Amazon KDP: A Complete Guide to Kindle Direct Publishing

 

Amazon KDP makes the self-publishing easier than ever. You can self publish your book or manuscript from every part of the world with much ease now.

Here are the steps to be followed in Amazon KDP.

1.      Create an Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Account

First, have an account set up with Amazon KDP before starting publishing.

Steps to set up your KDP account:

•     Go to https://kdp.amazon.com and register with either your Amazon account or email address.

•     Next, click “Update” in your account information to fill in the tax information. It is mandatory to complete the tax information before publishing your first book.

•     Click “Finished” when tax information is complete to return to the main page.

•     Now your profile is complete.

2.      Write down Book Title & Subtitle

In your Amazon KDP profile, it is needed to fill in the title and subtitle of your book. As the subtitle is optional, but having a good subtitle can bring in more views, create more substantial interests and help people to find your book while searching.

It is advised to use a book hook in the title to grab reader attention and provide what they are looking for, while in subtitle articulate about benefits that potential readers will get from reading your book.

3.      Write Powerful Book Description for Amazon

You need to write a compelling book description so that potential buyers get an idea of what this book is about. As the cover and subtitle also provide the info about the book, but everyone wants more information when it comes to putting money toward something.

Craft your book description as an eye-catching short written narrative that illustrates what your book is about to make your book stand out and motivate the readers to purchase your book.

In most of the cases, the book description is crucial that determines whether the reader will read your book or not.

4.      Choose the Right Amazon Keywords

A right mix of keywords is needed if you want your book show up in Amazon and Google search engines. Usually, Amazon allows only seven keywords per book, by using the appropriate strategy, you can narrow down your keyword selection.

You can research the right keywords by using tools such as KDP Rocket, KW Finder and Amazon's Auto fill Function.

Invest your time to select the right keywords as it will help to rank your book higher and appear more frequently to readers.

5.      Select the Appropriate Amazon Categories

Amazon offers a collection of categories and subcategories to let you choose from. Like keyword selection, spend your time to select the trending areas which are much specific and don’t have much competition so that you can stand out.

Here are few tips to follow to get well ranked in categories

•     Research the competitors' keywords

•     Choose trending & specific categories having less competition.

•     Acquire the needed information regarding the categories and keyword from Amazon

6.      Upload your Book Manuscript to Amazon

To upload your manuscript, you must first save it in a supported kindle format.

Here are steps to upload your book manuscript to Amazon.

•     In your Amazon KDP account, click on “Your Bookshelf”.

•     Locate and click on “Kindle eBook Actions” next to the title of your book.

•     Locate and click on “Edit eBook Content”.

•     Click on “Upload eBook manuscript”.

•     Upload your manuscript file on your computer.

•     Upload complete!

Once your file upload finishes, you will get a confirmation message, and later on, 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 upload will override the existing version.

7.      Create a Catchy Book Cover

Your book cover decides how the book will be judged at first glance!

Creating a perfect book cover design is one of the most essential aspects of publishing a successful book on Amazon.

Invest your time to create a professional book cover to stand out in your genre or category.

8.      Pricing your Book

How much should I price the book at after the initial launch?

As this question often arises in your mind. This is up to the author how much he/she decide, but the best strategy is to keep the book price in the range of $2.99 to $9.99.

You must be aware of what your competitors are charging. Compare your book price with all the others around you to determine the right price for your book.