How To Get Started With Kindle Direct Publishing On Amazon (Beginner's Guide)
Do you want to sell books on Amazon KDP?
But you're not so sure where to start?
If so, then this article is for you.
In this post, l will walk you through step by step – how you can get started with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
I will also share with you some tips and strategies that you can implement to achieve great results with KDP.
So read till the end if you're interested in learning more about this topic.
Steps Involved
Without further ado, let's get started.
1. Sign Up For Kindle Direct Publishing
The first step is to sign up for Amazon KDP – in order to register for the platform.
The signup process is 100% free – thus, you don't need to worry about any cost.
All you need to do is to provide your details – and Amazon will process your application in just a matter of few days.
Although it's free to join the platform, Amazon will take a small cut of your sales i.e. based on certain percentages.
Thus, you must take that into account when deciding the selling price of your book.
2. Choose A Niche/Category
Assuming that you've signed up for KDP, it's now high time to choose your niche.
Amazon allows you to sell books in various categories e.g. self help, health & fitness, parenting & relationships, business, etc.
Thus, you must decide from the on-set – what your book will be centred around.
You can also do some research to find which niches are less competitive – but highly profitable.
This helps you to produce a book that has a decent market – rather than producing a book that doesn't have any audience.
3. Decide On The Title
Once you’ve decided on your niche, it's now high time to come-up with a title for your book.
A title will guide you through out the writing process – since it sets the foundation of what you'll include inside the book.
Also, a title helps you to come-up with sub-headings – which helps to break down the main idea of the book into smaller chunks.
Thus, it is key to decide on the title before you start writing your book.
And just to give you a tip, you can do some keyword research to get an idea of which keywords to include in your book title.
For example, if your book is based on Keto Recipe, you can search for that keyword on Amazon – and Amazon's search engine will give you some autosuggestions of other related search terms which people are searching for – e.g. Keto Recipe Cookbook, Keto Recipe Book For beginners, Keto Recipes & Meal Plans, etc.
You must include those autosuggested keywords in your book title – so as to increase your chances of ranking for those particular search terms.
But you shouldn’t staff keywords – since this will tarnish your book title.
Rather, use these keywords in a ethical manner i.e. where it only makes sense.
4. Brainstorm Ideas
Assuming that you've come up with a title, it's now high time to start brainstorming some ideas for your book.
This is where you create an outline i.e. breaking down the main topic into smaller chucks.
You can also list down some rough points that you want to include in the book – so that you wont get writer's block when you start the actual writing process.
Brainstorming is crucial – since it helps to come-up with a template of what your book will look like (structure).
5. Start Writing Or Hire A Ghost Writer
Assuming that you've brainstormed some ideas for your book, it's now high time to sit down and start writing.
This is the phase where you'll pour your ideas into the book – so as to let the world know about your thoughts and opinions.
Most people gets excited when they're still doing the prep work – but all that excitement fades away as soon as they start the actual writing process.
I understand that writing can be quite intimidating at times – especially if you're not a natural writer.
But if you want to come up with a complete book, you must put that away – and just do the f*cken work.
Yes! It takes time to complete a standard book – but if you follow through the process, you'll reap the fruits of your labour.
However, if you have some money to spend and you don't have time for writing, then you can hire a ghost-writer on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork.
There's a ton of affordable writers on these platforms who're willing to write for people like you – for a certain fee of course.
You just have to look for those with good reviews – so that you wont waste your money on low quality writers.
6. Create Your Book Cover
Let's assume that you've finished the writing process, you'll need to create a cover for your book.
We’ve all heard quotes like; ‘don't judge a book by it's cover' – meaning the cover doesn't define what's inside the book.
But the truth is; most people do judge a book by it's cover – especially on Amazon.
When people search for a certain keyword, they'll scroll through the search results – and they click on a book that has an eye-catching cover.
It's just like on YouTube – where people click on videos with better thumbnails.
Thus, it's important to come-up with a nice looking cover which can grab people's attention – and hopefully, click on your listing.
You can create the cover yourself using Canva – or you can hire a graphic designer to create the cover for you.
7. Revise The Final Copy
Assuming that you've finished all the previous steps, it's now high time to revise your final copy – before you publish it.
This is crucial because it helps you to correct any mistakes which you may have made during the writing process.
The reason being that, there's no customer who likes to read a book full of grammatical errors – especially after spending their hard earned monies to purchase the book.
If possible, l do recommend hiring an editor – or someone who can do some proof reading for you.
The reason being that, when we write & revise our own work, we might fail to identify some errors – since everything will sound like perfect to you.
But if you give your document to another person, he/she will identify some hidden mistakes – which you may have failed to observe on your own.
Thus, you must do some thorough revisions – so that you'll provide a great quality book to the marketplace.
8. Publish
Assuming that you're satisfied with your final book, it's now high time to publish it on Amazon.
This is where you upload your book on KDP – so that it becomes available to the general public.
And the beauty part is that, Amazon receives a ton of organic traffic everyday – thus, your book has high chances of being seen by potential customers.
But if possible, you should try to promote your book outside Amazon's ecosystem – so that you wont only rely on KDP.
This also helps to boost your sales and reviews – thus, your book will start to go up on Amazon’s rankings as well.
Thus, this is key if you want to get more sales for your book.
And remember to use keywords in your listing title & description – so as to optimise your book for Amazon SEO.
That way, your book has high chances of ranking better for those related search terms.
Wrapping Up
I hope that you've gained some value from this quick guide.
Keep in mind that, there's literally some 4 week courses based on this topic – since there's a lot of staff involved in Kindle Direct Publishing.
But l tried to condense the information into a blog post – so that you can get a rough idea of what it takes to get started with Amazon KDP.
You can do some further research if you're interested in learning more about this topic – so that you can get more knowledge before getting started.
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