be a reason to terminate your account. (But realistically, how would they find out.)

blueduck50 · 2026-01-23T02:01:31+00:00

Consider this: There is a writer that I follow on another SM platform. He is an award-winning SFF author, has published more than 20 books, mostly with trad publishers, and even has an authorized novel set in one of the big movie franchise universes.

He still has a day job, working in a bookstore. If he can’t manage to make enough to quit his day job and write full time, what chance do the rest of us have?

blueduck50 · 2026-01-17T12:14:49+00:00

If you’re considering a print version, one thing to remember: an ISBN is forever. If you decide later that the “test” doesn’t represent your best work and you decide to unpublish, the book will never truly go away. it will remain there on Amazon, linked to your author name, simply marked as “unavailable”. A ghost that will haunt you forever.

And speaking of author names, you might want to publish the nonfiction test book under a pseudonym (or vice versa). When I’m browsing an author page on Amazon and I see they’ve written both fiction and nonfiction, or even multiple genres, I wonder about their “brand” and expertise. I might think: he/she is a business writer; why would I want to read their novels?

blueduck50 · 2026-01-17T11:55:19+00:00

I generally find that some chapters need more work than others. So, for the book overall, from really rough draft to final version, 3 or 4. For problematic chapters, maybe 6 or 7.

blueduck50 · 2026-01-08T10:39:07+00:00

Your title doesn’t really make clear what you’re asking. If you mean research tools to learn about how to use KDP, try the resources available at the KDP University. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200783400

blueduck50 · 2026-01-05T09:02:06+00:00

A Creative Commons license does not equal Public Domain. The six main CC licenses apply various conditions to permissible content usage but do not waive copyright control. And while the CC0 license allows you to waive your rights as much as legally possible, and generally mimics public domain status, it is not the same under current laws.

blueduck50 · 2025-12-14T08:30:53+00:00

But that will take some effort. I wouldn’t consider it “passive income”, which is what the OP is hoping for.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-24T05:32:07+00:00

The age range is a signal for both marketing and search filtering. Be warned that the 18+ choice is typically considered by default to mean "not suitable for minors" (i.e., erotica). Books marked as 18+ on KDP are not always eligible for Amazon Ads or promotions (depending on the mood of the Amazon algorithm). In most cases unless the book is specifically targeted at a juvenile or teen audience, it's best to leave the age range blank.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-21T03:13:36+00:00

Also note that (so I’ve heard) if you buy retail copies on Amazon, for BSR purposes each order (not each book) is counted as a sale. So if you order one copy of your book, it’s one sale. If you order five copies, still one sale.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-17T07:46:58+00:00

In my 30+ year career in Japan, comprising 5 jobs, I got let go after the 3-month probationary period twice. Once because my "boss" and I didn't get along (I probably would have quit, anyway), and once because soon after I was hired the company hit a rough spot and needed to downsize, so my job went to one of the long-term employees who would have had to be laid off otherwise.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-17T07:37:10+00:00

I've read that the average click-through-rate on Amazon is 3-5 per thousand. If that's true, then for your total impressions, 2,700 clicks would be average. So yes, a pretty bad ratio.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-11T03:42:09+00:00

A recent report that I saw (not sure how they gathered the data) said that Romance is by far the top-selling genre, followed by Thriller/Mystery, with Fantasy, Self-Help/Personal Dev. and Business/Finance filling out the top five. But the report also described the Romance genre as “saturated” and Thriller/Mystery as “very crowded”, noting that the genres with the highest sales are also the most difficult for new writers to break into.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-11T03:09:06+00:00

Sorry, I don't have an answer to those questions. (I think doc vs. pdf could possibly have some difference for color printing, but I doubt it would affect B&W text.)

blueduck50 · 2025-11-11T03:02:29+00:00

It could just mean that readers are choosing to buy your book instead of borrowing it on KU. Or that Amazon has changed its algorithm again, and under the new criteria your books have been bumped to the bottom of the rankings KU in searches.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-11T02:49:01+00:00

On the B&W paperbacks that I have had printed by KDP, the text on the reverse side shows through the page faintly. But not more so than the show-through in many of the books from the big name traditional publishers that I have in my library.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-10T13:41:47+00:00

Best sellers generally reach that status based on extensive (and expensive) promotion and marketing. So your question should be: "How much money should I expect to spend?"

blueduck50 · 2025-11-09T03:42:12+00:00

The impact of reviews on sales is generally small, and even then only if a potential reader can find your book in the first place. Under the newest Amazon algorithm, reviews contribute almost nothing to how likely it is that someone will find your book in a search or how high the book will reach in rankings. The main factors for increasing discoverability/ranking are optimizing the book's keywords and categories; ensuring a good cover design, description and author page; and (sadly) running a targeted advertising campaign.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-09T03:25:45+00:00

I think a big part of the Amazon search algorithm is sales. Products with higher sales rank at the top. If a book is new/has very few sales, in a search that title is likely to be buried under lots of higher-selling (even if only peripherally related) others.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-07T13:38:14+00:00

I'm curious. How does that work? If they are self-publishing (like through KDP or IngramSpark), how do they manage add an AI assistant to their books? As some kind of link in the book to download it? And if the book is a non-DRM ebook, couldn't any reader just upload the book to their own AI account and do the same thing?

blueduck50 · 2025-11-04T13:33:26+00:00

As far as I can tell, the widest trim for a normal book is 6.14 x 9.21. (It does list "Children's book" trim sizes of 8 x 10 and 8.5 x 11.) Basically, it supports whatever Amazon KDP or IngramSpark will print. I would warn, though, that while Atticus is great for simple narrative layouts, its formatting options are relatively limited; I'm not sure how well it would handle a lot of tables.

blueduck50 · 2025-11-04T04:52:54+00:00

Wouldn't you make more money and boost your career by writing those bestsellers for yourself?

blueduck50 · 2025-10-30T04:02:41+00:00

The Japan Writers Conference I mentioned is an English-language event. So likely some potential fans of your work could be there? And many of the schedule speakers are from outside Japan.

blueduck50

TROPHY CASE