You’ve likely heard of amazon KDP even if you’re new to the world of self-publishing, but if you haven’t, then in this beginner-friendly guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about Amazon KDP, and how you can start earning money.
And yes, even if you have no prior experience or design skills.
What is Amazon KDP?
Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), is how authors self-publish on Amazon. It’s an online platform that allows authors to make their books available on amazon.com, and reach millions of readers/buyers. The books can be purchased as eBooks or print-on-demand books.
So if you’ve written a book and want to self-publish on amazon.. then KDP is what you need to use.
Opening an Amazon KDP account is free. Including listing, and selling eBooks/paperbacks/hardcovers. You’ll get paid each time a book sells, for up to 70% royalty on every sale.. and you can list unlimited books, no limit.
Anyone can join, and you’ll get accepted instantly, unlike Merch by Amazon.
Is KDP still profitable?
Yes, KDP is still worth it, and always will be. But you need to give time, effort, and patience. KDP is a long-term scheme.
You can sell eBooks, as well as low content/no content paperbacks, which makes it perfect not only for writers but also for designers, who can create good paperback covers.
On average, KDP sellers make three to four-figure income per month.
The difference between low content and no content
Low content books are paperback books that contain little text or images. Some examples:
- Planners
- Coloring books
- Recipe books
- Logbooks
No content books, it simply means that there is no content within the book. Some examples:
- Blank lined journals
- Sketchbooks
No content/low content books require only a few hours to create (as all you have to do is create a good/catchy cover for it, no need to write). This can help you make a good income every month if you publish regularly.
Low content paperback
No content paperback
How to create your KDP account?
Setting up an account at Amazon KDP is quick and free. Follow these 4 steps:
Step #1: Create an Amazon account
Amazon KDP uses the same login details as your amazon.com (Sign in with your existing Amazon username and password, otherwise just create a new Amazon account, with your name, email address, and a secure password).
Step #2: Author/publisher information
After you log in, you’ll see a notice “Your account information is incomplete”, click update now.
Now add your Author/Publisher Information:
Step #3: Bank account
In order to get paid, you need a bank account. If you already have a supported bank account, just enter the details here:
If you don’t have one, or your country isn’t supported, just create a personal Payoneer account (that’s what most KDP publishers do). You can use any similar service, but Payoneer is recommended and works best for KDP.
You can create your free Payoneer account within 10 minutes, and usually, it takes 3 business days to get verified and approved.
Once you create your Payoneer account, you’ll have all the needed details to add your bank account.
Step #4: Tax information
Before you can receive any payments, you need to complete the tax information, it’s easy. This is what you need to enter:
- Tax classification (individual or business).
- If you are a US person.
- If you are acting on behalf of another person.
- Full name.
- Country.
- Address.
- Tin number (if you don’t have one, just uncheck both options).
- Signature (Full name).
Learn more about creating a KDP account here.
How to prepare your KDP designs?
First, you need to do niche research, find worthwhile ideas, low competition niches, and traffic-rich keywords. This might sound hard, but actually, it’s pretty simple. You can check out these YouTube videos to learn how to find profitable KDP niches.
Now after finding your niche, let’s start designing.
If you are someone with prior design experience, you can simply use Photoshop, Canva’s free tool, or any editing software to create your designs, with the help of KDP’s Cover Calculator.
KDP Cover Calculator helps you to find out the exact dimensions of your book cover and allows you to download a template, which will be used as a guide layer in your image editing software.
But, if you have zero design skills, Fiverr gigs are your best option. You can head to Fiverr, choose a good KDP covers gig, and have your design ready in less than 24h. A good alternative to Etsy in every aspect.
For example, this guy on Fiverr is offering 10 eye-catching designs for low content books for just 20$. It’s very worth it since it’s only a one-time fee, and your paperback will be “forever” published on your Amazon KDP account.
Now that you have your cover ready, you can use the free Bookbolt interior generator tool, to generate and download the interior of your lined journal, sketchbook, music sheets, trackers, to-do lists, reminders, planners, etc.. depending on what are you creating.
Keep in mind that the same interior can be used with all your paperback covers (you only have to generate it once).
How to publish your paperbacks?
Publishing your first paperback is quite easy.
- Head to your KDP dashboard.
- Under “Create a new title”, click “Paperback”.
- Enter your Paperback details (title, author, description, publishing rights, keywords/tags, category..).
- Click “Save and Continue”.
- Enter your Paperback content (Assign a free ISBN, print options, upload your interior, upload your cover).
- Launch previewer (to make sure your paperback looks as intended, also it will warn you if there are any errors).
- Approve the preview.
- Click “Save and Continue”.
- Enter the price you’d like to sell your paperback for (the recommended paperback price should be something between $4.99 and $9.99).
- Click “Publish your Paperback Book”.
Now sit back and wait for your first sale.
You don’t need paid advertising. If your paperback is good enough, it will start to sell eventually.
Can I automatically upload bulk paperbacks to Amazon KDP? Yes, there are many online services that offer KDP automation to automate your uploads, save time/energy, and generate more revenues. The most popular ones are Merchtitans and Power KDP.
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