This article is part of my Beginner's Guide to Self-publishing direct with ebook Retailers series.

If you’re only going to go direct with one retailer—let that be Amazon KDP. There’s no reason to access their network through an aggregator, because you’ll get a higher royalty rate by selling your book directly through Amazon KDP.

All of my ebooks are available through Amazon KDP, and I like rolling out new book to Amazon first, and then releasing them through some other retailers directly, and reaching other retailers through my preferred aggregator, Draft2Digital. I choose a different distribution model based on the book niche, and I have just one book that is only available through Amazon KDP and enrolled in Kindle Unlimited so that I get royalties for page reads.

Amazon’s author page is a must-do and should be an integral part of your author marketing plan, and AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) is a low cost foray into paid book ads. All in all, Amazon is a winner. If you want to keep your distribution model simple, and only sell your book through one retailer directly (and not bother with an aggregator), Amazon’s your (wo)man!

About Amazon KDP

Amazon (love them or hate them) have leveled the playing field between traditional publishing and self-publishing. Now it’s easy for indie authors to publish their books online and achieve a global reach. This is the quickest way to get your book in front of your readers. 

Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom and Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, Mexico, Singapore, and Turkey.

Amazon dominates the ebook marketplace and many indie authors are wary of this retailer’s monopoly, but there’s no getting away from the fact that the Amazon website attracts a huge volume of inbound traffic to their library of trade and self-published books—and when they come to Amazon they usually come to spend. Plus, one-click purchasing makes it extremely easy to coax an impulse buy.

• Amazon Retail Site: bit.ly/H2-AZhome (.co.uk, etc. for your regional territory—I’m sure you’re familiar with them!)
• Travel Guides on Amazon U.S.: bit.ly/H2-AZtb

Amazon KDP Author Interface

The dashboard and steps to upload your book on KDP are extremely easy to navigate with an extensive and user-friendly help section.

• Amazon KDP Dashboard: amzn.to/2KGUWA6
• Amazon KDP Help Central: amzn.to/2tYLjlO

Amazon KDP Author Pages

Amazon offers territory specific author pages, but you need to set up an Author Central account and claim your books. You should set up a U.S. and a U.K. author profile page as a minimum, but you can also set up an author profile page in Germany, France, and Japan (using an online translation tool to convert your bio and information to the local language).

• Amazon Author Central: Your Complete Guide: bit.ly/H2-AAC

Amazon KDP Publication Timeline

When you hit the publish button, Amazon advises it can take 72 hours for your book to show up around the globe, but it can sometimes occur within 24 hours.

Amazon KDP File Requirements

You can upload and convert your ebook manuscript file from several supported formats. For the best results, they recommend Microsoft Word DOC/DOCX or HTML format.

• All file types accepted: DOC, DOCX, HTML, MOBI, EPUB, RTF, Plain Text, and KPF
• File type read by Amazon readers: MOBI
• File size limit: 650MB (that’s a large file!)

Amazon KDP ISBN Requirements

You don’t need an ISBN to publish your ebook. During the publishing process, Amazon will assign a 10-digit ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number). Once you publish, find your ASIN under the title column in your Bookshelf and in the Product Details section of your Amazon book sales page.

If you already have an ISBN for your Kindle book, you can enter it on the book content page when publishing in KDP. However, the ISBN will only be used as a reference. Only the ASIN will appear on the details page for your book.

Amazon KDP Subscription Program

Amazon has a subscription program called Kindle Unlimited. If you sign up to KDP Select you are signing a 90-day period of exclusivity with Amazon, which enrolls your book into Kindle Unlimited (KU) and Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (KOLL). If you don’t sign up for KDP Select, you can’t participate in KU or KOLL.

• Amazon KU and KOLL Help: amzn.to/2NmB2IT

Amazon KDP Additional Distribution Benefits

For Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), which is their ad sales service, you set your daily budget, targeting and timing for your advertising campaign, and you only pay when customers click your ads which appear on Amazon pages in the areas you select. Currently ad campaigns are only available on Amazon.com.

Amazon KDP Upfront Costs

Amazon doesn’t charge an upfront fee for distributing your ebooks.

Amazon KDP Author Royalties

If you set a list price between $2.99 and $9.99 you will earn maximum royalties of 70%, and a 35% royalty for books priced outside this range. 

Here’s how this would be calculated for a $2.99 book, based on Amazon taking 30%:

• Going direct you would receive a 70% royalty rate ($2.093), less the delivery charge based on the file size.
• Books at the 35% royalty rate aren’t subject to a file delivery charge. So if your ebook includes lots of images or is fixed-layout it will increase the file size dramatically, and it would be better to opt for the 35% royalty rate to avoid the file delivery charges.

Here’s an article that goes into more details about choosing your royalty rate (especially relevant to authors who are including images in their ebooks):

Which Amazon KDP ebook royalty rate should I choose?

Amazon KDP Other Resources

• The Book Designer’s Going Wide or Going Exclusive to Amazon: bit.ly/2KsA28B
• Amazon Kindle Publishing Guidelines: bit.ly/H2-Kgen

Read more articles in my How to Write a Travel Guide Series

I’m putting the finishing touches on my How to Write and Self-Publish a Travel Guide Series, which details a step by step approach for writing and producing your own travel guide. It’s part of a four-part series aimed at helping travel bloggers achieve passive income based on their passions and existing content.

Each month I host a monthly free prize draw and give away a travel writing e-book to the lucky winner. Sign up to join my mailing list to participate.