But if you blindly follow the technical steps to publish your book on Amazon without taking the time to do it right, you ’ ll end up with a book you won ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate be gallant of .
You deserve better than that .
Your book deserves better than that.
How Long Does it Take to Publish a Book on Amazon
Some articles promise that if you follow their steps, you can be published by the end of the day. That ’ south true, I guess. But rushing through it will normally make your book, and frankincense you, look bad .
so I wrote this guidebook to accomplish two things :
- Lay out the technical steps to publishing on KDP
- Walk you through the right way to do that so that you look as good as possible
Note: Amazon offers two types of print options. These steps are specifically for Kindle Direct Publishing ( KDP ) and not Amazon traditional publication ( Amazon Publishing ) .
Doing each step the mighty way might take a few excess hours. In some cases, it might take a few extra days. But it ’ sulfur worth it to end up with a book you ’ ll be proud of, and a book that will sell .
I won ’ thymine promise that you can be published by the end of the day. here ’ s my promise :
If you follow this guide, you’ll end up with an exceptional Amazon listing, a solid marketing plan, and a book you’ll be proud to call your own.
How to Publish a Book on Amazon KDP (Amazon Self-Publishing)
Step 1. Create an Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Account
Visit kdp.amazon.com and choose “ Sign in ” or “ Sign up. ”
If you already have an Amazon history, use it to sign into the KDP system. If not, create a newfangled KDP report .
Because it ’ s your first time bless in with KDP, you ’ ll motivation to accept the terms of use .
once you do that, you ’ ll see your Amazon Author splashboard .
Step 2. Add a new Kindle ebook (a “new title”)
Since this is your beginning record on Amazon, you won ’ t have any titles listed yet. Click the corner that says “ + Kindle eBook ” to add a new Kindle book .
As you start entering information, choose “ Save as Draft ” at the bottom of the page if you have to stop in the middle .
Step 3. Set Your Primary Language
Choose your eBook ’ s primary language ( the speech in which the record was written ). Learn more about languages supported on Kindle .
Step 4. Enter your book title and subtitle
Your book title is critically crucial :
Readers start judging your book the instant they see the cover, and the title is the first thing they read.
It has to be magnetic .
so before you choose your book title, read my article on how to do that and watch Chapter 4 of our free print course, in which I walk you through the whole summons .
Step 5. Enter the Author name
For the Author appoint, enter the name you want to publish under—the name you ’ ll use on the record cover charge .
This can be your own list or a penitentiary name .
If there is more than one generator, enter the other names using the Contributors box .
Step 6. Enter your book description
Amazon lets you enter up to 4,000 characters for your record description. This is the write-up that will appear on your koran ’ sulfur detail foliate .
Your book description is a sales pitch for readers .
It ’ s a key depart of your ledger ’ randomness marketing materials. Write it cautiously. For steering, read my bit-by-bit guide to writing a capital ledger description .
PRO TIP
Amazon’s description box accepts the old html tags for bold and italics. Use them wisely.
For even more operate over your book ’ sulfur detail page, join Author Central once your book is listed on Amazon .
Step 7. Verify your publishing rights
If you are the Author of the book, choose the radio button that says : “ I own the copyright and I hold the necessity publish rights. ”
Under US copyright police, you own the right to your work the moment you foremost write it in any shape .
Step 8. Choose your keywords
Think about these cautiously. When you fill in these boxes, what you ’ re actually saying is :
When people enter these words in an Amazon search, I want my book to come up .
They should relate directly to the reader ’ sulfur pain that your book can solve ( hint : reread your script introduction ) .
Step 9. Choose two categories for your book
Use the Categories popup box to choose two categories for your book. Use the “ + ” buttons to drill down equally far as you can .
This is another critical selling decision. It determines where readers will find your record, what other books it ’ mho competing against, and even how hard it is to get a bestselling ease up .
For help think through these issues, read my post on Amazon categories .
PRO TIP
To add more categories to your book listing, contact Amazon through Author Central after your book is published.
Step 10. Choose the right age range (if this applies)
Do not do anything with this corner unless your reserve is for teens or younger readers. If it is, choose each minimal and maximal that applies .
Step 11. Choose your book release option
Unless you already have thousands of people lined up to buy your bible, you ’ ll need a marketing plan before you ’ re cook to publish. Especially for a non-fiction ledger .
Book sales are driven by media coverage, book endorsement, overture reviews, electronic mail lists, and more. That kind of buzz is a lot easier to generate for a raw book, so this is very crucial :
Do not publish first and figure out the commercialize later .
Create your plan for a full book launch before you set a publish date .
No matter what you choose as your publish date for now, you can keep entering your koran ’ mho information by choosing “ Save and Continue. ” Just remember to come back to this and set your real number date before you publish your ledger .
PRO TIP:
There used to be a significant limit on KDP pre-order dates, but now they can be up to a year in advance.
Read more: 13 Author Websites That Get It Right
Step 12. Select DRM rights
Make certain you enable DRM .
Digital Rights Management prevents people from copying your book and sending it to other people for free .
even with DRM turned on, people can still loanword the book to friends for a short circuit time through Kindle ’ s lending system. They equitable can ’ t steal it .
PRO TIP:
Once you publish your book, you can not change the DRM setting.
Step 13. Upload your book
Despite the options provided ( like pdf or doc files ), turn your eBook into a well-formatted epub file before you upload it .
Always use the current Kindle format so your book will look good in every e-reader .
Formatting a book international relations and security network ’ metric ton easy, but doing a good occupation is critical if you want your book to look professional. And eBooks need to be formatted a bite differently for Amazon than for any other eBook retailer .
If you have an epub charge ready and you want to see how it will look as an Amazon book, upload it here. You can preview it after you load the covering file .
Step 14. Upload your book cover
People do pronounce books by their covers. Like it or not, this is 100 % on-key, and there ’ s a short ton of marketing research to back it up .
If you want your book to sell, the overlay design has to be professional .
Do not design your own book cover. even something equally elementary as the breed baptismal font can ruin your cover if you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know what you ’ rhenium doing .
If you want to be taken badly as a published Author, hire a professional cover architect ( and listen to them. )
Step 15. Preview your book
once you ’ ve uploaded your manuscript and cover, you can preview your koran using the Kindle Previewer .
Do not use the “ Launch Previewer ” clitoris. alternatively, click “ Preview on your computer ” and install the current previewer app for Mac or Windows. then download and open your book file through the “ MOBI ” link .
Do not rush through your preview. Read and test everything.
Check the cover image. Make indisputable the navigation works. Try every external link. Look at every single page .
Reading your own book over and over international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine fun, but that ’ s the price of DIY publish .
Why “ DIY print ” ? Because you can self-publish a bible and still get aid .
DIY publication is doing it wholly on your own. I don ’ thymine recommend it .
Step 16. ISBN and Publisher
You don ’ t need an ISBN or a publisher for a Kindle eBook. If you intend to publish only on Amazon, you can leave these space .
From here, choose “ Save and Continue ” if you want to keep going. Amazon won ’ metric ton publish your record until you click “ Publish Your Kindle eBook ” at the bottom of the adjacent screen .
Step 17. Skip KDP Select for now (You can add it later)
You can constantly add your koran to KDP Select, even after it ’ randomness published. But once it ’ sulfur in the plan, you have to leave it there for at least 3 months .
KDP Select enrolls your record in Kindle Unlimited and gives you extra marketing options, like Kindle countdown deals, but the digital version of your reserve has to be exclusive to Amazon .
Make this decision as contribution of your overall book market plan .
Step 18. Choose your territories
Choose “ All territories ( worldwide rights ) ” unless you have a good reason not to .
This will make your book available in all of Amazon ’ randomness global territories once you ’ re ready to publish it .
Step 19. Choose your royalty and pricing
Choose between 35 % and 70 % for your royalty. For most Authors, the 70 % royalty will pay more. That seems obvious, but it does add some pricing limitations adenine well as a slightly different royalty calculation .
Choose Amazon.com as your chief marketplace, then set the number price. The price in early marketplaces will be set according to exchange rates, but you can set each one manually if you want to .
Step 20. Add the book to matchbook and book lending
These options are up to you, but you ’ ll have to enroll in book lending if you want the 70 % royalty .
Step 21. Save to draft until you’re ready
Choose “ Save as Draft ” until you ’ re ready to choose a print date and launch your ledger .
I can ’ triiodothyronine stress adequate how significant it is to think through every aspect of your book’s marketing before you publish. That goes beyond your book ’ randomness cover, layout, pricing, and market plan .
It besides includes your generator stigmatize .
The consequence your book goes live, you ’ ll necessitate to set up your Amazon Author page with your Author photograph and bio. You ’ ll besides need to add any blurbs to your script ’ south contingent page .
Get those quick now .
last, pay attention to your intestine. No matter how impatient you ’ rhenium feel to see your book on the Kindle store, your catgut will tell you if something isn ’ triiodothyronine cook. If you ’ re feel pulled to wait and fix anything, do it .
Step 22. Self-publishing your print book (formerly CreateSpace)
CreateSpace used to be Amazon ’ s print-on-demand publish weapon, but now print books go through KDP .
You can use the lapp KDP report to add the print translation of your ledger, but that ’ s a whole different undertaking .
Your binding needs a spinal column and a back, and it needs to be in a different format. Interior format is wholly different and much hard. The price is different, depending on both the market and print costs .
Publishing eBooks on your own is hard. DIY print books are much arduous .
If you want a mark book, I powerfully recommend getting some help .
That said, there are a batch of excellent reasons to publish a print book .
- Advance reviewers prefer them
- Most serious media outlets require them
- You can hand them to potential clients
- You can put them in gift bags at speaking engagements
- They can expand your business in ways an eBook just can’t
For many Authors, they ’ re worth the investment .
If you want a print script, have it cook to go before you publish your eBook so you can include it in your market plan .
Other Frequently Asked Questions about Self-Publishing on Amazon
Can You Use a Traditional Publisher after Being on Amazon
Yes, indeed long as you retained the rights to your book. however, it can be difficult for a few reasons. If your book hasn ’ thymine produced the kinds of sales a traditional publisher wants to see ( normally because you haven ’ t marketed and promoted your bible well ), they ’ re far less likely to be matter to unless something unique convinces them it still has bang-up commercial electric potential .
Amazon Book Publishing Software
Amazon recommends Kindle Create, their absolve inner formatting creature available for desktop on both Mac and PC. Kindle Create can be used to create novels, essays, memoirs ( Reflowable ) ; textbooks, travel books, and cookbooks ( interactional Print Replica ) ; and Comics ( Comics with Guided View ) .
interactional Print Replicas maintain the look and spirit of a print edition but your readers won ’ t be able to resize text and they may not work on some devices. Be sure to review the entire organization requirements and supported features for Kindle Create .
Final Thoughts on Amazon and Self-Publishing
publish is a skill in its own right, entirely separate from writing.
It ’ mho tempting to rush your manuscript to market, but then you might angstrom well throw away all the hard sour you put into writing it .
Publishing a bible that looks unprofessional makes you look unprofessional. You ’ five hundred be better off not publishing at all .
But if you take your clock and do it justly, publishing that book can be the best thing you ever did—for yourself and for your career.
