Self-Publishing on Kindle
“Here is what I learned along the way”
The manuscript is final. The End has appeared on the screen of my computer. I can breathe again… but wait. Now what?
Now the fun begins or so you have to keep telling yourself over and over and over again.
As an indie author you have to think about where are you going to publish your book, how are you going to market your book, and how are you going to sell your book. All of the questions and more are critical in making sure you do everything your power to make this a successful transition.
Today we are going to talk about publishing your book on Amazon. Now mind you, I highly recommend you go “wide” by having your books not only on Amazon, but also on Apple Books, Barnes & Noble Press, Rakuten’s Kobo, and Google Playbooks to name a few. We will however talk about each of these additional platforms in a later blog.
For now, let’s get back to publishing on Amazon.
The first thing you should consider is creating an author account. In Amazon’s Author Central, you can set up your Kindle Direct Publishing account and publish your book.
How to Start
You still have time to make corrections on your manual if you find any errors, change your book cover and even add or delete pages.
Let’s look at the cover of your book. If you have not done the research already you should look into what is selling in your genre. Having the right book cover is critical in obtaining relevant readers. The design should communicate the tone and content of your story. In the cozy genre, I have found covers with illustrations work best much more so than with actual photographs. If you are satisfied with your cover and feel confident it reflects the book correctly then let’s consider your title.
Another important factor is the book title. This is just as important as the story. From here you need to make certain that you have included pertinent keywords allowing for readers to hopefully find your book easier. Keep in mind, that there are short and long keywords that get very different results. Try sticking to short searches of keywords. For example, on my book A Fashionable Fate, Rosa The Cuban Psychic Series I searched for Cuban Psychic and my book appeared as part of Amazon’s list. If the search keys are too long sometimes you do not get the same results.
And, your price point can vary. Books priced at $0.99 will provide you with a lower royalty than books priced in the $2.00 and up range.
The length of the book is dependant on your genre. For me, in the cozy genre, readers prefer a 25 to 30 chapter novel.
Once you have a final manuscript and a book cover then you can go to Amazon’s Self Publishing site to upload your files. Remember that if you create an ebook the cover is much easier to make. However, if you also include a paperback or hardcover the size of the cover is dependant on the number of pages.
If you want to learn more in-depth on the process of self-publishing send me an email at author@imrenfroe.com and I will walk you through the steps to self publishing.
Until next time…
