What is KDP?

KDP or Kindle Direct Publishing is a platform for self-publishing your books. You can use KDP to self-publish a wide range of books. You might have produced a novella, full-length fiction novel, or your own non-fiction book among many other types of books. KDP publishing enables you to reach a worldwide audience with ease and you have greater control of your book.

It can be challenging to get your book published by a publishing house. Generally, you need an agent who will manage as an intermediary between the publishing house and the writer. It can be challenging to get into an international market as well. By using KDP publishing you are directly in control of the publishing of your book. You will need to make sure it is well-edited and a good read with some great marketing behind you but you are not reliant on trying to get an agent and a publishing deal.

KDP has a straightforward process that you will need to work through. First of all, you will need to make sure you have rights to your book and that it is completely ready to publish. You might wish to arrange for your book to be professionally edited as mistakes can really affect the popularity of a book.

You’ll also need to make sure you have an attractive cover and a great name for your book as these are the first items that people will see about your book. Having an eye-catching front cover is essential for your success. People do definitely judge a book by its cover!

There are terms and conditions that you should read and once you are happy, then you can go ahead and set up on the KDP site.

First of all, you will need to set up an account and register for taxes if eligible. You can then upload your book. The next step is to format your book, this can take some time but it is imperative that you get this right because you will need to have all the titles, paragraphs, and text in the right place. If you have diagrams, illustrations, or photos these will all need to be formatted correctly.

You can order a draft copy beforehand which is a good idea. You can then review the draft and make any necessary changes. When your book is ready you can publish it. You will need to look at ways to market your book and reach your target audience because publishing books is a competitive field.

KDP offers a 60% fixed rate royalty rate. So your royalty is worked out by taking 60% of the sales price, then minus the cost to publish the book and you are left with a profit. So for example, if you sell your book for $10 and it costs $4.50 to print then you will make $1.60 per book as a royalty. There is an amount that you have to make before you can have funds released and this is $100.

You can start with a lower profit margin to gain a following and get lots of reviews, then you can always increase the price as you get noticed as an author.

For ebook sales, if you sell books at less than $2.99 or more than $9.99, then you can earn 30% commission. For those selling between $3 and $9.99, you can earn 70% commission per book sale.

Yes, KDP is considered a good way to make an income as an author. You are in control of your book but you will still need to have a good book that is popular and put a lot of effort and work into publishing your novel and marketing it. You should consider your book or books to be a product and run your publishing campaign as you would any eCommerce business. For example, you can’t just click publish and think that your book will just sell itself. There is a lot of competition out there.

There is a whole section on the KDP site to help you promote your book. This includes information on a variety of marketing avenues. You can send your book to subscribers and influencers to gain reviews and a following and promote your book. You can also expand your reach to other book suppliers, distributors and libraries, etc.

You can also set up an author page to let people know more about you as a trust factor. It takes up to fifteen interactions for people to make a purchase, so it is a good idea to use as many options as possible for reaching people. Social media is a great option for this. You can share extracts from your book on Facebook for example. Give readings as videos and publish these on video streaming platforms like Youtube.

Another option available on the KDP page is KDP select. This provides promotional opportunities and pays royalties. There is a lot of information on this so you will need to go through it carefully to see if you qualify and if it suits you. You can also look into Amazon advertising.

Research has found that the more books you have published the greater your success rate. More than five is the best option. A good strategy is to make your first book low-cost to attract new readers and then charge more for other books to increase your profit margin.