Kindle - How to Prepare And Publish a Book on Kindle

“As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words”

- William Shakespeare -

Publishing on Amazon Kindle

Kindle, Kindle - Just why do so many established authors say they are going to publish on Kindle? What about new authors, is it difficult for them to publish on Kindle?

The potential for new writers to break into traditional publishing seems to be decreasing. The number of publishing houses is getting less. Those that remain are becoming more selective, and have shrinking catalogue lists. They often choose celebrity authors over unknown, but skilled writers... yet who can blame them trying to maximise their dwindling profits. Numerous publishing houses have closed, my own publisher is in financial trouble. The future seems bleak – yet does it have to be?

 As one door closes, another often opens. For authors, digital content might be the answer. For many it has already started. Amazon Kindle has considerably increased the sale of e-books. In fact, just 18 months after it’s launch, digital books on Kindle were already selling at 35 percent the volume of physical books, and thousands of titles and are being added weekly.

Kindle was given a massive boost in 2008 when Oprah Winfrey nominated it as one of her favourite things. The status symbol of the Kindle became immediately guaranteed.

Digital books can be purchased far more cheaply than physical books. On Kindle, you can find, purchase and within moments be reading, via it’s dedicated wireless access. Kindle will store hundreds of e-books, magazines and newspapers, so you should always have reading material available.

Readers might love print books, but they are finding the price of e-books such as those offered on Kindle more and more attractive.

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How to publish your book on Amazon Kindle

To publish on Kindle is simple. In fact, to publish on Kindle is so simple, that authors should scrutinize their work meticulously before presenting it. There are no editorial checks, as a traditional publishing house would give, so you have to become your own worst critic. You must prepare it correctly.

To prepare your book

• Kindle Publishing #1 - Did you do a spell-check and grammar check? Word processor checks might not be perfect, they sometimes want you to alter things when you don't, but they at least draw attention to a possible problem and they definitely show up those silly typos.

• How to publish on Kindle #2 - Have you over used particular words in your manuscript? Most of us have favourites words and at times use them too often. Perform a search with this in mind.

• Kindle Publishing #3 - Are the time-lines correct? Have you ensured that proceedings take place in the appropriate order and within correct time-scales? It's easy to miss a day here or there or get the year wrong, particularly if changes have been made.

• How to publish on Kindle #4 – Have you removed any clumsy expressions that create an effect you don't want?

• Kindle Publishing #5 - Have you made your characters prominent so they aren’t like cardboard cutouts?

• How to publish on Kindle #6 - Have you trickled facts into your story instead of giving them all in one large lump? You should never give all information at one go. Keep teasing the reader.

• Kindle Publishing #7 - Have you regularly nudged readers about the character's details? Jog the memory every now and then.

• How to publish on Kindle #8 - Is it clear in which period your story is set; are the scenes of your actions always obvious? Don’t leave your reader speculating where and when, the story is taking place

• Kindle Publishing #9 - Have you created sufficient details about backdrops and scenes, and do you refer to them throughout the story? Just because you described something at the beginning, doesn’t mean readers will remember it later. Jog their memories every now and then.

• How to publish on Kindle #10 - Are your characters consistent in the way they behave?

• Kindle Publishing #11 - Is there enough conflict to build and maintain interest throughout the whole length of the story?

• How to publish on Kindle #12 - Do the main characters have powerful motivations and emotions and do they develop throughout the story?

• Kindle Publishing #13 - Have you made your characters easy-going or unpleasant? A single wrong phrase can make them appear in a way you didn’t intend. Check it out.

• How to publish on Kindle #14 - Is a minor character taking the story down a wrong path? Digressions can interest a reader, but if they do nothing to move the story forward, they should be removed. Any component of your story that can be removed and not missed doesn’t belong there in the first place.

• Kindle Publishing #15 - Have you accomplished what you intended with the theme of your story? Make sure you haven't fooled yourself.

• How to publish on Kindle #16 - Does the tempo of the story vary sufficiently? If misery never ends, if pressure is too constant, readers will be put off.

• Kindle Publishing #17 - Have you deleted all excess words, and adjectives and adverbs? Lengthy descriptions simply don't belong in modern writing, whilst adjectives and adverbs will kill your story.

• How to publish on Kindle #18 - What about cause and effect? What about the logic of your characters? You know the story has to reach a particular position and might be persuaded to artificially manipulate characters or situations to get there. If you do, readers will be annoyed.

• Kindle Publishing #19 - Have you tied up all loose ends. It’s vital not to leave unexplained threads. Make sure you’ve covered everything and clarified all situations.

• How to publish on Kindle #20 - Is there adequate variation in your story? What about conflicts and scenes, the dialogue you use, the length of sentences? Variation brings interest.

You also need to have a suitable image ready for the book cover. Kindle advises that an image should be more than 500 pixels on the long side and preferably 1200 pixels.

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The process of publishing on Amazon Kindle

You publish a book onto Kindle by uploading it in the correct format at Amazon's Digital Text Platform.

Kindle suggest you can upload in several formats including MS Word document. Be assured that the BEST format is HTML. I tried to upload a book as a Word document and there were a few glitches.

Converting your Word document to HTML is simple, just do a ‘Save As’ and save it as an HTML file (sometimes called WEB file) – job done. No glitches.

The process to publish is as follows:

1. Sign in with your Amazon account (or create a new one) – nothing special. Just use an ordinary Amazon account.
2. Add your new item to the screen and add all your information – ISBN if you have one (not necessary), the book blurb, keywords.
3. Upload your book. There is assistance to be found on the forum at the site if you have problems.
4. Enter the price. Confirm other author’s books prices and price yours appropriately.
5. Enter your bank account and US tax numbers. If you are non US citizen you will have to accept payment by cheque. There is currently no other way such as PayPal, so forget it.

Your book will be available for sale on the Kindle Store within 48 hours. It really is that simple.

- End of - 'Publishing on Kindle' -

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