Congratulations! You’ve written your book, it’s been edited and proofread, and then you had the manuscript laid out by a book design technician in a publishing app such as InDesign by Adobe. You also had a book cover designed by a graphics technician and both your interior file and cover file are in PDFs and NOW … you’re ready to publish!

Well done!

This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of creating your own Amazon author account (Part 1) and uploading your two files (Part 2) so you can generate a proof copy of the book you’ll be holding in your hands!

Part 1: Establishing a KDP Author Account

Yes, you can self-publish through any printing facility you wish. Kinkos/FedEx, OfficeDepot, OfficeMax and local lithographic printers will all gladly accept your files and print as many copies as you want BUT there will be a minimum number of copies in order to get a decent per-book wholesale price. You may have to order 1,000 copies to get your per-book price down to a reasonable fee, and that means your capital outlay will be expensive AND you’ll have to store 999 copies somewhere … like in your garage … and if they don’t sell, guess what?

The advantage of using Amazon, known as Amazon Kindle, is that you can order one copy or 10,000,000 and the wholesale price per book will be the same. This way you have no overhead, no capital outlay, no storage issues or costs, and Amazon will even gladly ship your books to your customers … which is one way they make their profits. A clever system, but the advantage is that it works for you, too, and for your customers, and for Amazon … a win-win-win.

By the way, Amazon and Kindle are the same company, sort of. Amazon is the main company and Kindle is their book production division, so that’s why you often see the two names together.

In order to publish on Amazon Kindle, the first step is establishing yourself as an Amazon Kindle author. Here is how you do this:

1. Go to: https://kdp.amazon.com
2. Sign up for a new account on the right side of the screen. (We recommend starting a new account just for your work as an author. If you decide to use your existing Amazon account, the following instructions may or may not be effective.)
3. Do not type in your email address and password just yet. Notice at the bottom of the sign-in boxes is a small white rectangle that says “Create your KDP account”. Click on the white rectangle.
4. You are now on a “Create account” page. Input your name or your business name, email, and password. Whether you sign-up as an individual or a business, you will be asked for your tax I.D. information. This is because Amazon will be paying royalties to you on the sale of your books which will generate tax information.
5. Amazon will send a one-time passcode (OTP) to your email address to verify it’s you. When the email arrives, input the six-digit number. Click on “Create your Amazon account.”
6. Now you will wind up at a Terms and Conditions page. Read what you wish and then click “Agree”.
7. Congratulations! You are now at a web page called “Bookshelf” which is another name for “dashboard”. In the future when you sign in, this is your starting page.
8. Let’s focus on the top rectangle that has a warning sign that says “Your account information is incomplete”. Click on the small blue words that say “Update now”.
9. When you do, you are brought to a web page that wants a Two-Step Verification. You’ll need to input your smartphone’s phone number. Click and request your OTP. When the number arrives, input that number and click “Continue”.
10. Work your way through the list of blank fields and notice that there is a small black triangle that gives you choices. Fill in the information about your name, or your business name, and your address and phone number. If you use your business name, Amazon will consider that your business is also your publishing company. Your personal name or your business name are equal, except that banking and tax information will be related to the choice you make here.
11. Amazon wants to know about your banking because they will be sending royalty checks by direct deposit to your banking entity. Credit unions are the same as banks for this purpose. Input your banking information.
12. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see a section for “Tax Information”. Click the box that says “Complete Tax Information”.
13. Now you’re on a page called “Tax Information Interview”. Answer the few questions. More fields will drop down as you proceed along this page. Ultimately you’ll be asked for your Social Security number or your tax ID number, or your EIN. Decide which choice is best for you. Next, you will be asked to sign the document with an electronic signature. You will get an error message if something is not quite right, but that should be a simple fix. Click “Save and continue” at the bottom of the page.
14. Now you are on the “W-9” that shows how you appear in Amazon’s records for tax notifications. If everything is correct, click “Submit Form” in the little orange rectangle at the bottom.
15. The next page should show that your tax information has been validated. Click the orange box that says “Exit Interview”.
16. You are now taken to your “My Account” page. Look through the information and if everything is okay, click the orange “Save” box at the bottom of the page.
17. A little “Success!” window will appear momentarily, and you are finished.

Before leaving this page, notice that you have a KDP account number on the left side of the screen. Write this number down because you will need it someday when you want to speak with a KDP representative.

Congratulations! You are now a bona fide Amazon author!

18. Next: At the top of the page, click the word “Bookshelf”.
19. Now that you are back at the “Bookshelf” (your dashboard), you can begin uploading your book files. At the top of this page, you will see the words “Create a New Title”.
20. Select “+ Paperback” and get started!

Now that you’re an official Amazon Kindle author, the next step is to upload your two PDF files … your interior file (your book), and your cover file. Here’s how to do this:

Part 2: Uploading Your Book Files to KDP Amazon

1. Go to: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/
2. Sign in.
3. After you sign in, you will be taken to your “bookshelf”. (https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/bookshelf)
4. Look for the heading titled “Create a New Title”. There are three choices:

• • Kindle eBook
  • Paperback
  • Hardcover

Select “Paperback”.

5. You will be taken to a new page which is labeled “Paperback Details”. Now fill in the required information as you scroll down the page.

Language: English.

Book Title: Insert your book title.

Subtitle: Insert your subtitle if you have one.

Series: Leave blank unless you are planning to write a series.

Edition Number: Leave blank unless you are planning multiple editions.

Author: Enter your information.

Contributors: Leave blank unless you want to name contributors to your book.

Description: This is actually a very important part of this process, but it’s one you can come back to later. For now, you can simply enter one sentence as a placeholder. Eventually, you want to circle back and write a description of your book that you think will appeal to potential readers. People who find you on Amazon are likely to read this description closely and make a buying decision based on what they read in this field. For now, one sentence will do because your goal now is to get published; later, when you want to increase sales, come back and write some amazing text that inspires readers to buy your book!

Publishing Rights: You own the copyright.

Keywords: This is also an important task. People who search Amazon books will be (more or less) directed toward your book based on the search words you input in these fields.

Categories: This is also an important task. Known as BISAC, this is how Amazon filters search inquiries. BISAC, which stands for Book Industry Standards And Communications, is a globally accepted system for categorizing books. Click on the rectangle labeled “Choose categories”. Look through the various categories and subcategories and pick the ones that you think are most appropriate for your book.

Adult Content: This generally means anything with extreme and graphic sex and/or violence. Make the correct choice.

When you have finished inputting your information on this page, click the orange box labeled “Save and Continue” in the lower right corner. You will now go to the next page for more input tasks.

This next page is about your book’s content: “Paperback Content”.

Print ISBN: Yes, you want Amazon to give you a free ISBN number. This will save you about $25 and a lot of time and paperwork if you choose instead to buy it yourself from a company called Bowker. Click the orange rectangle that says “Assign me a free KDP ISBN”. Your assigned ISBN number will suddenly appear in this area. Make note of it for future reference.

Publication Date: You can set the date for today or any date in the future. Our preference is always to select today’s date as a way of securing a copyright date, however, if you intend to attempt becoming an Amazon bestseller, which will take a lot of work and aggravation, select a date in the future that corresponds to your marketing campaign for this title.

Print Options: In this section, you are selecting whether you are a black and white book or a color book and if your paper will be white or cream-colored. Unless you want to pay a small fortune, you want the interior of your book to be only black and white. We always select white paper because the black ink looks sharper on white paper. “Black and white interior with white paper” is recommended. As you can see, the paper will be “55 pounds”; this paper is good paper, not thin or slick. If you want other options for your paper, you will have to go to a printer outside Amazon.

Trim size: This refers to the measurements of your book. There are about six different size industry standards. We recommend 6” x 9”. Many of the books on your bookshelf at home or in your office are the same size. Also, your book has been designed by your layout technician to fit on a certain size of paper; find out the size if you don’t remember and make the selection here.

Bleed: “Bleed” means “right to the very edge of the printed page. This might work well for some art books. Chances are you do not want to bleed, so select “No Bleed”. You want your text and images to be framed on the four sides of the page with blank white space.

Paperback Cover Finish: You have two choices: matte and glossy. Matte has a dull look, but some people prefer that dull look. We prefer glossy because we think a cover will stand out more when it is shiny. Pick the one you like.

Manuscript: Click “Upload Paperback Manuscript”. When you see the prompts, attach your book’s interior PDF file. Amazon Kindle only accepts PDFs. The uploading can either be quick or might take a while. When the file has been successfully uploaded, you will see a message that says so.

Book Cover: You have two choices here. Be careful! Do NOT choose “Use Cover Creator”. You have already had a cover made for you so click the little circle next to the words “Upload a cover you already have (print-ready PDF only).“

Also note that your cover’s three parts … the back cover, spine, and front cover, are in a single PDF in this sequence: back, spine, cover. Your cover will “wrap-around” your interior content, so that’s why the three parts are sequenced like this.

After you click the little circle next to the words “Upload a cover you already have (print-ready PDF only).“, wait a moment and you will be given the choice of uploading your PDF cover. Click the orange rectangle that says “Upload your book cover”. Upload your PDF cover file.

Also: Notice the little box that says “Check this box if the cover you’re uploading includes a barcode.” Do NOT check this box because you want Amazon to give you the barcode. When you requested Amazon to give you an ISBN number, you also reserved a free barcode that’s coordinated with your free ISBN number.

Book Preview: You must click “Launch Previewer” and see how your book looks in print. This is the tool the Kindle analysts will use to look at your book and decide if it can be published and printed. You get to see what they will see. Kindle will not let you advance any further until you launch the previewer.

After you launch the previewer and turn the pages, you will be asked to approve your book … OR your cover file or your interior file will be flagged with errors. The list of errors will appear on the left side of your screen.

If you have errors, copy and paste the list of errors and send this list to White Glove if we have been working on your book, or send the list to your layout technician so the necessary changes can be made. If you’re working with us, this might take a day or two, but we will try to get the technicians to correct these errors as soon as possible.

Once the errors are corrected, you will need to upload the corrected file again … either the interior file or the cover file, or both, depending on which file Amazon flagged for corrections. Hopefully, all the corrections will be made and your new upload will pass the test.

Eventually, both your cover file and your interior file will be approved by KDP. When that happens, click the orange rectangle that says “Save and Continue”.

IMPORTANT: This is a repeated instruction for you! At the bottom of the page, click the orange rectangle that says “Save and Continue”.

This will bring you to the third page which is about your book’s “Paperback Rights & Pricing”.

Territories: Select “All Territories”.

Primary marketplace: Click the little arrow and you’ll see there are about 10 different marketplaces, but your best choice is probably Amazon.com unless you are in a location outside the U.S. as indicated.

Pricing, royalty, and distribution: This part of the process is fun because you get to decide the retail price for your book and see what you will be earning in royalties in different marketplaces. Eventually, you have to decide on a specific retail price so you can publish your book, but you can always come back here later and change the price. I think it takes Amazon about 24 hours for the new price to be registered on their marketing website.

There are standard book prices; We recommend one of the following: $9.95; $12.95; $14.95; $19.95; $24.95. If you are working with us, your White Glove publishing coach has already discussed which choice is best for you, and why.

Terms and conditions: You have no choice.

At the very bottom of the page, click the orange rectangle “Publish Your Paperback Book”.

Next, you’ll get a pop-up window that says your book has been submitted for review. The pop-up says it may take as long as 72 hours to be approved, but in our experience, it rarely takes more than 24 hours and sometimes much sooner so every once in a while check your mailbox to see if you’ve received a message from KDP.

At the bottom of the pop-up window, you’ll see a little message about making your book into a Kindle ebook. Do not do this yet. This could be a dangerous step. Amazon wants you to make your book available as an ebook because they make more money when your book is an ebook and they have less work to do, and fewer staff costs, than when making your book into a printed POD. That’s why Amazon favors the ebook version. It’s less trouble for them and more money in their pockets.

We have no objection to ebooks per se, except that KDP will feature your ebook on your author page and minimize the visibility of your printed book. You receive fewer royalties for an ebook than you do for your printed POD book, so maybe making your book into an ebook at this time is premature. It might be best to market your book as a printed book first. You can always come back later and approve the ebook version later after you’ve made softcover sales.

Next: Once you get your email that says your book has been approved, here’s what you do next:

Warning: You will be asked once again by Amazon to convert your book into an e-book. We strongly recommend you resist the urge. Do so at your own peril. You can certainly consider this at a later date, but not now.

On your KDP dashboard, you’ll see the cover of your book. All the way on the right side you will see three little periods. Click on them. One of your choices will be to order proofs (“Request Printed Proofs”). Click this link.

Even though your book is now considered “Live” on Amazon, you still need to get a copy of your book and hold it in your hands so you can verify that it is exactly the way you want it to be. There is a big difference between seeing your book on a computer screen and holding your book in your hands, and we have often been surprised that we cannot see the errors online as readily as we can see them when we’re holding the printed book. You can begin selling at this point if you want to, but just know that your book will be printed with whatever errors you have not discovered. Our advice is to hold your horses and wait a little bit longer to see the proof copy in your hands. Then you’ll be more certain about how your book looks to your readers.

When you click the link for “Request Printed Proofs”, you will be taken to a page that says “Request Proof Copies”.

Number of copies: Select the number of copies you want, up to a maximum of five. Please note that you will not receive the cover as it appears on your screen; Kindle has recently taken to marring the front cover with a gray band that tells the world that you are looking at a proof copy, not a finished copy.

Marketplace of your Order: Select Amazon.com unless you are in a European country or Australia. I believe this designation is so they know which of their printing companies will print and send you the book. If you are not in the US, Europe, or Australia, you may have to contact Kindle customer service to know which selection to make. If you are in Japan, you may be asked to designate Australia; if you are in Africa, you may be asked to designate Spain. Check with your Kindle customer service representative.

Click the orange rectangle in the lower right corner that says “Submit Proof Request”. You’ll receive a pop-up window that says “Thank you for your order.”

You’ll receive a message that your proof copies are being reviewed. Once your request is approved, you’ll receive an email that asks you to finalize your proof request. This entails an ordering process, A single proof copy will cost around $3 – $4 each, plus shipping/handling and tax. We recommend you order at least two proof copies … it’s nice to have an extra one for your shelf. Your proof copies will take between 2 – 3 weeks to arrive … so you just have to be patient.

When your package arrives, examine the proof copy carefully for errors. If there are errors, you’ll have to go back to your technician, or to White Glove if you are working with us. The errors will need to be corrected and the proof copy sequence repeated until you receive a proof copy that passes your test.

Once you’re satisfied with the way the proof copy looks, go back to your account and go to the “Paperback Rights & Pricing” page. (You’ll see the tab/link on your dashboard.) If you are ready, you can click the orange rectangle in the lower left corner of this page that says “Publish Your Paperback Book”.

Once you click “Publish Your Paperback Book”, your book is live on Amazon. Congratulations! You are now an official Published Author!

Always remember to log off when you are done.

How to Contact Kindle Book Publishing Service?

Kindle does not want to receive 10 million calls every half hour so they “hide” access. Go to the very bottom of your author page and click the barely visible words “Contact Us”. You will be taken to a page that says “How can we help?” Select one of the topics and click it. A drop-down menu will appear to provide you with more information, but, even better, you’ll see a new section about halfway down the page that says “How would you like to contact us?”

The fastest way is to click the button that says “Call us”. Requesting information by email will take a very long while and you may only generate more questions to their initial answers that will then create even more emails, so we recommend making the phone call. However, you actually don’t call them; they call you. When you click the “Call us” button, you’ll be asked to input your phone number and then click the orange button that says “Request Call”. If you have to wait more than a few minutes, consider making the request again. We usually have to wait no more than 2 – 3 minutes, but every once in a while you may have to wait about 20 minutes. You can also make a second request for them to call you, and you might be called back immediately. Maybe your first request for a call was pulled into the Void?

Also, note that the first representative you speak with may not be the right person. You may quickly be relayed to another representative once the first representative understands why you’re calling. The representatives are very polite and do their best to be helpful. We’ve always been pleased by the KDP/Amazon representatives … always very friendly and helpful!

Final Thoughts

It’s our pleasure to provide the information in this post. Hopefully, you will soon have your interior file and cover file finished and ready for KDP uploading.

If you need an expert writing, editing, publishing, and book marketing service, we’d like you to consider us. We believe we’re the best in the business because our satisfied clients tell us so … and we hope you’ll also soon become one of our satisfied clients!

“When you’re good at something, you’ll tell everyone.

When you’re great at something, they’ll tell you.”

~ Walter Payton

White Glove Book Marketing is a full-service ghostwriting, editing, proofreading, publishing, and marketing company dedicated to serving our clients’ best interests. Contact us today to see how we can help you achieve your Dream!

www.WhiteGloveBookMarketing.com