Do you enjoy writing your own stories but wish you could share them with more people? It might be challenging and expensive to get your book published, but not with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) on Amazon.
Your own ebook or paperback can be freely published on Amazon using KDP, where it will be made available digitally to the millions of Amazon customers who own Kindle readers. You can also provide a tangible paperback edition of your book to your consumers using Amazon's free print-on-demand service.
Are you prepared to begin? Let's discuss:
Kindle Direct Publishing: What is it?
Without the burden of going through a traditional publishing company, authors may sell their books directly to Amazon's enormous audience through Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP, technology.
Authors can publish ebooks and paperback books using KDP without paying any upfront fees or placing inventory orders. Additionally, unlike a traditional publishing business, KDP grants authors full rights to their novels, something that they generally wouldn't do.
KDP is a fantastic option for authors of all stripes to publish their works and advertise them for sale – all for free! You won't pay Amazon any fees until you make a sale, but we'll cover that in more detail in a moment.
What advantages does KDP offer?
The main advantage is that it costs nothing to print and list your book is probably already clear to you at this time. However, let's go through some more justifications for joining KDP.
- Both ebooks and print books can be published. You may publish a Kindle ebook, a print book, or even both with KDP! If you decide to sell a paperback book, Amazon will print and deliver the book to the buyer on your behalf. No need to buy large quantities of products in advance.
- No up-front expenses in exchange for a cut of the profits. Although it is free to list your ebooks for sale on Amazon KDP, Amazon will share a portion of the proceeds. Depending on the royalty choice you select and the size of your ebook file, the size of that share will vary. I'll go into that further shortly.
You are free to publish an unlimited number of ebooks. You can publish as many paperback or ebooks under one account, even ones written under multiple pen names and subject divisions.
Through KDP, you may buy your own paperback novels in bulk. You can order wholesale books from your KDP dashboard if you want to have some hard copies of your book on hand to sell or lend to friends. You will be responsible for the cost of each book's printing after Amazon prints the number of copies you purchased and ships them to you.
On the Kindle Store, your books will have a sales rank identical to that of Amazon.com. This is fantastic news because it means you, a smaller author, will have the same chance of succeeding and generating sales as bigger, more well-known authors.
- Sell to Amazon's enormous global customer base. Naturally, having access to millions of Kindle customers is a key advantage of self-publishing on Amazon. You can list your book for sale on any of Amazon's international marketplaces as long as you are the sole owner of the rights to sell it in every territory (what Amazon refers to as a territory on its KDP help pages). For additional information, visit the support page for royalties.
What types of content are available for KDP publishing?
The KDP help page lists the following as typical content that is published via KDP, but not exclusively:
- Novels
- Book Series
- Children’s Books
- Comics
- Cookbooks
- Journals
- Poetry
- Textbooks
Royalties from Kindle Direct Publishing
You will receive royalties when you publish ebooks using KDP; both you and Amazon will share in the sales.
There are two different royalty rates available: 35% and 70%.
70% Optional Royalty
You're probably thinking: Well, of course, you should choose the 70% royalty option.
It's not really that easy. You must fulfill the following requirements in order to be eligible for the 70% royalty rate on Amazon KDP:
Pricing: You must set the price of your ebook between $2.99 and $9.99.
Fee for distribution: Depending on the size of your ebook's digital file, a distribution fee, or "delivery fee," will be charged for each transaction. Each book purchased from Amazon for between $2.99 and $9.99 is charged $0.15 per megabyte. Your cost might not be as high as you believe because Amazon compresses ebook files. After listing your book, visit the price page to use their charge calculator.
Physical books: The ebook pricing must be at least 20% less than the list price of the paperback if you plan to sell physical copies.
Copyright: The ebook's copyright must belong to you. You cannot be paid a 70% royalty if the book is in the public domain.
Sales on foreign soil: To be eligible for 70% royalty on sales to clients in Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and India, your books must be signed up for KDP Select.
The conditions for the 35% royalty rate option are as follows:
If your book sells for less than $2.99 or more than $9.99, you will get a 35% royalty.
You won't be charged a delivery fee if you select this option. Huge books with huge file sizes, such as textbooks, cookbooks, or picture books, make sense to charge 35% royalties on.
Additionally, ebooks published through KDP must meet Amazon's list price standards.
List Price Requirements for Amazon.com (USD)
Royalty Rate Option Minimum List Price Maximum List Price
35% Less than 3 MB $0.99 $200.00
3 MB to 10 MB $1.99 $200.00
Over 10 MB $2.99 $200.00
70% $2.99 $9.99
Paperback Royalties
For paperback books, the royalties system is different.
On paperback books purchased through Amazon, KDP charges a set 60% royalty. After that, Amazon will deduct the printing expenses from your royalty, which vary depending on the number of pages, the type of ink used, and the Amazon marketplace where your paperback was purchased.
Use this helpful equation or Amazon's printing cost estimator to determine the precise price you will receive for your paperback book:
(Royalty rate x list price) – printing costs = royalty
For example, your list price is $15. Your book is a 333-page paperback with black ink sold on the US marketplace:
(0.60 x $15) – $4.85 = $4.15
The $4.15 is what you will be paid for that sale.
How to promote a book
Fortunately, you don't just have to put your book on the market and hope it sells. In order to bring your books in front of potential customers, Amazon provides several unique marketing options. It includes Amazon Advertising.
You should be familiar with Sponsored Product ads, a sort of Amazon pay-per-click (PPC) advertising if you sell physical goods on Amazon.com.
This is how it goes:
1. You build up an advertising strategy that focuses on certain keywords related to your book that your target market is likely to enter into the Amazon search bar.
2. Then, if a buyer searches on Amazon using those keywords, your advertisement might show up in the search results, where the customer can click over to the product detail page for your book. In PPC, you compete for clicks on those specific keywords; the more your bid, the more likely it is that your ad will show up.
KDP Select is an additional approach for ebook vendors to stand out on Amazon. This program is optional and only accepts ebooks; paperbacks are not included.
KDP Select, which is a free Kindle book program, "gives you a chance to reach more readers and earn more money at no additional cost," according to Amazon. Any author or publisher can sign up for their Kindle novels for KDP Select, no matter where they live.
There is a catch, even though the claim that you can "reach more readers and earn more money at no additional cost" sounds amazing.
KDP Select advantages include:
- Higher royalties in some nations: Allow sales of your Kindle book in Brazil, Japan, India, and Mexico to qualify for 70% in royalty payments. If you are not a member of KDP Select, your royalties for these nations will be 35%.
- Use of additional marketing resources: Countdown deals for the Kindle: Only KDP Select writers can offer customers on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk temporary discounts on their ebooks. Customers will see the standard pricing as well as the promotional price in addition to a timer for the sale.
- Promotions for free books: Within each 90-day KDP Select enrollment period, authors may offer their work for free for up to 5 days. Although you won't receive royalties from a free book promotion, it can help you generate a lot of downloads, reviews, and social proof for your book, which will entice buyers after the promotion has ended.
- Infinite Kindle: Your book will be added to Kindle Unlimited, which charges subscribers $9.99 a month to read an unlimited number of books. Through Kindle Unlimited, you won't receive the standard royalty rate; instead, you'll be compensated for each page that a customer reads from your book. It may sound paradoxical, yet doing so can be beneficial. Users of Kindle Unlimited can try a few chapters of an independent author's book, get captivated, and leave a positive review even if they might not be willing to pay for it altogether.
Disadvantages of KDP
KDP Select has some drawbacks, including Potentially lesser revenue than from book sales. You might not make as much money as you would if someone bought your book outright because Kindle Unlimited royalties are paid per page viewed.
Your ebook must be available only on Amazon. Your book can only be sold on the Amazon Kindle store for a minimum of 90 days after enrolment; it cannot be sold on your own website, on another marketplace, or even given away for free.
Steps to Opening a KDP Account
With KDP, you can both make your own print-on-demand paperback version and list an ebook for free. All of this sounds really fantastic, right? It only makes sense to offer your books on Amazon through KDP if you're any kind of author.
It's incredibly easy to create an account, and you can publish your own ebook right away.
Go to the Kindle Direct Publishing page first, then select "Sign up."
You can start uploading your books after providing some basic information.
Go to "Create a New Title" to get started, then select either Kindle eBook or Paperback.
Next, enter details about your book, including its title, edition, author, summary, publishing rights, and keywords.
You will upload your manuscript, ebook cover, ebook preview, and optionally a Kindle eBook ISBN in the following section. Before submitting your ebook for publication, be sure to read the KDP Content Guidelines.
Pricing your book comes next. You can decide here whether you want to join KDP Select, the regions you want to list your book in, your royalty rate, and your book's pricing.
You can select either the 35% plan or the 70% plan under "Royalty and Pricing". Based on your list price, Amazon will show you what your royalty will be.
Remember that you can only receive the 35% royalty if your price is over $9.99.
Your book is prepared for publication once all of this information has been entered. Instantaneously, your own ebook or paperback will be listed for sale on Amazon.
How to publish books with medium content on Amazon KDP
A great technique to publish books on Amazon KDP in the past was to write low-content books. They are simple to create and have a wide range of potential markets. But over time, the market for books with little content has become overly crowded.
Check out our most recent YouTube video, which demonstrates how to write books with MEDIUM content for Amazon KDP publishing. We walk you through the process of finding a market with lots of demand, little competition, and large royalties.
To publish a successful book on Amazon, you don't need to be a writer; all you need to know is how to conduct effective research and design a captivating book cover. See the video to find out how!
Launch your Kindle Direct Publishing book store now.
You should now have a better knowledge of how KDP operates and how any author, regardless of size, may self-publish their works. KDP can assist you in reaching a wide audience whether you publish scientific textbooks, children's books, or mystery thrillers.