Amazon’s Kindle bookstore is one of the fastest growing platforms for getting your work out into the world. Digitally published content is Amazon’s fastest growing segment. More and more authors are coming on to their publishing network every day. More importantly, more and more people are purchasing Kindles and making digital book purchases every day.
The Kindle bookstore can be a fantastic way to both bring in a new income stream, as well as introduce new people to your ideas and product funnel.
People often see publishing on the Kindle as much more difficult than it really is. The reality is, submitting your book to the Kindle store takes just a few hours.
Here’s how to publish your book on Amazon Kindle’s bookstore.
Step 1: Sign In
Go to:
This is Amazon’s Kindle self-publishing platform. Sign into your Amazon account. You don’t need a specialized account to begin selling on the Kindle store.
Step 2: Click Add New Title
Once you’re in your KDP account, click “Add New Title” to begin the process of adding your new Kindle book.
Step 3: KDP Select
Do you want to enroll in KDP select? KDP select allows you to share in library revenues when people borrow your book, as well as to offer your book for free on the Kindle store for 5 days. In order to enroll in KDP select, you need to offer your book only on the Amazon Kindle and no other digital book platform.
Step 4: Book Title
Enter the name of your guide. There are a few things you should be thinking about when you choose a title:
- It should be catchy. If someone hears the name, it should immediately get stuck in someone’s head.
- It should suggest a benefit. Let people know what they can get from reading your book.
- It should be unique. Don’t use a generic title that others have seen a dozen times already.
- It should catch attention. If someone’s looking at your book in the Kindle store, the title should draw their eyes and rouse their curiosity.
Good examples of this include “The Four Hour Workweek,” “Made to Stick,” “The Tipping Point” and “Good to Great.”
Step 5: Enter Your Description
Your description is your best chance to sell someone on buying your book. Your headline catches attention and your book cover helps build the vibe and brand. But people ultimately decide whether or not they want to buy your book after reading the description.
Your description should focus on the reader. Explain how your book can change their lives or benefit them in some way. It should highlight the juiciest aspects of your book.
Don’t write this all at once. Instead, sit down and write your description from a few different angles. Then pick the best one and really refine it over the course of a few days before publishing.
Step 6: Publisher Details
Enter details about the publisher. Most of this information is optional, but it does help lend some sense of credibility to your book. Note that to publish on the Kindle bookstore, you do not need an ISBN number.
Step 7: Publishing Rights
Verify with Amazon that you have the rights to publish the book you’re publishing.
Step 8: Categories and Keywords
Click “Add Categories” to add categories. Enter your keywords in the keywords section.
Your categories and your keywords are some of the most important aspects of getting found. Customers will browse books by categories as well as search for books using keywords.
If you don’t know which categories or keywords you should use, look into what some of your competitors are using. You can’t go wrong doing what your top 5 competitors are doing in terms of categories and keywords.
This is what the category selection screen looks like:
Step 9: Upload Your Book
Check whether or not you want to enable Digital Rights Management (DRM) to help protect your book from being shared and/or pirated.
Then upload your book’s contents by clicking “Browse for Book” then “Upload Book.”
Once Amazon receives your book, you’ll see the converting screen.
Click “Save and Continue” to continue with the book creation process.
Step 10: Publishing Territories
If you only hold the rights to the book in certain territories, you’ll have to restrict the sales to just those territories. Most people can leave this option on “Worldwide rights.”
Step 11: Royalty Options
Choose which royalty option you want to use to promote your book. Amazon has two different royalty plans that you can choose from. If you’re selling for between $2.99 to $9.99, the 70% option is probably your best choice. If you’re selling for $0.99 or if you’re selling a very high end book, then the 35% option is your only choice.
Step 12: Set Your Prices
Set the prices for your book in various different markets. When you’re setting these prices, try to take a look at what your competitors are charging in those markets before you make your decision.
It’s not unusual for a book that sells for $2.99 USD to sell for £2.99 GBP, even though the pound is worth $1.58 dollars. It’s just how the market works.
In other words, don’t just convert your US dollar prices into pounds or Euros. Instead, research each market individually before crafting your prices.
Step 13: Allow Lending?
Should people be able to “lend” their friends your book? If so, they’ll be able to give someone else your book for 14 days. Amazon will then automatically deactivate the book after the two weeks has passed.
Some people believe this helps increase brand and exposure, while others believe it decreases potential revenue. It’s your choice as to how you want to treat borrowing.
Step 14: Save and Publish
Once you’ve entered all the details for your book and selected all your publishing options, just click “Save and Publish” to finalize your submission!
Amazon will then take some time to review your Kindle book. If you wrote the book yourself, you’ll almost always get approved. Amazon’s primary reason for disapproving books isn’t poor quality, but copyright issues.
Congratulations! After following this submission process, your book will soon appear in the Kindle store. Watch your account carefully and soon the sales will start rolling in!
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