Amazon Self-Publishing: Using Kindle Direct Publishing from Start to Finish

Amazon self-publishing is the best option to self-publish and we’ve made it even easier for you with this guide for doing it with Kindle Direct Publishing.

Publishing a book is so much easier now than it ever used to be, especially with Amazon self-publishing.

You no longer need to go through painstaking efforts to land a book deal which locks you into unrealistic deadlines and cuts you out of most of the earnings.

You can now have complete control of your book – and its revenues – by Amazon self-publishing.

But many writers get overwhelmed by the abundance of information about self-publishing. It can be intimidating for first-time publishers. We get it – we were just like you!

So to ease some anxiety and uncertainty, we created this step-by-step comprehensive self-publishing guide for you to follow in order to get your book published on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Network.

This guide will cover:

1. Creating a Kindle Direct Publishing Account
2. Crafting Your Book Title & Subtitle
3. Writing Your Book Description
4. Choosing the Right Keywords
5. Selecting the Right Categories
6. Uploading Your Manuscript
7. Creating a Book Cover
8. Pricing Your Book

Let’s get started!

Amazon Self-Publishing & Why it’s the Best Option

Traditional publishing is on the way out. This has been the reality for some time now and for good reason. While traditional publishing had its time and was once the only option for publishing a book, the system in place right now is one made for the next Stephen Kings – not for those who have value to share with the world.

Though traditional publishing is still a viable option for some, Amazon self-publishing is the best option and here’s why:

• Over 70% of books are sold on Amazon
• 310 million book buyers through Amazon last year
• Those buyers accounted for over $178 billion in sales
• It’s easier and faster with Amazon self-publishing

There are major differences between traditional vs self-publishing with the majority of authors opting to take their talents to Amazon instead of through one of the Big 5 publishing houses.

And you should too.

What is Kindle Direct Publishing?

Throughout this guide, you’ll read the term Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP. It might sound self-explanatory but we’ll cover some basics.

This is an Amazon self-publishing platform that allows you to create and manage your Kindle eBook, paperback, and even audiobooks in a single place. It’s widely used to build books from the ground up.

And fortunately, setting up your KDP account is easy, and should be the first step you complete.

Amazon Self-Publishing Done Right

Sure, anyone can upload a book and self-publish it through Amazon, but that doesn’t mean it will do well and actually sell. You have to know the specifics, from setting up your KDP account to the pricing of your book.

If done correctly, you can expect a successful launch and a substantial amount of passive income. Here are out steps for Amazon self-publishing.

#1 – Creating a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Account

First, let’s get you set up with your Kindle Direct Publishing account.

1. Go to https://kdp.amazon.com and register with either your Amazon account or with your email address.
2. Next, click “Update” in your account information and fill in your tax information. It’s important to note that you need to complete your tax information BEFORE you can publish your first book. So don’t skip this step!
3. Once your tax information is complete, click “Finished” and return to the main page.
4. Your profile is complete!

With your KDP account setup, proceed to setting up the details of your book.

#2 – Crafting a Book Title and Subtitle

In your Kindle Direct Publishing profile, you need to fill in the title and subtitle of your book. While a subtitle is optional, having a good subtitle is something you should definitely consider to bring in more views and create stronger intrigue.

Here are a couple tips to crafting a great book title:

• Use a Book Hook: Your book hook should speak to the reader in a unique voice that grabs their attention and feeds into what they are looking for.
• List the Benefits: Your potential readers want to know what they will get from reading your book. One technique is to deliver the benefits in the subtitle, providing enough tantalizing information to further attract readers.

Think about what you would be attracted to in a book title. Keep it simple, clear, and unique. Research the title you want to use and make sure it hasn’t been scooped up by a high-performing book already.

You don’t want to make competition for yourself.

#3 – Writing Your Book Description

You need a powerful book description in order for potential buyers to read what it’s about. Even though the cover and subtitle should do a great job of this, we all want more information when it comes to putting money toward something.

Here’s what people notice first when seeing a new book:

1. Title
2. Cover
3. Book Description

A book description is essentially a short written narrative that illustrates what your book is about. It should be written like a sales page to capture the interest of your reader.

This is crucial because the description, in many cases, is the final factor that determines whether the reader will read your book or not.

When done correctly, a well-written book description can practically sell a book on its own.

Here are some strategies to help craft your perfect description:

• Make your first sentence as enticing as possible
• Write your description like a sales page or advertisement, not a dry summary of your book
• Have the description feel personal and empathetic
• Detail the benefits your reader will gain by reading your book

Here’s a great example of a full book description on Amazon:

You can find more amazing description examples with these books:

• Champion Mindset: Tactics to Maximize Potential, Execute Effectively, & Perform at Your Peak – Knockout Mediocrity! By Patrick King
• Novice to Expert: 6 Steps to Learn Anything, Increase Your Knowledge, and Master New Skills by S.J. Scott

Spend some time crafting your eye-catching book description. It will make your book stand out to your readers and motivate them to purchase your book. For the best results, we recommend using the Free Amazon Book Description generator at kindlepreneur.com

#4 – Choosing the Right Keywords

If you want your book to show up in Amazon and Google search engines, you’ll need the right mix of keywords. Since Amazon allows only seven keywords per book, keyword selection requires strategy.

But what are keywords exactly?

For those of you new to this term or just aren’t sure what it means, keywords are specific words or phrases used to describe your book. If someone was looking for a book on your topic, they might type one of those keywords into Amazon or Google in order to find it.

For example, if your book is about perseverance, you might find keywords like this useful:

• how to have perseverance
• what is perseverance
• perseverance examples
• persevering
• persevering when it’s hard

These are all phrases or words people looking to better themselves with perseverance would type into search engines in order to find what they’re looking for.

You can research the right keyword phrases by using search tools such as:

• KDP Rocket: This is a great tool for comparing Google search results to Amazon. It gives you a competitive score from 1-99, keyword results from both Google and Amazon, and how much money other books are making.

• KW Finder: This tool gives an analytical view of the keyword popularity using a competitive ranking. You can search for five keywords for free per day.

• Amazon’s Autofill Function: Take advantage of Amazon’s search box to find good keywords. Amazon’s suggestions are based on search history so you want to search for words that are high in demand with little competition.

Make a list of possible keywords for your book, then leverage the tools above to test your keywords. Putting in the time to get keywords right will have your book rank higher and appear more frequently to readers.

#5 – Selecting the Right Categories

Amazon provides a collection of categories and subcategories to choose from. Like keyword selecting, your goal is to look for trending areas that don’t have tons of competition.

These categories are what you will rank as a bestseller in, which is why you want to make sure you pick fitting categories that are specific, but also no super competitive. You want to stand out.

You can also check the rankings of the top three books on the first page of each category.

Amazon sales ranking measures how well a product is selling compared to its competitors. All books that are ranked 2,000 or less are considered to be highly purchased products in that particular category.

Unless you have an established audience with significant downloads and reviews, try to aim for categories with books that rank between 10,000-30,000.

Do you want to know how to rank for ten categories? Check out our blog post that details how to get approved for more categories on Amazon.

#6 – Uploading Your Manuscript

To upload your manuscript, it first must be saved in a supported kindle format. Once that’s complete, you can upload your book very quickly by following these steps:

1. In your Kindle Direct Publishing account, go to “Your Bookshelf”.
2. Locate and click on “Kindle eBook Actions” next to the title of your book.
3. Locate and click on “Edit eBook Content”.
4. Click on “Upload eBook manuscript”.
5. Upload your manuscript file on your computer.
6. Upload complete!

Once Amazon finishes uploading your file, a confirmation message will be sent and you can preview the uploaded file to check for any errors.

You can upload the manuscript as many times as you want and the new version will override the existing.

It’s important to check how your book looks using the “Look Inside” feature once the book is live on Amazon. This feature is often the first thing your prospective readers will click on when checking out your book.

If the formatting is off here, it can deter readers from picking up your book. Take this extra step to make sure your formatting looks good here too.

#7 – Creating Your Book Cover

When it comes to publishing a successful book on Amazon, having a perfect book cover is one of the most important aspects to get right. Contrary to what we were told growing up, people do, in fact, judge a book by its cover. It’s actually one of the biggest deterrents.

Your cover is exactly how your book will be judged at first glance.

So you must make sure that it is created professionally and that it will stand apart from the rest of the books in your genre or category.

You can find cover creators on freelancing sites such as:

• 99 Designs
• Happy Self Publishing
• 100 Covers

Prices will depend on the level of service, but these sites will give you plenty of amazing graphic designers to choose from! It’s a great investment that will make your book stand out perfectly.

Make sure to do your research regarding what type of book cover does best in your genre. Fantasy books, for example, will be a lot different than a memoir or even a historical fiction.

#8 – Pricing Your Book

A question often asked is: “How much should I be pricing my book at after the initial launch is over?”

This is up to the author, but generally, the best range to have your book priced is between $2.99 to $9.99.

The royalty payments vary depending on the country, but you can learn more on KDP Select pricing page.

One popular strategy for beginners is to price your book at $2.99 and gradually increase it by $1 per week. At some point, your sales will begin to dip. And while that’s normally a negative statistic, for this case, it confidently tells you the perfect price of your book that guarantees a profit.

Here are the 4 main pricing strategies to consider in order to be competitive and sell books:

• Know the price of your competitors. Compare the list price of your book to the books around you and determine if you would be able to sell your book for a higher price.
• Know the size of your followers. Famous authors can charge a lot for their books because they have a big following. If you’re not in this category, your book should be priced lower to encourage new readers to buy your work.
• Determine price based on the size of your book. Size does matter when it comes to books. Don’t charge $20 for a 75 page book. Customers will immediately be turned off with the lack of content at that price point.
• Measure price based on reviews. Reviews carry a big weight on influence, and is social proof that your book has been read and well received. Therefore, a book with higher reviews (1000+ reviews) can be priced higher compared to a book with fewer reviews (30+ reviews).

You can get legitimate and honest reviews from:

• Your personal launch team
• Amazon’s top reviewers
• Fans of your social media page
• Personal email list

Experiment with these strategies to pinpoint the price for your book, it will drive long-term success.

Your Next Steps for Amazon Self-Publishing

If you want to become a self-published author, you must be fluent with platforms such as Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and more. For that reason, you must take action now because you can never have too much knowledge when it comes to self-publishing your book.

#1 – Create your Kindle Direct Publishing Account!

Go ahead right now and get started. You can never start too early. Having your account set up and ready to go will make all the difference when you’re ready to publish!

Make sure to follow the above steps closely so your account is set up the way it’s supposed to be.

#2 – Get that book written

If you already have your book written, edited, and ready to go, that’s amazing! You’re already almost a published author. But if you’re still working on it, put the pedal to the metal and start writing!

We know writing can be really time-consuming but if you put your mind to it, you can utilize your weekends to write faster and get more done. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can publish!

#3 – Utilize your FREE training!

That’s right. We have some free training all ready to go for you. Chandler Bolt put together this video training guide that will help you learn what it takes to go from blank page to self-published author in as little as 90 days!

Take advantage of this offer and join your FREE webinar training to get started toward your dream of becoming a self-published author. After all, you can’t get there unless you start.

What about self-publishing is still confusing to you? Let us know so we can help you more!