But the self-publishing process doesn’t have to be scary!

In this article we will guide you through it in 6 super simple, mess-free steps so that you can get back to doing what you love most, writing!

Step 1: Setting Up Your KDP Account

Before you can publish anything on Amazon, you need to create an account with Kindle Direct Publishing. You can do this one of two ways.

The first option is to simply sign in with your regular pre-existing Amazon account, if you have one.

Or, option two, you can choose to start a brand new account just for publishing.

Whichever option you go with, you’ll need to fill out some key information:

1. Your Author/Publisher Information: This sounds terrifying, but it’s really just your legal name, address, and phone number. There is no need to start your own publishing company or anything of the sort. We promise!

2. Your Payment Information: This is where you want Amazon to send your royalty payments. Usually your bank information.

3. Your Tax Information: You’ll need your social security number or tax ID, but other than that it’s painless. Just a few easy clicks to take care of the IRS.

Step 2: Creating A New Title

Now that you have a Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account, you’re ready to add your first book!

While you are logged in to your KDP dashboard, you will see a section near the top labeled “Create New Title” along with a button for +Kindle Ebook or +Paperback.

For the purpose of this guide, we’ll focus on adding an ebook only. So go ahead and click on +Kindle Ebook to get started.

You’ll see three tabs come up: Kindle Ebook Details, Kindle Ebook Content, and Kindle Ebook Pricing. We’ll go through each one in detail below.

Step 3: Nailing Your Kindle Ebook Details

Start with the language your book is written in, the title of your book, and the series title if your book is part of a series. Note that a series title is not the same as a subtitle. A standalone novel, for example, might have a subtitle but it would not have a series name. If you enter a series name, Amazon will ask you for the series number. For example, for book one of a five book series, you would enter the number 1.

Edition number can be left blank if this is the first time the book will be published. You do not need to distinguish between ebook and paperback editions as Amazon will do that for you. Amazon really only considers a title to be a separate “edition” if significant changes are made to the original story.

Author and Contributors: Here is where you will add your pen name as the author of the book. You may also use the Contributors section to add additional authors as well as credit your editor, cover artist, etc. Adding contributors is not required but some editors and cover artists appreciate the gesture.

Description: This is where you enter your book’s blurb (also known as the back cover description or inside jacket description).

Blurbs are a huge deal. A well-written blurb can mean the difference between tons of sales and no sales. Take some time perfecting your blurb. If you need help, check out Step 2 in our article 6 Powerful Ways To Sell Books.  

Publishing Rights: Assuming your book is an original work that you wrote yourself, go ahead and select “I own the copyright”. (Public Domain is for books that have been previously published by another author.)

Keywords and Categories: This is an area that requires a little research. ‘Keywords' refers to search terms and phrases someone might use to search for books they are interested in. For example the phrase “vampire romance for teens” would be considered one keyword. Since you can only enter seven keywords, we highly recommend doing a bit of research to learn which keywords readers are using most often to find books like yours. 

‘Categories', on the other hand, refers to how Amazon will categorize your book within its ever-expanding catalogue. Amazon has tons of romance categories. You’ll want to take some time looking through them all to see where your book fits. In general, it’s a good idea to get as niche as possible with your chosen categories.

You can ignore Age & Grade Rage as this information is for children’s books. As a romance author, chances are your book is for adults.

And finally, you'll have to decide if you want to set up your book for pre-order, or if you want to publish it immediately. Then click save and continue to save your progress.

Step 4: Your Kindle Ebook Content

Here is where you will upload your manuscript and cover art. Amazon accepts a range of file formats, but we strongly recommend having your file professionally formatted as an epub or pdf. Uploading a Word document rarely works out well.

Once you’ve selected your manuscript, you’ll see a message saying that it is processing your book. Do not refresh or click off of this page. It can take several minutes for Amazon to upload and process your book.

If you’ve formatted your book to Amazon’s satisfaction, you’ll see a little green message saying that your manuscript has uploaded successfully. If not, Amazon will give you a list of items to fix. You’ll have to fix and save the original file before you try again.

Once your cover art and manuscript are uploaded, you can use the Kindle eBook Preview Tool to see what the finished product will look like on an eReader or Kindle app. Make sure there are no errors before you accept it as your final book file.

When you are happy, click save and continue.

(Note: You can ignore ISBNs. They’re not required for ebooks.)

Step 5: Pricing Your Kindle Ebook Right

You will need to decide if you want to enroll your book in KDP Select (also known as Kindle Unlimited). There are many pros and cons to enrolling and we strongly recommend doing your research. The biggest con for most authors is that enrollment requires your ebook to be exclusively sold through Amazon only. Meaning you cannot sell your ebook anywhere outside of Amazon for the minimum of 90 days. The biggest pro, of course, is that your book will be included in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program for that 90 day duration.

At the end of the 90 day period, you can choose to opt out or renew enrollment for another 90-day term, so don’t worry if you change your mind later.

Next, select your territories and marketplace. In general, this should match the language / main country you will be selling your book to. Most books will fall under “world wide”.

Pricing your book can also seem terrifying, but don’t worry!

A little research will help you find the right price point. Most romance ebooks fall somewhere between $2.99 and $3.99. Let the length of your book and your audience be your guide. Ask around. See what other self-published books in your genre are priced at. You’ll want your book to fit in with what the majority of your readers will expect to be charged. Obviously, a better deal will help move copies more quickly, but don’t sell yourself short. You deserve to be paid for your work.

Note: Amazon will automatically convert the currency for you, but we recommend rounding up the change. For example, more readers respond to whole numbers they are used to seeing, like 2.95 or 2.99, than to odd change numbers like 2.24 or 2.87

Lastly, you will need to decide if you want to enable Book Lending. Book Lending is a really nice feature that a lot of readers enjoy using. It allows readers to lend an ebook they have purchased to another person via their Kindle or app for up to 14 days at a time. Basically, it lets readers digitally loan ebooks in the same way someone might loan a paperback to a friend.

No, you do not get a sale or earn any royalties when an ebook is borrowed via Book Lending, so there are some pros and cons to consider, but readers appreciate it.

Step 6: Publishing Like A Pro

You’re done! All that’s left is to click that big orange “Publish Your Ebook” button at the bottom.

Still feeling nervous? Relax! Nothing is set in stone. You can change all of the details, and even upload a new manuscript or cover art, as many times as you like to get it right.

Just keep a few things in mind:

1. It generally takes 72 hours or longer for your book to appear for sale on Amazon’s site. Every time you change a detail, that submission process re-starts with the new information. So try to be as correct as possible BEFORE you hit publish.

2. However, don’t sweat it if you make a mistake. Just fix it, re-publish, and pour yourself a glass of wine. You did it! You can publish with Amazon Kindle!

Want more help setting up your romance novel for success? Check out 6 Powerful Ways To Sell Books For Romance Authors.

The post How To Publish With Amazon Kindle (Romance Author Exclusive) appeared first on RomanceDevoured.

The romance novel industry is huge. No other genre in the world can sell books on Amazon at this level.

According to Romance Writers of America, the romance fiction industry is worth $1.08 billion dollars*, which makes it larger than the inspirational book industry, and about the same size as the mystery, science fiction, and fantasy markets combined!

Romance novels regularly top the major bestseller lists (New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today) and have a large, dedicated audience of readers.

What this means for romance authors is this:

1. There are more than enough romance readers to go around, BUT…
2. Competition is high!

So how can an author make sure their book doesn’t fall to the bottom of the barrel in such a competitive genre?

After helping over 8,500 romance authors sell books on Amazon, we've learned a few things along the way!

One of the things we’ve learned is that anyone is capable of setting up their book for success simply by doing the same things the bestsellers are doing.

There is no SINGLE trick that will help you sell books.  However, there are some steps that, if you hit them, can dramatically stack the deck in your favor.  We know because we’ve seen them work over and over and over.

With that it mind, here are 6 powerful tips to help you sell books on Amazon!

Selling More Books Tip 1: Have An Amazing Cover

Experts agree that a book’s front cover is the single most important selling point for any book in any genre. Why? Because it’s the first thing browsing readers see.

The concept of an “amazing” cover art can seem objective, but bestsellers know this isn’t true. There is a reason why some covers will make a reader one-click that buy button immediately, while other covers simply don’t.

To explain how it works, think of any Lifetime or Hallmark Christmas movie. You know exactly what you’re getting from those channels because they pretty much put out the same content every year. Sometimes they are made fun of for being so formulaic, but the fact is those formulas work, and fans keep coming back for more year after year.

This is because fans always want more of what they like.

Yes, it really is that simple! And this is good news for authors! 

It means you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It also means that you don’t need to capture the entire romance genre – just your subgenre or niche.

Here’s what a great cover should do to sell books:

Convey your subgenre clearly and easily.

• Readers shouldn’t need more than a second or two to know what category your book falls into simply by looking at your cover. Is it Western Romance or Regency Romance? Clean Romance or Steamy? If a reader can’t tell, they will pass on your book!

Look professionally done.

• This is one area where spending a little extra money on a professional cover artist can go a long way in helping you get ahead of the competition. Not only will the quality of the images be better, but so will the typography, lighting, composition, use of negative space, etc. This is one area where a pro can really give your book that little something extra to set it apart.

What a cover should NOT do:

• Have too many details.
• Try to convey your favorite scene.
• Try too hard to look like your characters.
• Look “self-made” (unless you happen to be a successful cover artist!)
• Doesn’t clearly convey your genre!

Selling More Books Tip 2: Have An Awesome Description

Your book’s blurb is the second most important selling point. Why? Well, if your cover art didn’t get the reader to instantly one-click, but DID do enough to peak their interest, then the next natural step the reader will take is to read the blurb. So you want to make it the best blurb they’ve ever read!

How?  By making sure your blurb clearly conveys that your book has all the good juicy tropes they love!  Remember the Hallmark example! If readers don’t see the tropes or themes they’re looking for in your blurb, then they’ll pass for one that does.

Take a moment to consider your subgenre or niche and then ask yourself if your blurb clearly conveys the tropes that are unique to that subgenre.

Here’s what a good blurb should do to sell books:

Hook the reader immediately.

• Don’t waste the reader’s time with a peer review or anything boring. Get straight to the meat of the story with the very first sentence! (Those peer reviews can go at the end.)

Keep the focus on the main character and their love interest. 

• This is a romance, right?

Use those tropes!

• If your book has steam, for example, we better feel some tingles when we read your blurb!

Tell us the stakes!

• What happens if Jack and Jill don’t get together? Will the world end? Give us that nail-biting cliff hanger so we HAVE to read the book to find out!

Use short, punchy language.

• Be specific with your word choices. Always use the stronger, more active word.

Proofread your blurb and format it professionally for a screen.

• Remember that most people today are buying books online. Bold, Italics, and simple HTML code are your friends!  Typos and poor formatting will discourage a lot of readers.

What NOT to do in a blurb:

• Summarize the plot.
• Be too vague, confusing, or boring.
• Be too long.
• Not convey your genre or tropes!

Selling More Books Tip 3: Grow Your Network

Assuming you have an excellent cover and blurb, it’s time to get your book in front of readers. If you’re a new author or just haven’t done a great job of crafting a fanbase on your own, then it’s time to grow your network!

Remember we said the Romance novel industry has plenty of readers to go around? 

This means other romance authors don’t have to be your competitors! Instead, they can be your best cheerleaders and support systems.

Romance readers are so voracious, they will devour books faster than you can write them. This means working together, promoting each other, and sharing a fanbase is beneficial for everyone involved.  

Need more author friends? Get active on social media! Join author groups on Facebook. Search #authorsofinstagram on Insta, or lookup #authortok and #booktok on TikTok.  Join an author server on Discord. Offer to share other authors’ books on your social medias and in your newsletters. Most authors are happy to return the favor because we’re always in need of fresh content to feed our fanbase!  Why not your book?

Selling More Books Tip 4: Grow Your Email Newsletter 

One more thing bestselling authors have in common is an ever-growing email list of readers.  

Why? Because at the end of the day, social media networking only goes so far.  Algorithms hide posts, videos get taken down, old links break, etc.  So you need a way to talk to your readers that doesn’t rely on them ‘hopefully seeing your post’.

The best way to do this is to email your readers directly!

Years ago, growing a newsletter list was a slow, tedious task. Nowadays it’s pretty easy!  All you need to do is provide an incentive.  This incentive is called a Lead Magnet.

A Lead Magnet is a free thing you give readers in exchange for their email address. This can be a free short story, a free novella, or even a free full length novel.

Once you have a reader's email address, you can then sell them on your backlist, book two in a series, or a new release by emailing them about it directly. How cool is that? 

Selling More Books Tip 5: Take Advantage Of Email Advertising 

Emailing readers is so effective to sell books, that email advertising has become the #1 way to promote a book!

What is the difference between an email list and email advertising?

First, you should always be growing your own email list of readers as mentioned in Step 4 above.

But authors also benefit from paying a small fee to have their book featured in established newsletters curated by book-promoting websites such as BookBub, RobinReads, and of course Romance Devoured!

Selling More Books Tip 6: Make Your First Book Free

If you write series, a really great tactic to sell books is to make the first novel in the series free.  

A free book removes all risk for the buyer and is the quickest and easiest way to get your story into a lot of hands.

The idea is readers who love that first freebie will go on to buy book two, three, four, and so on, essentially becoming hooked and turning into a life-long fan.

There are two ways you can utilize this:

You can (a) make the book free for a set number of days and promote it heavily as a ‘Limited Time’ sale.

Or (b) you can make the price free forever (or for an extended amount of time). In the publishing industry, this is called ‘permanently free’ or ‘perma free’ even if you decide to raise the price in the future. 

Both methods can be very powerful.

A limited-time sale has the power of urgency behind it. Readers take action right away and download the book so they don’t miss out. This makes it easy to measure results.

‘Perma free’ can be a better choice for authors with a smaller budget as they can spread their efforts over a larger amount of time. However, this can make results seem lackluster as they too are spread out over a longer period.

The added benefit of making your book free (either permanently or for a limited time) is that it also allows you to use your first book in a series as a Lead Magnet to grow your email list as we discussed earlier.

The Final Takeaway

To recap, having the right kind of cover art and a gripping blurb will set your book above the competition, but don’t forget to be friendly with other authors and grow your network. We all need a support system.

Remember that the ultimate goal is to always be growing your reader base! And the best way to do that is by capturing their email addresses so you can follow up.

Do you want to help your books (including new releases) make a HUGE splash? Check out this list of awesome book selling promotions here!

The post 6 Powerful Ways To Sell Books On Amazon (Romance Author Exclusive) appeared first on RomanceDevoured.