Step 1:

Sign in to your KDP.Amazon.com account

Step 2:

Go to the Bookshelf. In the "Create a New Title" section, click + Paperback.

Step 3:

Enter your information for each of the three sections below.

We will go over EACH tab in more detail in the following lessons.

• TAB 1: Paperback Details. 
  Enter your title, description, keywords, categories, etc. (more on this in the next lesson)
• TAB 2: Paperback Content. 
  Upload your manuscript and cover. Preview your book. (more on this in a future lesson)
• TAB 3: Paperback Rights & Pricing. 
  Select the territories where you hold distribution rights. Select a royalty plan and set your price. (more on this in a future lesson)

Troubleshooting Tip:

Make sure your browser is updated if you are having any issues.

Two fast links for more info:

• Content Guidelines for book content, title, cover art, and product descriptions.

• Guide to Kindle Content Quality Content 
Types of quality issues Amazon sees most frequently, plus an idea of what you should be paying close attention to when submitting your book.

Inside of the first tab of your KDP account, there are several important fields to fill out. This lesson explains them and shares best practices learned from publishing many, many books!

NOTE:
Most of this information will auto-populate from your Kindle version if you have already published it! 🙂

Language

This is an easy one..."Choose your paperback's primary language (the language in which the book was written)." Most of the time, that's English unless you wrote it in another language.

Book Title, Subtitle, Series, & Edition Number

• Title: Make it clear, catchy
• Subtitle: Make it keyword-rich (without stuffing)
• Series is optional
• Edition number also optional (leave alone unless making a big update to a past version of an already published book)

Author & Contributors

• Author = you or your pen name
• Contributors = optional, but could help (for example: get a great Foreword from a 'big name' that adds credibility to your book) or is kind to give credit (for example: name an editor or illustrator)

Description

• Write this at the end, so you know for sure what your book is about
• Put in 3rd person: like a publisher is writing about you
• Make keyword rich to be found in search better
• Include reviews for more credibility

Basic HTML Hack

You can do basic HTML inside of the description field for your book. Here are two examples!

1. Make parts bold.

<b>This will be bold.</b>  
=  This will be bold.

<b>Whatever is inside</b> the alligator mouths is bold.  
=  Whatever is inside the alligator mouths is bold.

2. Make parts italicized.

<i>This will be italic.</i>  
= This will be italic.

The code tells Amazon where to <i>begin and end</i> the italics.  
= The code tells Amazon where to begin and end the italics.

3. Here are all the html codes that Amazon accepts <-- click to see more.

Publishing Rights

• "I own" (choose this option if your book is your original content - 97% of the time, this is for you)

vs.

• "public domain work" (learn more about the details of this here)

Keywords

Because Amazon is a search engine, just like Google, people head over to Amazon to look for answers to their problems.

So, you want to be found when people type in things into the search bar that make sense for your book.

You can enter up to 7 keywords or short phrases (this is optional, but recommended) that describe your book and are relevant to its content.

The best keywords:

• do not repeat words in the title, category, or description, since these are already used to help readers find your book
• do combine keywords in the most logical order "social media marketing coach" vs. "social coach marketing media"
• do capture useful, relevant information that won't fit in your title and description (setting, character, plot, theme, etc.)

What to avoid:

Some types of keywords are prohibited and may result in content being removed from sale like these:

• Information covered elsewhere in your book's metadata (title, contributors, etc.)
• Subjective claims about quality (e.g. "best novel ever")
• Time-sensitive statements ("new," "on sale," "available now")
• Information common to most items in the category ("book")
• Spelling errors
• Variants of spacing, punctuation, capitalization, and pluralization ("80GB" and "80 GB," "computer" and "computers", etc.). Exception: Words translated in more than one way (e.g. "Mao Zedong" or "Mao Tse-tung," "Hanukkah" or "Chanukah"
• Anything misrepresentative like the name of an author not associated with your book. 
  This kind of information can create a confusing customer experience.
  KDP has a zero-tolerance policy for metadata that is meant to advertise, promote, or mislead.
• Quotation marks in search terms. 
  Single words work better than phrases, and specific words work better than general ones. If you enter "complex suspenseful whodunit," only people who type all of those words will find your book. For better results, enter this: complex suspenseful whodunit ... so that customers can search for any of those words and find your book
• Amazon program names (e.g. "Kindle Unlimited" or "KDP Select")

Tools to Help You Research:

• Search Amazon yourself as if you were hoping to find your own book (once it's live) -- what did you search for?

• Google Keyword Planner - Use to help you pick good ones based on what people are searching around your book topics

• AMZ Tracker

• Sellics - Has a 14-day free trial.

• KDspy - As they describe it -"New Unique Software Application 'Reverse-Engineers' The Kindle Marketplace & Reveals Lucrative Kindle Niches - In Seconds!" It's only $47 and has a 60-day money back guarantee. It's not necessary for your bestseller goals, but having great keywords can help you get found more and more in the long run as well

Other tips from Amazon:

• You can change keywords and descriptions as often as you like

• If your book is available in different formats (Kindle, physical, audio), keep your keywords and description consistent across formats

• Make sure your book's metadata adhere to KDP's eBook and paperback guidelines

Categories

Categories are so important, that we went over it more in-depth inside the T.R.A.C.K. Formula in the previous section - in P5 here!

Adult Content

• Easy yes or no question for you: Does this book contain language, situations, or images inappropriate for children under 18 years of age?

Note: Your title, author name, and ISBN are locked after publishing.

If you need to change any of these, you have to unpublish your paperback from your Bookshelf and then republish it using your new information -- but check with tech support first to see if they can help, like if you have a small spelling error, for example.

Print ISBN:

Click "Get free KDP ISBN" unless you plan to purchase an ISBN.

If you purchase an ISBN, then click on "Use my own ISBN" and enter it there along with your "Imprint."

An imprint is the "entity associated with the ISBN" that you enter when you buy it. It's basically like your publishing company's name or even a special sub-brand of your publishing company. But you need not formally establish an entity for this. Why bother? It does make your book feel more professional to have a distinction from your author name and can be beneficial for PR and brand-building goals.

Publication Date

Just leave blank if this is a new book you are publishing for the first time.

Print Options:

Ink and Paper Type

Here is where you will pick your ink and paper types for your book on the inside. You have the following four choices:

1. Black & white interior + cream paper
2. Black & white interior + white paper
3. Standard color interior + cream paper
4. Premium color interior + white paper

Printing cost varies depending on page count and ink type (black ink or color ink). Trim size, bleed settings & cover finish don’t affect printing cost. Learn more about printing costs on KDP.

Trim Size

There are lots ot pick from but the most often used are 6x9in and 5.5x8.5in. Learn more about trim size from KDP here.

Bleed Settings

If your book is just text on the page, and that text doesn't run off the edge in an artistic way, then you'll pick "No Bleed."

If you have colors or fonts that run to the end of the page, you'll want to include a bleed on your PDF file and click "Bleed (PDF only)."

Read more here about bleed from KDP.

Paperback cover finish

Choose Matte or Glossy. This is really up to you and the mood of the book cover design and your personal preferences. Learn more about KDP’s cover finish options.

Manuscript

This is where you upload your book's manusciprt. I highly recommend a pdf file for this.

Book Cover

You can use KDP's Cover Creator tool for free (not my first choice) or upload your own file (we talk about book cover design in more detail in P2: Pen). Make sure it's a print-ready PDF with bleed.

Book Preview

Once you upload your internal pdf file and book cover pdf file, KDP will generate a preview for you and highlight any errors it detects with both the inside and outside of your book. It can take a few minutes to generate, so don't stress if it does take a lilttle bit. Then you'll need to click through and "approve" how it looks before being able to go to the next step.

Go to TAB 3

After you've done everything above, you can "Save as Draft" if you aren't ready to work on TAB 3 or click "Save and Continue" if you are.