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How to Write a Book on Kindle: A Comprehensive Guide for Authors

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on April 25, 2023

Categories Writing , Publishing

Are you a budding writer looking to make a splash in self-publishing? With Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), you can easily create and publish your ebook, reaching millions of readers worldwide. But before you start typing away, it’s essential to understand the platform’s specifics and the necessary steps to create a captivating, well-formatted book. From clarifying your purpose to formatting your manuscript, the journey to becoming a successful Kindle author can be daunting. However, with the right tools and guidance, you can make your writing dreams a reality.

Understanding Kindle Publishing Platforms

When it comes to publishing a book on Kindle, authors have a variety of platforms to choose from, each with its unique features and benefits. This section will explore the primary Kindle publishing platforms: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), KDP Select, Kindle Unlimited, and Kindle Vella.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is a popular platform that allows authors to self-publish their books in both eBook and print-on-demand paperback formats. It is a straightforward process that involves creating an account, uploading the manuscript, and selecting pricing and distribution options. KDP enables authors to reach a wide audience through the Amazon marketplace, retaining control over their work and royalties. The company’s comprehensive formatting and cover design resources help authors ensure their books meet Amazon’s guidelines.

KDP Select is an optional program provided by Amazon KDP that enrolls authors’ eBooks exclusively on Amazon for 90 days. By joining KDP Select, authors can access additional marketing and promotional tools, such as Kindle Countdown Deals or Free Book Promotions. Participation in the program also allows authors to earn higher royalties from Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. However, KDP Select requires authors to remove their eBooks from other digital distribution platforms.

Kindle Unlimited

Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service that lets readers access a vast selection of eBooks for a fixed monthly fee. Authors enrolled in KDP Select can include their books in this program, providing them with a broader audience and additional earnings. Kindle Unlimited royalties are based on the number of pages read and the total royalties available in the KDP Select Global Fund each month.

Kindle Vella

Kindle Vella is a new platform by Amazon (currently in the US only) that allows authors to publish stories in a serialized format. Authors can release episodes ranging from 600 to 5,000 words each, with the first few episodes available for free to help attract readers. Kindle Vella readers use in-app tokens to unlock subsequent episodes, and the authors earn a share of the revenue generated from the purchase of these tokens.

Preparing Your Manuscript

Writing your book.

Writing a book for Kindle requires focus, dedication, and a clear understanding of your target audience. Start by outlining your ideas and organizing your thoughts. Then, develop a structured plan for your manuscript, which includes chapters or sections.

Formatting Your Text

Formatting your text correctly is essential for a professional-looking Kindle book. First, ensure that your paragraphs are consistently indented and that line spacing is set appropriately. When it comes to fonts, choose a readable option such as Times New Roman or Arial in a suitable size (usually 12 pt).

Microsoft Word and Google Docs

Microsoft Word and Google Docs are popular options for writing and formatting eBooks. They offer a wide range of formatting tools and features that make it easy to create a professional-looking manuscript. To ensure compatibility with Kindle, save your file in a format such as .doc or .docx, which can then be converted to the proper Kindle format.

Kindle Create

Kindle Create is a free software provided by Amazon that simplifies creating a Kindle book. It offers a user-friendly interface for designing both reflowable and interactive eBooks. The software is available for Windows and Mac and will convert your manuscript into the appropriate Kindle-compatible format (.kpf) when you are ready to publish.

Kindle Format and Conversion

The Kindle format is a unique type of eBook file designed to work seamlessly on Amazon’s e-readers and mobile devices. To create a Kindle-compatible book, you must convert your manuscript from its original format (such as .doc, .docx, or .pdf) to the Kindle-supported format (.mobi or .azw3). For this purpose, you can use tools like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or third-party software like Calibre or Vellum (for Mac).

Creating an Engaging Book Cover

A captivating book cover is crucial for attracting potential readers and conveying the essence of your book. An engaging cover can significantly impact your book’s visibility and success on Kindle.

Start by brainstorming concepts that embody the core themes of your book. Identify the main elements you want to highlight, such as characters, settings, or symbols. Don’t forget to consider your target audience, as this can influence your design’s style, colors, and visual elements.

Once you have a clear vision, you can create your book cover using various tools and resources:

  • Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing’s (KDP) Cover Creator is a free tool that offers various layouts, fonts, and customization options. It also automatically adds your book’s ISBN to the barcode area on the back cover.
  • Kindle Create is another Amazon tool that helps you create professional-quality eBooks with ease.
  • Freelance platforms like Fiverr can help you find affordable designers to create a custom cover tailored to your book’s needs.

Ensure that your book cover meets the technical requirements for Amazon KDP, such as file format, dimensions, and resolution. Also, remember that your cover should look appealing in print and digital platforms, as Kindle users will often see a thumbnail image of the cover in their libraries.

Publishing Your Book

Kindle ebook.

When self-publishing a Kindle ebook, you’ll need to start by creating a well-formatted manuscript. Your document should be in the widely-supported .doc, .docx, or .html format, easily converted by Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing ( KDP ). KDP’s conversion tools work best for simple formatting, so avoid using complex styles and layouts.

For those wishing to publish a print version of their book alongside the ebook, Amazon’s KDP also supports a paperback option. Authors can submit a PDF file with their book’s content and cover, ensuring it meets Amazon’s guidelines (found here ). In addition, authors should consider the dimensions, formatting, and font sizes to optimize their book for print.

Amazon Kindle Publishing

Once your manuscript is ready, navigate to Amazon KDP and sign in with your Amazon account or create one if you don’t have one. Upload your ebook or, if preparing a print version, a pdf file. You’ll need to provide book details, including title, author name, description, and relevant keywords to help readers discover your book. Additionally, set a price for your book, considering that different royalty rates apply based on the pricing tier.

After finalizing your book’s details and uploading your manuscript, review your submission for errors through KDP’s online previewer. Once satisfied, submit your book for publishing, usually taking around 72 hours for the book to appear on Amazon’s Kindle Store.

Apple Books

If you wish to expand your market by publishing on Apple Books, you’ll need to create an account on Apple’s Books for Authors . After signing in, upload your ebook file in EPUB format, complying with Apple’s requirements detailed in the guide. Next, provide your book details, choose pricing and territories, and submit your book for review. The process usually takes a few days, after which your book will be available in the Apple Books Store.

Optimizing Your Book Listing

Optimizing your book listing on Kindle is essential to attract more readers and increase sales. This section will focus on three essential sub-sections to enhance your book’s discoverability: Book Title and Description, Author Central, and Keywords and Categories.

Book Title and Description

A compelling book title and description can make a significant difference in capturing potential readers’ attention. The title should be unique, concise, and relevant to the book’s content. Consider researching similar titles in the Kindle Store to get an idea of what works well in your genre.

The book description is equally essential in attracting readers. Aim to write a clear, captivating, and informative description. Be sure to mention the main ideas, theme, or plot without giving too much away. Include details about the intended audience and why they should read your book. Proper formatting, such as using bold, italic, and bulleted lists, can help make your description more appealing.

Author Central

Creating an Author Central account on Amazon Author Central helps improve visibility and credibility. An Author Central account allows you to create a detailed author bio, add a professional author photo, and link all your published books. This platform also lets you track your book’s performance, such as sales rank and customer reviews.

It is essential to have a professional and engaging author bio to build trust and showcase your expertise. Mention any relevant experience, qualifications, or awards you may have, and provide a few personal details to make it relatable.

Keywords and Categories

Selecting accurate keywords and categories is essential for making your book discoverable to the target audience. To find the most effective keywords related to your book, search for popular terms in your genre on the Kindle Store and use tools like Google Keyword Planner . Add the chosen keywords to your book’s metadata in the Amazon KDP dashboard.

Similarly, choose appropriate categories for your book by analyzing the best sellers in your genre. By picking the right categories, your book will be more likely to appear in search results for readers interested in similar titles.

Promoting Your Book

Once you have written and published your book on Kindle, it’s time to focus on promoting it. This section will cover essential promotional tactics, such as social media and email marketing, Kindle Countdown Deals, and Free Promotions.

Social Media and Email Marketing

You can easily begin promoting your Kindle book on Amazon using your existing social media and web platforms. Schedule regular posts containing the link to your Amazon book page and tag people or accounts who might be interested in your topic. Furthermore, sharing engaging content related to your book’s subject matter can be a powerful way to spark interest among potential readers.

Email marketing is another essential tool for promoting your book. Develop a list of subscribers interested in your writing and inform them about your book’s launch or updates. By cultivating a relationship with your email list, you increase the likelihood of their support for your book.

Kindle Countdown Deal

The Kindle Countdown Deal is a benefit offered by Amazon KDP that allows authors to conduct time-limited promotional pricing for their books in a specific market. This promotion can generate significant visibility for your book and motivate potential buyers to take advantage of the reduced price while it lasts. To participate in a Kindle Countdown Deal , ensure that your book meets the eligibility requirements outlined by Amazon.

Free Promotions

Another promotional strategy provided by Amazon KDP is the Free Promotions tool. With this feature, you can offer your book for free to readers for a limited time. This can help increase your book’s visibility and garner more reviews from readers who might not have considered your book otherwise. To take advantage of Free Promotions, enroll in the KDP Select program and ensure that your book meets the eligibility requirements outlined by Amazon.

Incorporating these promotional tactics into your overall marketing strategy ensures that your book will reach a wider audience and increase its chances of success on the Kindle platform.

Navigating Different Kindle Devices

As an author, understanding how to navigate various Kindle devices is important for creating a better reading experience for your audience. This section will explore navigation techniques for Kindle Fire, Kindle eReaders, and the Kindle app.

Kindle Fire

The Kindle Fire is a versatile tablet that enables readers to read books and access multimedia content. While reading a book on the Kindle Fire, users can tap on the right or left side of the screen to flip pages forward or backward.

To access the table of contents, readers tap the center of the screen to reveal the navigation panel, then tap the three horizontal lines in the top left corner and select “Go To” from the menu. They can easily navigate to chapters, bookmarks, and notes from here.

Kindle eReaders

Kindle eReaders focus on providing a comfortable reading experience through their E-Ink display technology. Like the Kindle Fire, readers can turn pages by tapping the left or right side of the screen.

To access the toolbar, users can tap the top edge of the screen. From there, they can access various features such as adjusting font settings, creating bookmarks, or viewing notes by selecting “Go To” and then “Notes” at the top of the screen.

Users can read Kindle books on various devices like smartphones, tablets, and computers through the Kindle app. The navigation process remains similar for flipping pages by tapping on the screen. However, depending on the device, the app may offer additional features or a varied interface.

For instance, some devices may support the continuous scrolling feature, which allows users to scroll vertically to read instead of tapping the screen to turn pages. To access this feature, readers can tap the “Aa” icon on the navigation bar and toggle the continuous scrolling option in the settings menu.

In conclusion, being familiar with navigation techniques across different Kindle devices can help authors create better reading experiences for their audience. By catering to each device’s unique features and requirements, authors can ensure that their readers enjoy a seamless and engaging experience with their books.

Content Vista-Content-writing-agency-black-logo

How to Write & Self Publish an Amazon Kindle eBook [2023]; The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

C. King and Harshit B.

C. King and Harshit B.

  • |   Updated September 28, 2023

How to Write & Self Publish an Amazon Kindle eBook

  • eBook Content

Understand The Kindle Ebook Writing Process And Start Making Serious Money From Self-Publishing

If you want to write (and publish) an Amazon Kindle eBook in 2023, then this is the only guide you’ll need.

We’ll walk you through the different steps involved in Kindle eBook writing, publishing (and promotion).

You no longer need to go through the hassle of finding publishers and spend a fortune on becoming a published author.

self publishing a kindle ebook and making serious money

Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform makes it super easy to self-publish your eBook for free.

And you can actually make money writing eBooks for Amazon’s Kindle devices!

download the full blog post on How to Write & Self Publish an Amazon Kindle eBook

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that we may receive a commission (at no extra cost to you), if you make a purchase using these links. We only recommend products we trust or have personally used.  Learn more .

How do you Write, Self Publish and Promote a Kindle eBook in 2023?

👉 download ebook “how to write, self publish & promote an amazon kindle ebook in 2023” + get 20 minutes of strategic guidance.

This post has three parts; the first part includes steps on how to WRITE your eBook for Amazon Kindle, the second part covers how to SELF-PUBLISH your eBook using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), and the third part [BONUS] contains tips to PROMOTE your Kindle eBook.

Let’s get into it.

Let’s start with the basic question.

What is Kindle eBook writing? Kindle eBook writing is the process of writing a digital book that can be read on Amazon’s Kindle devices or apps.

When you hear the word “eBook,” it might conjure up images of lengthy technical manuals or academic tomes. But Amazon eBooks come in all shapes and sizes—they can be fiction or nonfiction, long or short.

Now that we’ve answered this question 👇

Here’s what you need to learn so you can master the Amazon Kindle eBook writing process and get recognition for your expertise .

Step 1: get clear on why you’re writing an amazon ebook.

Yes, writing and selling books on Amazon Kindle is profitable.

But before you start with Kindle eBook writing in 2023, it’s essential to get clear on your motives.

Why do you want to write an eBook? What’s the purpose or goal of your book?

Maybe you want to build your personal brand or become a thought leader in your industry.

Or maybe you have specific knowledge in a domain which you want to share with your readers.

Maybe you want to earn money and build an income stream from self-publishing an eBook (or two).

Or maybe you just want to see your name published as the author of a book.

Kindle eBook writing step 1 - get clear on why you are writing a book

Whatever your reason for writing and publishing your eBook, getting clear on your “why” and having the end in mind will help to keep you focused and motivated throughout the writing process.

It’ll also make it easier to market and sell your Amazon eBook once it’s published.

For example, let’s say you want to write a storybook for children. Your goal might be to sell a million copies and become a best-selling author. Or maybe you just want to write a cookbook and share your favourite recipes with friends and family.

In any case, it’s important to be clear.

Try writing a Kindle eBook that solves a clear, quantifiable problem for the reader, and you’ll do alright!

Download PDF guide on how to write, self-publish and promote and Amazon Kindle eBook

Step 2: Choose a Topic [aka Brainstorm Ideas For Your eBook]

The second step in writing an eBook for Amazon Kindle is choosing a topic. This can be anything that you’re passionate about or have expertise in.

If you’ve already finalized a topic; good for you 🙂!

The great thing about writing an eBook is that you can write about pretty much any topic you want. There are no set rules or guidelines for choosing a topic.

Just make sure you don’t just choose a topic that is “hot” in 2023 if you’re not actually interested in it.

finding a topic for your amazon kindle ebook

It’s also essential to choose a topic you care about and one you’ll be able to write about in sufficient detail.

It is not easy, though. In fact, finalizing the topic for your book can be one of the most challenging parts of Kindle eBook writing.

choosing a winning ebook topic is a process and takes time

Many aspiring writers get this wrong BUT if you get it right, the returns can be EXPONENTIAL.  

If you’re not sure what to write about, try brainstorming a list of potential topics.

If you’re having trouble coming up with a topic for your eBook, here are a few questions and brainstorming techniques to help you get started:

– What is your area of expertise or experience?

– what problems are you good at solving, – what message can you give in your book that your readers need to hear, – what life experiences or stories can you share with your readers, – look through amazon’s kindle store for ideas. what topics are popular right now, – check out other amazon ebooks in your genre or niche. what topics have been done to death is there something that you could write about that would be unique, – ask your friends, family, and co-workers what they’d like to read about., – talk to experts in your field. what are the burning questions that people have, – do some keyword research. what are people searching for online.

You get the idea, right?

Once you’ve come up with a few ideas, you can shortlist 3-4 of the best ones.

Next, evaluate the shortlisted ideas and narrow them down to 1-2 and then choose one by considering factors like feasibility, marketability and competition, among others.

Expert Tip 💡 – Choose a narrow niche and go deep rather than broad in your chosen niche. Give the readers more detailed and specific information on your topic rather than shallow or superficial ideas on how to do something.

Now it’s time to move on to the next step: researching your topic.

Step 3: Research Your Topic

Once you have finalized your topic, the next step in Amazon Kindle eBook writing is to do your research. This step is vital for two reasons. 

First, you need to make sure that there’s actually a market for your eBook in 2023. Second, you need to gather the information and material you’ll need to write your eBook.

It’ll also help you better understand the subject matter and identify gaps in the existing books available on the topic.

When researching your topic, make sure to use reliable sources like scholarly articles, existing books, and relevant websites. Avoid using sources like Wikipedia, as this is not a reliable source of information.

You can research your topic in two parts. Let’s take a closer look at each of these now.

Part I: Determine the Marketability of Your Topic

The first thing you need to do is determine whether there’s a market for your Amazon eBook. In other words, is there an audience for your book?

Are more than a handful of people searching about your chosen topic? The best way to find out is to do some keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of finding out what people are searching for online. This will give you an idea of the demand for your topic.

There are a few different ways to do keyword research. 

Google Keyword Planner

The first (and easiest) way is to use Google’s Keyword Planner tool.

Google Keyword Planner is a software that was developed to help research keywords for Search campaigns.

BUT it can also be used to research topics for eBooks!

First, go to Google and type in “keyword planner”.

Or you can simply go here .

Using Google Keyword Planner to find potential topics for your Amazon Kindle eBook

Sign in with your Google account. If you don’t have one, you can create one for free.

Once you’re signed in, click on “Discover new keywords”

Discovering new keywords in Google Keyword Planner to find topics for a Kindle eBook

Click on “Get results.”

Google will now show you a list of related keywords.

Take a look at the results and pay attention to the following metrics:

– Average monthly searches:

This is the number of times people have searched for a particular keyword per month. The higher the number, the better.

– Competition:

This is a measure of how many people are bidding on a particular keyword. The lower the number, the better.

Google Trends

Secondly, you can also use Google Trends to get an idea of the popularity of your topic over time.

To do this, go to Google and type in “Google Trends.”

Enter your topic in the search bar.

Using Google trends to find potential topics for an eBook

Google will now show you a line graph depicting the popularity of your topic over time.

Pay attention to the following metrics:

– Interest over time: This shows you how popular your topic is in 2023, relative to other topics. The higher the number, the better.

– Search interest by region: This shows you which parts of the world are searching for your topic. If you’re targeting readers from a specific country or region, make sure that there’s enough interest in the topic in that part of the world.

Keyword Tools

Or you can also use a paid keyword research service like ahrefs which has a dedicated Amazon Keyword Tool to gauge interest in your topic. [This tool lets you generate 100 keywords for free without signing up.]

Amazon Kindle Store Search Results

Another important thing you need to check is how many books come up in the search results on Amazon Kindle Store for your chosen topic.

If the search volume is good and the eBooks in the results are not too many, you may instantly have a winning topic in your hands.

But if the search volume is good and there are lots of published eBooks on the topic, you can still proceed with the topic because that shows interest in the topic is high.

But you’ll need to be more thorough with the next part below, before you proceed.

Here’s the deal. 👇

Go ahead with a topic only if plenty of people are interested in it (we recommend a search volume of more than 1000). Writing and publishing an Amazon Kindle eBook requires an investment of significant time, energy and money; be sure that all that effort doesn’t go to waste.

Part II: Gather the Information and Material You Need

The next step is to gather the information and material you need to write your Amazon eBook. This includes both primary and secondary sources.

Harshit Bhatia's expert comment on how to gather relevant information and material while writing your eBook

Primary sources are first-hand accounts of an event or phenomenon. They can include sources like interviews, surveys, and original research.

You can tap the following sources of information to gather information:

– Your email list/subscribers:

If you have a blog with an email list of subscribers, send out a survey to gather information about their needs and wants. [We highly recommend that published authors have their own blog and be active on social media platforms like Twitter so that you can build a long-term relationship with your readers.]

– Social media:

You can use social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to gauge interest in your topic. You can also use these platforms to gather information from people who are interested in your topic.

– Forums & communities:

There are many forums and communities on the internet (such as on Reddit) where people discuss various topics. Do a quick search on Google, and you’ll likely find a few forums related to your topic. These can be a great source of information.

– Facebook & LinkedIn:

You can use Facebook and LinkedIn to find groups of people who are interested in your topic.

– Google:

You can use Google to find websites, blog posts, and articles related to your topic.

Secondary sources are second-hand accounts of an event or phenomenon. When gathering information for your Kindle eBook, make sure to use reliable sources.

As we mentioned before, avoid using Wikipedia as a source of information.

Secondary sources may include relevant books, articles, and websites.

– Amazon Kindle Store:

You can also use the Amazon Kindle Store to gather information about people’s needs and wants. Search for books in your topic area and take a look at the book descriptions. This will give you an idea of what people are looking for.

One additional source of information we recommend our readers and clients to refer to is the reviews on similar high-ranking books on Amazon for your chosen topic.

Because it is a GOLDMINE of relevant information!

Referring user reviews on similar high-ranking Kindle eBooks before writing your own book

You’ll get to know what REAL people are saying and what they like or don’t like about the existing books on the topic.

You can use this information to plug any gaps in the topic that have not yet been addressed; you can write your book from a different angle; and/or you can adapt your writing style to what the readers want, among other things.

Once you’ve gathered all of the information and material you need, it’s time to move on to the next step: planning.

writing books on kindle

Step 4: Plan Your Amazon eBook [aka Outline Your eBook]

After you’ve done your research and organized it, it’s time to start planning your eBook. This involves creating an outline of your book.

This is how you can go from not being able to complete a single eBook for months, to finishing and publishing multiple eBooks in a year!

It will help you organize your thoughts and structure your book in a way that makes sense.

Remember, if you’re not a celebrity (which most of us are not) and you’re just starting out with writing your first Amazon Kindle book, you’ll be starting at the lower end of the spectrum.

What this means is two things.

First, we recommend that you price your first book between $2 – $5 (more on this in Part 2 of this post).

And second, you need to decide the length of your eBook.

If you’re wondering how long should your Kindle eBook be, then here’s something to consider. 👇

You need not go overboard by writing a huge tome of say 50000 words, for your first book.

You can get started with a 10000 – 15000 words eBook initially.

Your Amazon eBook outline should include the following:

– Introduction:

The introduction should give an overview of the main topics covered in your book. It should explain what the book is about and why it’s important.

– Table of contents: 

The table of contents should list all the chapters and sections in your book.

– Chapters: 

Each chapter should focus on a specific sub-topic. This is the body of your book, which will cover sub-topics in more detail.

– Conclusion: 

The conclusion should summarize the main points of your book. It should also include any call to action, such as inviting the reader to buy a product or sign up for your email list.

If this seems overwhelming initially, then just start off by writing chapter titles and note down bullet points for what you intend to include in each chapter.

You’ll probably get into the groove soon!

And once you’ve created an outline, it’s time to start writing your Amazon eBook.

Step 5: Write Your Amazon Kindle eBook

Sitting down to actually write your eBook is in fact, one of the most challenging steps of all.

Because it requires you to be disciplined and consistent!

Most people are enthusiastic at the beginning but get bogged down over time.

you expect to finish writing your kindle ebook quickly but in reality it takes time to finish an ebook

So what can you do?

The Thought Process of Winning eBook Writers Revealed

The writers who succeed are the ones who are consistent with writing every day!

We recommend that you create a schedule for writing at a fixed time every day (or every alternate day if you prefer).

Start off small by devoting 30 minutes to 01 hour every day at the same time and gradually increase the time you write every day.

Here’s a thought. 👇

If you write just 200 words every day for two months, you’ll end up with a 12000-word book!

write consistently everyday and you'll end up with a huge ebook

Next, when writing your book, make sure to keep your audience in mind. Write clearly and concisely, using language that your target audience will be able to understand.

Ask yourself the following questions:

– Who is my audience, OR Who am I writing to?

– what is their major pain point i want to address in the book, – what do they like (and dislike), – how deeply should i cover this topic.

And next, it’s also important to format your Amazon Kindle eBook in a way that makes it easy to read (as you’ll read in the next step). For example, use short paragraphs and include plenty of white space. Breaking your book up into sections can also be helpful.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when writing your Amazon eBook:

– Keep it simple: 

Remember the audience you’re writing for. Avoid jargon or technical language if you’re writing for a general audience.

– Be concise: 

eBooks are typically shorter than traditional books. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short.

– Use active voice: 

Use active voice when writing your Amazon eBook. Active voice is easier to read and understand than passive voice.

– Use images and illustrations: 

Modern readers have low attention spans. Using relevant images, graphs, and other visuals can help improve readability.

– Keep at it: 

Don’t give in to writer’s block and keep at it every day. Writing something is better than a blank document, isn’t it?

– Don’t edit just yet: 

Also, when you’re writing, just write without trying to edit your work (as you’ll read below).

– Consider an advanced AI writing assistant like Jasper :  

Yes, most people believe AI writers can never replace human writers. And they are right. 

MOST AI writers can’t.

BUT we are still recommending Jasper. 

Because Jasper is an advanced writing machine AND if you get to know how to use it, you’ll be amazed at what it can do.

We have become masters at using it for content creation and you can too. But it takes time and you can’t expect it to do all your writing on its own.

Here’s a bonus to get you started; use this link and get 10,000 words to try out Jasper for free ! 

We, at Content Vista, use the Jasper Boss Mode (unlimited words), which starts from $59/month at 50000 words so if you want that you can go here .

– Consider hiring a ghostwriter: 

If you’re someone who wants to become a published author but don’t know how to actually write a book or don’t have time to write, then you can consider ghostwriting. You can hire a ghost writer who can write the book as per your vision and stay anonymous. Of course, hiring a premium eBook ghostwriting service (or even a good eBook writer on Fiverr) in 2023 might be expensive, but the investment pays you back for years to come, so it’s worth it!

And once you’ve finished writing your Amazon eBook, it’s time to move on to the next step: formatting.

Expert Tip 💡 – Though including a copyright page is optional as per Amazon, we highly recommend that you include a copyright page in your content, at the start of your book.

Step 6: Format Your Kindle eBook

The next step is to format your eBook for Amazon Kindle devices.

You can format it yourself or you can get it done from a professional for a low cost.

Or you can go for a tool like atticus if you wish to do this often enough.

Or there’s an even better option that we use to create our own eBooks; Designerr . 

Designerr can make your job of creating an eBook extremely easy.

It takes your content from your document (MS-Word or Google Doc or Apple Pages) or from a webpage (in case you want to repurpose a blog post into an ebook) and at the click of a button converts the content into a stylish and professional looking eBook.

Which you can then simply publish (as we’ll talk about later in the post).

The basic plan of Designerr is good for most people to start with at a one time payment of $27 (lifetime access).

But you can also go for Designerr Pro which has a free trial for 7 days, and then a recurring payment of $39 per month.

And if you want to learn more about how to use the tool, you can check out step 7 in this resource .

And in 2023, there’s also another option you should consider.

Earlier, anyone writing a Kindle eBook had to do it manually but Amazon now offers Kindle Create which is a free formatting software that you can use to format your eBook for the platform.

It provides prebuilt themes with chapter titles, drop caps and image placement options.

You can also style your chapter titles and simultaneously create your table of contents.

Another useful feature is the built-in Kindle Previewer that helps you see how the book will look to readers on different devices such as phones, tablets and eReaders.

[Here’s a resource if you’re looking to know more about Kindle Create.]

However, here’s a caveat.👇

The tool works really well if you want to sell your eBook on Amazon. But if you want to sell your eBook on another platform except Amazon or you want to sell a printed book, then you may find that formatting another way is better.

In any case, when formatting your eBook, here are a few things that you should keep in mind:

– Use headings and subheadings: 

Headings and subheadings help break up your text and make it easier to read.

– Use bullet points and lists: 

Bullet points and lists help break up your text and make it easier to read.

– Use images: 

Images can help illustrate your points and make your Amazon eBook more visually appealing. Here’s the deal; custom images and graphics are expensive but they can REALLY help improve the reading experience of your eBook.

– Use keywords: 

Keywords help improve your eBook’s search engine optimization (SEO).

Once you’ve finished formatting your eBook, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Step 7: Edit and Proofread Your Amazon eBook

Once you’ve finished writing your eBook, it’s time to edit and proofread it. This is important to ensure that your book is free of errors and is the best it can be.

The #1 Mistake Most Aspiring Kindle eBook Writers Make (No Matter The Domain) 👇

Trying to edit and proofread the Amazon eBook WHILE writing it.

Which is a HUGE mistake because it adversely affects the quality of the content in the eBook.

Here’s the deal.

While writing, just write; put your thoughts out and don’t worry about editing just yet!

And when you do reach the stage of editing your book, consider things like grammar, punctuation, and clarity.

You may also want another pair of eyes to read your book to give you feedback (highly recommended).

This is important because most people are unable to see errors in their own writing and generally need a professional editor to go over their work.

A professional editor can help you:

– cut the fluff out and make your book less wordy

– correct grammatical, punctuation and spelling errors

– improve readability and sentence structure

Make no mistake about it; editing is expensive, but it is worth it because you don’t want your name on a manuscript with a large number of errors.

Of course, if you know how to use a tool like Grammarly, you can save a few dollars. But the role of a professional editor is still important!

Once you’ve edited and proofread your book, it’s time to move on to the next step.

Step 8: Choose a Cover for your Amazon Kindle eBook (or get it designed)

Your Amazon eBook cover is important for two reasons.

First, it’s what potential readers will see when they’re searching for books on Amazon.

Second, it can help your book stand out from the competition.

When choosing a cover for your Amazon eBook, make sure to use high-quality images and avoid using stock photos.

You’ll also want to choose a cover that’s visually appealing and relevant to the content of your book.

You can design a custom cover for yourself using canva pro (recommended if you have a knack for designing and if you’re looking to write multiple eBooks).

And if you don’t wish to design a cover yourself, you can get a professional graphic designer to do it for you at a low cost (try Fiverr or Upwork).

Step 8 of writing an Amazon eBook - choosing a cover for your book

Or ask us for a custom eBook cover , and we’ll be happy to help (we have, after all, designed hundreds of eBook covers till date, like the one in the image above 😎).

You have now completed all the steps on how to write an Amazon Kindle eBook.

So you have written your Amazon eBook; now what?

Is the work done? No. You’re just getting started, because now you need to publish and promote your eBook!

This takes us to the next part; publishing your eBook on the Kindle platform.

PART 2 – How to Publish Your eBook on Amazon Kindle

The next part in becoming a published author is actually publishing the book you’ve just finished writing on the Amazon Kindle platform.

We’ve seen many people dither at this stage because this means putting yourself out there, open to being judged by readers.

But let us tell you that publishing and selling books on Kindle is totally worth it!

Now, eBook publishing on Amazon is a relatively simple process.

And using Amazon KDP, you can publish your eBook on Amazon for free!

All you need to do is follow the steps mentioned below.

Step 1: Convert your eBook file to a Kindle-compatible format

The first thing you need to do is to convert your eBook into a format that can be read on an Amazon Kindle device.

This is a prerequisite before you even log on to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

Amazon supports a number of different file formats, so you’ll need to convert your file into one of these formats.

The two most common formats are .mobi and .epub (.epub is the one we recommend).

There are several ways to convert your file into one of these formats.

If you are using MS Word to write your Amazon eBook, you can also export it as a .mobi or .epub file.

Just go to File > Save As and select the appropriate format.

Or you can use a tool like Calibre , which is a free and open-source tool.

Or, you can even hire a professional to convert it for you at a low cost.

Step 2: Create an Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account

The second thing you need to do is create an account on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). This is the platform that allows you to upload your eBook and make it available for sale on Amazon.

Creating an account is simple and only takes a few minutes. Just go to kdp.amazon.com and click on the “Create your KDP account” button.

Once you have created your account, you’ll be taken to the KDP dashboard. This is where you will upload your eBook and manage your book’s settings.

Step 3: Upload your eBook to Amazon KDP

Now that you have a Kindle-compatible file (mentioned in step 1 above), you can upload it to Amazon KDP. To do this, go to the “Books” tab on the KDP dashboard and click on the “Add new title” button.

On the next page, you’ll be asked to enter some information about your book.

This includes the title, author name, description, and keywords.

– Choose a title: 

The title of your Amazon eBook should be catchy and descriptive.

– Write a description: 

The description of your eBook should be clear and concise. It should explain what the eBook is about and why it’s essential.

– Choose a price: 

The price of your eBook on the Amazon Kindle store should be competitive (more on this in the next step).

– Choose a category: 

The category of your eBook should be relevant to the content.

You will also need to upload your eBook file and cover image.

Once you have done this, click on the “Save and Continue” button.

Step 4: Set up your pricing and royalties

An important part of the KDP publishing process is to set up your pricing and royalties. For pricing, you can choose to list your eBook for free OR at a price of your choosing.

If you choose to list it for a price, you will need to set a royalty percentage. This is the percentage of the sale price that you will receive as royalties.

So how much do authors get paid for their first book?

Well, Kindle Direct Publishing offers two royalty options: 35% and 70%.

[Here is a resource page from Amazon KDP if you want to read more about how Amazon calculates eBook royalties.]

The 35% option is only available if you list your Amazon eBook for sale in certain countries.

If you choose the 70% option, you will only be able to list your eBook for sale in specific territories.

To set up your pricing and royalties, go to the “Pricing” tab on the KDP dashboard and select the appropriate options.

Step 5: Consider whether you want your book to be included in Kindle Unlimited

You have probably come across Kindle Unlimited if you’ve ever visited the Amazon Kindle Store.

For customers, Kindle Unlimited is Amazon’s subscription program where they can read multiple eBooks for a subscription fee. 

Now this is also relevant to you as a wannabe author on Amazon.

Well, as per Amazon itself, it provides writers an opportunity to reach more readers and get paid from the KDP Select Global Fund on the basis of per page read (in addition to royalties from regular sales).

If you wish your book to be included in Kindle Unlimited, then you have to enroll for KDP Select.

Of course, there are certain KDP Select requirements that you need to meet but the program itself is open to all authors and publishers.

For more details about Kindle Unlimited, you can check out this resource .

Step 6: Publish your Amazon Kindle eBook

The final step is to publish your eBook on Amazon KDP platform. To do this, go to the “Books” tab on the KDP dashboard and click on the “Publish” button.

On the next page, you’ll be asked to review your book’s information and pricing.

Once you are happy with everything, click on the “Publish Your Kindle eBook” button.

Congratulations, you have just published your Kindle eBook.

It will now be live on Amazon and available for sale.

People all over the world will now be able to buy and read it.

So now are we done? Not just yet.

This takes us to the third part of this post.

PART 3 [BONUS] – Tips to Promote Your Amazon Kindle eBook

The final part of the work after Kindle eBook writing and publishing is to promote your book.

So you may ask, “Why do I need to promote my Amazon eBook? It’s live on the Kindle store, so people will find the book themselves, right?”

Well, not quite!

Your book won’t sell itself (at least not initially, anyway).

you need to promote your amazon kindle ebook for sales to gain momentum

You don’t want to be someone who follows the “publish and pray” strategy, do you?

That’s a recipe for failure (LOW SALES😕).

Without promoting your book and putting it in front of the right audience, it won’t sell! 👇

because of increasing number of amazon ebooks, there is a huge competition for readers

Around 2 million ebooks are self-published every year. How do you stand out? THIS👇 can help you 10X your eBook sales!

We recommend these tips and strategies after you’ve published your eBook on Amazon:

– Try Amazon’s tools to promote your book

In 2023, Amazon offers a number of tools to help you promote your Kindle book. You can use their Author Central tool to create an author profile, which will make it easier for readers to find your other books. You can also use Amazon’s Marketing Services to pay to have your book advertised on their site.

– Try to get a few (initial) reviews for your book

Let’s face it. Most buyers do give importance to reviews before buying.

So one of the best ways to promote your Kindle eBook is to get positive reviews from readers.

You can reach out to bloggers and reviewers who cover books in your genre and offer them a free copy of your book in exchange for an honest review.

You can also offer discounts or freebies to readers who leave reviews on Amazon.

– Create a landing page

A landing page is a web page that promotes your Amazon eBook. It should include a headline, description, images, and a call to action (to buy your book, of course).

– Get active on social media

Social media is a great way to promote your eBook. You can use platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to share your Amazon Kindle eBook with a wider audience.

– Join relevant communities

Another tip is to join online communities (such as on Reddit) related to your book’s genre and participate in discussions with community members.

– Use email marketing

Email marketing is a great way to promote your eBook. If you already have email subscribers, you can use a service like MailerLite or ConvertKit to announce and promote your eBook.

Here’s where to go if you want to start off with ConvertKit’s free plan.

[Both of these rank at the top of email deliverability rankings and we recommend you can go for any of these as we have used both of them.]

– Consider paid ads

Paid advertising is a great way to promote your Amazon eBook. You can use platforms like Google AdWords or Facebook Ads to create and run ads that lead to your landing page.

Ultimately, the problem for most wannabe writers looking to write Amazon eBooks comes down to this. 👇

Writing, publishing and selling winning eBooks takes lots of time, money and energy. Plus there are MANY moving parts in the whole process.

Most writers find the process overwhelming. And few actually make it to the end.

So what can you do to improve your odds of success in an overcrowded space?

We recommend identifying your core strengths and sticking to them. And outsource the rest to domain experts.

In our experience dealing with clients, we’ve seen that a typical aspiring writer finalizes the topic himself, outsources the research part in some cases, plans out the outline by himself (or outsources it), outsources the writing to a ghostwriter, outsources the graphics part to a professional designer AND outsources the promotion to a digital marketer. Of course, it depends on your niche, your expertise, your budget and your vision!

But you get the idea, right?

Now, if you understand the power of putting in place a SOLID Kindle eBook Writing Process…

And if you want to efficiently manage the many moving parts of the eBook writing process where you may have multiple people working on different aspects of your eBook, we recommend using a task management tool such as monday.com .

It’ll help you get organized with your process, track progress and do more in less time.

Final Words

And we are finally done. 🙂

Now you know how to write, publish and promote an Amazon Kindle eBook in 2023 🤩 !

Kindle eBook Writing is a great way to build your brand and reach a wider audience.

And also to share your unique knowledge and expertise with the world.

With Kindle Direct Publishing, there’s never been a better time to become a published author and reach a broad audience.

You can reach millions of readers worldwide for free!

So what are you waiting for? Get started!

Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

And if you need help with any of the steps, just reach out, and we’ll be happy to help.

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  • Originally Published August 5, 2022
  • Last Modified September 28, 2023

2 thoughts on “How to Write & Self Publish an Amazon Kindle eBook [2023]; The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide”

I am glad to find this info. This year I am going to write an e-book.

Glad we could help, Tony. All the best for your upcoming eBook.

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Last updated on Jun 14, 2023

How to Publish a Book on Amazon in 6 Simple Steps

After much time and effort, you’re finally done writing your book 一 congratulations! Now it’s time to make it available for your audience to buy, starting with publishing it on Amazon. While the process is relatively simple, it can still be stressful to go through it alone. But don't worry: we're here to help!

How to publish a book on Amazon:

1. Start an account on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

2. create a new title and enter your book description, 3. select your keywords and amazon categories, 4. upload your epub and book cover files, 5. set a price between $2.99 and $9.99, 6. publish your book.

The first step is to set up a KDP account, which is quick, free, and easy. Hop over to Kindle Direct Publishing and either sign in with your existing Amazon account or sign up for one. 

Log in page on Amazon to upload your book

Once you’re logged in, you will notice a message at the top saying that your account is incomplete — before you can upload your book, you’ll need to tell Amazon how to fulfill your payments.

Screenshot of where to update your account information

Click on Update now and fill in the following information: 

  • Business Type, Date of Birth, and Country : tick off ‘Individual’ or ‘Corporation’ depending on whether you’re publishing as an author or a company, then select your birth date and country of residence. 
  • Payment information: insert your bank account details for receiving your sweet, sweet royalties from sales across all Amazon marketplaces. For American accounts, you’ll need to provide the account holder's name, number, and routing number 一 the first nine digits on the bottom of your checks. 
  • Tax information : complete the quick tax interview to establish your tax identity. 

Once you’ve provided all the information, click “Save” and “Bookshelf” from the top menu to start publishing your book. 

Create a new project on Amazon

You’ll be asked whether you want to publish a Kindle ebook , paperback , hardcover , or a Series page . This guide will focus on the ebook format, though the process including Print-on-Demand services is pretty similar. 

💡Believe it or not, hardcover printing was introduced to KDP as late as 2021. Find out all about it in our step-by-step guide .

Next, it’s time to customize your book page to make sure Amazon customers will be persuaded to hit “Buy now” when they land on it.  

qn0N8SF2LCU Video Thumb

The KDP dashboard is divided into three sections: Details, Content, and Pricing, which we’ll cover one by one. 

As a first step, you’ll be asked to provide the following information: 

  • The language of your book;
  • Your book title and/or subtitle;
  • Whether it’s part of a series;
  • Whether it’s a new edition of an existing book;
  • Your author name ( pen names allowed);
  • The names of other contributors (e.g. a book illustrator , or the editor if it’s an anthology)

Where to provide your book's title on Amazon

Right after, you’ll need to provide a product description 一 a blurb similar to those on the back of a book . There’s an art to writing a compelling book description , so take your time with it and refine it to the last detail. 

Pro-tip: Want to write a book description that sells? Download this free book description template to get a headstart. 

FREE RESOURCE

FREE RESOURCE

Book Description Template

Learn to write a book description that will make readers click “buy.”

Most importantly, make sure your first line is intriguing, since Amazon only shows an abbreviated preview of your blurb, relying on readers to click “Read more” to expand it. Take advantage of Amazon's bold, italic, and bullet list options to make your description is visually appealing — but don't go overboard, of course.

How an Amazon book description looks like

Now that your book is ready to stand out, it’s time to position it on the right shelfs of Amazon’s bookshop. 

Keywords and categories are crucial for boosting your book's chances of success, since they help you ensure that your book is found by the right readers, depending on what they search for. KDP lets you select two categories and up to seven keywords for your book. Select the ones that best describe your book — and remember, you can make changes later, so don’t be afraid to experiment. 

How to pick categories for your book on Amazon

If you want to better understand this topic, read our follow-up guides on Amazon keywords and categories , or enroll in our free course on Amazon algorithms by author and Reedsy co-founder Ricardo Fayet. 

FREE COURSE

FREE COURSE

Amazon Algorithms for Authors

Learn to optimize your book description, pick categories, and sell more books.

Before moving on to the next section, you’ll be asked if your book is ready for sale or if you wish to make it available for pre-order at a particular date. Once that’s cleared out, it’s time to upload the actual book files. 

In the next tab, you’ll need to upload your book file onto your KDP account. Simply click the friendly yellow “Upload eBook manuscript” button, select the final copy of your EPUB file, and click “OK.”

How to upload your manuscript on Amazon

Amazon will accept a range of file formats, but they strongly recommend having your file formatted as an EPUB , which will also give you better control over what it looks like on Kindle. Slapping a Word document in and trusting Amazon to do the rest never works out well. 

Make sure your formatting is up to standard

Readers can tell who’s professionally formatted their book, and who hasn’t — and cutting corners will come back to bite you. Hiring a typesetter will definitely pay for itself over time, but if you’re on a tight budget, you can use the Reedsy Book Editor to format and export a beautiful ebook for free.

Exporting options in the Reedsy Book Editor

Once you’ve selected your manuscript, you’ll see a message saying it’s processing your book. Do not refresh or click off of this page! Amazon can take a few minutes to upload your book and verify it.

After formatting your book to Amazon’s satisfaction, you’ll see a little green message saying that your manuscript has been uploaded successfully. Take a moment to celebrate, but don’t get too distracted — there are still a few very important steps to go.

Upload an enticing book cover

A book won’t sell without an attractive cover. Your cover designer should have provided you with a JPG or TIFF version of your front cover, sized to Kindle’s suggested resolution of 2,560 x 1,600px. To add it, simply select the option to use a pre-existing cover, and click “Upload your cover file”. 

Like when you upload the book, this process can take a minute. When it’s done, you’ll get another green notification.

How to upload your book cover design on Amazon

After you’ve uploaded the content and cover, you can use the “Ebook Preview” tool to see how it will look page by page. Take a minute to ensure that everything is correct: that the whole cover shows up, that the interior looks the way it does on your computer, etc. 一 if anything is wrong, double-check your files, then upload again.

At the end of this section, you’ll be asked if you have an ISBN number , and who you want to list as “Publisher.” Both pieces of information are optional but worth paying attention to. To upload your ebook, you don’t need an ISBN barcode, Amazon will assign one to your book for free. Nevertheless, we recommend you always buy your own ISBN if you can afford it since you can register your name as the publisher and retain ownership in case you want to “ go wide ” and publish on other retailers in the future.

Do you need an ISBN number?

It'll only take a minute!

Now that you’ve created a strong book page, it's time to price your work correctly to reap the most royalties.

The first thing to know about pricing your book is that Amazon offers a 70% royalty rate on ebooks priced between $2.99 and $9.99, and 35% on anything outside that range.

Pricing your book on Amazon

There will be times when you want to sell a book outside this price range. Perhaps you will sell the first in a series at a lower price to drive sales for the rest of the books. But as a general rule, it’s best to stick to something that will get you that sweet 70%.

As you set your price, Amazon calculates your estimated royalties . It deducts a small “delivery rate” based on the file size of your book and then shows you how much money you’ll make per sale.

You can also expand the pricing section to set different prices for each country you want to sell in. If you genuinely don't care about international sales, you can just set it to auto, but you'll get much better results if you do it manually. Selling internationally can really help boost your sales, so we recommend keeping an eye on your international sales trends and nurturing those that develop. 

Our free course can tell you all you need to know about international pricing. Just sign up here!  

You'll be asked a few other important questions in this section, starting with whether you want to enroll in KDP Select, a program that may help your book reach a wider audience on Amazon.

Decide whether you’ll enroll in KDP Select

Where to click to enroll on the KDP program

To decide, assess the pros and cons of KDP Select : on one hand, it will help you market your ebook through special promotions, on the other hand you’ll renounce exposure to a significant share of the international ebook market. 

For example, is selling box sets through Apple Books or Google Play a big part of your marketing strategy? Or do you want to take advantage of regular price promotions on the platform (and even the occasional “free” weekend for your book)? Whether you choose to enroll will depend on your goals as an author and what kind of business plan you have for your work.

Wondering whether you should give all your ebook distribution rights to Amazon?

Answer these 5 questions to find out!

You’ll also be asked to select the territories for which you hold distribution rights (e.g. worldwide) and your primary market, the country where you expect to sell most of your books (just go with Amazon.com if you’re unsure).

Once you’ve given your answers, get your champagne ready: the time to hit “Publish” has come. 

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for! Before rushing in, take a moment to click back through the previous tabs and ensure everything is set up exactly the way you want it 一 you can do that by clicking “Back to Content” on the left. 

The button to publish your book on Amazon

Although you can correct a mistake after you’ve published, it’s better to ensure the information is right before you hit that button. If you’re not quite ready, a “Save as Draft” button will allow you to come back and finish later. If everything looks good, there’s nothing left to do but hit “Publish your Kindle ebook”.

Congratulations, you did it! As you see, publishing a book on Amazon isn’t nearly as scary as it seems. Your book will appear on Amazon bookshelves soon 一 it may take up to 72 hours for Amazon.com, and up to five days for country-specific Amazon sites. Now you can focus all your energy on publicity and marketing.

If you want to go deeper into KDP best practices and Amazon algorithms, check out the rest of this guide — next up, we’ll be looking at Amazon’s Algorithms .

10 responses

19/10/2019 – 01:52

Do I need to get a ISBN number if I choose to e-publish?

↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:

23/10/2019 – 09:46

Most times, the distributor (Amazon, et al) will assign you with their own unique codes. So in short, not really.

12/04/2020 – 23:44

This is helpful, Thank you for this resource.

Stephen James says:

27/05/2020 – 11:22

Is it still possible, likely, or practical to sign with a traditional publisher, through pursuing agents with query letters, after self-publishing with Kindle on Amazon?

03/06/2020 – 10:20

For future books, very practical. For the book you've already self-published: incredibly difficult unless it's been a MASSIVE hit already.

27/05/2020 – 11:24

Assuming I would buy my own ISBN from Bowker, at what point would I insert it into the copyright page?

Bert de Korte says:

30/06/2020 – 14:09

Hi I already self published 2 books in holland trough Bruna. I want to publish them in ebook format at amazon. Is that possible? Already have isbn numbers.thx Albert

Sandra Bailey says:

14/07/2020 – 13:13

If my book is already published and is a Kindle book, how can I update the book with a new section directly through Amazon and republish the book?

28/07/2020 – 10:43

You can do! Here's the relevant help page from KDP: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202176900

Lorie Eubank says:

18/08/2020 – 23:47

If I self published a book several years ago primarily for print purposes for personal use and distribution, can I republish using the KDP format? I have all rights to the book. And I know from the publisher that I would just need to get a new ISBN number

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How To Write A Book For Kindle About Your Expertise Or Passion

No matter who you are or what you do, you should learn how to write a Kindle book.

It’s more important now than it has ever been.

Because digital communication is pervasive. From emails and texts to blog posts and social media, we share virtually all information electronically, and most of it in written words. Gone are the days when you could ask an assistant to write for you, or you could simply communicate by phone. Writing well is a necessary survival skill.

This is one reason the book industry has seen a seismic shift in the last ten years. Self-publishing has skyrocketed, and the introduction of ebook readers like Kindle has made it far less cumbersome and expensive to share your content with those hungry for learning and entertainment.

People who have something to share or teach can now easily write, publish, and market a book without the obstacles of traditional publishing. That’s all well and good, but if you haven’t been inclined to write a book before, why should you now? Just because you CAN self-publish, what compelling reason is there for you to actually do it?

Well, there are plenty. Let me enumerate.

If you . . .

  • Have a business or work in a profession, having your own book is an impressive calling card and gives you more credibility and authority;
  • Want to differentiate yourself from your competition, you’ll be one of a handful of people who has a published a Kindle book;
  • Have knowledge or skill in a particular area, you can share it with the world and leave a legacy for the future;
  • Own a blog or website, you can write a book or several books around your niche, creating additional income streams and subscriber opportunities;
  • Have a family, friends, and children, you can leave a permanent record through a book of who you are, what you value, and how you think;
  • Are looking for a new job or a for a promotion, a published book makes you more hirable and valuable to a prospective employer;
  • Want to be a speaker or serve as an industry expert, having a published book will get you in the door faster ;
  • Would like to improve your communication, writing, and thinking skills, writing a book teaches you faster than any other endeavor.

Of course, writing a book and publishing it can provide you with extra income, from a little to a lot depending on how many books you write, how many people enjoy your topic, and how well you can market your book.

Let’s dig into how to write a Kindle book about your expertise or passion:

Step 1: decide on your why..

Think about why YOU want to write a book . It could be one of the reasons listed previously. Are you looking to build your reputation, expand your business, create an additional income stream, or simply share your passion with the world?

Your aim will help dictate the kind of Kindle book you want to write.

If you’re an attorney, you can write a book around a common legal problem and the solutions you advise. If you’re great a woodworking, you can write a book about how to build a table. If you’ve raised several children, you can write about parenting problems and tips for more effective parenting.

Keep the end in mind as you narrow down a topic for your book. If your goal is to establish business credibility, writing a book on sports wouldn’t help you too much. Knowing the “why” of your efforts helps you stay on track when making decisions.

Step 2: Write down all of your ideas.

Once you have a goal in mind, it’s time to do some massive brainstorming on what to write about . Write down every possible idea you have for a Kindle book that fits with your goal. More than likely,  you’ll write a non-fiction Kindle book, but even a novel can be a way to share your history, interests, or passions.

If you get stuck, think about these questions:

  • Where do you have experience or expertise?
  • What problems or challenges have you successfully managed or overcome?
  • What mental, physical, or emotional skills do you possess that others would benefit from?
  • What interesting stories or experiences could you share?
  • What passions or strong interests have you pursued now or in the past?
  • What would you be willing to learn more about in order to share it in a book?
  • What life transitions, big changes, or common life stages have you recently undergone?

Once you have a long list of Kindle book ideas , pick your top three or four that support your overall goal. When selecting these, remember it will be easier to write your book if you choose a topic you enjoy or find somewhat interesting.

Step 3: Narrow the niche.

Take your top three or four best ideas, and try to narrow the topics further into sub-niches. It’s better to go deep rather than wide with a topic because it allows you to give your reader more detailed, specific information — and it leaves the door open for writing future books in your niche.

For example, rather than writing a book on solving relationship problems, you might write on dealing with financial conflict in marriage. Rather than writing on how to build an online business, you’d write on how to set up your first blog.

Readers want the details and step-by-step instructions on how to do something. They want specific, quantifiable actions, not just surface ideas and interesting concepts.

You don’t have to write a huge tome. Shorter books that are quick reads work very well, especially for those who don’t have a lot of time to pour over hundreds of pages of material.

You also may like reading “10 Steps To Writing Your First Book” >>> Click Here

Step 4: research the niche..

Before you dive into writing your book around one of your narrowed-down niches, make sure there are plenty of people searching for the topic. You don’t want to spend weeks or months writing your book, only to discover you and three other people find the topic useful or interesting.

The best way to begin this research is with Google’s keyword planning tool. Go to this link:  google.com/sktool/ . You may need to log in to your Google account once you land on the page.

Here’s what you should see once you log in:

Click on the words, “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category,” where the red arrow indicates. Once you do, you’ll be directed to a page like this:

Type in your keywords or keyword phrases related to your sub-niche. For example, if you’re writing about how to create your own will, type in the words, “how to create your own will” in the box where it says “Your product or service” indicated by the red arrow. Then you’ll see this page:

Click on the tab that reads “Keyword Ideas,” as indicated by the red arrow. Now it gets more interesting! Here’s what you’ll see:

The first search item with the red arrow is the one with the exact words I typed in, “how to create your own will.” You can see only 30 people a month search for that specific term. But . . . if you scroll down further, you’ll see related phrases. I’m only showing half the page in this screenshot, but you can see several related phrases, like “write your own will,” “will writing service,” “last will and testament template,” and “last will and testament form,” get from 1000 to 3600 monthly searches on Google. There are other phrases lower on the page you can’t see on my graphic here that have up to 5400 monthly searches.

So what does this information tell you? It tells you there are thousands of people a month on Google searching for information about putting together their own will. This is a good indicator there’s interest in this topic. However, if you don’t see any keywords and phrases that crack the 1000 monthly search mark, you probably want to steer clear of that topic.

You can also visit a site called Merchant Words to look up keywords that rank on Amazon. This is a paid service with a modest monthly fee, but you can do a few searches for free. I looked up “How to write a will,” and as you can see, it’s a popular search topic.

There’s another bit of research that will help you decide whether or not to proceed with your topic, and you can find it on Amazon directly. Go to the Kindle store, and type in your keywords or phrase. When I looked up, “how to write a will,” very few books showed up — less that ten.

This was surprising since the topic ranked well on Google and Merchant words. The lack of well-ranked books on the topic indicated that it wasn’t very strong. None of the overall sales ranks for these few books was under 50,000. (You can find the sales rank of the book in the “Product Details” when you scroll down the sales page for a book.) A VERY loose estimate is that with a sales rank of 50,000-100,000 for a particular book, you’ll sell about one book a day.

But since my Google and Merchant words searches indicated that there’s a hungry audience for this information, I didn’t give up. I shifted gears to think about related keywords, and I looked up the words, “Estate Planning” on Amazon.

screenshot Amazon search bar how to write a Kindle book

There were many more books under this topic, several with high rankings. You might think you’d want to avoid a topic with lots of other published books, but that actually indicates interest.

screenshot of books on Amazon how to write a Kindle book

Take a look at the list of books in your sub-niche to see which ones rank the highest.

Read the reviews to see what people like and don’t like about the book, and use this information when writing your own book. You can potentially fill a void of information or give a different twist to a tired topic.

Step 5: Putting the research together.

All of this information can help you make the decision about a viable topic, but in the end, there’s still some mystery about what will and won’t be a great topic on Amazon.

If you have a blog, a mailing list of followers, or a strong social media presence, consider surveying these people to find out their level of interest in your potential topic.

These are the people most likely to buy from you, so find out what they are interested in, what challenges they face, and how you can tailor your book to their needs. You can also find Facebook groups, forums, and other online groups where you can read what people are discussing related to your topic. Not only will this help you determine the need in the marketplace, but also it will give you great information for the content of your book.

Step 6: Outline your book.

As I mentioned before, you don’t need to write a huge 60,000-word book, especially when you are just getting started. As a self-published author, you’ll be selling at a lower price point of $3-$4 per Kindle ebook in the beginning, so keep your niche narrow and your book to a reasonable length to say what you have to say without fluff or padding.

Begin by outlining what you want to include in the book. There are so many ways to outline, but I generally start by creating chapter titles and adding bullet points for what I want to include in each chapter.

Your outline might change a once you start writing, but you want some basic direction and parameters to set you off.

Step 7: Write consistently.

This is the hardest step for most people. They want to publish their book, but they just can’t stick with the writing habit. Start small in the beginning — maybe write for five minutes a day at the same time of day for a week or so.

Then slowly increase your time. Just don’t miss a day in the first few weeks so you can establish the writing habit.

Related: 5 Best Morning Routines For Writers

Even if you hate what you write or get stuck , just write something. You can always come back to refine and edit later. Eventually, you can work up to a minimum words a day goal for yourself — like 500-1000 words. The key takeaway is to be consistent.

You don’t have to be a perfect writer but commit to writing every single day. If you work up to writing 500 words a day, you’ll have a 30,000-word book written in two months!

Step 8: Find an editor.

Many Kindle book authors skip this step, but it is so important. You need another set of eyes on your book to trim the fluff, correct mistakes, and make sure it flows properly.

It will reflect poorly on your credibility to have a book filled with misspelled words, grammatical errors, and overly-complicated sentence structure.

A good starting place to find an editor is the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) .

You can also look on Upwork to find a good editor . You’ll pay a few hundred dollars, but it’s money well-spent to have a professionally edited product that shows your book in your best light.

Step 9: Design a cover.

Your book cover also should be professional looking and eye-catching. If you have design skills yourself, you can create the cover using stock images or graphics. However, if you can afford it, find someone who has designed book covers before and knows what works.

The cover is the first impression of your Kindle book, and people do judge your book by it. I recommend  Archangel Ink for cover design, editing, and formatting, but there are dozens of graphic artists and design services available.

Step 10: Publish it!

After your book is written and edited, it’s time to release it to the world. It’s nerve-wracking to put your writing in the public eye for the first time, but you can’t put the words “published author” next to your name until you do. To publish your book on Kindle, go to Kindle Direct Publishing  (KDP) and create an account.

Once you have an account, you’ll create a file for your book, which you’ll need to be able to format in one of Kindle’s supported formats. All of the instructions for formatting and publishing your book are on the KDP site. Review all of the “help topics” to learn exactly what you’ll need to do.

Writing and publishing your first Kindle book is not as daunting as it might feel.

With a consistent writing habit and a few online skills, you’ll have all you need to get the job done in just a few months. You have years of life experiences, professional skills, and passions that you could share with thousands of interested readers. There’s no better time than right now to get started.

Did you find any value from these tips on writing a Kindle book?

After reading this post on how to write a Kindle book I hope you’ll get started right away. Which of these writing steps were the more positive and inspirational for you?

Would you like to help others?

It would be really great if you could help me spread these writing steps to other writers. Would you be willing to send out some love to your friends and family? Please share these how-to steps on your preferred social media platform.

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How to Write and Sell eBooks on Amazon With Kindle Direct Publishing

S o you've written a book. You've crafted the next great novel, collected your experiences into a memoir, or gathered experts' experiences in a new way. And now you want to get it out there. It's time to learn how to publish an eBook on Amazon with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

KDP is Amazon's self-publishing tool, and it's a simple way to take your book, turn it into a Kindle file, and start selling it on Amazon. This tool will help you sell your book and pay out the royalties on each sale. It's a great way to write and sell a book, especially if you don't want to pay a fortune to print a hard copy.

But getting through the Kindle Direct Publishing process can be a bit intimidating. So we'll walk you through exactly how to sell an eBook on Amazon.

1. Fire Up Kindle Direct Publishing

Once your book is written, you'll need to head over to the KDP website and sign in with your Amazon account. The first time you sign in, you'll see the terms and conditions.

It's a good idea to read through all of these. There's information on royalties, payments, distribution, and other things you should know. The terms and conditions also reference KDP's Pricing Page , which you'll want to review as well. It contains information on royalties that you'll need to know later—we'll go over that information in a moment.

After clicking Agree , you'll see the KDP dashboard. If you get the error message "Your account information is incomplete", click Update Now to add your address, bank account, and tax information.

Once your account information is up-to-date, you can start writing, creating, and selling your Kindle books!

2. Create a New Kindle Book as an Amazon Seller

To create a new Kindle book, click the + Create button.

You'll now see the Kindle eBook Details screen, the first of three sections you'll need to fill in before selling an eBook on Amazon.

Go through each field and enter the relevant information. Here are the sections you'll need to complete:

  • Book title (and optional subtitle)
  • Series information (optional)
  • Edition number (optional)
  • Primary author
  • Additional contributors (optional)
  • Description for your Amazon page
  • Publishing rights (owned or public domain)
  • Primary audience (and optional reading age)
  • Primary marketplace
  • Amazon Kindle categories
  • Keywords (up to seven)
  • Pre-order status (optional)

Think carefully about the title, description, keywords, and categories. These are the primary ways that people will find your Kindle book. The description is especially important, as you'll need to include important keywords to help people find your book when they're searching Amazon. Use these fields to your advantage to convince people that your book has value to them.

Everything you need to know about writing and selling books on Amazon, including how to showcase them properly, can be found on KDP University and its publishing guides . Give it a read before you write your description or do anything else as an Amazon author.

3. Format and Upload Your Kindle eBook

After saving your book's details, you can upload your manuscript. But before you do so, consider using Kindle Create (a free downloadable app) to format your manuscript.

It's one of the best pieces of software for getting your eBook ready to sell on Amazon. It automatically detects chapter breaks, adds a table of contents, and lets you format your book with flourishes like drop caps and block quotes.

To download Kindle Create, head to its home page and click Download for Mac or Windows . The app will walk you through opening and formatting your document.

Once you're happy with how your Kindle book looks, hit the Export button in the top-right corner of Kindle Create. This will export your manuscript as a KPF file that you can upload into KDP with ease.

If Kindle Create doesn't work for you, look for alternatives. Formatting your book with Atticus , for example, comes with lots of perks that Amazon's solution lacks.

Whether you use Kindle Create or not, you can upload a DOCX, PDF, MOBI, or other file directly into KDP. Click Upload eBook Manuscript and select your file.

KDP will upload and process the file, and you'll see a notification when the processing is done. With some manuscripts, you can also check potential spelling errors identified by KDP.

Once your manuscript has successfully been uploaded, it's important to check the preview to see how it looks. Scroll down past the section where you upload a cover and click Launch Previewer .

You'll then see a preview of what your book will look like on a mobile device. Use the buttons on the sides of the displayed device to scroll through your book and make sure everything looks good.

Check chapter titles, formatting like drop caps and block quotes, links, and anything else that's more complicated than plain text. If you find an error, you'll need to fix it in Kindle Create or whichever program you used to create your manuscript.

You can also use the dropdown in the top-right of the page to preview your book on different devices—it's a good idea to make sure it looks alright on all three options: tablet, phone, and Kindle eReader. Be sure to check your table of contents, too, to make sure chapters are correctly linked.

If your book is looking good, click Back in the top-left corner to head to the previous screen and continue setting up your manuscript for sale on Amazon.

Adding DRM to Your Kindle Book (or Not)

At the top of the Content page, you'll see the option to enable DRM (Digital Rights Management) on your Kindle book. If you choose to enable DRM, your Kindle book will be locked to a single purchaser.

They won't be able to share it unless they remove the eBook's DRM , which many people don't know how to do. But they can still lend it for a limited time using the Kindle lending program or buy a copy of the book as a gift.

Disabling DRM means people can do whatever they want with your book. Which option you go with is up to you as an author and seller, so if you disagree with Amazon's use of DRM, you can choose not to use it.

Adding a Cover to Your Kindle Book

In the Kindle eBook Content tab, you'll see a section called Kindle eBook Cover . You can use the tools here to create or upload your custom cover.

Select Upload a cover you already have (JPG/TIFF only) to upload a cover you've already designed. Don't forget to check out our tips on designing and making a book cover if you decide to go this route.

To use KDP's tools for creating your own cover, select the first option and click the Launch Cover Creator button.

As you'll find out, Cover Creator has a lot of terrible stock images. But if you can find one that doesn't stand out as awful stock photography, you can tweak it to make a great cover for your Kindle book. Alternatively, you can upload better images.

Here are a few of KDP's suggested designs.

As you can see, they're not stellar. But by browsing images and tweaking colors and fonts, you can actually come up with something halfway decent.

Of course, you're always going to get better results by hiring a professional. Using a service like Fiverr to hire a freelance designer, or using one of the top eBook cover design services , is a great way to have an expert design your book cover so that it sells well on Amazon's competitive market.

4. Price Your Kindle eBook for Sale

Before leaving the content page, you can add an ISBN to your book if you have one. However, Kindle books don't require them, so you probably won't need to worry about this.

However, if you start looking into how to write and sell a printed version of your book on Amazon, you will have to learn about normal and KDP ISBNs . If you're still not sure, check out KDP's help page on ISBNs .

Back to setting up your eBook, when you hit Save and Continue , you'll go to the pricing page. The first thing you'll have to choose is whether you want to enroll in KDP Select. This is an important choice, so we'll talk about it in detail.

What Is the Difference Between KDP and KDP Select?

If you enroll in KDP Select, your book is automatically included in the Kindle Select Global Fund, Kindle Unlimited, and the Kindle Storyteller contest. All this will increase exposure for your book—even more so with the exclusive access you get to KDP promotional tools for eBooks . It also lets you earn bonuses and higher royalties.

But there's a key requirement you'll need to meet to be eligible for KDP Select. You will have to agree to sell your book exclusively on the Kindle store, which means you won't be able to sell it on any other eBook store—not even your own website.

You're basically trading exclusivity for the potential of increased earnings from your eBook, though you can still sell a print version elsewhere. There's no guarantee that you'll earn more by taking this path either.

If you weren't planning on selling the digital version elsewhere, you have nothing to lose by signing up. Keep in mind, however, that you can of course choose 70 percent royalties for a long list of countries, that's without signing up to KDP Select. Whatever the case, you can remove or re-enroll your books in KDP Select whenever you want.

Kindle eBook Royalty Options

Once you've decided on whether you'll enroll your book in KDP Select, you can move on to the rest of the pricing options.

You'll first need to let KDP know your primary marketplace, and if you hold worldwide or territorial distribution rights. Unless you're licensing your content, you probably have worldwide results. But you should read about KDP's eBook distribution rights anyway.

Now comes an important choice: your royalty level. You can choose to earn either 35 or 70 percent royalties on your book. Most people will choose 70 percent because... well, you get more money.

But it's important to realize that there's a big restriction placed on books at this royalty level: they have to be priced between $2.99 and $9.99.

Most authors probably won't have a problem with this. Short books, however, or large ones like textbooks, might suffer from being priced in this bracket.

You also have to pay a download cost per book, which depends on the size of the file. When you enter a price into the List Price box, you'll see this cost under the heading "Delivery".

If you have a very large book, this can cut into your royalties, and you may want to choose the 35 percent option. This will probably only apply to massive books with large images, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Setting the Book Price

After choosing your royalty level, you can set the price of your book. If you chose the 70 percent royalty level, you're limited to between $2.99 and $9.99. If you chose the 35 percent level, you can choose almost whatever you want. Note, however, that you can't set a book to be free.

Choosing the right price for your Kindle book is going to depend greatly on the subject matter and target market. Unless you're an established author, you'll probably want to price it toward the lower end of the spectrum.

Revisiting KDP's Terms and Conditions

The final step in the pricing section, and the whole publication process, is to read the terms and conditions again. Just click the link to access the document.

Here KDP also informs you that your title will be available for purchase within 72 hours. After spending ages writing it, you finally get to sell your book on Amazon.

Saving Your eBook as a Draft

If you're not quite ready to publish your book yet, you can save it as a draft with the Save as Draft button. You'll now see your book in your dashboard, where you can open it or change further options.

5. Sell Your Kindle Book on Amazon

Once you're done with all of the above steps, you're ready to publish your eBook on Amazon. Just hit Publish Your Kindle eBook at the bottom of the page, and Amazon will handle the rest.

As already mentioned, it can take a few days for your book to hit the shelves on the Amazon store. But that's all there is to using Kindle Direct Publishing.

The process is actually very easy, especially when you consider how difficult it used to be to write and sell a book. Now, you can just hit a few buttons, and your book is off to the digital printing press.

As an official published author, you can now start promoting your book, going on international book tours, and booking talk show interviews (possibly). The sky's the limit.

Kindle Direct Publishing: Get Published and Sell Books

If you're looking into how to write, publish, and sell an eBook on Amazon, KDP is your best bet. The straightforward interface, bevy of options, and simple pricing scheme make it great for aspiring authors and long-time pros alike.

It's not the only way to get your book out into the world, but because Amazon has cornered the market on eBooks, it's one of the most viable options for individuals. With Kindle Create and the KDP Select program, you can take advantage of Amazon's resources to make the best book possible, and get paid for it.

How to Write and Sell eBooks on Amazon With Kindle Direct Publishing

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How to Create a Kindle Book

Last Updated: August 19, 2019 References

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA . Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 41,085 times. Learn more...

This wikiHow teaches you how to use Kindle Create to convert your book manuscript to the Kindle format.

Creating a Project

Step 1 Save your completed book as a Word or PDF document.

  • If you wrote your book in Google Docs, download it as a .docx or .pdf file to your computer.
  • If you wrote a text-based book in Pages for macOS, see How to Convert Pages to Word .

Step 2 Install Kindle Create.

  • Go to the Kindle Create download page .
  • Scroll down and click Download Now next to your operating system (Windows or macOS).
  • Save the installer to your computer.
  • Double-click the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to install the app.

Step 3 Open Kindle Create.

  • If you’re creating a book from a .doc or .docx file, click Get Started to open the Automatic Chapter Titles window. Follow the on-screen instructions to select/deselect suggested chapter names, then click Accept Selected .

Step 9 Save your project.

  • To work on the project later, re-open Kindle Create, and click Resume Existing Project .

Step 10 Add a table of contents.

  • In the ″Contents″ panel, click a page you want to add to the TOC.
  • Check the box next to ″Include Page in Table of Contents.″
  • Enter a title.
  • Repeat these steps for all pages you want to add to the TOC.

Step 11 Add, remove, or rearrange pages.

  • Rearrange: Drag a page’s thumbnail to the desired place in the book.
  • Adding pages: Right-click a page’s thumbnail, select Insert Pages , and then follow the on-screen instructions to import the PDF that contains the page(s).
  • Deleting pages: Right-click a page’s thumbnail and select Delete Selected Pages .

Saving and Publishing

Step 1 Open the project in Kindle Create.

  • If you make any changes to your book later, you’ll need to publish the file to a new .kpf file.

Step 7 Sign in to...

  • Click your name at the top-right corner of the screen.
  • Select your country.
  • Fill out the form completely.
  • Complete the tax interview.
  • Click Save .

Step 9 Click Bookshelf.

  • 16 Click Publish Your eBook . All of the information you entered will now be compiled into a single downloadable book. The process is usually complete in a few hours, but you may have to wait up to a day to find it on Amazon.com.

Expert Q&A

You might also like.

Download Google Books

  • ↑ https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G7R2L7V5X6SJH948
  • ↑ https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GJMRD9F78MS9F43R
  • ↑ https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GMUKXSTBCN6F2TGM
  • ↑ https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202187760
  • ↑ https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2018/06/posting-on-kdp/

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Writers who make over $10,000 a month self-publishing on Amazon share 4 tips on how to get started with no experience

  • Writers are making good money self-publishing through Amazon Kindle — without having decades of experience in the publishing world.
  • Successful authors who make upward $10,000 a month share their most important tips for making money, like publishing books in a series in rapid succession.
  • They also advise temporarily dropping the price of a book or books to 99 cents, and then advertising it on book promotion websites such as AuthorsXP or BookSniffer.

Insider Today

Have you always wanted to write a book? If so, you probably figured it would be a labor of love, something that would earn very little, or you might even have to pay to get it published.

While that certainly used to be true for most non-household name authors, it isn't true anymore.

These days, many people are making a good living, up to $10,000 a month or even more, as independent authors publishing their books on Amazon, even though they aren't famous and don't have decades of experience in the publishing world.

The key is to write books that people enjoy reading, publish them quickly in a series, and apply a little smart marketing so that readers will be able to find them.

Here's some advice from some authors who've done it themselves.

1. The more books you write, the more books you'll sell

This absurdly simple concept is behind the highly popular Facebook group 20Booksto50k, begun by indie author Michael Anderle, author and co-author of multiple book series and now CEO of LMBPN Publishing which publishes both his books and those of other authors.

The idea came about when Anderle was writing the third book of his first series, the Kurtherian Gambit vampire thriller series in Mexico. He'd published the first two as Amazon Kindle books and as Kindle Unlimited books (free to those with a Kindle Unlimited membership), a popular choice among indie authors. Amazon invites indie authors to publish Kindle books for free, and keeps 30 percent of the sale price, paying the author the other 70 percent. 

At the time, those first two books were earning him between $7 and $12 a day, Anderle explained in a video interview at the 2019 London Book Fair. Some authors might have been disheartened, but he had learned that he and his wife could sell their Texas home, buy a condo in Mexico, and retire there on $50,000 a year. "If I could hit 20 books," he said, "I could hit $50,000 a year and then we could retire early."

In fact, he did much better than that. He published his first book in the Kurtherian Gambit series in November 2015, and by the time he published the fifth book in that series in January 2016, he was making five figures per month, he said. "By the twelfth and thirteenth month, I was doing six figures per month." 

Publishing books in a series in rapid succession is key to financial success, Anderle tells Business Insider. "Fans of the series push the latest book up into the top of the charts and that, in turn, causes potential readers to notice the latest book and then go look for book one in the series and start there."

A similar approach works for non-fiction books, said  Sally Miller , a former business analyst and project manager and now stay-at-home mom and coach who has published 15 books about how to make money in various ways, such as Airbnb, podcasting, blogging, and--yes--as an author. Miller now makes between $6,000 and $8,000 a month from royalties, and that number should continue to grow as she publishes more books.

Read more:   Small investors with no background in finance or real estate are making up to $29,000 a month in run-down properties. Here are 4 tips for those looking to do the same.

2. A little marketing goes a long way

"It takes a solid marketing plan to make all the pieces fit together, and it's more than one thing that has made me somewhat successful," said Tracy Fredrychowski, author of five books in the Amish/Christian fiction category .

Fredrychowski has a marketing company but she also found widespread readership for her blog and short stories about Amish lifestyles and values in Western Pennsylvania, where she lives.

When readers asked if her stories were available in book form, Fredrychowski published them as a book with a vanity publisher — and wound up selling less than 100 copies.

Because of her marketing background, she knew she could do better on her own, and she began self-publishing on Kindle. Five books into her series, she's making around $4,000 a month, and with three more books coming out in 2021, she said she's on track to double those earnings in 2021.

"I'm on the cusp of being able to hand over the reins of my digital marketing company to write full-time," she said.

To market her books, Miller has a professionally designed website and a professional looking newsletter that she sends to the 8,000 readers who have signed up for it. "I offer a freebie," she explains. "If somebody signs up for my email list, I give them a free book to put them on the journey, and then in the back of that book they can find my other books."

When it comes to advertising, successful indie authors recommend one very effective tactic. Temporarily drop the price of a book or books to 99 cents, and then advertise it on book promotion websites such as AuthorsXP or BookSniffer, which send out lists of 99-cent book specials to tens of thousands of voracious readers.

Fredrychowski also uses that sale time to run ads on Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere. "Normally, I don't pay more than $25 to $75 for an ad," she said. The promotion usually pays for itself. "Even though I've dropped my price to 99 cents for those days, my book sales are jacked up because I promoted that sale for five days in five different places."

3. Write a book people want to read

All the marketing in the world won't help you if you don't write compelling books that readers enjoy and want to read more of.

If you're writing how-to books, make sure they clearly and concisely teach the reader whatever he or she needs to learn, in a straightforward and readable way. If you're writing fiction, "you need to engage your reader immediately," Anderle said. "If a reader isn't engaged with your story in the first 3,000 words, figure out why. Because it's too easy for them to drop a book and move on."

He recommends having at least six or seven people read the first 3,000 words of your book and then give it one of three ratings: "I want to read more," "I'm noncommittal," or "It's not working for me."

Beyond that, he said, if you're working in genre fiction (such as romance or fantasy), learn the rules and tropes of that particular genre or you'll leave readers unsatisfied. "For example the romance trope requires a happily-ever-after. If it does not have that, it is not a romance." Anderle recommends using the TV Trope wiki to find tropes for the genre you're writing in.

It's also important to have your book cover professionally designed and have your text professionally edited, he said.

"Solid covers can be had for around $100 to $200 or even less, if you look around," he said. "The cost of editing can vary depending on where you look as well.  There are companies and resources around the world that can deliver good quality at a reasonable price." 

You need all these things for a successful series, he adds. "The cover sells the book. The story sells the next book in the series. If your read-through rate is less than 63% from book one to book two, or less than 86% from book two to book three, there are problems. Figure out what they are and fix them."

Read more:   This couple paid off $114,000 of debt in less than 2 years — then saved up $431,000. Here are the side hustles they started and how much money they made from each one.

4. Be patient

Those who've done it warn that it can take time to find the right formula and momentum, that not every book will be a success, and that if your goal is to make a living from your books, it can take perseverance — and many, many hours spent writing — to get there.

"Don't assume that it's too late to get into this game," Anderle said. "Success may happen fast, but it might not. Be prepared to learn, to grow, to be patient and figure out how to enjoy the trip."

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Announcing a new Kindle—one you can write on

Henry Wilhelm

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writing books on kindle

Chris LaBrutto has always been an avid reader, losing himself in history books in his youth and later on reaching for the science fiction and fantasy novels. But that's not the only way his reading habits have changed. Once an avowed fan of the print book, LaBrutto is now a dedicated Kindle reader.

Ok, LaBrutto works for Amazon, which developed Kindle, but that's not the sole reason for his conversion. "I definitely like it much better," he said. "It's thin and light, and with the front light I can read it anywhere."

Now, as a product manager at Amazon, LaBrutto and the rest of the Kindle team have designed and built the next generation of Kindle: Kindle Scribe.

Kindle Scribe features a large new display, and for the first time, this new Kindle includes a pen for customers to add notes to books, mark up documents, create to-do lists, and generally write on the screen just like paper.

"Kindle Scribe is the best Kindle we've ever built, creating a reading and writing experience that feels like real paper," said Kevin Keith, vice president of Amazon Devices. "It's inspired by the Kindle customers who have added billions of notes and highlights to books over the years, and it's also ideal for reviewing and marking up documents, managing your to-do list, or doodling over a big idea. I'm so excited to get it in the hands of customers soon."

Keith said the new Kindle pairs features customers know and love, including access to more than 13 million eBooks available worldwide in the Kindle store, adjustable fonts, and weeks of battery life, with the world's first 10.2" 300 ppi glare-free Paperwhite display. "The screen itself is a big deal," said Jordan Meenen, another senior product manager on the Kindle team. "Going with a display of this size means you don't have to turn pages as often. You can use a big font for readability and get great text layout."

Getting stuff done

An image of a woman sitting on a patio chair by the water with a lit candle next to her reading from a Kindle Scribe.

Kindle has been a huge hit ever since Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled the first model in 2007. Since then, the company has been constantly working to improve the experience by adding more functionality to the e-reader.

To understand what could come next, the team started talking to customers about what they love about reading on Kindle and looking at what features they used the most. They found a growing interest in reading non-fiction books and that customers around the world add billions of notes and highlights while reading on Kindle.

Using this feedback, Amazon set out to make the reading of non-fiction books, but also PDFs, articles, and other documents with charts, graphs, and images even more seamless. "Non-fiction readers want a larger page layout so they can see content like charts and graphs, and they also want to be able to mark up the pages," LaBrutto said. "In many cases, they are going beyond a leisurely weekend read and are trying to learn something. Seeing all of the visual detail and their written notes are both important parts of that experience."

An image of four people interacting in a kitchen with an Echo Show 15 mounted to the wall in the background.

The pandemic also magnified another need the Kindle team wanted to meet. "When COVID-19 hit and we all started working from home, we realized that a lot of us were looking for new devices and services that could help us be more productive," LaBrutto said.

As personal and professional lives blended, LaBrutto, Meenen and the rest of the Kindle hardware and software teams sought to create a new kind of Kindle that could help non-fiction readers, hybrid workers, and anyone looking for an immersive and organized reading and writing experience. This new Kindle, Meenen said, "could fully meet the needs of readers while also offering these uniquely digital experiences like sharing marked-up documents with your computer or phone; searching through, filtering and organizing notebooks full of meetings notes, journals, or to-do lists; or annotating text with sticky notes that don't clutter the page."

So they got to work.

Street smarts

Enabling the new reading and writing features on Kindle Scribe involved a number of software and hardware design components. At the center of it all is a new large, thin display that showcases writing, graphs, and images in gorgeous detail, a battery-free pen, and new foldable covers, each element designed to delight readers and writers. Fortunately, LaBrutto and Meenen had the help of another Kindle convert, Amazon designer Tim Wall.

Wall, who studied print-making and sculpture in college, discovered the power of industrial design on the streets of Seattle in his 20s. He was working for a company that employed people recently released from prison to help clean local neighborhoods. Drawing on his art school education, he designed a replacement for the dustpans the employees used that wore out easily. "I believe that you have to do the work first to find out what the right tool is," he said. "You don't need to be an expert to understand what people need. You just need to have empathy or, better, the sympathy of real experience."

Now in his forties and in Silicon Valley, Wall has spent the last 11 years applying the same lessons to Kindle at Amazon's mythical invention playground, Lab126—1 stands for A, the first letter in the alphabet, and 26 stands for Z, the last. Amazon engineers and designers working there have conjured up new devices and innovations like Kindle, the Alexa-enabled line of Echo smart speakers, and the home robot Astro.

Sanctuary experience

Kindle is the perfect example of an effective blend of innovation and comfort. Kindle marries simplicity and connectivity—you can use it to purchase, download, and search books, newspapers, magazines, and other documents in the massive Kindle store. This potent combination has succeeded in creating "a sanctuary experience," Wall said, "reducing and eliminating distraction where possible so that the reading experience is primary."

Creating and maintaining that experience involves more than just removing distractions. The physical attributes of Kindle are critical as well. "Pleasing shapes that are easy to hold, thinness, lightness, those are all compelling attributes of almost all technology, but even more important in something that is meant to be distraction free," Wall said.

That's why adding new features like a pen that never needs charging or syncing, and a screen that feels and looks like paper was fraught with challenges that were sometimes hard to quantify. "Writing on paper goes back to some of your earliest childhood experiences," Wall said. "Its tactile qualities are really important in humanizing that slab of electronics."

"I will be bringing my Kindle Scribe to work every day, and I think all sorts of readers and writers are going to find a variety of features they love."

To build a seamless and distraction-free reading and writing device, the team started brainstorming ideas, building models and prototypes, and testing them with each other. "It still needs to be a Kindle, it still needs to be a reader, but now it's also a writer," Wall said. "How do you balance those things?"

They tapped ergonomics and other experts who, Wall said, "dive deep into human factors and behavior, like how would someone with this weight and this angle hold it? Where is the fulcrum? How soft are the curves and edges?"

An image of Amazon's Halo Rise sitting on a wooden nightstand with a hand pressing a button from the bed. There is a phone, a glass of water, and a plant also sitting on the nightstand.

The team worked hard on finding the right anti-glare coating on the display and the right kind of tip on the pen to mimic the feeling of writing on paper. "We tested hundreds of combinations to find the delicate balance of creating just the right amount of friction on the display for writing while still delivering crisp text for a world-class reading experience Kindle customers expect," said Nag Tadepalli, lead display engineer for Kindle Scribe. The team designed the pen tip using a hard felt that, paired with our custom display coating, avoids the slippery feeling produced by styluses with molded plastic tips and actually sounds like writing on paper.

Need proof that they found the right balance?

Meenen has so fully adopted Kindle Scribe that he not only reads on the device, but he uses it every day to review documents and take notes during meetings. His personal favorite Kindle Scribe feature is the ability to import, mark up, and export documents, but he's excited for customers to discover their own favorites from among the many new features, from sticky notes for annotators, to the notebooks feature for writers, to the screen for, well, everyone. "I will be bringing my Kindle Scribe to work every day, and I think all sorts of readers and writers are going to find a variety of features they love," he said.

Your new favorite tool

An image of a Kindle Scribe and pen sitting on a marble table and text on the left that reads "Introducing Kindle Scribe."

Customers around the world will be able to discover their favorite thing about Kindle Scribe in time for the holidays. Like previous Kindle e-readers, Kindle Scribe retains weeks-long battery life, an adjustable warm light and auto-adjusting front light, instant access to the Kindle Store, and a host of accessibility features. For the first time ever, Kindle Scribe users will be able to write with a pen featuring customizable line widths that comes with highlighter and eraser tools. Kindle Scribe also includes templates for notetaking and to-do lists, and with the Send to Kindle feature, customers can easily transfer content from their computer or phone for reading or notetaking, including PDF, Microsoft Word and other document formats.

From the tactile writing experience to the way it feels in your hands, Kindle Scribe has been designed to be a tool you can use in many aspects of your life. Indeed, as Wall said, "I'm inspired by the tools that we use every day. I still have on my desk my wooden brush from my first days in art school. The well-honed tool is a sign that it's essential, that it was designed well and fits the purpose. In a way, I think that's what we're trying to do with Kindle Scribe."

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Home / Book Writing / How to Write Magical Realism: Definition, Examples, and Instructions

How to Write Magical Realism: Definition, Examples, and Instructions

Recently, I've been getting into magical realism, and in this article, I’ll share what I've learned about how to write it, for those who are curious. 

We’ll delve into the history of the style, what constitutes it, developing interesting characters and settings, and how to go about layering magical elements onto a realistic story. 

By the end, you should have everything you need to create your own epic (or, I guess, not so epic) tale within the genre. 

  • What magical realism is, and isn’t
  • The history and evolution of the style
  • How to write magical realism

Table of contents

  • What is Magical Realism?
  • The History of Magical Realism
  • Is Magical Realism the Same as Fantasy?
  • Realistic Setting
  • Mythological/Folklore Influence
  • Subtle Magic
  • Societal Critique
  • Focus on the Ordinary
  • Imagery and Symbolism
  • Open-ended Ending
  • Understand the Genre
  • Draw Inspiration From the Illogical
  • Use Quirky News Items
  • Craft Complex Characters
  • Blend Genres
  • Craft Your Prose
  • Limit Explanation
  • Use Symbolism
  • Examples of Magical Realism Books
  • Examples of Magical Realism in Film

Magical realism is a genre that incorporates fantastical or mythical elements into an otherwise realistic setting. The magical elements are treated as though they are perfectly normal by both the narrator and the characters. 

Everything in the world seems to be perfectly ordinary, but with magical undercurrent to it. The key difference is that this magic is not explained, and it is subtle. It is simply a part of the world that the narrator and characters are dealing with.

Some key characteristics of magical realism include:

  • Realistic setting grounded in the real world
  • Matter-of-fact inclusion of magical or impossible elements
  • Magic is accepted as normal by characters
  • Blending of different genres like fantasy, folklore, and mythology
  • Focus on ordinary characters and everyday life
  • Symbolism and imagery convey a sense of magic
  • Understated and subtle approach to magic
  • Often explores political or social issues

Magic is just a part of everyday life within a magical realist story. The magic flows from the source, not as something strange, much less dangerous. And that is one of the primary purposes of magical realism, to merge the magical with the realistic in a way that makes readers sit back and go, “I hadn’t thought of it like that before.”

The term “magical realism” was first used in 1925 by German art critic Franz Roh to describe a style of painting that depicted the magical within the ordinary. Writers in Latin America expanded on this idea in the 1940s and 50s to describe a type of fiction that incorporated mythical elements into realistic narratives.

Magical realism has its roots in Latin American literature, where key authors pioneered the style starting in the mid-20th century. Some forerunners who helped develop the genre include:

  • Alejo Carpentier (Cuba): Coined the term “lo real maravilloso” (the marvelous real) to describe the uniqueness of Latin American culture and used magical elements to explore subjects like slavery and political repression.
  • Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina): Blended fantasy, dreams, and philosophy in short stories like “The Aleph” and examined themes of time, labyrinths, and imagination.
  • Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia): His novel One Hundred Years of Solitude brought magical realism widespread acclaim. Marquez used magical elements to portray the paradoxes of Latin American history and life.
  • Isabel Allende (Chile): Novels like The House of the Spirits incorporated historical events with magical elements and explored themes of feminism.

The early Latin American authors influenced later authors of all types across the world. Although the genre bloomed in Latin America, it quickly spread worldwide in the latter half of the 20th century and continues to develop today.

Magical realism is often confused with fantasy fiction, but they are distinct genres. 

In fantasy stories, magic is something extraordinary. It operates outside the bounds of normal physics, and the characters are amazed when they encounter it. 

In magical realism, magic is normal. Characters simply accept it as a part of reality.

Some other key differences between the genres include:

  • Usually set in an entirely fictional world
  • Magic is the norm and central to the story
  • Magic has obvious effects on characters/world
  • Characters are often archetypes like heroes, wizards, elves
  • Plot driven by conflict between good vs evil

Magical Realism

  • Set in the real, contemporary world
  • Magic is subtle and downplayed
  • Focus is on ordinary people and everyday life
  • Characters are complex and realistic
  • Explores social issues and human experiences

While both incorporate magic, fantasy creates an alternate world detached from reality. Magical realism weaves magic into the fabric of reality through a poetic, metaphorical lens. It gently asks the reader to open their minds to the extraordinary possibilities hidden within ordinary life.

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Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.

What Makes a Good Magical Realism Story

Magical realism looks effortless, but crafting a seamless interweaving of realism and fantasy requires thoughtful attention and skill. I've identified several elements that make for compelling magical realist fiction:

The setting needs to feel like the real world, whether it's a specific time and place like Latin America in the 1960s or a more vague modern city. Rich sensory details are important to ground the story in reality. The setting should reflect cultural influences and real social conditions.

Myths, legends, and folklore specific to the setting's culture add an authentic magical touch, like Mexican folk healing rituals in a story set in Mexico. This gives the magic layers of symbolic meaning.

The magic needs to be downplayed so it blends seamlessly into the realism. Don't try to explain it or have characters react with shock. Understatement makes it more believable.

Magical realism often uses the subtle magic as a metaphor to criticize social conditions. The magic highlights injustice or provides hope.

The story revolves around realistic characters living everyday lives. The emphasis should be on their relationships and inner growth, with magic an atmospheric background.

Objects, dreams, colors, and sensory details take on symbolic meaning and create a sense of wonder in the ordinary.

Endings should maintain the blend of realism and magic, leaving some mystery about the role of the magical elements. Tie up personal plots but leave a touch of possibility.

With the right balance of magic and realism, your story can take readers into a world that feels comfortably familiar yet tantalizingly enchanted. The magic should enhance, not overwhelm, the gritty reality of your setting.

How to Write Magical Realism

The magical realism writers I most admire have distinctive voices while retaining the core spirit of the genre. Here are some techniques I would use if writing my own magical realism:

Read widely within magical realism to immerse yourself in the style. Note how authors incorporate subtle magic into realistic settings. Observe how they use magic as social commentary and symbolic imagery.

Reflect on strange coincidences, unpredictable events, and imaginative dreams in your own life. Everyday mysteries can spark ideas for subtle magical touches.

Bizarre stories from the news often read like magical realism. Adapt real unexplained happenings into events in your fictional world.

Well-developed characters with rich inner lives anchor the magic in reality. Focus on characterization and emotional arcs.

Mix in elements from mythology, folklore, fairy tales or other genres to add deeper meaning to your magical details.

Write with lush, descriptive language to add atmospheric depth. Use figurative language and sensory detail to convey magical moods.

Leave the magical events unexplained and have characters accept them as normal. Maintain mystery and possibility.

Infuse objects, dreams, colors, weather, animals, etc. with symbolic significance to create magical undertones.

Remember, the point of all this is not to force your magic on the reader, but to present it in such a way that they are filled with wonder and discovery.

Here are some quintessential magical realist works I find myself returning to again and again for inspiration in my own writing:

  • One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez – This epic depicts seven generations of the Buendía family and the fictional town Macondo with hallucinatory events like a plague of insomnia, ghost sightings, and a woman ascending to heaven. Márquez's prose feels both fantastical yet real.
  • Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel – A young woman expresses her emotions through magical food she cooks, leading to supernatural effects on those who eat it. The mystical cooking allegorically explores women's repression.
  • Beloved by Toni Morrison – This haunting novel tackles trauma through a mother visited by the ghost of her young daughter she murdered to save her from slavery. The spectral haunting feels viscerally real.
  • The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami – Surreal dream sequences, psychic projections, and talking cats appear matter-of-factly as a man searches Tokyo for his missing wife. The magical elements access a deeper reality.
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – A middle-aged man revisits his childhood memories of befriending a girl named Lettie who promises to protect him from supernatural menaces. The fantastical childhood perspectives feel believably childlike.

The easiest way to understand how magic realism works and what I’m talking about is to read. Just like learning any form of writing, you get a feel for it by seeing excellent authors do it well.

Magical realist cinema also provides valuable lessons on integrating magical elements into familiar real-world settings and stories:

  • Pan's Labyrinth (2006) – A young girl escapes into a dark fairy tale world paralleling her harsh reality living under fascist rule in 1944 Spain. The historical context gives the fantasy deeper meaning.
  • Like Water for Chocolate (1992) – Based on the Esquivel novel, this film brings the magical realism vividly to life with the protagonist's emotions materializing through magical food she cooks.
  • The Green Mile (1999) – A condemned prisoner possesses miraculous magical healing powers that affect everyone around him at a 1930s Louisiana prison. The supernatural gift contrasts with the brutal reality.

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Now that you know the basic goals behind magic and reality, we’ll look at your next steps to creating a magical realism book. Here are some pointers:

  • Immerse yourself in examples from masters of the genre to internalize the style. Make a list of your favorite magical realism novels and stories and re-read them with a critical eye.
  • Observe the world around you closely to find moments of underlying magic in everyday life. Keep a journal recording coincidences, dreams, curiosities and unexplained happenings that spark ideas.
  • Outline some initial story ideas with magical realist potential and experiment writing a few short scenes. Get feedback from other magical realism fans on whether your magic blends well with the realism.
  • Pick one idea that resonates and start developing the full story. Flesh out convincing characters and settings, keeping the magic subtle. Hone your descriptive prose to create a vivid mood.
  • Join a writers group or online community focused on magical realism. Share excerpts and get feedback on maintaining the delicate balance of your story.

But, like anything artistic, it will take practice. That said, let the story grow on its own until it becomes something you can be proud of.

Jason Hamilton

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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