Amazon KDP has new rules for self-publishing authors, making it extremely convenient for new writers.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, or Amazon KDP for short, has a completely new set of rules, making it extremely convenient for new authors to self-publish their works. Amazon is a major player in the publishing sector, with its Kindle reader owning 80% of the ebook market.
With Amazon KDP, authors will be able to publish their new books for free at extremely convenient royalty rates. Moreover, if publishers also wish to sell their books in paperback, all the printing efforts will be done by Amazon!
How to sell on Amazon KDP
In order to publish your book on the Kindle store, the author needs to publish the book’s files on the KDP platform. In order to do so, the file needs to have the .kpf extension: you can find many sites online that will convert your Word file into the desired extension.
The book will need to include each of the following elements to be published:
- Title page;
- Copyright page;
- Table of contents;
- The actual book, technically called The Body;
- Acknowledgments, Index, and other Back Matter elements.
You will also need to upload a Cover Image, which should be at least 625 x 1000 pixels but not larger than 1600 x 2560 pixels. The Cover Image format must be either TIFF or JPEG.
Is Amazon KDP profitable
Whether or not it is worth publishing on Amazon KDP depends on a series of factors. Amazon does not require any payment for the publishing itself, therefore anybody can do it as long as they meet the aforementioned criteria.
Moreover, Amazon KDP royalties are usually very convenient. “Royalties” is a share of the product’s sale which is returned to the author. Royalty rates on KDP eBooks are either 35% or 70%, depending on the book’s eligibility which you can find on this Book Royalties Calculator.
Paperback royalties have a fixed 60% rate. However, the cost of printing is deducted by Amazon from the royalty share. The cost of printing changes according to the number of pages.
Amazon will print a copy of the book every time someone buys it, therefore charging the printing costs only after the sale is completed.
Marketing expenses are all up to the author, who might decide to advertise their book with a professional (and expensive) campaign or simply share it with their family and friends.
By all accounts, publishing on Amazon KDP seems extremely convenient. However, the facility of self-publishing will naturally increase the offer, as every new author will rush to try this new service.
The only way to actually turn a profit from Amazon KDP as a new author is to invest in a serious advertising campaign. It will be up to the author himself to decide whether or not the book will yield enough returns to become profitable.
