Amazon KDP: What It Is + How Beginners Can Start

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Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is Amazon’s platform for publishing your own ebook, paperback or hardcover. To start as a beginner, pick a niche where books already sell and few books compete, choose a topic you like, then write 500 to 1,000 words a day until you have a manuscript. This post covers how I started, how to choose a niche, how long the book should be, and why you should learn one step at a time.

What is Amazon KDP?

It is the self-publishing platform where you upload a book, enter its details, which create the book’s Amazon page, and set your price and royalty. KDP handles ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers, and each format needs its own ISBN (KDP: Create a book). KDP’s rule is up to 2 new titles per format each week, which resets every Sunday at 12:00 AM UTC (KDP help).

How did I start publishing on KDP?

In 2015 a high school friend and one of my siblings put books on Amazon. I thought that was great, but I didn’t know how. Then I started reading Kindle books on my iPhone, after listening to audiobooks on YouTube. Having a book with me all the time made it a no-brainer that I could do this too.

My first book was about goal achievement, a topic I was interested in. I made hundreds of mistakes and wasted thousands of dollars on my first books, on covers and the wrong steps. Then I saw the pattern: manuscript, editing, cover, formatting, Kindle ebook, paperback, hardback, audiobook, ads. The pattern repeats. Since then I have put 230 books on Amazon.

I list the habits that help most in 3 things self-publishers should do.

How do I choose a niche for my first book?

Pick a niche (or genre, or micro-genre) from the start, because the wrong one costs you in the long run. You want three things:

1. A market where books are already selling on Amazon.
2. Not many books in it. A few books that each sell a lot of copies is the sign.
3. A topic you are interested in, unless you plan to hire a ghostwriter, which is also fine. If you aren’t interested, you won’t write the follow-up books that build your brand.

A niche with no books means you create the whole market, which is painful and slow. A flooded market splits the sales among too many books. Spend a couple of weeks on this choice, not a year. I got my first choice wrong, and nobody warned me.

I use KDSpy to find these genres. It is a one-time purchase and the link is my affiliate link. If you’d like me to look at your niche, book a free 25-minute discovery call. I will do the deep analysis many gurus never show you. It also helps to read 3 common mistakes of self-publishing authors.

How long should my first book be?

Write 500 to 1,000 words a day, or set 30 minutes a day if you prefer time. I like word counts because they keep the writing moving, and in my first books I wrote 1,000 words a day. Nonfiction can be as little as 10,000 words, but I wouldn’t go under 3,000. KDP needs at least 24 pages for a paperback with black ink (KDP paperback and hardcover requirements), and 3,000 words is a rough way to get there and gives an audiobook of about 20 minutes at 155 words a minute. Fiction can run to 100,000 words. For more on length, see how long should a self published book be.

Don’t let the length put pressure on you. Outline, then write. The book needs to reach 3 to 5 stars from organic readers. After that it is an okay book, and you improve it with editing rounds, ads and reader feedback from your email list, and make the next book better.

Why learn one step at a time?

Because jumping ahead buries you. A former student wanted to do social media marketing before the first book was even finished. Get the first book on the market, then improve, then market. I use Just In Time Learning: learn a step at the point where you are ready to use it. When you format, only format. Don’t think about ads, social media, Ingram or Audible yet.

Set aside 30 minutes to an hour a day. If you can’t spare 30 minutes, it will be very hard to make this work.

Are you trying to publish your first book? Tell me in the comments.

If you want to sell your ebook before launch day, the KDP pre-order rules explain the deadlines and penalties.

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