Many of our book clients come to us with their book manuscripts completed and ask for some final editing and uploading to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and sometimes IngramSpark to get into retail catalogues.

You can do it yourself and get your book on the world’s largest book marketplace for free. You can treat Amazon as a low-cost print-on-demand service available in most countries.

The formatting and uploading process can be a bit finicky, but you can learn to do it yourself by following the guidelines provided by Amazon KDP. The uploading process itself tells you what is required.

Here are the steps we follow to publish books for our clients.

Formatting For Submission

You must choose a trim size for your book and format to fit.

A typical trim size is 6 x 9 inches.

Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and other programs allow you to set the page sizes and margins to the required specifications.

Amazon accepts PDF files for print books and ePub files for eBooks.

I use Atticus (https://www.atticus.io/) to format client books and to write and format my books.

Your one-time investment will save a lot of futzing with formatting for both print books and ePub books.

Atticus supports collaboration, which would streamline working with me on your books.

Opening Your Own Amazon KDP Account

Even if you have me upload your book, I will upload it to your Amazon account rather than publish it under Shared Visions Unlimited.

I know many authors who had terrible experiences with publishing houses and book consultants who published their books under their umbrella. Some come to us.

It is best to keep control and keep the money from sales yourself!

See the Amazon KDP Signup Process at https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200620010.

Uploading Your Print Book

Amazon will ask for the title, subtitle, description, contributors, categories, and keywords.

You will specify a trim size and upload your PDF file.

Amazon will create a preview version of the book and review it when submitted.

Uploading or Creating a Cover

The hardest part of the exercise is getting a cover that matches the exact specifications of your book.

The width of the spine will vary according to page count and paper grade.

Amazon can generate a template for your trim size and page count.

I load the template into PhotoShop and overlay the design to keep within the specifications, including adequate margins and room for a book number code.

Amazon can assign a book number for your book. I can generate book numbers, and there are paid services for that. The free Amazon book number will work for most authors.

Amazon has a book cover creation tool that is quite good and will create a cover that fits.

Pushing the Publish Button

When you and Amazon seem happy with the book, you can push a button to submit it for review and publishing.

Amazon will let you know if there are any issues or let you know that your book is live.

Now The Work Starts!

Amazon publishes thousands of new books every day.

Ideally, you have been promoting the book in advance, and now is a good time for a book launch party and marketing campaign.

And steady marketing ever after:-)

I can help you with all of that.

Book a chat about your books at https://www.gregdixon.net/calendar.

Come learn more about Shared Visions Unlimited at https://sharedvisions.com/

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