Have you written a book and don’t know where to publish it or even how to publish it? This guide is for you. In this visual guide on how to publish your book on Amazon through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), I will show you all the steps necessary to get your book online and reaching readers worldwide.

Publishing a book is easier than you think. A long time ago writers used to have to rely on getting discovered by publishers, agents, or pitching their book to anyone who they thought would buy it and ultimately know someone who might be able to get it published for you. With advances in technology and the internet, publishing a book is easier than ever, and anyone who has ever written a book can do it with these simple steps I am going to show you in this guide.

Amazon has made it extremely easy for anyone who has written a book to self-publish their book through the Kindle Direct Publishing Platform and and potentially reach a billion readers worldwide. When you publish your book through Kindle Direct Publishing your book becomes available for readers to read on any Kindle device to include a web browser, smartphone, Windows, Mac-based computers, iPad, tablets, and so forth through a Kindle reading app.

Quite simply, Amazon dominates the eBook market and publishing your book through Kindle Direct Publishing will get your book to market and reach many readers worldwide. Publishing your book is virtually pain-free and with this guide we have simplified it even further. Below is the visual, step-by-step guide showing you how to self-publish your book via Kindle Direct Publishing.

Step 1.  Sign Up

If you look at the bottom of Amazon’s Home Page, you will see a link that say Independently Publish With Us. Click on that link to get started and publish your book with Kindle Direct Publishing.

Step 2.  Create Your Kindle Direct Publishing Account

All you have to do is Click Get Started to begin.

Once you get started you will need to either use an existing Amazon account or create a new one. You may also be required to provide some additional information such as banking information. This information will be used to send your royalties earned through book sales.

Step 3.  Add Your Book Title

Once you create your account, you can will be taken to you Kindle Direct Publishing Dashboard. From here you will be able to add your books, access reports, visit the Kindle Direct Publishing Community, enroll in KDP Select, and more.

Step 4. Enter Your Book Details

On this screen you will provide all of the pertinent information about your book to include its name, is it a part of a series, edition number, the publisher, your book description, contributors, and publication date.

Step 5.  Choose Your Book Category

Amazon allows you to choose two categories and add up to 7 keywords. This is a huge step as the right category can catapult your book to a top ranking or hot new release. Choosing the right keywords are essential for when people are searching for specific things. Your keywords make it easy for someone to find your book through search. My recommendation is to use not only short words but long words also. With a little research and creativity your keywords will stand out and make it easy for readers to find you and your book.

Step 6.  Add Your Book Cover

This step is crucial as the wrong book cover can make or break whether a potential buyer samples or buys your book. You can click HERE to read more about the guidelines to creating a cover image for your book. You can either create your own book cover or hire a professional to design a quality cover for your book. There are many services out there that will design an eye catching cover for you all at decent prices. Just keep in mind that a poorly designed image can have a potentially negative effect on buyers causing then to bypass your book.

Step 7.  Upload Your Book

This is an extremly easy process. All you have to do is choose whether or not to enable digital rights management, then browse for your book file on your computer, and click upload. Amazon accepts Word (DOC and DOCX), HTML, ePub, Text, and PDF files.

Step 8.  Formatting and Previewing Your Book

Once your book has been uploaded you can choose to preview it using an online previewer. This online preview is an exact replica of what your book would look like on several devices to include a Kindle, Kindle Fire, iPad, iPhone, and more. It is highly recommended that you preview your book as it would appear on several devices. However, your book will look different on many devices so I wouldn’t get to bent out of shape if it looks strange on one device and perfect on another. You will most likely have to settle on how it looks as formatting can be a bit tricky. Although Amazon should retain proper formatting you definitely need to take the time to preview every page so there are no glaring issues.

Step 9.  Choose Your Royalty

This is where the money is at, choosing your royalty. Here you can select the price of your book and either 35% or 70% royalty from that price. If your book is between $0.99and $200.00 you can choose the 35% royalty. If your book is between $2.99 and $9.99 you can choose the 70% royalty. Obviously, choosing the 70 percent royalty is the best way to go. However, you may want to price your book lower to gain more sales initially then raise your price accordingly. When you choose the 70% royalty, Amazon will deduct a small delivery fee. This is just a small fee for the wireless delivery of your book based off the size of your books file.

Step 10.  Complete

Congratulations ! ! ! You are now a published author whose book is on the largest platform reaching readers worldwide. It will typically take between 12-48 hours for a book to become available, but once it is you will get an e-mail from Amazon letting you know your book is LIVE.

The next step is for you to create an Amazon Author Page and get the word out about your newly published book. You can spread the word about your book by visiting Author Shout and submitting your book for Free Book Promotion or take advantage of their Extended Promotion Packages. You can also take advantage of a program called KDP Select in which you can publish your book, make it exclusively available to Amazon for 90 days, and allow Amazon customers to borrow your book for free. However, Amazon will pay you a fee every time your book is borrowed. This fee is often similar to the royalty you would have received had a customer actually bought your book.

I hope this article was valuable to you as the goal of it was to show you how to publish your book on Amazon using the Kindle Direct Publishing Platform. I wish you all the best and may you reach a world of new readers.