1 Feb 2016
Self-publishing on Amazon is amazing: It costs little
or no money. It makes your book available worldwide. Setting up accounts and
going through the proofing process is fairly straightforward and there is lots
of How-to information on Amazon, and their customer service desk is efficient…
Still, it will help you a great deal if you know in advance where to go and
what to watch out for. So here are some useful links for self-publishing
through Amazon:
SET
UP ACCOUNTS AND UPLOAD BOOK
·
Amazon Author Central
Create an account to establish yourself as an author
on Amazon, and to set up f.ex. an author bio that will be visible on .com = the
US site. To add these details to the Amazon sites in other countries, you have
to set up an account there too. (It’s easy because the process is the same. Use
https://translate.google.com/ when you’re doing the Japanese site J) Read this post too: https://ebooksuccess4free.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/amazon-author-central-to-more-foreign-countries/
Note: Think about what e-mail address you want to link
to all your accounts, because all correspondence will go through that address.
The same goes for your login and official author name. You
want it to be consistent.
·
Kindle Direct
Publishing
KDP is the Amazon service to create an ebook (in their file format).
(Tip: If you plan to have a paperback edition as well, first read the CreateSpace info below.)
Uploading is free. You receive 70% or 35% royalties
based on conditions like : location of the sale, file size, etc.
Great tip: Subscribe to http://www.lynda.com/ and watch all the videos on how
to prepare your manuscript for publishing on Kindle and on other platforms that
exist: Nook (Barnes and Noble), Apple iBooks Store, Google Books, KOBO, etc…(There used to be a free trial period on Lynda. It might return...)
For instance, pay attention to how to set up a Table
Of Contents. For Kindle it’s best to use the Insert Table option in Word. For
other platforms (using format: .EPUB) it’s better to use the ‘universal’ way,
namely: use ‘Insert Bookmark’ for every chapter title and make a table of
contents from scratch via Insert Hyperlinks + linking them to the bookmarks of each
chapter title. Otherwise the layout on non-Kindle e-book readers may not work
or look bad.
KDP has a great preview option where you can see how your
book will look on several devices (Kindle Fire, Android app,…)
·
CreateSpace
CreateSpace is the Amazon service for ‘Print On
Demand’ printing = paperback edition will be printed whenever a customer orders
a book.
Open an account and upload your book.
You need to set up your Author bio + book blurb again
for this site. It isn’t linked to Amazon’s Author Central.
They offer 4 sales channels:
- Amazon sites
- CreateSpace site
- Distribution channels (bookstores like the American Barns & Noble could order your book if their customer requests it.),
- American Libraries. (Tip: To enable the sales channel ‘US libraries’ you need to choose the free ISBN number that CreateSpace provides!)
Note:
CreateSpace autogenerates templates for the interior (the text) and the
Frontcover-spine-backcover. Use these! I downloaded their templates that had
the exact size, formatting and layout for my book containing 356 pages of a 6x9
inch size. Brilliant! In the proofing stage you’ll see a 3D render of the book.
And if CreateSpace found printing problems, they’ll show you where to change
the layout, fonts, etc.
You can upload a Word or PDF file on the site. Use one
of the standard fonts they use. It looks bad on screen, but great in print (as
opposed to fonts made for screens, like Arial).
Note:
When publishing through CreateSpace, the site will prompt you to make the ebook
(Kindle) version based on your upload. You can do that, but I think it might be better
to upload a version on KDP specifically for that purpose. You may want to change the
font, layout, page order,…
·
Embedded font
Embedded means that the font that your choose will be
added to the book file.
Kindle has its own preferred font(s). Currently this
is f.ex. ‘Bookerly’. It’s best to not select the ‘embed fonts’ when saving the
(PDF) file, because readers might not like it, plus I found it complicated
getting my book upload through the proofing process.
For the paper version, CreateSpace prefers their own font(s),
like Minion. https://forums.createspace.com/en/community/docs/DOC-1901
You might decide to embed your own font. In that case
change the PDF type from pages with text (that you can select) into pictures in
Adobe Acrobat Pro or for example in Photoshop by ‘rasterizing’ the text. Google
the best way to do this in the program you want to use.
·
Book cover. How to find a great book cover or have one made for
you. Read my blog post on the subject.
Download a template contract online. Make sure that
you own the full rights of the work! Make sure to ask for the complete
Photoshop file so you can edit the layers yourself for promotional use later
on, etc. Make sure the dimensions are exactly right to avoid headaches. Look up the suggested standard book size and resolution on the site.
Read the requirements on the website of CreateSpace
and KDP (Kindle). Make sure the file is not downgraded in the process. You want
to keep the highest possible quality.
CreateSpace and KDP offer additional services (at a
cost) to help you with a book cover, layouting, etc.
·
DRM, protection
The Digital Rights Management approach differs on each
platform. It’s basically software programming to restrict the usage of
proprietary software, in other words, to combat piracy. Amazon gives you the
option to enable or disable DRM. But once the book is published, you can’t
change the setting anymore.
The debate around DRM is whether it prevents piracy or
if it actually hinders sales. Tip: read up on it and make up your own mind.
·
ISBN number
This standardized number is simply a reference number
to quickly find a certain book. A book can go without a ISBN number. Every
country has its own service (for free or at a cost).
Amazon adds free reference numbers (called ASIN
numbers) to all its books anyway. In fact, on my Kindle book page, Amazon shows
the ASIN number instead of my ISBN number.
·
Payment:
Amazon generally offers different ways (that can change in time), f. ex. by EFT, wire
transfer or bank check. Within Europe, I assume the best out of those three is
EFT.
Tip: And look into services like http://www.transferwise.com (sort of like http://www.paypal.com). Depending on which two countries are involved (f.
ex. bank A in the USA transfers to bank B in Belgium), their transfer fee could
be less expensive. But remember to take into account the hidden fees: the
conversion rate from US$ to EUR. It might be worthwhile to look into setting up
an account with one of those services, instead of using your usual home bank.
(I haven’t tried this out myself yet.)
Amazon will not transfer money unless your Tax data
are validated.
·
Taxes, ITIN number or EIN number, tax treaty
The below information is for people living outside of the US:
Amazon (an American company) will do a “tax interview”
via your KDP and CreateSpace account, because selling books means VAT/consumer
tax will have to be paid in the country where the sale takes place, and afterwards
you will have to declare your foreign royalty earnings in your personal tax
return.
By answering the tax interview questions, Amazon will
draw up the document for you to (digitally) sign before sending it to the
American IRS.
Tip: read up on this because you don’t want to make a
mistake here. Amazon has recently updated their Help pages with more support and information on this.
To sell books in the US, I would need a Tax
Identification Number. I don’t have one, so under normal
circumstances, Amazon would have to tax and transfer (in my case) 30% of my royalties to the
IRS. Luckily, Amazon can act as a withholding agent who deals with all of this.
Once a year, the IRS will forward a tax document through Amazon to me.
Currently, I can fill in my local tax identification
number in the tax interview. So I don’t need a US Tax Identification Number
(TIN).
I could apply for a ITIN in the US but it requires quite a bit of administration and
effort. Avoid if possible.
And EIN number is much easier to get (over the phone!),
but for that you need to be an employee in your (own) company.
Luckily, the IRS won’t levy a % tax when there is a Tax Treaty between the US and your
home country. In that case, the IRS the tax percentage is lower (or even 0%).
You of course still have to declare your profits in your home country.
Tip: Read the info on the KDP Help pages and on the
IRS site itself. (Brace yourself.)
You’ll come across the same tax interview when selling
through CreateSpace, and through some ‘Aggregators’.
OTHER
DISTRIBUTING CHANNELS
·
Aggregators
Aggregators are companies with distribution channels.
They can get your ebook (.EPUB) up for sale on most well-known platforms, and
also in hard to reach places - in my case, the Apple iBooks Store - but, of
course, they take a percentage of the profit.
Smashwords http://smashwords.com for example is an aggregator who can act as a tax
withholding agent in the States. The Apple iBooks Store won’t act as an agent (data: 2016). They
pay out a ‘commission’ rather than royalties, so tax wise this is a problem for
me. By going through an aggregator who does act as an agent (like Amazon does),
it becomes possible to sell on the Apple store… but at a cost.
There are several aggregator companies. Probably some
aggregators have distribution outlets that the competition has not (for example
the French online FNAC store). It’s up to you to decide if it is worth the
effort to join multiple aggregators, or any at all. Personally, I recommend it because you may want to not put all your eggs in the same basket.
Tip: make sure that they do not charge you (disproportionate)
fees for every change you make to the book price, blurb,… because you will be
making changes often!
MARKETING
TOOLS
Amazon has several ways to promote a book. (data: 2016)
·
Kindle Unlimited is a
subscription program for readers that allows them to read as many books as they
want.
·
Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle can
choose one book from each month with no due dates.
When you enroll in KDP Select, your books are
automatically included in both programs. Your books will still be available for
anyone to buy in the Kindle Store, and you'll continue to earn royalties from
those sales like you do today.
·
Amazon Giveaway is a service
where the publisher pays for X copies of a book to give away for free to the
winners. In that way the book gets exposure. http://www.amazon.com/gp/giveaway/home
Make sure that you know if your book (and in what
shape or form) may be on sale on other platforms or not when you enroll in
these Amazon options.
·
Look Inside on Amazon is verrry important.
Many readers won’t buy a book unless they’ve had a
chance to read the first chapter(s).
Both KDP and CreateSpace will automatically enable
this feature (usually shortly after the book launch).
To ‘hook’ the potential buyers you may want to show
20% of the book instead of the default 10% for the paper edition (CreateSpace).
If in CreateSpace, you’d like to make your own Look
Inside version, then you first need to sign up as a Seller on Amazon: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/homepage.html
Then you can apply for ‘Search Inside The Book’: http://www.amazon.com/gp/html-forms-controller/SITB_Pub_Signup_Form
Also, in KDP, you can send an email to the service
desk kdp-support@amazon.com and ask them to increase the Look Inside to X%. Bear
in mind that the Look Inside window will often stop somewhere random inside a
chapter.
·
Reviews are deemed very important. Potential buyers often
want to read reviews on Amazon, Goodreads,… to decide to buy or not. Amazon has
a very strict policy: If they suspect that the reviews have been bought or if
they come from a close relative or friend, then they will delete those reviews.
Also, an author can get on the ‘Author behaving badly’
blacklist when (s)he directly emails a reviewer or customer through the
Amazon/Goodreads platform. So be warned!
(Amazon now also adds a note to each uploaded review indicating that the reviewer was a verified buyer of the book or not. Both types are fine but a potential buyer might have more trust in a review by a verified buyer.)
(Amazon now also adds a note to each uploaded review indicating that the reviewer was a verified buyer of the book or not. Both types are fine but a potential buyer might have more trust in a review by a verified buyer.)
Tip: read up on the correct netiquette (online
etiquette) with regards to promoting yourself as an author on these sites.
Tip: join the Making Connections group on Goodreads to
enroll your book in the Authors Requesting Reviews (ARR) group. You give your
book for free, and interested readers ‘might’ later on add a review to your
book page. The dialogue is handled by group administrators, so you are not in
direct correspondence with the readers.
SOCIAL
MEDIA AS A MARKETING TOOL
Create an online presence on social media to attract
interest for your book. Often interlinking ‘feeds’ can be set up. For instance,
my tweet on Twitter will also automatically appear on my Facebook author page.
Facebook “page” (https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/pages), Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Blogger (start your
own blog), Pinterest, Tumblr, Goodreads, Wattpad,…
·
Goodreads.com
This Amazon service is used by millions of readers.
Goodreads will propose books to the readers in the genre that they have
expressed interest in.
Open an Author account and link it to your published
book via your ISBN or ASIN (Amazon reference number). https://www.goodreads.com/author/program
·
Wattpad.com
Millions of people read the free content on this site.
Authors publish installments of their story (f. ex. one chapter per week) and
get followers that may turn into fans. I have published the first 7 chapters of
my book there ahead of my book launch (to get them ‘hooked’). Of course, after
the launch, I keep these preview chapters up on the site. And, of course, from the start I stated clearly that I was only going to upload a part of the story. https://www.wattpad.com
TIPS
AND TRICKS
·
Multiply formats available
Amazon will normally automatically link your Kindle
book and paper edition in the days after their launch. So when you go to the
Amazon page of one edition, you’ll see them side by side. It simply requires
the exact same book title and the same publisher. If this doesn’t happen, then
you can contact the service desk kdp-support@amazon.com (link at the bottom of the KDP page) and put in the
request.
·
Convert and check ebook file
Calibre http://calibre-ebook.com/download Use this program to convert Word to .EPUB or
.PDF or . AWZ, etc. yourself. It has the option to embed the fonts used. If you
plan to publish on for example the Apple iBooks Store, you’ll need to provide
an .EPUB version of your book. Calibre can do that conversion.
(I think it’s a good program but Amazon did find problems when I uploaded a converted file.)
http://validator.idpf.org/ This free
website can be used to check if your EPUB file contain problems. Be sure to make use of this tool.
OTHER
USEFUL INFO
·
Copyright protection
One way to create proof of ownership of your rights is
to send a (digital) copy of your book to a National Library or similar organisation in your region.
And, of course, put your own copyright text in your book. Open any book and you'll see examples.
And, of course, put your own copyright text in your book. Open any book and you'll see examples.
Wikipedia.org When you want to know more about a site or things
connected to publishing, read about it on Wikipedia! And Google it, of course.
It’s amazing how much info is available.
Amazon
Associates
On your own (blog) site you may want to add a hyperlink to your Amazon page. Or you
may want to add a widget showing your/a
book inside an Amazon frame. When someone clicks on this link and buys the
book, you get the commission (minimum 4% on click-through sales). If you want
to make money that way, you need to give bank coordinates, etc. You will also need to have enough traffic, or Amazon will discontinue this service.
‘Universal’
URL: How to find the ‘universal’
URL to your book on Amazon (which redirects the surfers to the applicable Amazon
site of their own country.)
Research: Buy (e)books on how to market your book, etc. For
example:
·
Other major online bookstores:
Apple iBooks Store:
Google
Books (part of the Google Play store):
Due to too many copyright infringements, it is not
possible to sign up as a new author at this point in time. (Feb-17) Boo!
NOOK store (Barnes & Noble):
American (online) bookstore.
Kobo:
(Originally) Canadian online bookstore.
Uploading your book here is fairly straight-forward.
Did I forget a very important tip or website?
Then let me know, or write your feedback below in the Post a Comment box. Thanks!
- Jonen
novel writer of 'MINE LOOKS PURPLE' available at major online retailers.
