USING KDP FOR EBOOKS

THIS BLOG POST IS FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO USE KDP.  THE IMAGES I WILL EXPLAIN WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. IT IS PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD AND HOPE IT WILL ASSIST THOSE WITH LOW TECH SKILLS.

THESE IMAGES BELONG TO KDP WEBSITE AND ARE USED TO ASSIST YOU IMPROVE YOUR SKILLS.

THE FIRST THING YOU NEED IS AN AMAZON ACCOUNT. A LOT OF US BUY THINGS OFF AMAZON. IF YOU DO IT MEANS YOU CAN GOOGLE KDP PUBLISHING AND SIGN IN WITH THE SAME USER NAME AND PASSWORD. IN THE IMAGE BELOW IS SHOWS YOU SOME TABS IN BLUE WHICH YOU CAN CLICK ON. YOU WILL NEED KINDLE EBOOK.

WHEN YOU CLICK THE KINDLE EBOOK TAB AND SCROLL DOWN A LITTLE YOU WILL SEE WHERE YOU CAN START A KINDLE EBOOK. THERE ARE THREE PAGES TO FILL IN.

IT WILL TAKE YOU TO A NEW PAGE (SHOWN ABOVE) WHERE YOU CAN START FILLING IN THE DETAILS OF YOUR BOOK. THE FIRST FOUR ARE: LANGUAGE, BOOK TITLE, SUBTITLE. PLEASE NOTE WHAT LANGUAGES KDP/AMAZON SUPPORT.

KEEP SCROLLING DOWN AND FILLING IN THE INFORMATION: SERIES (IF YOU HAVE ONE) EDITION NUMBER AND YOUR AUTHOR NAME.

ADD CONTRIBUTORS YOU WISH TO ADD.

IF YOU ARE PART OF A MULTI AUTHORED BOOK THEN YOU CAN ADD UP TO TEN AUTHOR NAMES, THE REST WILL NEED ADDING VIA REQUEST ON AUTHOR CENTRAL.

NEXT PART OF THE ABOVE IMAGE IS TO HELP YOU MARKET YOU BOOK TO YOUR FUTURE READERS. FIRST IS THE DESCRIPTION, WHICH IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT TELLS YOUR READERS A BIT ABOUT YOUR STORY. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN ENTINCE THEM IN. YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE IT’S INFORMATIVE, EDITED AND NO ERRORS, USE SOME OF YOUR KEYWORDS. IT’S ALSO A GOOD IDEA TO LET READERS KNOW IF THERE ARE ANY TRIGGERS AND WHAT ENGLISH (IF THIS IS YOUR LANGUAGE OF CHOICE) IT’S WRITTEN IN. REMEMBER THERE IS DIFFERENT SPELLINGS AND WORD USAGE IN THE VARIOUS ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES.

MAKE SURE YOU OWN THE COPYRIGHT FOR YOUR BOOK. KDP SOMETIMES ASK FOR PROOF.

KEYWORDS!

ANOTHER IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR MARKETING. YOU NEED TO FIND WORDS THAT REPRESENT YOUR BOOK. THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN CHECK WHAT WORDS OTHER AUTHORS IN YOUR GENRE... THIS RESEARCH IS ESSENTIAL IF YOU WANT READERS TO FIND YOUR WORK. CHOOSE CAREFULLY. ASK OTHER AUTHORS IN THE GROUPS YOU BELONG TO, IF YOU ARE UNSURE. ALSO THERE IS AN APP CALLED PUBLISHER ROCKET WHICH YOU CAN BUY WHICH IS GREAT FOR FINDING KEYWORDS. THE LAST PART OF THE IMAGE SHOWS HOW TO PICK YOUR CATEGORIES.

THIS IMAGE ASKS YOU TO TELL THEM THE AGE BRACKET FOR READERS AND ALSO IF YOU WISH TO RELEASE YOUR BOOK STRAIGHT AWAY OR HAVE IT ON PRE-ORDER. AFTER YOU HAVE CHOSEN YOU CAN HIT SAVE AND CONTINUE AND IT WILL TAKE UP TO PAGE TWO.

THE ABOVE IMAGE IS WHERE YOU CHOOSE DRM (IT IS MEANT TO PROTECT YOUR BOOK THOUGH CAN BE EASILY BROKEN) AND UPLOAD YOUR EBOOK MANUSCRIPT. AS YOU CAN SEE, ONCE MY MANUSCRIPT IS LOADED, AMAZON WILL TELL YOU IS THERE IS ANYTHING MISSING OR ANY SPELLING TO CHECK. ON THIS ONE I HAVEN’T PUT IN THE LINKED CONTENTS PAGE WHICH IS SOMETHING ALL EBOOKS NEED. I WILL ALSO CHECK THE SPELLING, HOWEVER THESE TEND TO BE FOREGIN WORDS OR DIALECT ISSUES. AFTER YOU’VE AMENDED THE MANUSCRIPT, RE-UPLOAD IT AND THEY WILL PROCESS THE FILE WITHOUT FURTHER ISSUE, WELL UNLESS KDP ARE HAVING A BUGGY DAY OR YOUR MANUSCRIPT IS STILL INCORRECT.

IN THE IMAGE ABOVE IS SHOWS THE AREA FOR UPLOADING THE EBOOK. YOU ONLY NEED THE FRONT COVER TO UPLOAD. IT NEEDS TO BE A JPEG OR TIFF AND FIT THE CRITERIA SIZING KDP REQUESTS. I ALWAYS USE A JPEG FILE. IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING A PAPERBACK OR HARDBACK BOOK THEN YOU WILL NEED A COVER TEMPLATE TO GET THE CORRECT SIZING, WE CALL THE FINISHED COVER A WRAP COVER AND THEY ARE USUALLY UPLOADED AS A PDF. 

AFTER YOU HAVE UPLOADED THE BOOK COVER YOU CAN CLICK ON SAVE AND CHECK YOUR EBOOK OUT ON THE KINDLE PREVIEWER. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD FROM THE LINK SHOWN IN THE IMAGE. IT IS ALWAYS WISE TO ALSO DOWNLOAD A COPY OF THE HTML FOR ARC READERS.

YOU CAN ALSO PUT IN AN ISBN NUMBER (IF YOU OWN ONE) OR LEAVE IT WITH AN ASIN NUMBER PROVIDED BY KDP. YOU MAY ALSO ADD A PUBLISHER, BE THIS YOUR OWN BUSINESS OR ONE YOU’VE USED TO ASSIST YOU.  SAVE AND CONTINUE TO PAGE THREE

THE LAST FEW IMAGES WILL BE ABOUT PRICING AND HOW THE ROYALTY WORKS AND HOW YOU GET PAID FOR ANY SALES YOU MAKE.

THE FIRST IMAGE SHOWN BELOW IS ABOUT KDP SELECT, THE DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS YOU HOLD AND WHICH AMAZON STORE YOU’LL SELL MOST OF YOUR BOOKS FROM. READ THE INFORMATION ON THE LINKS IF NEED BE OR ASK IN A GROUP. MOST GO FOR ALL TERRITORIES AND AMAZON.COM, THOUGH IF YOU LIVE IN ONE OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES LIKE UK, EUROPE, THEN YOU CAN PICK THEM AS YOUR STORE OF CHOICE.

NEXT…

AS SHOWN BELOW IS YOUR CHOICE OF ROYALTY. YOU CAN DO 35% OR 70% THOUGH THERE ARE CRITERIA TO ADHEAR TO DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU PICK. IF YOU PICK 70% YOUR BOOK HAS TO BE PRICED AT $2.99 OR ABOVE. ONCE YOU PUT YOUR PRICE IN IT WILL SHOW YOU YOUR ROYALTY FOR EACH SALE AS WELL AS LISTING ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES.

ONE THING I HAVE LEARNT IS THAT IF YOU DON’T LIVE IN ONE OF THE COUNTRIES WHERE THERE IS AN AMAZON STORE, THEN YOU WON’T GET PAID MONTHLY. INSTEAD YOU GET PAID WHEN YOU REACH 100 IN THE CURRENCY OF THAT COUNTRY. THE REASON I KNOW IS DUE TO LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND AND HAVING TO WAIT FOR PAYMENTS.

I HAVE ADDED IN THE WHOLE LIST OF COUNTRIES SO YOU CAN SEE WHICH ONES ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU.

THE LAST PHOTO IS ABOUT BOOK LENDING WHICH IS LOCKED SO WHY THEY ASK I HAVE NO REAL IDEA. JUST BELOW THAT IS THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS YOU ARE AGREEING TO. IT ALSO STATES HERE THAT IT CAN TAKE UP TO 72 HOURS TO MAKE YOUR BOOK AVAILABLE ON AMAZON. PLEASE REMEMBER IT TAKES A WHILE TO GET THROUGH THEIR SYSTEM AND INTO THE OTHER STORES AROUND THE WORLD. 

IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH HOW EVERYTHING LOOKS YOU CAN NOW HIT PUBLISH. IT WILL EITHER GO TO PRE-ORDER (IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CHOOSE) OR IT WILL SUBMIT THE MANUSCRIPT TO GO LIVE ONCE KDP ARE HAPPY YOU’VE FOLLOWED THEIR PROCEDURES CORRECTLY.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO LEARN, UPLOADING IS ONLY ONE OF MANY AREAS. IF YOU ARE UPLOADING FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A NEW ACCOUNT, YOU’LL NEED TO FILL IN THE BANKING INFORMATION AND THE TAX INFORMATION.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, YOU WILL FIND THAT KDP HAS FILLED IN THE AREAS FOR PAPERBACK AND HARDBACK IF YOU GO BACK AND WISH TO PUBLISH THOSE TYPES OF BOOKS AS WELL.

I WISH YOU ALL GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR WORK AND PUBLISHING.