This article will teach you how to self-publish nonfiction with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) in 8 simple steps.

It’ll show you in detail how to create a new KDP self-publishing account and how to set up your nonfiction book so that you can receive royalties on your sales.

KDP’s user interface is simple to use and it’s designed to make it easy for anyone to list self-published books on Amazon.

Why Kindle Direct Publishing?

KDP allows you to list your nonfiction self-published book on the largest online bookstore in the world. It also allows you to have your book printed on demand and shipped domestically to customers from KDP facilities located in three continents:

North America:

• U.S. (books purchased through Amazon.com)
• Canada (books purchased through Amazon.ca)

Europe:

• U.K. (books purchased through Amazon.co.uk)
• Germany (books purchased through Amazon.de)
• France (books purchased through Amazon.fr)
• Spain (books purchased through Amazon.es)
• Italy (books purchased through Amazon.it)

Australasia:

• Australia (books purchased through Amazon.com.au)
• New Zealand (books purchased through Amazon.com.au)

KDP also gives you access to the largest dedicated book search engine in the world, where over 330 million Amazon customers search for books in every possible nonfiction niche – Amazon currently lists books in over 3,000 nonfiction categories and subcategories.

8 Steps to Publishing

So, how do you get started? Simple. Just follow the 8 steps below and you’ll have your nonfiction book published on Amazon in no time. Having said that, some of the steps below will require that you make an investment and enlist outside professional help.

This is necessary to make your book stand out from the crowd in the Amazon ranking algorithm so that you can increase your chances of landing on one of the over 3,000 Amazon bestseller lists.

Here we go:

Step 1: Create Your KDP account

The first step is to create your KDP self-publisher account at https://kdp.amazon.com. If you’re already an Amazon customer, then use the same login credentials.

If you aren’t an existing customer or if you want to set up a separate account, then enter your name, your email address and create a password (make sure you use a different email than the one you used when setting up your Amazon customer account).

Once you’re logged in, click on your Account tab. Under “Author/Publisher Information” enter your personal information including your country of residence, your full name and your postal address.

Under “Getting Paid” provide your banking information to enable electronic royalty payments via direct deposit. If you live in a country where electronic payments are not available, you’ll receive checks in the mail instead.

Finally, under “Tax Information” answer the step-by-step online tax interview so that Amazon can establish your tax identity. They must obtain this information in compliance with U.S. tax law before they can begin issuing payments to you.

Step 2: Get Your ISBN

Before proceeding to uploading your title, you’ll need to get an ISBN for your book. This is a unique book identification number that associates your book with its publisher (you or your company).

In order to purchase ISBNs in the U.S. visit https://www.isbn.org (for other countries, do an online search to locate the local agency that issues them).

In the U.S. the cost for a single ISBN is $125 and the cost for a block of 10 numbers is $295. In some countries there’s no cost for this service.

Step 3: Set Up Your Title

To set up your book title click on “Bookshelf” and click on “+Paperback.” Then, under “Paperback Details” enter the following information:

• Book Title: Enter your book’s title and sub-title.
• Series (Optional): Unless your book is part of a series, skip this step.
• Edition Number (Optional): If this is your first edition then enter 1 or skip this step. If this is a revised edition of a previously published book of the same title, then enter 2 for the second edition, 3 for the third and so on.
• Author: Enter your name exactly as you’ve typed it on your book cover. You can also use a pen name here; just make sure it matches your book cover.
• Contributors: If you wish to credit other people who helped you create your book, named them in this section (e.g. your photographer, your illustrator, your editor, the person who wrote your foreword, etc.).
• Description: See Step 4.
• Publishing Rights: Unless yours is a public domain work, select “I own the copyright and I hold necessary publishing rights.”
• Keywords: See Step 5.
• Categories: See Step 6.
• Large Print (found under Categories): Select this option if your book edition is written for the visually impaired. For large print editions you have to use a font-size of 16 or higher and you must use a separate ISBN.
• Adult Content: Select yes only if your book contains language or graphic images that are considered inappropriate for children under the age of 18.

Step 4: Enter Your Description

This is the marketing message about your title that will appear on your Amazon book detail page, giving readers an overview of your book as well as including sales copy to persuade them to purchase it.

It’s imperative that your book description be created with the help of a book marketing professional because it’s one of Amazon’s top drivers of book sales, along with your title and your cover design.

Step 5: Choose Your Keywords

Since Amazon is a book search engine in addition to being an online bookstore, you’ll need to research the search phrases that your target audience usually types when looking for a book in your niche.

Once you’ve completed this research, you’ll need to identify the most popular search phrases and then you’ll need to come up with 7 keywords that match the majority of those phrases.

This is a critical element of the Amazon search algorithm that’ll either make your book easy to find or bury it in the search results.

For this reason, I recommend that you enlist the help of a book-marketing professional to help you uncover with the best possible keywords for your niche.

When you’re ready, enter your 7 keywords in the “Keyword” section – note: ignore the fact that KDP lists this section as optional; this is one of the most important sections in the entire KDP setup.

Step 6: Choose Your Categories

Another key section in the KDP setup is Categories. Amazon has over 3,000 different nonfiction categories and sub-categories in its database and each one has a bestseller list associated with it.

It’s critical that you select the categories and sub-categories for your title that will maximize your chances of landing on a bestseller list. This is achieved by selecting a category/sub-category that requires the least number of sales to qualify as a bestseller.

Making this selection is quite a complex process and you should enlist the help of a book marketing professional. If you’d like to get an insight into how this process works, read my article “How to Promote Your Nonfiction Book to Rank High on Amazon.”

Step 7: Enter Your Book Content

This is the section where you’ll enter your ISBN, your Print Options and upload your book interior and cover files.

The process of file uploading and pre-flight check is quite involved and should be left to your book designer.

Step 8: Set Your Book Pricing

Once Step 7 is completed, you’ll be able to open the “Paperback Rights & Pricing” tab. First, you’ll select the territories where you want your book to become available for purchase.

There are two options: you can either select All Territories (Worldwide Rights) or you can select Individual Territories and then list the countries where you want your book to be sold.

Next you’ll be setting up your book pricing. Here you have two options as well: Option 1 allows you to select your primary or default market (say the U.S.) and then set your list price in the currency of that market.

List prices in the currencies of any other territories where your book is sold will be automatically calculated by KDP based on internal currency exchange rates.

Option 2 gives you more flexibility by allowing you to enter specific list prices for each marketplace and available currency.

Wrapping Up

Great, you’re ready to publish your book on Amazon using Kindle Direct Publishing!

Now it’s time to create a page on Author Central, your author’s homepage on Amazon. For this page you should focus on information that’s relevant to your readers such as your bio, a link to your blog, videos, photos, upcoming speaking events, etc.

Keep in mind that this page will have a potential audience of 330 million Amazon customers, so make sure you don’t let it become static over time. Visit your author’s page regularly and constantly freshen it with new updates.

Next Steps:

Now that you know how to set up your nonfiction book on Kindle Direct Publishing, you need to begin generating positive user reviews to make sure your book ranks high on Amazon’s algorithm.

This is a process that requires quite a bit of advanced planning and ideally you want to begin working on it before you hit the “Publish” button. Here’s an article to guide you through all the required steps:“How to Get Reviews on Amazon For Your Nonfiction Book”.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert: 11 Reasons Why You Should

How Long Does it Take to Write a Book to Help Grow Your Business?

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

If you’re a nonfiction author, it’s important that you learn the pros and cons of self-publishing on Amazon.

When it comes to book promotion and worldwide distribution, there’s no doubt that Amazon has developed a powerful platform to level the playing field for self-publishers.

If you learn to master this platform, you’ll be able to have your book come up in searches side-by-side with traditionally published nonfiction books in your field.

Plus, you’ll be able to distribute printed copies of your title in key English-language book markets around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand through a combination of Amazon’s websites and their global network of state-of-the-art print-on-demand facilities.

When a reader in any of those markets makes a purchase through one of the many Amazon online bookstores, the order is sent to the nearest digital printing facility, your book is printed in near-real time and shipped locally at domestic rates to the end customer.

In essence, Amazon has been able to replicate the approximate time frame required to pick an item off a shelf, pack it and ship it, except through zero-inventory on-demand printing.

Now, these are great pros. However, there are significant cons to consider as well. For example, brick-and-mortar bookstores don’t like to deal with Amazon distribution for a number of reasons, including the limited range of formats they can produce and the poor wholesale discounts they offer.

In this article, I’ll explain all the pros and cons of self-publishing on Amazon in detail, and I’ll show you how to work around all the cons so that your book is also made available for ordering to brick-and-mortar bookstores around the world.

Self-Publishing Options

After a decade or two of continuous technological advancements, including the migration of commerce online, the global ubiquity of the Internet, and the advent of high-speed, on-demand digital printing presses, self-publishing nonfiction has now truly become mainstream.

The chief architects of this publishing revolution are two large conglomerates: Amazon on the online side, and Ingram on the brick-and-mortar side.

They’ve both created distribution platforms that allow self-publishers to easily and cost-effectively upload their book files into their databases, and between the two of them they offer near-100% worldwide bookstore coverage, both online and offline.

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

KDP is Amazon’s self-publishing distribution arm. As stated earlier, they operate a network of on-demand, high-speed digital presses located in three continents, plus distribution through all Amazon book-selling properties.

When a customer orders your book on Amazon, the book is printed and shipped when payment is received. KDP retains 40% of your list price as their distribution fee, subtracts the printing cost from the remainder, and pays you the difference as a royalty.

Before you can upload your book to KDP, you’ll need to purchase an ISBN book identification number for your title. In the U.S. you can purchase this number from https://www.isbn.org. The cost is $125 for a single ISBN or $295 for a block of ten.

(Note: KDP offers a free ISBN, but if you take them up on their offer, you’ll be banned from distributing your book anywhere other than Amazon, plus Amazon will become the publisher on file, not you.)

Once you’ve obtained your ISBN, all you have to do is to create a KDP self-publishing account, enter your publisher details, enter your book details and provide the metadata necessary for readers to find your book on Amazon.

At that point your book will go live on all Amazon website properties around the world.

IngramSpark

IngramSpark is the self-publishing subsidiary of Ingram, the largest book distributor in the world with an active book inventory of 7.5 million titles.

Ingram was founded in the late 70s and over the next four decades became the largest book distributor for bookstores and libraries, first in the U.S. and later internationally.

Ingram was the first company to innovate in large scale, high-speed, on-demand digital printing and to this day remains the industry leader, with facilities in the U.S., U.K., France and Australia.

IngramSpark was created to allow self-publishers and small independent publishers access to Ingram’s vast distribution network and their global on-demand printing infrastructure for a very low cost.

Creating a self-publishing account on IngramSpark is free, but uploading your book costs $49 per title. You’ll also have to purchase your own ISBN prior to submission.

Unlike Amazon’s KDP, IngramSpark allows you to print books in both paperback and hardcover formats, which gives you more retailing flexibility since you’ll be able to offer your book at two different price points.

Another advantage of IngramSpark is that they allow you to purchase author copies at attractive volume discounts, whereas KDP doesn’t offer any discounting beyond their print cost.

Amazon Pros & Cons

Now that you know the lay of the land when it comes to cost-effective worldwide book distribution for self-publishers, lets discuss the pros and cons of self-publishing your nonfiction book via Amazon.

Amazon Pros

1) Amazon gives you premium access to the largest online bookstore in the world through their subsidiary KDP.

I say premium because even though Amazon allows other distributors, including IngramSpark, to sell books on their website, they’re known in the book industry for giving priority to their own titles at the detriment of others.

Although this isn’t something they’re ever likely to admit, it’s been observed in the past that while KDP books show up on Amazon with a status of “immediate availability,” non KDP books often show up with a status of “not in stock.”

Clearly, “not in stock” should not apply to IngramSpark books, since they’re also printed on demand. However, to prevent these issues you should always distribute your book through KDP to ensure preferential treatment by Amazon’s algorithm.

2) Since nonfiction books must always be distributed in print form (eBooks are not taken seriously in the nonfiction book market unless you’re a famous author already), KDP’s global on-demand printing network will ensure that your book is printed and shipped locally in the largest English-language book markets in the world, namely, North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

3) Amazon has a captive audience of over 330 million customers worldwide and about a third of them are Amazon Prime subscribers, who can get free and low-cost shipping options for many purchases, including books.

4) Amazon operates the largest dedicated book search engine in the world. If you do your homework and set up your book right, you’ll be able to rank high on Amazon user searches for books and may even be able to make it into one or more of the over 3,000 bestseller lists that Amazon keeps for nonfiction titles.

To learn how to rank high on Amazon searches, read my companion article: Self Publish on Amazon: A Guide for Nonfiction Authors.

5) Amazon has also changed consumers’ book-buying habits by popularizing user-reviews as an important book-buying signal.

If you master the art of getting a large number of positive book reviews for your title, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of becoming an Amazon bestseller, often leapfrogging many established titles in your niche.

To learn how to get positive user reviews for your book, read my companion article: How to Get Reviews on Amazon for Your Nonfiction Book.

Amazon Cons

While Amazon is a great platform for self-publishing nonfiction authors, it does have some downsides. I’ll list them below:

1) Amazon distribution doesn’t offer as much flexibility in terms of book formats as IngramSpark.

Amazon’s on-demand printing equipment is only set up for paperback book distribution, since they don’t have the equipment that is necessary to produce hardcover books.

IngramSpark, on the other hand, can manufacture both paperback and hardcover editions allowing you to offer your product at two different price points.

2) Amazon distribution offers noncompetitive wholesale discounts to brick-and-mortar bookstores, acting as a disincentive for bookstore orders.

While the traditional wholesale discount expected by bookstores is 40% off your list price, Amazon distribution only offers them a 25% discount, which isn’t sufficient in most cases to cover their retail overhead and allow for a reasonable profit margin.

The reason is that Amazon takes a 35% cut from your list price, which doesn’t leave room for the industry-standard 40% wholesale discount.

IngramSpark, on the other hand, only takes 15% off the list price as their distribution fee, allowing for the full 40% bookstore discount without cutting too much into your royalties.

As an example, here’s the math for both distributors:

• Amazon Book Sale to Bookstores: List price = $15.99, Amazon fee @ 35% = $5.60, Bookstore discount @ 25% = $3.75, book print cost = $4.05, your royalty = $15.99 – $5.60 – $3.75 – $4.05 = $2.59.
• IngramSpark Book Sale to Bookstores: List price = $15.99, IngramSpark fee @ 15% = $2.25, Bookstore discount @ 40% = $6, book print cost = $4.05, your royalty = $15.99 – $2.25 – $6 – $4.05 = $3.69.

Not only does KDP’s low wholesale discount act as a disincentive for bookstores to order your book, but you’ll also lose $1.10 in royalties when compared with the royalty you’ll receive from IngramSpark for the same sale.

To prevent KDP from distributing to brick-and-mortar bookstores, don’t select “Enhanced Distribution” when you set up your title. This will limit KDP’s distribution to Amazon properties only and will give you the freedom to sign up with IngramSpark for bookstore distribution.

3) Amazon’s KDP doesn’t offer volume discounts to authors. If you need to buy a large number of books for back-of-the-room sales at events, KDP will sell you your book at cost, but they won’t give you any discounts below the print cost for volume purchases.

IngramSpark, on the other hand, offers very attractive volume discounts for author purchases. Also, Amazon sets a limit on the size of book shipments to 999 copies per shipment whereas IngramSpark doesn’t impose any limits.

If you need, say, 1,200 books because you have 3 large public-speaking events lined up, Amazon will charge you for two separate shipments, whereas IngramSpark will deliver all your books in a single shipment at a lower shipping cost per copy.

Next Steps:

Now you know the pros and cons of self-publishing with Amazon. To get the best of both the online and offline bookselling worlds, create self-publishing accounts with Amazon’s KDP as well as IngramSpark to have all your bases covered.

Just make sure that you don’t select “Enhanced Distribution” inside KDP and you’ll be off to the races. Next, it’s time to shift gears to book promotion!

To help you get started, read my article The 7 Most Effective Book Promotion Ideas for Nonfiction Authors to learn powerful techniques to get the word out about your book.

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert: 11 Reasons Why You Should

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

If you self-publish on Amazon to distribute your nonfiction book, you’ll have access to not only the largest online bookstore in the world but also to a much lesser known benefit that’s of critical importance for your book.

On-Demand Printing

Amazon happens to operate one of largest print-on-demand networks in the world, with advanced, high-speed digital printing facilities on three continents operated by their subsidiary, Kindle Direct Publishing.

In essence, Amazon can take an order for your book from anywhere in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand and have your book printed and delivered locally to customers using domestic shipping rates.

This is a significant competitive advantage for nonfiction authors who depend on the sale of printed books, since there’s very little value in publishing nonfiction eBooks – they don’t carry the aura of expertise and credibility demanded by the genre.

Also, by self-publishing your book on Amazon, you’ll be able to purchase author copies at cost to use as calling cards or to bring to events for back-of-the-room sales.

Book Search Engine

In addition to print-on-demand, Amazon operates the largest book search engine in the world.

When people are looking for information they turn to Google, when they’re looking for videos they turn to YouTube, and when they’re looking for books they turn to Amazon.

When people need to find a book to help them solve a problem, they’ll do a search on Amazon by typing keywords that relate to the problem they’re experiencing.

If you supply Amazon with well-researched keywords that relate the subject matter of your book to their problem, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of being discovered by over 330 million Amazon customers.

This is a game-changing feature for authors which is simply not available anywhere else, and it can make the difference between your book becoming an Amazon bestseller or being relegated to the bottom of their database.

Amazon has revolutionized book selling for self-published authors and truly levelled the playing field with major publishers in ways that were unthinkable a decade or two ago. All you have to do is take advantage of their search capabilities.

Getting Your Files Ready

Before you set up your self-publishing account on Amazon, you need to make sure that your book files are produced with the exact specifications required by Amazon’s on-demand digital printing presses.

The advanced nature of this equipment demands a degree of precision that can only be produced by professionals using specialized book layout and cover design software, so don’t attempt to generate these filed by yourself.

Also, since you’re publishing a nonfiction book that will establish you as an expert in your field, you can’t afford to not hire professionals to design your book.

Any sign of design amateurishness will reflect poorly not only on your book but also on your reputation. As a nonfiction author, you must be able to compete head to head with the best books on the market.

When people do a search on Amazon for a book in your niche, your result will come up side-by-side with traditionally published titles and you must be able to visually compete with them – hence the need for a professional book layout and cover design.

Book Layout File

This is the file that holds the contents of your book, excluding your cover – it’s often called the “typeset.” This file must be produced using professional-grade book publishing software, and must be designed to the specifications of digital printing presses.

For your book designer to be able to generate the correct format for Amazon’s equipment, you’ll need to give them access to your self-publishing account so that they have access to Amazon’s specifications.

They include:

• Choosing the correct trim size for your paperback book: Amazon only supports select trim sizes (16 as of this article). Custom sizes are not supported.
• Color paper: Amazon can print black and white books on white or cream-colored paper. Books with color images can only be printed on white paper.
• Maximum and minimum page counts: Each trim size and paper type combination has a different maximum page-count allowed. The minimum page count is 24 pages.
• Specifying whether images in your book bleed to the edges: If this is the case pages must be extended a specific amount beyond the trim size to allow for cropping equipment to work correctly.
• All layout layers should be flattened: Layering is a feature of professional book-layout software. Un-flattened or transparent layers will be rejected by Amazon’s pre-flight check.
• All fonts and images must be embedded in the native file: Amazon does not support the submission of fonts and images in separate files.
• All images should have a resolution of at least 300dpi: A lower resolution will result in printed images that are pixelated, which looks amateurish.
• Margins must be defined based on the total page count: Amazon requires different minimum margin sizes based on your book’s total page count. Thicker books require higher margins on the edge where the book is bound.
• Files should not include crop marks, trim marks, bookmarks, comments, invisible objects, annotations, placeholder text, or metadata: These are visual aids used in professional layout software to assist the designer during the creative process. They must be removed prior to submission.
• PDF files should be optimized: This is to eliminate unnecessary data from being transmitted, thus reducing the file size. This allows for better performance when transferring, uploading, viewing, and printing the submitted book layout file.
• Only single page spreads are allowed: No multiple page spreads are allowed (e.g. 2-up files or higher).

Book Cover File

The specifications for your book cover file are very involved and require professional cover-designer skills and the use of publication-grade illustration software.

Give your cover designer access to your account so that they can get the correct information before uploading your cover file. These specifications include the following requirements:

• Your cover size must incorporate the correct spine size: This information varies according to the type of paper used in your book (two specifications for black and white printing and one for color printing)
• Cover formatting: Amazon requires one continuous image centered left to right on the spine.
• All graphic and text layers must be flattened in the book-cover file (except for the barcode)
• A cover bleed must be set on all sides using Amazon specifications.
• All fonts must be embedded in the book-cover file.
• Spine text: For spine text to be printed, your book must have more than 100 pages. The spine text must keep a minimum distance from the edges.
• Barcode: It must follow detailed Amazon specifications regarding size, image resolution and distance from your back cover’s edges. The barcode must not be flattened into the main cover as a single image.

KDP Account Setup

Now it’s time to set up your Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing account (i.e. your “self-publishing” account).

First, if you already have an account with Amazon, then sign in to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) with your existing Amazon username and password (visit https://kdp.amazon.com).

If you don’t have an Amazon account, then enter your name, your email address, and create a password.

After you log in, click on your Account tab and complete the “Author/Publisher Information” section making sure you enter your real name and not a pen name because Amazon will use this information to send you royalty payments.

You’ll be able to use a pen name later on when you enter your book title information.

Next, complete the “Getting Paid” section, to receive royalty payments. Available options include direct deposit, wire transfer and check. If you live in the U.S.A. then direct deposit is the most efficient and least costly way to receive payments.

Amazon will pay you 60 days after the end of each month in your local currency.

Finally, under “Tax Information,” answer the step-by-step online interview regarding your tax status under U.S. law so that Amazon can establish your tax identity.

This is required under U.S. law in order to receive payments from Amazon, even if you don’t live in the U.S.

Book Submission

Once your main account setup is completed, it’s time to enter your book title information. This is the information that will appear on your Amazon book detail page.

Also, you’ll be entering the metadata that will not appear on your book page but that’s critical for Amazon’s search engine to display your book in response to a user search.

Note that Amazon will “lock” your book title, author name and ISBN after you publish. If you need to make any changes to this information after publication you’ll have to unpublish your book, make the necessary changes and publish it again.

First click on “Bookshelf” and then click on “+ Paperback” to open the book setup section. Then, under “Paperback Details” enter the following information:

• Book Title: Enter your title and subtitle exactly as it appears on your cover.
• Series: Only enter this information if your book is part of a series (e.g. due to the large page count of your manuscript you’re splitting your book into three separate volumes).
• Edition Number: Enter 1 if this the first time your are submitting your title. When you submit a new edition of your book enter 2, and so on.
• Author: You may use your actual name or a pen name if you prefer but make sure it matches the information on your book cover.
• Contributors: Enter the names of any illustrators, editors, cover designers and any other person that helped you create content for your book if you want to give them credit for their work, unless you have a contract that stipulates that you are the sole author (e.g. you hired a ghostwriter).
• Description: This is the publisher blurb that appears on your book detail page and it’s the key marketing text that book browsers will read when they land on your page. This blurb must be ideally written with the help of a book-marketing professional because purchasing decisions will often be made based on this text.
• Publishing Rights: Since you’re the copyright owner of your title, enter “You own the copyright and hold necessary publishing rights.” In the unlikely case that your text is a public domain work, then you must select “This is a public domain work” and identify the required territory rights.
• Keywords: In this section you need to enter 7 keyword phrases that best approximate searches that readers enter into Amazon when looking for a book like yours. This is another area where it pays to enlist the help of a book-marketing professional because these keywords will make the difference between your title being found often by readers and never making it to the first page of results.
• Categories: This is another critical piece of metadata information and should also be filled with the help of a book-marketing professional. Amazon has over 3,000 nonfiction categories and sub-categories and which one you choose will have an impact on whether your book can make it into their bestseller lists or not. Read my companion article How to Promote Your Nonfiction Book to Rank High on Amazon for more information on how to choose the best categories for your book.
• Large Print (included in the Categories section): If you wish to create a version or your book in large print (font-size 16 or higher) you’ll need to create a separate edition with a new ISBN. Amazon will then link this version to your original paperback and promote it in their large-print browsing results.
• Adult Content: This is unlikely to apply to most nonfiction books, however if your book contains language or images that are not appropriate for children under the age of 18, then check this box.

When you’re done with “Paperback Details.” Switch tabs to “Book Content.” Here you’ll be entering your technical printing options and upload your print-ready files.

Leave these options to your book layout and cover designers since they require specific technical knowledge.

Finally, when your book content section is complete, you’ll be able to open the “Paperback Rights & Pricing” section. This is where you’ll select the territories where your book will be available for purchase.

You can either select All Territories (Worldwide Rights) or select Individual Territories. Finally, you’ll set up your book pricing. Option 1 allows you to select your default market and set your list price in that market’s currency.

Amazon’s KDP will calculate your list prices in other currencies as necessary.

Option 2 allows you to create a unique list price for the currency of each market that you wish to sell into.

Next Steps:

Great, now you know everything you need to self-publish your nonfiction book on Amazon. Once you do, I recommend that you set up an advance book-review team to make sure that you rank high on Amazon searches from the get go.

Positive book reviews are the most important signal used by the Amazon ranking algorithm and it’s critical that you get this done right. Read my article How to Get Reviews on Amazon for Your Nonfiction Book to learn how to set up this important team prior to your book launch.

Best of luck!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

How Long Does it Take to Write a Book to Help Grow Your Business?

5 Book Cover Maker Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Nonfiction Cover

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert: 11 Reasons Why You Should

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

In order to self-publish with success a work of nonfiction, you can follow a clear path that has been charted and refined over the years by many successful authors.

Nonfiction is a well-developed genre with a number of best practices that facilitate the connection between authors and readers in a way that produces tangible results.

In this article I’ll show you the key best practices that you’ll need to implement throughout the writing and editing stages of your manuscript.

Writing Stage

For your book to work in the nonfiction market, you’ll need to be able to target it like a laser beam. Before you write a single line of text you have to know exactly who will get the most value from your content, why, and also how you’ll get them to buy into your ideas.

Best Practice 1: Know Your Audience

If you’re writing your book to expand the reach of your business or your professional practice, your target audience will most likely resemble your current clients.

Since you’ll be connecting with them through the written word, though, you won’t be able to rely on body language to facilitate communication.

So to make up for this deficit you’ll need to get to know them much more intimately than when you deal with them in person.

You’ll have to learn not only who they are in terms of demographics, but you’ll also have to know about their hopes and dreams and what keeps them up at night (which your book will naturally help them take care of!).

The more you know about your audience, the better you’ll be able to connect with them through your writing. Your goal is to make them feel like you’re a friend who understands them and wants to help them improve their lives.

Best Practice 2: Solve Their Problem

This leads us to the main goal of your nonfiction book. For your book to find success, not only do you have to know your audience intimately, but you need to solve a big problem for them.

You need to know what their biggest challenge is that overlaps with your area of expertise and then you need to come up with a unique solution that’ll solve that problem once and for all.

Now, the key for success is to help them deal with a problem that creates a high level of psychological pain. If your audience’s pain is only mild, their motivation to seek out your book will be diminished.

If you were to measure their pain from a scale of 1 to 10, you want to be able to address a problem in the 8-10 range. That way, your unique solution will become much more valuable in your audience’s eyes.

Best Practice 3: Outline Your Book

Once you found the key problem to solve and clearly defined your unique solution, it’s time to put pen to paper – but don’t starting writing your book yet!

First, you need to create an outline to map out how your book is going to be structured, and the information that’ll fill out this outline isn’t something that needs to come out of thin air.

All this information is already stored in your brain, accumulated through years of skill development and experience practicing in your field.

Now, this information is not yet in “book form,” so you’ll need to use a technique called “mind mapping” to download it from your head onto a diagram that can then be turned into a book outline.

Once your outline is fully fleshed out, you’ll be able to begin writing in earnest by simply expanding on each of its sections until your manuscript is complete.

To learn how to mind map your book, read the following article: How to Use a Mind Map to Create a Great Book for Your Business? To turn your mind map into your book outline, read the following article: How to Create a Book Outline Step-By-Step: A Guide for Nonfiction Writers.

Editing Stage

Now that you’ve completed your manuscript, it’s time to begin the process of polishing it in order to turn it into a proper nonfiction book.

However, this isn’t something that you can do on your own. You’ll need to enlist the help of professional editors to turn your book from a diamond in the rough into a beautiful jewel.

Even the most successful and accomplished authors need editors to help them with their books. As the author you’re just too close to your work and you’ll need a pair of trained eyes to look at it subjectively.

Editing is quite a complex process, requiring different editors that specialize in different aspects of the craft. Below, you’ll learn the best editing practices that the pros use to produce great book after great book.

Best Practice 4: Developmental Editing

This is the first editing stage for successful nonfiction books. A developmental editor will take care of the overall structure of your manuscript – the 30,000-foot view.

Their job is to show you at a high level which aspects of your book will work for your target audience and which aspects will fail to connect with them. Then they’ll make the necessary recommendations so that you can fix those problems.

Perhaps your chapters are fine in and of themselves but they’re not in the right order to achieve an optimal flow of ideas. Or perhaps some of your reasoning has logical flaws that need to be corrected.

This is the area of expertise of developmental editors. They’ll help you right the ship before any time is committed to lower-level editing tasks.

Best Practice 5: Content Editing

The job of the content editor is to take over from the developmental editor by shifting the focus from overall book structure to readability and style.

They’ll make suggestions to improve your clarity such as shortening unnecessarily long paragraphs and splitting up run-on sentences.

Also, they’ll make sure that all graphical elements, such as images, tables, charts, diagrams, etcetera are correctly placed to support your text so that they don’t end up confusing your reader.

Best Practice 6: Copyediting and Proofreading

The final two editing stages used by the pros are copyediting and proofreading. The copyeditor will take the reins from where the content editor left off and shift the focus once again, this time to linguistic and factual accuracy.

They’ll correct spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors. They’ll also take care of syntax, capitalization and hyphenation errors. They’ll check for proper use of language, identify any anomalies and check for inconsistencies.

Finally, they’ll flag any potential legal issues with your content, such as statements that could be interpreted as libelous, unintended infringement to other people’s copyrights and trademarks, and so on.

Next Steps:

Now that you’ve produced top-notch content for your target audience through your manuscript, you’ll need to package it into a book that looks and feels as professional as its content.

Your goal now will be to meet the expectations of the nonfiction market when it comes to your book layout and your book cover design. To this end, you’ll need to hire professional book designers to help you nail these two critical tasks.

To steer you in the right direction, I’ve created a couple of companion articles that will help you understand the key requirements of book design so you can make a good hiring decision: 10 Nonfiction Book Layout Tips That Will Glue Your Audience to the Page and 5 Book Cover Maker Mistakes to Avoid When Designing a Nonfiction Cover.

Good luck!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Write a Compelling Nonfiction Book in 12 Steps: A Must-Read Guide for Business Owners

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert: 11 Reasons Why You Should

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.

To put together meaningful self-publishing quotes for your nonfiction book, you have to take into consideration the cost of editing your manuscript, the cost of creating the book layout and cover design, and the cost to distribute the finished product.

Since your nonfiction book will establish your status as an expert and will project your reputation into the world, you need to ensure that both your writing and your book production are top quality.

So it’s imperative that you hire professionals to do the editing, layout and cover design of your book and not do this work yourself or farm it out to a friend or a relative.

The financial and reputational benefits of creating a top-notch product will be many and long lasting.

For example, your nonfiction book will become your calling card for new clients, it’ll open new doors for lucrative contracts, it’ll attract the attention of the media and it’ll give you access to paid public speaking.

Should You Write Your Book Yourself?

It depends. If you’re a strong writer and you have the time, I would advise that you write your own book. This exercise will help you get a new level of clarity for your business and it’ll help you sort out your ideas and discover new ones.

But it you don’t feel confident in your writing skills or don’t have the time to invest in your book project, then it definitely pays to hire a ghostwriter. If you’d like to find out more about this, read my companion article: How To Hire A Ghostwriter To Write Nonfiction That Tips The Scales.

Editing Costs

In order to create a top-notch product, you’ll have to engage professionals in the following four editing stages.

Developmental Editing:

This stage defines the optimal structure of your book to ensure your message is delivered to your audience in the most effective way.

As the author, you’re too close to your writing to be able to see what will work for your audience and what won’t work with 100% clarity – this is true for new authors as well as for seasoned ones.

Your developmental editor will help you gain perspective so that you can find a way to connect and engage with your target audience with a compelling message and a clear voice.

Experienced developmental editors charge between 8 and 12 cents per word depending on the complexity of the subject matter. Some may charge per page of text instead, ranging between $20-$30.

Content Editing:

Content editors focus on writing style, how your ideas are presented, their logical flow, the relevance of secondary ideas and the strength of your manuscript.

For them, readability is key. They’ll rewrite paragraphs to improve clarity, shorten sentences when required and even suggest that some chapters or sections within chapters be rearranged.

Experienced content editors charge between $40 and $50 per 1,000 words for standard text and between $50 and $70 per 1,000 words for highly technical or scientific text.

Copyediting:

Copy editors work at a lower level that’s much closer to your text. Once the book structure is set and the flow of ideas established, they’ll focus on grammar, spelling, punctuation errors, syntax, capitalization, and so on.

In addition, they’ll also check for overall accuracy of the text such as misattributed quotes and they’ll check for general inconsistencies that can reflect poorly on the writing, like mixing single and double quotes.

Copy editors will also flag potential legal issues such as libelous statements, copyright or trademark infringement. Their charges range between $30 and $40 per 1,000 words for standard text and between $40 and $60 per 1,000 words for highly technical or scientific text.

Proofreading:

A proofreader will come in after your manuscript is “locked” and no more changes are planned. In essence, it’s the final quality check before going to print.

This is the line-by-line final pass that will look for formatting inconsistencies, typos that were missed, referencing errors and general fact-checking to make sure that your book is error free.

Experienced proofreaders charge between $25 and $35 per 1,000 words for standard text and between $35 and $45 per 1,000 words for highly technical or scientific text.

Production Costs

Once your manuscript is “print-ready” it’s time to engage the services of a professional book designer and a cover designer.

The book designer will take care of laying out your text so that your book meets the high standards of the nonfiction book trade. Your nonfiction book will establish your status as an expert, which demands that you produce a quality product.

The cost of a good book designer ranges between $350 and $500 depending of the complexity of your layout. For example, books that are more technical in nature will cost more to produce than text-based books.

Cover designers create the most visible aspect of your book, and therefore the most consequential to attract the attention of browsers.

They’ll create the balance between color and placement of text and graphical elements that results in high visual appeal to enhance the compelling message contained in your title and sub-title.

An experienced cover designer charges between $400 and $600.

Your book designer and cover designer will also produce the print-ready files that will be submitted to the distribution channels below.

Distribution Costs

Before you upload your files to be turned into print-on-demand books that will be distributed around the world, you first need to acquire your ISBN, or unique identifier for your book.

You’ll need a separate ISBN for each format of your book (e.g. one for your paperback edition and one for your hardcover edition). The cost for a single ISBN is $125 and for a block of ten the cost goes up to $295.

Once you have your ISBNs, it’s time to set up your book title with the following two channels of distribution:

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP):

KDP will make your book available for ordering through a number of Amazon bookselling properties around the world (U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia/New Zealand). KDP doesn’t charge for their setup or book submissions and simply charges a percentage of your book sales.

IngramSpark:

IngramSpark will make your book available through their parent company Ingram, the largest book distributor in the world. Although they’ll distribute to online stores, their forte is brick-and-mortar bookstores and libraries.

Ingram charges $49 per format submission (e.g. separate charges for paperback and hardcover editions – note that Amazon’s KDP can only make your book available in paperback).

If you want to hire a service to set up your accounts on the above two distribution channels, there are a number of author services companies will do this work on your behalf, for between $100 and $200.

Next Steps:

Now you have a good idea of the costs required for self-publishing a quality nonfiction book. When you begin your search for book professionals, make sure you get multiple quotes and that you check their references thoroughly.

Best of luck!

Ben

Leave me a comment below if you have any questions or a specific need that I can help you address – I operate an author services firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners who want to publish books as a calling card for prospects, to establish their status as an expert or to just to generate additional leads for their businesses.

 

Here are some related posts I highly recommend:

How to Grow Your Business Writing a Nonfiction Book

Write Your Own Book and Become an Expert – 11 Reasons Why You Should

 

Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning author of 6 books published through Harper Collins (NY) and Titan Publishing Group (UK). He is also the publisher at Promontory Press and the founder/CEO of Cascadia Author Services, a boutique full-service firm that specializes in premium author services specifically designed for busy professionals. Our end-to-end services include writer coaching, ghostwriting, editing, proofing, cover design, book layout, eBook production, printing, distribution and marketing.