Self-publishing is increasing. Authors are taking control of their careers and creativity by rejecting the oppressive traditional publishing industry. So how much money can you make to self-publish your books with creative freedom, rapid turnaround, and better royalties? Wow! Good job researching before diving in. It’s a tricky question that varies by author, genre, and method.
Amazon is a significant indie-writer platform. Amazon may be tough to understand and master. Self-published authors may make $10,000+ per month on Amazon with study and planning. If you also want to make money as a self-publisher on Amazon, below is how you can do it:
How to publish a book on Amazon?
Amazon isn’t just a website. The internet retailer grew into a book publisher. Anyone may self-publish a book on Amazon, unlike a typical book publisher where you must convince an acquisitions editor to award you a contract. Amazon earnings vary. Format, sales, and publication choices might affect earnings.
Create a KDP account
You’ll need a ticket for this Amazon cruise. Create a KDP account. Easy, quick, and free! Sign in or create an Amazon account to use Kindle Direct Publishing.
Then, fill in your KDP account details, which include:
- Author/publisher information: Your full legal name, address, and phone number.
- Payment information: Your bank account name and number for royalties.
- Taxes: A brief tax interview takes you through establishing your tax identification.
Create a new title
On your KDP dashboard, click “Create a new title” and choose Kindle eBook or Paperback.
After selecting a book type, you’ll get a page with three tabs for book details. Stay on the first tab and insert your book’s title and language in the first two fields for now.
Book description
On this first tab, enter your book’s details. These include:
- series;
- your readers’ age range
- book illustrators and other contributors
Your description is most important. Amazon book descriptions are like the back-of-the-book blurb. Once you know what to say, dress it up: Use bold and italics to make your Amazon description more enticing. Bestsellers often employ a big title, hook, or social validation – you should, too.
Pick keywords and categories.
Choosing categories and keywords for Amazon self-publishing might feel like a crocodile-infested swamp. With little effort and investigation, these words can enhance your chances of success.
Much research is done by hand. Clicking through the Kindle store and researching similar books is the greatest way to find keywords and categories.
Entering them on Amazon is easy once you’ve selected keywords and categories. KDP allows two categories and seven keywords. You may edit and add to them later, so don’t be scared to try a few.
Upload an epub file of your book
Next, upload your book to KDP.
Click the “Upload ebook manuscript” button to begin. Click “OK” on your finished epub file.
We recommend formatting your file as an epub for Amazon. Amazon doesn’t handle Word documents effectively. If you’re on a low budget, you may use the seo valley to produce a nicely designed ebook.
After selecting your document, a notification will state its processing. Reload or leave this page. Amazon uploads and verifies books in a few minutes.
If you’ve prepared your book to Amazon’s standards, you’ll receive a green notification confirming it’s uploaded. Celebrate, but don’t get too overwhelmed; there are still vital tasks to take.
Cover jpg or tiff upload
Without a good cover, a book won’t sell. Your cover designer should have given a 1,000 x 625 jpg or tiff. To upload it to Amazon, pick “Use an existing cover” and click “Upload your cover file.” Upload your ebook cover.
This can take a minute, like uploading the book. When it’s done, you’ll see green.
After uploading your ebook and cover:
- Use “Ebook Preview” to examine it.
- Check that everything is correct: the cover, the interior, etc.
- If anything is incorrect, re-upload your files.
Then it’s on to the final tab.
Decide on a pricing range of $2.99 to $9.99.
The first thing to remember when deciding on pricing for your book is that Amazon pays 70% royalties on ebooks priced between $2.99 and $9.99 and just 35% on anything outside of that range.
Amazon calculates your expected royalties when you pick your pricing. It subtracts a tiny “delivery rate” based on the download size of your book before figuring how much you’ll make each sale.
You may also use the pricing area to specify different prices for each country you wish to sell. You can set it to auto if you don’t care about foreign sales, but you’ll get far better results if you do it manually.
Selling globally may help you increase your sales, so keep an eye on your foreign sales trends and encourage those that grow.
Enroll (or not) in KDP Select
Now that you’ve gathered all of your book’s content, it’s time to think about a few key programs that may help your book reach a bigger audience.
KDP Select
We’ve already written a piece about KDP Select, so we’ll try not to go excessive. However, there are two key advantages to writers who want to advertise their ebook through the program:
- Kindle Unlimited membership; and
- The chance to promote your ebook through free book promotions and Kindle Countdown discounts.
Whether or whether you join will be determined by your writing ambitions and the type of business strategy you have in place for your work. Is selling box sets through Apple Books or Google Play, for example, an important component of your marketing strategy? Or do you wish to take advantage of frequent price discounts (and maybe even a “free” weekend for your book)? The KDP mentioned above Select page, and the quiz just below can assist you in weighing your options. Then it’s just a question of clicking or unchecking the option that says “Enroll my book in KDP Select.”
Hit that Publish Button
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! But before rushing in, take a moment to click back through the previous tabs and make sure everything is set up exactly the way you want it. Although you can correct a mistake after publishing it, it’s better to ensure the information is right before you hit that button.
If you’re not quite ready, a “Save as Draft” button will allow you to come back and finish later. If everything looks good, there’s nothing left to do but hit “Publish your Kindle ebook”!
Hopefully, you’ve seen that publishing a book on Amazon isn’t nearly as scary as you may have feared. Now get into this process and start to make money.
