Kindle Create is a free interior formatting tool that works well with most books you want to publish on Amazon, but there are requirements and supported features we want you to know about before you download.
In printing, bleed is printing that goes beyond the edge of where the sheet will be trimmed. In other words, the bleed is the area to be trimmed off. The bleed is the part on the side of a document that gives the printer a small amount of space to account for movement of the paper, and design inconsistencies.
For bound books 6"x 9" or smaller, use 0.5" margins on the top, outside and bottom of books, and a 0.75" inside margin. For 8.5"x11" documents (bound or unbound), use 1-inch margins. Adjust margins, font size, and columns to produce 65-70 characters per line (including spaces).
Compact-width fonts, e.g., Times Roman, look best in 11 or 12 points. Wider fonts, e.g., Palatino, look best in a smaller font size, usually 10 or 11 points. "Large print" books are at least 14 points.
Here's how to upload your book to Amazon:
- In your Kindle Direct Publishing account, go to “Your Bookshelf”.
- Locate and click on “Kindle eBook Actions” next to the title of your book.
- Locate and click on “Edit eBook Content”.
- Click on “Upload eBook manuscript”.
- Upload your manuscript file on your computer.
7.1 Steps to Writing Your Book
- Create a plan. The first step to writing a book is to create a plan for how you will do so.
- Plan the cover design. I usually hire a cover designer before I write the book.
- Write. Once you have a plan, start writing.
- 3.1 Hire a ghostwriter. I prefer to write all my own content.
- Read.
- Edit.
- Publish.
- Launch.
How to Write a Book in 15 Amazingly Simple Steps
- Find your “big idea” The one thing you absolutely need to write a book is, of course, an idea.
- Research your genre. Once you've found your big idea, the next step is to research your genre.
- Create an outline.
- Start off strong.
- Focus on substance.
- Write “reader-first”
- Set word count goals.
- Establish a healthy routine.
How to Write an Ebook
- Choose a topic that matches your audience's needs.
- Outline each chapter of your ebook.
- Break down each chapter as you write.
- Design your ebook.
- Use the right colors.
- Incorporate visuals.
- Highlight quotes or stats.
- Place appropriate calls-to-action within your ebook.
The 10 Best Pieces of Book Writing Software
- Scrivener (Word Processor)
- Google Docs (Word Processor)
- Google Sheets (Spreadsheet)
- Vellum (Book Formatting/Word Processor)
- Freedom (Productivity App)
- Microsoft Word (Word Processor)
- Ulysses (Word Processor)
- Microsoft Excel (Spreadsheets)
Hire an ebook developer & graphic designer ($200-$2,500): Having your book manually formatted by a professional for both digital and print can cost anywhere from $200 to $2,500 according to Bibliocrunch's Publishing Budget Tracker.
4. Print book formatting and layout. For standard formatting and layout for the interior of a print book, you can expect it to take about 5 weeks.
How many words are there to a page? It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250-300 words per page. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. A 100,000 word book would be about 400.
Create a booklet or book
- Go to Layout and select the Page Setup dialog launch icon at the bottom-right corner.
- On the Margins tab, change the setting for Multiple pages to Book fold.
- Select and increase the value of Gutter to reserve space on the inside fold for binding.
- Go to the Paper tab and select the Paper size.
- Click OK.
For a short and snappy non-fiction/educational type book, aim for between 100 – 150 pages, based on approximately 367 words per page using Arial font size 12 with a paragraph spacing of 1.5. This would equate to 36,700 – 55,000 words in total.
How to Format Dialogue in a Story
- Use Quotation Marks to Indicate Spoken Word.
- Dialogue Tags Stay Outside the Quotation Marks.
- Use a Separate Sentence for Actions That Happen Before or After the Dialogue.
- Use Single Quotes When Quoting Something Within the Dialogue.
- Use a New Paragraph to Indicate a New Speaker.
Formatting Tips for Kindle eBooks
- Don't use your spacebar to add extra spaces or indents.
- Set your paragraph text style to add a 12pt space after each paragraph rather than hitting the “Enter” key twice at the end of each paragraph.
- Use numbered lists rather than typing numbers.
The crucial ones are san serif typeface and 12 pt. size, Ragged Right, double spaced lines, one space between sentences, and indented paragraphs. Most important to an Agent or an Acquisitions Editor is whether you have something to say, can write it engagingly, and tell a story (fiction or nonfiction).
The Kindle Paperwhite can read PDF documents natively — in other words, without converting them. The Kindle Paperwhite handles PDF documents differently from how it handles text in the usual Kindle format: You can zoom in on a PDF document by unpinching.
Kindle Create may be helpful for first time Kindle users who have a simple book, such as a novel with no formatting other than chapter titles. For the rest of us, it is unwieldy at best. It can actually take more time than formatting with styles in Word, converting to HTML, and uploading to KDP.
1.Upload PDF file to Kindle Via USB
- Open the "Kindle" > "documents" folder.
- Eject and remove your Kindle from the computer.
- Find the address of your Kindle.
- Open your e-mail application or service such as Outlook or Gmail.
- Choose "mobi" as your output format.
- Click "Convert Now" to convert your PDF file.
If former, you need Mobi because Kindle doesn't have native support for EPUB. If latter, you can upload an EPUB and KDP will convert it to all the relevant formats for different Kindle devices. In fact, a well formatted EPUB works better many a times than a Mobi while uploading on KDP.
Book sales is the most obvious way to make money from self publishing. You will either earn royalties (from self publishing platforms such as Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing/KDP) or revenues (if you print, distribute and sell your book yourself). Your books may not sell continuously over time.
Self publishing on Amazon is also worth it if you can use the clicks and views that your eBook receives to boost another venture. The highest paid authors on Amazon have a series of books and have spent years building that up. And the highest paid authors on Amazon KDP tend to be fiction writers, too.
There's no charge to upload the file. Authors get royalties of 35% to 70% of the sale price, depending on whether the book is sold on KDP or through another Amazon service called KDP Select (more about that below).
Publish Your Book on Amazon for Free: How to Self-Publish Without Paying a Dime Kindle Edition. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Yes, you can publish for free.
Even if it never gets published, it's worth writing just as a learning experience. And if you're an experienced author, then such a book will be relatively quick and painless to write. If your story fits the third category and it's your first book, it might be a good idea to write a simpler book to start with.
Trim size
| Trim size | Black ink and white paper | Color ink and white paper |
|---|
| 5.25" x 8" (13.34 x 20.32 cm) | 24 - 828 | 24 - 828 |
| 5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm) | 24 - 828 | 24 - 828 |
| 6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm) | 24 - 828 | 24 - 828 |
| 6.14" x 9.21" (15.6 x 23.39 cm) | 24 - 828 | 24 - 828 |
Below we've outlined some steps to take that will get you started in the self-publishing process!
- Step 1: Edit/Proofread.
- Step 2: Apply for an ISBN and Copyright.
- Step 3: Format Your Book.
- Step 4: Design Your Book Cover.
- Step 5: Make Sure Your Files Are Print-ready!
- Step 6: Place an Order and Submit Your Files.
It is not hard to publish your novel. You can choose to publish it the traditional way, which is submitting your manuscript to a literary agent who will then sign you up with a publishing contract if it is approved.
Amazon does not require you to include a copyright page. If you would like your book to have a copyright page, you must incorporate it into your content file.
Ten Tips for Pricing Your Book Profitably
- Choose the retail price wisely.
- Pricing your book is an art, not a science.
- Price your book based on its value.
- Do not price your book using an “X-time-cost” formula.
- Do not price your book the same as competitive books.
- Look at your price differently.
- Know your discount structure.
- Price is not the same as cost.
Getting your book traditionally published is a step-by-step process of:
- Determining your genre or category of work.
- Finding appropriate agents or publishers for your work.
- Preparing your submissions materials (a query letter, usually).
- Submitting your materials to agents or editors.
