The Kindle Direct Publishing Platform
In this digital age, self-publishing has become more popular than traditional publishing. This has gained lots of benefits for the writers, the publishing platforms as well as the readers. In self-publishing, the writers retain control over the books he/she is publishing and they enjoy much higher profit margin. Since self-publishing platforms provide access to the platform, writers can update any detail or edit their work anytime. It is relatively inexpensive as compared to traditional publishing. There is no need to get the book or manuscript approved before publishing.
Writers enjoy the freedom to work on their own pace and style, as well. Self-publishing however, tends to be tedious at first because writers prepare everything by themselves if they choose not to outsource other works like preparing e-covers, editing and proof reading. Formatting and cover design is a critical point in self-publishing because this is the front of the product – ebook. The ebook cover is the promotional flyer itself. But do not worry because formatting and designing an ebook cover can all be outsourced for your convenience if you have enough funds for it.
Kindle Publishing : An Overview
What is the Kindle Bookstore?
In 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle App which is an electronic reading device. It makes use of wireless connectivity to allow users to browse, search and download ebooks, magazines, blogs, newspapers and other digital media to the App. Ebooks can be downloaded to the Amazon’s Kindle App. From 88,000 digital titles, the library quickly grew to more than 765,000 titles in 2011 and continuously growing until now. Think of the Kindle bookstore as a search engine for books. Anything that ranks well and becomes popular does not need further promotion.
Amazon is clever enough to expand their customer base by offering a Kindle app for every platform there is.
In terms of volume, the Kindle bookstore offers a much more competitive offer than the big boys Barnes and Noble’s. The diligent community of users who put out book reviews also helps. While offline book sales are dropping, online sales are going the opposite direction. This trend is set to continue as predicted by experts. If you plan to self-publish, selling your book via the Kindle bookstore is a must.
But how exactly do you do this? Here is how:
The Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Program
Being a published author on the Kindle bookstore is pretty straightforward. This is possible through the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program. It allows any writer to participate in the 70% royalty program and the ebook becomes available in all Kindle devices when downloaded. To publish an ebook, one need to open an account at Kindle Direct Publishing Platform.
How to publish an ebook in Amazon’s KDP
Self-Publishing on Amazon’s Kindle Bookstore
Getting published through the Kindle bookstore is quite easy. Content may be uploaded online in a matter of minutes depending on the size of the files. Here are the steps in publishing:
Kindle Publishing Step#1: Format the ebook content
Have the ebook prepared and formatted. Amazon sets the standards for formatting so be sure to edit accordingly. The Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) requires a simple HMTL code without any CSS-style sheets. Other formats such as DOC and PDF are accepted but HTML conversion is preferred. Do this by saving your document on MS Word to HTML (Web Page, filtered). Page numbers, footers and headers must be removed since Kindle re-flows everything according to reading settings and font size. The table of contents should have links to each section it refers to.
Kindle Publishing Step#2: Cover Images
Prepare two cover images, one in full color and one in grayscale, should be included. Cover images should be in JPG or TIF format and around 400 x 600 pixels on the longest side.
Kindle Publishing Step#3: Upload the cover images and content
Go to https://kdp.amazon.com/ on your web browser. Log-in to your account or sign up. After signing in or signing up, click “Add New Item” on the following page. There are expandable sections which need to be filled in and they appear under the heading that says “My Shelf.”
Kindle Publishing Step#4: Enter product details
Enter the product details which include the title, description (note the limit of 4000 characters) and keywords among others. Enter an ISBN if you have one. Otherwise, Amazon will assign one for tracking reference. Leave the publisher field blank if you do not have one. This is where you upload your cover image as well. Note the option to enable or disable digital rights management. When you are done, click on “Save Entries.”
Kindle Publishing Step#5: Content Rights
Confirm your Content Rights. Select radio buttons for all the territories where you have sale or distribution rights. Check the box to confirm that you have the right to upload content. Upload and preview your eBook. Be sure that the file type is accepted by the Kindle bookstore.
Kindle Publishing Step#6: Set the Price
Enter the retail price. The minimum amount is set at USD.99 and the maximum is USD200. Authors can retain as much as 70% of the price so be sure to consider this when pricing.
Kindle Publishing Step#7: Publish the ebook
Hit the "Publish" button. The eBook has already been uploaded to the Kindle bookstore. The process of approval will take around 24 to 48 hours to complete and after approval it will appear in search area on Amazon as well as in Google once indexed.
Kindle Publishing Step#8: Revision to a published ebook
If an author would like to make a revision to the ebook published, he must be sure to upload an edited version. It will overwrite the original without a hitch.
Ranking on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing Platform
The Importance of Keywords:
Keywords affect how people will find your eBook. As such, an author should put a lot of thought into which words will be used. Getting this right maximizes the ebook’s exposure and will rank higher on the Amazon search engine.
The importance of finding the right niche and targeting the right audience:
Identifying the audience is one of the most important aspects of writing. Before an ebook is written, the author needs to know who exactly are the target readers or audience. In other words, set a definite target audience and focus on writing. There must be a narrowed down or streamlined audience or target to arrive at a point where you can start focusing the content of your eBook. This is called niche.
Identifying the audience makes the ebook more manageable and it is easier to choose a niche. It also gives a huge advantage when it comes to marketing. Once this is out of the way, any writer can start ticking off items on a checklist. The following is a sample list of factors in choosing a niche:
Target Audience or Readers:
1. Age Group
2. Gender
3. Background Experience o Depth of Topic
4. Economic Status or Education
5. Ethnicity or Familiarity
6. Location or Profession or Interest
The above list is basis for choosing the right niche for a topic. The ebook will be based on these criteria which include vocabulary, sentence structure, tone, humor and imagery among others. In short, the content of the eBook should be done with the audience in mind just like a teacher giving a lesson in front of his/her students. Grade school students need the basic lessons. Post graduate students need an in depth lessons or discussions.
The Flow of Your Writing Style
After you start with your eBook, it is a good idea to keep this checklist as you progress. See if everything are still focused on writing for your selected audience based on the items on your list. If so, then keep on writing. If not, you may want to make the necessary changes and adjustments to stay on track.
As you can see, this means that you have to do a lot of research before starting your eBook. This is best done during the planning phase where everything is still being laid out. Writing for a specific audience also increases your chances of success. This is why it is so important to spend some efforts and time into making sure that your eBook is focused on specific topic for a specific audience.
Writing in Mainstream: Finding the Balance
Writing for audiences means having to choose between mainstream topics and more specialized niche topics. This is one of the most crucial decisions you will have to make as a writer. Each one has its own pros and cons as discussed below.
Going Deep with Niches
Writing for a niche audience is a good thing because of the profit potential involved. More often than not, the information you need to present here is very specific. Details are very much needed which means a lot of research is required. As such, the kind of writer needed when going deep is someone who knows a lot about something specific. You can quickly build an online reputation here and be recognized as an expert in the field.
Writing for a niche audience is a good thing because of the profit potential involved. More often than not, the information you need to present here is very specific. Details are very much needed which means a lot of research is required. As such, the kind of writer needed when going deep is someone who knows a lot about something specific. You can quickly build an online reputation here and be recognized as an expert in the field.
Niche writing involves what to write about. It takes a special kind of writer to come up with content for niche topics. This means there is less competition here which is a good thing in terms of making a profit. Niche writing is not about writing things you like or what people enjoy reading. It is all about sharing content to those who want to pay for it. Apart from enjoying less competition, your audience is also much more targeted. This makes coming up with useful content much easier. You only have to worry about a narrow band of topics. This makes earning a pay check easier.
On the other hand, you need to spend a lot of time on research to become an expert, otherwise you will find it difficult to come up with content. Niche writing is time consuming since it requires some heavy thinking. Another thing is that not all niches are profitable.
Going Wide with Niches
Going wide means you write for a broader audience. Instead of coming up with topics for teenage girls, you can expand your base to include teenagers in general. This style of writing is versatile and can fit any writer’s personal style. When you go wide, it is much easier to write an eBook. You can pick up any topic you want and start coming up with content in a matter of minutes. Keeping this up is easy as well. There is no need for long hours spent on research. Best of all, you can ride trending topics and include them in your writing for your benefit.
Writing for a more mainstream crowd is not without its pitfalls though. It is easy to go wide but this also means you have a lot of competition there. This means it can be quite difficult to make money especially when you are a newcomer. Promoting your eBook is difficult and involves promotional costs as well. Building a loyal following of readers is also a challenge. There is a good chance that not a lot of people are all interested in the same topics.
The eBook Readers
Few years ago, no one would have known what an eBook was. This is how new this concept is but now it is so popular that even kids read ebooks on their tablets more that flipping a coloring book on a paper book. As such, eBook readers belong to the younger crowd of Generations X and Y.
More often than not, these are the people who grew up with technology as their playmate. Any ebook’s audience then, is technologically savvy and used to the on-the-go modern lifestyle. If you are writing an eBook aimed at young adults in their early 20’s, there is a good chance that it will do well in the Kindle bookstore. A large number of this crowd does their shopping online anyway.
They are more likely to turn towards their mobile devices to read this content as well. Conversely, an eBook aimed at an older audience may not enjoy as much success except for few targeted audiences like those who are in the upper or middle class life styles where they were also influenced by their younger peers or loved ones, children or grandchildren just like my mother who is already a Senior Citizen but is so fond in her gadgets as a past time and hobby. But there are some surveys that writing about popular activities after retirement may be profitable in physical bookstores but it may stagnate online.
So, choose you niche considering some of these surveys or some facts. This is another good reason for identifying the audience vis-a-vis the niche. It lets the author see if the ebook idea will flourish or sell. Many experts believe that this generation gap is set to disappear eventually. For the meantime it is there and you have to consider this in your decision in choosing your niche.
Here are some quotes for you:
“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” - Sylvia Plath
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” - Anne Frank
“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” - Louis L’Amour
