How to self-publish on Amazon
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The world of literature is competitive and getting published can be expensive and often disappointing with the amount of editing that gets done. However, self-publishing is becoming more and more popular, and Amazon is a great resource to get started with for this.
Amazon has this thing called KDP publishing, it uses the same login as your regular Amazon account, but you can upload your own manuscript and get it published for FREE. I know it does sound too good to be true, but let me break it down. You price your own book, Amazon set a minimum price to cover the printing costs, then anything over is profit. Amazon takes a percentage of the profit but the rest goes to you, you get paid per sale.
The process is a little bit complicated, there are various steps that need to be completed but it's so rewarding at the end of the day, to actually hold your own book in your hands, and to make sales from your work. Amazon is obviously a huge, international business, and I suppose that could be quite a daunting thing a first, considering publishing through them. However, I’ve personally found them brilliant to self-publish through, it’s easy and efficient.
You can upload your manuscript from a word document, and you can download a template which will make sure that none of your wording is cut off during printing. I found this resource to be helpful, as the first few times I ordered my book for proof reading, the layout wasn't how i had expected and this was due to the sizing of my uploaded manuscript, after using the templates, my layouts came out really well and looked a lot more professional.
A big part of self-publishing is PROMOTION! You need to promote the heck out of your work, because this is how you will get your sales. You can pay for Amazon to post an advert, but there are also free ways to advertise. Share the link of your product with friends and family, and ask them to leave a review. You can also make a social media page and upload regular content about your work, to keep people engaged.
The whole process is scary at first, but you need to push past that fear and get your work out! And remember, you don't have to publish your work for anyone, your writing is for you.
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