Helpful Hints

The first step to consider is what account are you going to  use. I created a separate account as I wanted to keep my personal Amazon account separate from my author account. 
 

The choice is  yours but I would recommend separating the author account so that  you do not at some later stage wish to move the books from your personal account to one you have just created. I have not done that but I can foresee this causing many complications.

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I also registered a web domain for my books so that I could be sure to have the email address I wanted. While I am sure you can use generic, free, email accounts it is something I would advise against as you have no control over how they are managed.

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Complete your personal information. I cannot stress this enough, but if you want to get paid you need to make sure that all the information on  your profile is completed correctly. Mine is set up as an individual so I have no input as to any complications  you may run into if you set it up as a corporation.

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Whenever I had to choose an option of Marketplace I always choose everyone as I want to sell in any part of the world that I can. Depending on the nature of the books you are selling you may want to restrict this, make sure you are aware of the consequences of your choices.

The biggest single issue I have had to date was making sure that my books that were part of the same series were linked correctly. I consistently had issues with that, BUT KDP support were most helpful every time and linked them for me with no issues (although I am sure I got some deserved eye-rolls). There are a number of help pages on KDP so they should answer most of your questions, if not then there is usually a CHAT or PHONE option which you can use.

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Something I had to do a lot of looking for, one of my books was going to be over 1,000 pages when printed as I was offering it in Large Print Format (LPF). Obviously this is the paperback version as those using an e-reader can just increase the font. Anyway, there is a limit to the number of pages you can have in a paperback, and if I recall correctly it is 866 (this may be based on factors unknown to me). 

I have no idea on why this is, but to accommodate this restriction I had to change my page size, which meant changing the cover, which comes with its own challenges

So once you have your account all set up there are a few things you would want to do before you get to the actual publishing of your book.

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Cover Art

We have all heard the expression, "don't judge a book by its cover" and while that may be true it is something we all do. If you are not a designer, and maybe even if you are, you should get someone who knows what they are doing to design the cover for your book. Depending on the formats you choose you will want covers that meet the requirements.

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When I engaged my artist I specified the following for the cover art: Full Wrap, Max Resolution possible, 5:8 aspect ratio, size 1500x2400 (min).

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E-Book only requires you to just have a single page cover. (5" x 8" or 12.7cm x 20.32cm). I do have some experience with image editing so have on occasion adjusted the size if its needed. 

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Paperback requires you to have a Full Wrap and although I have not done a hardcover I am going to presume it does as well, with maybe even more needed for the inside flap. Do your research before asking the artist to do the work.

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Know what you want, or at least have an idea on what you would like to see. The artist I use is great, but if you have no input to what they should create then you will likely get a blank page back. They are not going to read your book to decide the artwork. Well they may but that is definitely beyond the scope for most and if they did then you would likely have a different contract with them.

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I get my art in PDF, JPG and PNG formats.

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Copyright

I live in Canada so get mine done here. It is possible you do not need to register the copyright, but the cost in Canada is negligible and it is kinda cool to have a certificate showing  you have a copyright on something you created. Here is the link to the Canadian website. I am sure your favourite search engine will assist you in finding the one for your country.

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ISBN

Once again, living in Canada means I use a Canadian website to get my ISBN numbers. If you are only planning to publish via KDP then you can forego this step, however the ISBN numbers they issue are only valid for sales from their website. Also if you are only doing eBooks then you do not need an ISBN. That being said, you need an ISBN for every format type, be it Paperback, Hardcover, Large Print Format or even if you just have different sizes that will have different costs associated. Here is the link to the Canadian website. I am sure you can find the one that is applicable for your country.

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Editing

This is an important step, at least have someone read your book. I am still finding errors in my books when I read through them, and for the most part typos and the odd error are forgivable, but you want to make sure the story flows for someone who has no idea on how it should go. I have read a few books where the final edit had a chapter out of sequence, or just made leaps of logic that were not apparent to me as a person who did not have the story flowing from my fingertips. Spelling and grammar are always a contentious topic so do your best with what you have. These days there are tools to help you so use them if you need to. For those who are having their books translated, firstly congratulations on that, secondly, try to get them read by a person who is a native speaker of the language you are translating to. Some expressions do not work the same when translated.

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Format

I use Scrivener for my writing, formatting and publishing. I will be doing a section on that later but the gist of this message is that you need to decide the format of your finished work. I compile my book into a PDF and ePub format for uploading to KDP. By the time I am done it includes the disclaimers, copyright claim, ISBN number (yes I do get one for the e-book as well) and any other information that I want to put into it, such as links to websites and other books in the series. Whichever program you are using you should learn its quirks and work with them to get what you are wanting.

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Make sure the document page size matches the cover art size as well, I am not sure what kind of error you would get if it does not but I can imagine it would not work well.

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Additionally, I put the ISBN barcode on my book myself using a photo editor. Here is the link to the website to convert the ISBN to a barcode. NOTE: When you order Proof Copies of your paperback it will come with the barcode covered with another barcode, this is because these are not for sale, your actual copies will have the correct barcode on them.

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Publish your Book

All of the above is to just get you to the stage where you can publish your book. Honestly to me that was the hard part, finding the links and getting the ducks in a row was more work than the writing, and certainly more work than the publishing.

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By this stage you should be able to get your book published but I will walk  you through the options I choose. Obviously you start by logging into your KDP account, and go to your Bookshelf if that is not where you go by default. 

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Click on the bright yellow CREATE button and choose the correct option. Mine are usually a series but your options are fairly self explanatory. The biggest difference is for the series you get to create what I like to think of as a container for the books that will then go in it. Once you have that container the books you publish follow the same format as if you had selected eBook or Paperback (sorry I cannot comment on the Hardcover option).

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Kindle eBook

To me this is why I publish books. eBooks are great and are mostly what I read. I publish all of mine to Kindle Unlimited as well so I suggest you do that, choice is yours of course.

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Kindle eBook Details

This page is all about the basics, Language, Book Title, Author (and any contributors), Description, Publishing Rights are all easy to answer. Read and answer correctly the Primary Audience section. You do not want to have anyone getting upset because your overly explicit book got into the hands of a child. I always select the Canadian marketplace because this is where I live, make the best choice for yourself. Categories, I freely admit that I am horrible at this and it is different for eBook and Paperback. Make the best choices you can and remember you can select up to 3 categories. Keywords are another way to get found, research what those in  your genre use and see if they are applicable for you. Pre-order is not something I use, I only go live with my books but feel free to do what suits your strategy.

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NOTE: If  you click the Save and Continue button and there are errors on the page they are usually highlighted in RED, look for them and correct them before you can go any further.

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Kindle eBook Content

Here you are getting to deal with your actual book. Manuscript is where you get to upload the book itself I add DRM (digital rights management) to my books. Uploading the book is straight forward, here is where I upload the ePUB version. The next section is the Kindle eBook Cover and it specifies the format to use. Once they are uploaded they are briefly checked to make sure they will work, be patient and you can carry on with the rest of the page. I see a new AI-Generated Content section, best to be honest here as you can bet they will get grumpy if you are not. I always Preview my book to make sure the content looks good and also put in the ISBN that I have for this version.

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Kindle eBook Pricing

The first option is for Kindle Unlimited (KU). KDP Select Enrollment will make your book available to those who use KU. Territories I have already mentioned, I select All for this but list Amazon.ca as my Primary Marketplace. Pricing is up to  you, I list mine at the minimum and select the 70% royalty plan. Research what will work best for you.

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I tend to save this as a draft until I want to publish it, hence the no pre-order option I mentioned earlier, again this is up to  you, if you are happy then go ahead an hit the Publish button. They mention it can take up to 72 hours, make sure you monitor your email in case there is an error and they reject your book.

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Paperback Details

This is essentially the same as the eBook options and should be completed before moving on.

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Paperback Content

Select the appropriate ISBN option here. Remember what I said earlier about KDP ISBN option.

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Print Options

Here you have a few choices, I prefer Black & white interior with white paper. This is really up to you but remember, once the choice is made and the book published it cannot be changed. Trim Size plays into the the size you formatted your manuscript. I choose 6x9 inches because that is what everything I have done is sized at. My manuscript and cover art fit this sizing. Bleed Settings I leave at the default of No Bleed, if you have a reason to change this then you likely do not need my help. Paperback cover finish, I got one book that was glossy and decided to change from then to matte, this is your preference.

Manuscript is where you upload the PDF version of your book. Book Cover is where you upload that art work you got from your graphic designer. Pay attention to the RED lines as they show the borders for the front, back and spine. If your image is not correct and there are things in the way of those lines then it is likely they will reject the book until you fix those errors. Again I see AI-Generated Content. I review the book just to make sure I have not uploaded the wrong content.

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Paperback Rights & Pricing  is once again the last page, select your choices here as you feel appropriate. I like getting Proof copies but it is not necessary if you do not want to pay for them and wait until you have checked them over.

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Go ahead and Publish Your Paperback Book. It is quite a feeling doing so, I highly recommend it.

I hope that this has been somewhat helpful. I know that it was a little frustrating for me when I first did it but it is not that complicated once you have done it a couple of times. Good luck with your publishing journey and if you wish to send me any comments please feel free to use the contact form on the home page.