kdp.amazon.com self-publishing dashboard

You’ve just finished writing your debut book and are eager to share it with the world. What’s next? Aspiring authors can now publish their works independently on platforms like Amazon with greater ease than ever before. When your manuscript is complete, you may browse Amazon’s publishing options to pick the format that best suits your needs, enter important information, establish a price, and take additional actions that will immediately bring your book into circulation and help you launch your writing career.

1.How to Write and Format Your Book

Finish the book. You should make sure that your writing has received the best possible polish before submitting it for quick publication on Amazon. Examine your final manuscript for grammatical and syntactical mistakes as well as needless or confusing paragraphs. Trim as much as you can to make your composition as tight as possible.

To produce quality material, rigorous editing is essential. Your book will be more well-liked if it is simple to read.

Because Amazon has strong guidelines for content quality, if your book is full of errors, it might not be accepted.

Before submitting your book, think about having someone else, such as a dependable friend or maybe a professional editor, proofread it.

• Register for Kindle Direct Publishing

Select the option to register for a new account when you arrive at the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) website. Your name (or the name of your independent publishing company), address, zip code, email, and phone number can all be entered there. Throughout the publication process, Amazon will contact you using the information you supply to send you critical notifications. 

When you begin to generate sales, KDP will also gather some basic tax data, like as your social security number and Individual Taxpayer Identification, in order to handle tax and royalty payments.

If you already have an Amazon account, you can establish a separate KDP profile using your login credentials.

• Select the publication format that you like

You can choose to have your book produced as a conventional paperback or in e-reader format with KDP. Think about the best option for presenting your work. A young adult thriller, for example, might be more appealing to paperback collectors, whereas a self-help book will be more approachable to readers using mobile devices.

Depending on the format you choose, you will receive a different amount of royalties. For each digital copy sold, authors are eligible to get 70% of the unit price, and for physical copies, up to 80%.

To cover the costs of producing paperback books, Amazon will retain a tiny portion of each sale.

2.Format your book correctly

Your book will need to be converted if it was created using a typical word processor like Microsoft Word in order to look well as a paperback or on an e-reader. Fortunately, Amazon has made this simple by offering a few helpful instructions to assist you in efficiently preparing your work. To make your book look professional, follow the instructions provided in the tutorials on the KDP website. If you’re publishing a paperback, you also have the choice to choose a variety of ready-made templates.

When it comes time to upload your composition, using a format like PDF or MOBI will keep the layout of your original work, along with any graphics or additional text elements you’ve added.

• Making an Online Book Listing

Enter your KDP account and go to your Bookshelf. You can upload your work, make and amend listings, and view your user statistics through this hub. Depending on which format you’ve chosen, once you’ve reached your Bookshelf, locate and choose either the “+ Kindle eBook” or “+ Paperback” option.

• Describe your novel in depth

 You’ll then be guided through a number of forms where you’ll be asked to provide important details about you and your job. This will contain information like your name, the book’s title, a brief summary, and the recommended age range, among other things.

You’ll be able to select a few distinguishing terms and groups at this point to aid in marketing to your target market.

To have your entry appear in targeted search results, you may, for example, label your book as a children’s fantasy or add keywords like “cooking,” “blogging,” or “travel.”

Spend some time filling out each field; the more thorough your listing is, the greater the possibility that someone will notice your book.

Select or produce the book’s cover image. You can upload an image you already have if you want to use it as the cover (just make sure it’s the suitable size and copyright-free). Otherwise, you can put one together yourself using the site’s built-in design option. Your book’s cover should be able to grab the reader’s attention right away and provide a visual synopsis of the content or main ideas of the book.

The height/width ratio of cover art pictures uploaded to Amazon should be 1.6:1. This implies that the image should have a height of 1,600 pixels for every 1,000 pixels in width.

Consider hiring a professional to create a unique book cover for you. Professional-looking cover art will increase the appeal of your book to potential readers.

• Put your book online

Once you’ve found the file on your computer, click “Browse” to start the upload process. This could take a while, especially if your submission is lengthy. Once your book has been submitted, you can still make changes to your listing because it won’t go into publication until you give the go-ahead. 

Most popular digital file formats, including DOC, PDF, HTML, and MOBI, are supported by KDP.

3.Making Your Book Available for Publication

• Check out the page layout and cover design

To see a preview of your finished book, use the preview feature. Observe any obvious mistakes or formatting errors once more. This will be one of your final opportunities to make any significant modifications before submitting the book for publication. 

Remember that different screens will show eBooks in a different way. To obtain an idea of how your book will appear across platforms, it would be worthwhile to preview it on a few different gadgets.

If you’re publishing an eBook, don’t forget to convert your file to Kindle format before continuing.

• Decide on a cost for your book

Set a price that you believe is reasonable. Consider both the book’s format and the marketability of its subject matter. A hardcover textbook on theoretical physics, for instance, should be priced higher than a kid-friendly, brief eBook. When choosing a pricing for your listing, it may be beneficial to consider other books with comparable themes as a guide.

There are two main royalty options available to you: 70% and 35%. A 70% rate will often result in more profits per sale. However, if you just claim the 35% rate, there is no delivery fee for physical copies, and if you live in a smaller market or keep your price below $2.99 to boost sales, this might be your only choice. 

Even for eBooks, Amazon deducts a small percentage from each sale as a “distribution charge” for online publication of your work.

• Release your book

Click “Publish Your Kindle eBook” or “Publish Your Paperback Book” once you are happy with your listing. The KDP or CreateSpace content staff will receive your submitted files and prepare them for publishing. When your book is successfully submitted and published on the website, you will be notified. 

Your book won’t be available for purchase through Amazon for up to 72 hours.

Even after the official publication of your book, you can still edit your listings.

Through your KDP account, you can check your sales, feedback, and other statistics. 

Periodically check your user portal to see how your title is doing. Authors who utilize Amazon’s services to publish their works receive daily reports. This makes you a more active participant in the commercial side of things as you can see in real time how frequently your book is being purchased and lent.

Make a page for yourself as an Amazon author so that readers can learn more about you and the books you have available.

In general, royalty statements are given out every 60 days. This implies that you will have a constant stream of income seeping in if your book is a success.