I am all for making money this year which is why I always explore opportunities for that. In this article, I am sharing with you a money-making venture anyone can take up. I have highlighted it before in various articles but today I am going in-depth. I want you to consider the possibility of making money by publishing e-books through Amazon Kindle. This is the writing and publishing arm of Amazon. The platform is in charge of e-books is known as KDP standing for Kindle Digital Publishing. Lack of knowledge can be a curse because you get to miss out on a lot. Many people see others publishing books on Amazon and probably think it is expensive and complicated. Well, you might be stunned to know that you can do it free and start earning money.
Writing An E-book That Sells
In simple terms, writing is defined as a medium of human communication that involves the representation of ideas, thoughts, and knowledge with symbols to pass information across. E-book is short for electronic book which means writing packaged in a book accessible via electronic or digital means. For an e-book to sell there are certain fundamentals you must adhere to. The apex of writing an e-book that sells is for it to be a bestseller. This is when the number of copies sold surpasses other books in its category.
It all starts with an idea which you then expand or extrapolate. It is important to be audience-oriented – you are writing for them not yourself. Thus you should endeavour to be clear and persuasive. Be globally-minded when writing it. In general, your target market must be beyond your borders. Another important thing to know is that it is not enough to just write. You will have to be creative and consistent about launching and publicizing your book.
Opening Your KDP Account With Amazon
You start by clicking here – this will take you to the KDP platform. Once you are on the platform, you go and click on Sign Up. This is because you are a new user. You will then proceed to enter the required details correctly e.g. name, email, and so on. Then you click on the button to create the account. The next step will be email verification. Once you complete email verification you would have validated your account. The other process to go through is to fill in author information, tax information and bank details. All that will be apparent once you are on the platform and sign in to your account.
The Publishing Process
Your manuscript must be typed using Microsoft Word. Please take note that for your e-book to be accepted it has to be at least 24 pages long.
Once you are logged in you will see where it is written Bookshelf, click on that. You then click on Kindle E-Book and enter language i.e. English. Proceed to enter the subtitle and then the edition e.g. 1. In the event there are co-authors, you also enter them. You have to enter the description of the book – pay attention to this because it will be visible on the platform when the e-book goes live.
Next, you click where it indicates you own the copyright. Do not be bothered about the International Serial Book Number (ISBN). The platform sorts that out for you, for free, if it is going to be a paperback copy. Otherwise, e-books typically do not need to have an ISBN so you do not enter anything once you get to that.
You will go to categories and you will get to upload the cover page (that is if you choose to use your own cover page). Once everything is done, you click on Publish. On average it takes about 24 hours for your e-book to go live i.e. to become available online.
There is a wide range of e-books you can upload to be sold on the platform. This spans from books, novels, PDFs, to workbooks, storybooks, textbooks, magazines, periodicals, journals, children’ books, comics, cookbooks, and so on. You can convert any piece of content into an e-book for upload.
The Prospects
To get an idea of what you stand to make you need to know a bit about the pricing regime. On Kindle, when you price an e-book anything from US$0.99 to US$2.98 your royalty is 35 percent. That means for every copy sold, 35 percent of the price is what belongs to you. If the price is from US$2.99 to US$9.99, your royalty is 70 percent. If the price is over US$9.99, the royalty is 35 percent. At first glance, it might seem tempting to price your e-book from US$2.99 to US$9.99 since the royalty is 70 percent. Well, that might not be the smartest idea. When starting, it might be prudent to name a lower price e.g. US$0.99. This will increase the likelihood of pushing volumes which might get you more money than fewer copies at a higher price.
So that is it, making money publishing e-books on Amazon Kindle. Rewind some years and it was a tall order to publish books. You had to approach publishing houses and it was not a stroll in the park. In this digital age, it is now possible to self-publish and use platforms such as Amazon Kindle. The platform even has an option to publish paperback copies of your e-books as well. These are books that are printed out and have a softcover. With just your PC, smartphone and access to the internet, you are good to go. Now is the time to start; with focus and determination, you can publish your first book within the next 30 days. Go for it!
Thank you Clive for this informative article. What needs to be added is how the royalty payments are received when one is in Zim. What bank accounts/ other arrangements can facilitate the money’s movement to the author. Such information will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for this information. It was so helpful. However I would like to know how I can receive payment for my books in Zimbabwe. I would be very grateful for such information.
Thank you
Hello Daisy. You can receive payment via bank transfer from Amazon to a USD account in Zimbabwe.