How to Self Publish a Book for Kindle

As the Amazon Kindle gains in popularity, writers should consider creating their own electronic Kindle Book for sale. The Kindle has its own digital text platform which assists authors in uploading and publishing their work for sale in the Kindle store. Electronic books published are available for wireless download on Kindle, and online at Amazon.com. There is an option of allowing buyers to print ebooks and have them sent through the mail, although I have not personally experimented with that aspect of the functionality yet.

Publish Your Own Electronic Kindle Books: Formatting

When you are writing for the electronic market, it is best to limit the amount of formating in your document. When writing a text that will be converted to an electronic book, it is best to be simple. Electronic publishing platforms don't generally support tables and other complex formatting. The basic strategy is to create your work in Microsoft Word format. When you are done, you will save your electronic book as an HTML document (web page). That is all you need to do. It is ready to be uploaded. You can create a linked table of contents using some HTML language if you want, but that's up to you.

Publishing Your own Electronic Book: Contents

If you have a novel you have been working on and just need a publisher, then you are ahead of the game. Other authors, such as content producers, may consider compiling a publication featuring all of their stories, or working with a group to publish something together. Just make sure that you actually own the rights to whatever work you are uploading to the electronic bookstore. Electronic books must adhere to basic copyright standards.

Publishing an Electronic Book: Digital Text Platform

The digital text platform for the Kindle and the Amazon.com store is called Amazon DTP. You access the electronic platform at a separate website, but you can sign up for it using any existing Amazon.com account information. The Amazon DTP website is simple. Enter some basic information about who you are and how you want to get paid and you are ready to publish. Then, you go to your bookshelf and get started. There are only four short screens to publication. First, you enter all of the basic information about the book you want to e-publish. Then, you select the areas of distribution. Next you upload the book (MS Word doc saved as HTML) and preview it, and then set your price. The price that you set is retail, not the amount you will be paid as commission .

Commissions for Digital Books Sold on Kindle

Amazon has revised its commission schedule for writers several times. The current rate of commission for electronic books is sixty-five percent for books over ten dollars, and seventy-five percent for books under ten dollars. Books sold outside the United States will earn you a lower commission from Amazon since Amazon is charged a VAT tax and passes it along to you.

If you have a book that you want to publish, considering using Amazon's digital text platform. The process is simple, and you can have a book uploaded and priced within a few minutes. The website contents refreshes every few hours, so your book will be for sale on Amazon.com within a few hours. For more information on formatting, commissions, and other information about Amazon's digital publishing process, visit www.amazondtp.com.