A writer friend contacted me the other day to ask if I had any how-to posts on self-publishing. Specifically, she was asking for detailed information on how to self-publish her book on Amazon.
I didn’t have anything like that, as this blog assumes you will have already published your book and are looking for ways to promote it. But after a quick search, I realized that Amazon has dedicated an entire microsite to just that. They call it KDP Jumpstart and is a mini-course that walks you through all steps. So, here it is, for any writers who are still looking to self-publish their first book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDqWYMPm_Xw
KDP Jumpstart
New to Kindle Direct Publishing? Want a simple, step-by-step guide to publishing on Amazon? KDP Jumpstart is a streamlined, sequential approach to the steps required to go from finished manuscript to published book. To publish on KDP, you’ll complete four major milestones:
- Getting started. Enter your author, payment, and tax information to set up your KDP account.
- Book details. Enter information like title, author, and description to help readers find your book.
- Manuscript & cover. Transform your manuscript into a formatted file and design a cover that grabs readers’ attention.
- Rights & pricing. Decide where and for how much you want to sell your book.
What KDP Jumpstart includes
KDP Jumpstart is designed to guide new authors through each step of self-publishing on Amazon. KDP Jumpstart includes:
TOPICS12 step-by-step topics covering everything you need to know to publish your book on KDP. |
RESOURCESVideos, activities, and insider tips to help you get the most out of publishing on Amazon. |
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KDP Jumpstart Sections
Most KDP Jumpstart topics include the following sections:
| Section | What’s in it |
|---|---|
| What this topic covers | What you’ll be able to do after reading the topic |
| What you’ll need | Information to gather before going to KDP to enter it |
| Your progress | Progress bar that charts which milestones you’ve completed and which you have left |
| How to… | Videos and articles explaining what you’ll need to do to publish on KDP and why it’s important |
| Activity | Activities for you to research best practices for preparing, publishing, and promoting your book |
| Insider tip | Industry advice that introduces you to other Amazon resources that can help you reach your publishing goals |
| What to do next | Next steps at the end of each lesson, including a downloadable, printable companion guide for entering your information into KDP |
KDP Jumpstart direct links
Getting started
Book details
Manuscript & cover
- Introduction to book design
- Format your eBook manuscript
- Format your paperback manuscript
- Design your cover
- Upload your book
Rights & pricing
Click on the links above to jump to the section you’re interested in or learn more on KDP Jumpstart!
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Thanks Nicholas. Another very helpful post.
Yay! So glad to hear that, John! Thank you 🙂
So nice of you to post this Nicholas! It is very useful to have this bookmarked. Things change here and there as time goes. I’ll publish again maybe this year, and I can now refer to this bookmarked guide. You are always here taking care of us, and we thank you
Yay! So glad you found it useful, Luna 😀
This is such a helpful article. Thank you for sharing this useful information. 👍🙏
Yay! So glad you found it useful 😀
An extremely useful link for those aspiring to get published, Nicholas. I have bookmarked it. 🙂
(I thought you had your own paid-for service that arranged this for a fee. Am I mistaken? Perhaps I imagined it. 🙂 )
Best wishes, Pete.
I can handle that, yes. But you know me and tooting my horn…
That was my crib for our writing group’s first collection ‘Where the Wild Winds Blow’, followed by my illustrated story-verse ‘A Year Before Christmas (just to see if I could add the pictures). Just search for the aspect you need more help with.
It’s worth googling your peoblem as well; sometimes other people are better at explaining terms that KDP assume you will understand.
This year the writing group produced a second collection, ‘A Following Wind’, and I discovered easier ways to do the things I did the hard way last time – mostly by not reading enough of KDP’s tutorials before I started and assuming the template was self-evident. This all helped when I then published my own short story collection, ‘Which Way and other ambiguous stories.’
I didn’t like KDP’s kindle template (I came across Mark Coker’s Smashwords first and prefer his ebook template and tutorials which explain why you’re doing things this way, so you know how to change it). I did use KDP’s templates for the paperbacks and cover (again, I didn’t like their cover creator and used Canva for the front cover and ebook.) I’ve seen articles that explain how to set up your layout from scratch, but wouldn’t like to try it: there are too many aspects I could forget about or just get wrong.
Many thanks, Cathy! That’s pretty much why I haven’t written a full guide myself. Plus, these things constantly change. Still, could you add the links to your guides here?