Amazon is the biggest “paid search” vehicle in the world. When people want to buy things, whether those things are books, video games, or even gadgets, they check Amazon to get an idea of prices, and there’s a high chance they’ll buy from them too. Amazon is the dominant force in the book market, and people trust Amazon’s reviews thanks to the verified buyer flag that is applied to reviews from people that purchased the product via the website.
If you would like to publish an eBook on Amazon, then there are a few things that you should know to ensure that your book is a success. These Amazon ebook publishing tips will help you to produce a book that is approved by Amazon, sells well, and gets great reviews.
Do One More Draft Than You Need
Any established writer will tell you that a good manuscript is a labor of love, and something that goes through many revisions. Your first draft will be a stream of consciousness draft, where you hash out what goes where, and establish what you want to say. There will probably be a lot of things missing from it, and a lot of fluff that you will want to take out too. Don’t worry about making that first draft perfect, just start writing and don’t stop until you feel like you’ve covered everything you need to.
Go over that draft and tear it to pieces. Be ruthless and critical, and try to make a second draft that is organized, streamlined, and presentable. Once you’ve finished this draft, have some trusted friends or colleagues look it over and brace yourself for their feedback. You may need a thick skin to accept the feedback that they offer, but try to remember that getting criticism from your “beta readers” is much better than getting criticism from buyers.
Take on board the feedback you are given and start work on a final draft. This can be thought of as the editorial draft. It’s here that you can start thinking about spelling, grammar and the consistency of the style in the book. You may feel ready to publish the book at this stage, but you should aim for another round of feedback before you prepare for publication.
Spend Extra Time on Formatting
Once you are completely happy with the content of the book, make sure that the book is formatted properly, and that it has an attractive cover. Remember that your book cover is the first thing that most people will see when they land on your product page, so you need to make sure that it looks professional. Consider outsourcing the cover creation process if you aren’t a skilled designer yourself.
Once you’re done, you can log in to your publisher account and create your book. Unless you have a good reason to not do so, you should choose Worldwide Rights when you publish your title – this will ensure that your book is available to as wide an audience as possible. Set your price somewhere in the $2.99 – $9.99 range, because this is where most eBooks are priced. The international prices will automatically adjust themselves based on the dollar price that you set, and Amazon will manage royalties for you.
Put Kindle Users First
Perhaps the single most important thing to remember when it comes to Amazon eBook publishing tips is that Kindle users should come first. The vast majority of people who purchase ebooks on Amazon read them on a Kindle, Kindle Fire, or the Kindle app for their phone or PC. You are highly unlikely to encounter people purchasing Kindle eBooks to convert into another format and read on a third party reader, so don’t worry too much about those users – make sure that your ebook looks absolutely brilliant on a Kindle. If it works well on the Kindle it will probably look good on other devices too.
If you follow these Amazon eBook publishing tips, then you will be able to submit a book in confidence, and with the right promotion strategy that book could be a big success. If it works for Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, then why can’t it work for you too?
If you need someone to write an eBook for you, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re seasoned veterans when it comes to eBook writing and publishing.
