Part 3 - Self-publishing on Kindle

Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP - now, here's a little bit of wizardry for you. I dipped my toes into the waters of self-publishing with this one, and the process couldn't have been smoother or more enjoyable.

I'd known about Kindle's as e-readers (who didn't?), and I'd heard about people selling their own goods on Amazon but probably because my focus was elsewhere at the time, I didn't put two and two together. Then I saw a friend of mine's book on Amazon and I squealed with delight. Firstly, because I was so excited she was published, and secondly, because if she could do it, then so could I.

I loved working with KDP - it was simple, easy and they take you through everything in a step by step process. This will produce your book in a Kindle format only, i.e. to be read on Kindles.
For those who aren't sure, the kindle is an e-reader produced and sold by Amazon exclusively.

However, you can rely on Amazon to be business savvy, so, in their wisdom they offer a nifty bit of software you can download to enable you to read a Kindle book on your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, and android phone. So, straight away your potential reading market has just expanded. There is no cost to publish via KDP.

Where to start, I hear you ask? Let me take you through how I did it:
1. Read through all the steps in the Kindle Publishing Guide before you start - its well worth the time.It gives you a good idea of what the process entails, what it will do for you, and what you need to have prepared before you start.
2. Download the Kindle Previewer so you can check what your book will look like on a Kindle (if you don't have one). 
3. Download the Mobipocket Creator - this is the software that will convert your book into the Kindle format. There are some other ways of doing it, but remember, this is just what I did for a black and white novel.
4. Collate your necessary elements: book front cover. front pages (copyright, acknowledgements, etc.), your correctly formatted manuscript. Be sure to save everything with a date and version because you may upload a few times before it is as you want it to be. You will need to save your manuscript as a 'Web Page, filtered document (see below).

5. Follow the process that KDP gives you online. Format your book cover. For Kindle, all you will need is a front cover. Imagine the front of a book if it is lying on a table... that's what you need.
6. Upload this to the Mobipocket Creator, together with the cover to your book and it will build your book for you. This is the file you will need to upload onto KDP.

In terms of the actual publishing, that's pretty much it, but there are two other very important things you need to think about before you start the process. 

Pricing & Royalty: You choose, but there are considerations. 

• I'm a new author so I wanted to come in low on my price. I didn't want price to be a barrier to purchase. 
• Pricing affects your royalty - check out the section on pricing and royalties first. Your first book is unlikely to make you a million (although I truly hope it does!), so perhaps consider it as a learning curve and practice your marketing and networking skills on this one.

ISBN (ASIN):

• Amazon will assign an ASIN - Amazon Standard Book Number to your book, free of charge. This is specific to your Kindle version book and cannot be used on other versions such as other e-reader versions or print. 
• If you decide to offer other versions of your book, a separate ISBN (International Standard Book Number) will need to be allocated. These are generally offered by the system you are using, however, if you want to, you can purchase your own ISBN number. 

I found this article here extremely helpful. I hope it encourages you to try the self-publishing route on Kindle.
Until next time.