How to: Publish Your Book on the Kindle

The publishing landscape has changed drastically in the last few years, making it possible for virtually anyone to publish a book. But one of the most exciting publishing options is Amazon’s digital platform, which allows writers to publish their ebooks to the Kindle. 

The Kindle publishing option offers the possibility of having your work appear on numerous devices that are compatible with Kindle software. There are no publishing fees and you have the option of retaining 70 percent of the royalties, something that few, if any, traditional publishers offer to the first-time author; traditional publishers currently pay 25 percent royalties on ebooks. And it is possible to make serious money, as authors such as J. A. Konrath and Lee Goldberg have written. Goldberg reported earnings of $7,319.80 for a single month. Another writer declined a traditional publisher’s advance and decided to publish through the Kindle. 

How do you publish to the Kindle?

Before you get started, familiarize yourself with the format that Amazon wants as well as other Amazon Kindle publishing rules. Amazon offers these content guidelines.

Once you’re familiar with the requirements, you will of course need a book. Your book may be fiction or nonfiction. Keep in mind that any pictures you include or other visual materials will appear in grayscale on the Kindle. No videos can be included.

Make sure you have the legal rights to all material you submit. Also make sure that your work does not include material that could be grounds for a lawsuit.

Second, you need an account at the Kindle Digital Platform.

Third, you will need to convert your ebook to Kindle format by using the Mobipocket Creator. To use the Mobipocket Creator, you need to save your novel in HTML format. Upon starting the Creator, you will see “Import From Existing File” heading. Chose HTML document. Use the Browse button next to Chose File field to locate the book file on your compauter. Then Chose Import. You will see a new panel where you can add a table of contents and a cover image as well as metadata and book settings. Once you’re done, look for the Build icon and click it.

If you also have the Mobipocket Reader, you will be instantly able to view your file as a Kindle would render it. But to be absolutely sure, download the Kindle Previewer 1.5 software from this link.

Fourth, you will need to upload the file created with Mobipocket Creator to your account. Press the Add New Title button and follow instructions, and you will find yourself a published author as soon as Amazon servers process your file, which is anywhere from 24 to 48 hours.

Fifth—promote your book and yourself. Making a book a success includes a lot of hard work that goes into the writing of the book, but after you’ve done all that work, you will need to promote your book.

One of the best ways is to keep a regular blog and to get an account with Blogcritics, the nation’s oldest blogger-centered online magazine, publishing articles daily about numerous topics of interest to a general audience. Long before Huffington Post, there was Blogcritics.

As a Blogcritics author, your articles will be viewed by many of the readers who visit the site every day. Expertise in virtually any area can translate into media exposure, as recently happened for TV critic Barbara Barnett, whose Blogcritics column led to a book deal after building a sizable readership on the site.