Kindle Direct Publishing For Absolute Beginners: A Guide to Publishing Kindle E-Books for Beginners

by Sally Jenkins

“Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners is a jewel to anyone who is about to publish or is thinking of publishing an e-book,” says Bil Howard of ReadersFavorite.com. “Sally goes a step further than most books on electronic publishing by including some marketing techniques and methods of increasing sales of your book.”This book was last updated in June 2023 to reflect changes at Amazon KDP and in e-publishing generally. Sally Jenkins is a prize-winning short story writer and many of her articles on creative writing have appeared in the UK press. She has successfully published several e-books including collections of her short stories and articles. Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners pulls together Sally’s e-publishing experience into a concise and easy to follow guide. Starting with the definition of an e-book and deciding what to write, through to running KDP Select promotions - Sally’s advice is sensible, friendly and easy to follow. Kindle Direct Publishing for Absolute Beginners gives the novice self-publisher a basic introduction to the following topics (with links to more in-depth articles):What to Write - E-publishing is more flexible than traditional publishingBefore You Publish - Tips to make a manuscript the best it can beTitle - Use it to make your book discoverable on AmazonFront and End Matter - How to start and finish an e-bookFormatting - Sally recommends Mark Coker’s ‘Smashwords Style Guide’ and adds a few tips of her ownThe Cover - Three ways to generate an e-book coverTax - Information for UK authors on the tax payable on Amazon royaltiesRoyalties and Pricing - The choices facing an authorKDP Select - Advantages and disadvantagesCreating the Product Description - Writing the book’s ‘blurb’KDP Keywords & Categories - Help people find your bookKindle Pre-Order - Generating a pre-publication ‘buzz’Getting Started with KDP - Entering tax and bank informationUploading a Book to KDP - Publishing your bookA+ Content – What is it?Ad Campaigns - A brief overview of paid advertising on AmazonSales Reports - How to view your worldwide sales figuresCreate an Amazon Author Page - Tell the world about yourselfObtaining Reviews - Encouraging others to endorse your bookKDP Select Free Days - Run a ‘Free Days’ campaignKDP Countdown Deals - Run a ‘Countdown Deals’ campaignWriting a Series of E-Books - Keep the readers coming back for moreWhat to Do When the Books Don’t Sell - Re-ignite your e-book salesCreate a Mailing List - Keep in touch with your readersPublishing a Paperback through Amazon KDP – Tips from Sally’s experience of paperback publishingCreating a Box Set - Definition of a box set and the benefits of publishing in this way.What the reviewers said about ‘A Writer on Writing’ - Sally’s collection of creative writing “A Writer on Writing is highly recommended for all write

98 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 18, 2014

About the author

Sally Jenkins is an American sports columnist and feature writer for The Washington Post, and author. She was previously a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. She has won the AP Sports Columnist of the Year Award five times, received the National Press Foundation 2017 chairman citation, and was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize. She is the author of a dozen books. Jenkins is noted for her writing on Pat Summitt, Joe Paterno, Lance Armstrong, and the United States Center for SafeSport.

Reviews

[Rosalind Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sally Jenkins kindles hope in an absolute beginner.

An answer to prayer to find a kindle book, downloaded instantly of course, that answers all my questions and scores more I'd never even thought of. Confidently and encouragingly written, reading the whole book in a few hours has imbued me with the determination to launch my Kindle book asap. Probably not before rereading Sally's sound advice first....There is much to remember but it's all there to go back to, rather like having a patient expert friend at your side to guide you through the technicalities. I don't know you Sally but I can say you are a very good teacher! (It takes one to know one.)

[J A Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great investment

I flew through this guide in an evening to get a skeleton plan together, while scribbling notes and bookmarking pages. I now feel clear about what lies ahead, and confident that the details are waiting in these pages when I need them.

I’m very grateful to Sally for compressing and distilling her years of experience into this practical resource.

My enthusiasm has now doubled!

[Connor+Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Useful advice for new KDP authors

No silly marketing ideas. No outlandish publishing plans. Just solid advice that will enable you to publish and promote your KDP masterpiece with the least amount of fuss and stress. Explains pricing and promotions in some detail.

Also covers the paperback side of Amazon's service now, since they bought Createspace thanks to the author's updates and edits which keep the book current.

[Philip Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Advice on using KDP to best effect

Really good detailed instruction. The book is the right size for reading in two sittings. Very impressed with the tips and the structure of the book. I will certainly be following Sally’s advice and start uploading my book.

[Richard Peck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps the best "first" book to read about KDP if you are brand new to this; covers formatting and other technical considerations, creating an author page, the importance of metadata, and more. If you're going to self-publish, start here. Recommended.

[Angela Britnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm hoping to venture into some self-publishing soon and this book was an invaluable tool to start me off. It's clearly written and the author obviously knows what she's talking about. It answered so many of my questions - a very worthwhile purchase!

[ematarrita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart purchase. Must have.

The book is quite comprehensive and provides many links to pages you did not even knew you needed. An absolutely great purchase.

[Ian Rodwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review is at my website:

https://workingwow.net/2022/01/31/kin...

Please wander over and take a look!

Thank you

[Rich Wehrman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of information particularly for a first time author. Walks you through the whole process, even what to do when sales start to wane.