If you are a self-publisher, you shouldn't miss doing a paperback version of your books. Learn how to self publish a paperback book on Amazon and earn money off of it.
Today's question has three answers and you're going to want to stick around. Because the third answer is a secret as to the mistake that many authors make when publishing their paperbacks on Amazon.
So, let's get into it. The question that was sent to me today was how to self publish a paperback book on Amazon? Now, this is an excellent question because maybe you've already done a Kindle book and you're looking for something else.
Just like getting the paperback version of your book out onto the market because you've heard maybe you can make some more money going that particular route. Or maybe you have not published anything and you're thinking, I want to do a paperback and I want it to be on Amazon.
What are the steps necessary to make this happen? That is what we are going to answer today. But before we get into the answers, check out my free step-by-step Checklist for getting your books published and making money with sales.
So, how to self publish a paperback book on Amazon? Let me tell you a little bit about my story. When I first got started, I did not start with the paperbacks, I started with Kindle books.
Check out this related article: Problems With Amazon Kindle Books Self Publishing?
I was under Kindle Direct Publishing and I was putting my books onto the market in that particular format. Then I got into the paperback side of things and began to see there was a bit more complex than the Kindle format. But it wasn't too hard like any of these skills.
After some time, I got my paperback books out there. Only then to go to hardbacks, to go to audiobooks, to go to additional paperbacks, and additional eBooks.
So it gives a lot of different options that are available to maximize the number of people that you are going to be able to reach when you are putting your books onto the market. But clearly, the paperbacks on Amazon is a very important strategy that you are not going to want to miss.
How do you self publish a paperback book on Amazon? Here come the answers. The first thing you are going to need is you are going to need an Amazon account under kdp.amazon.com in KDP or Kindle Direct Publishing.
Jutoh Can Do Different Formats
Now, I know it seems a little bit confusing here because I thought we were talking about paperbacks. But with KDP, that gives you the ability under the bookshelf area to add a new book. And you are going to add a new paperback book under KDP Print.
In the old days, this used to be underneath a company called CreateSpace. But they were bought up or actually I guess maybe they were perhaps always owned by Amazon, but they've pulled it under and now it's all on the same dashboard.
It makes it all that much easier to see your sales both from your Kindle books and also from your KDP Print books or your paperback books. But you're going to need to first set up the account. Then after you've logged in, we're ready to go to the next step.
Check out this related article: KDP Self Publishing Account Sign In?
The next step would be, we are going to need the content file which is a PDF. Unlike a Mobi file which you use for Kindle, you're going to need a PDF that's formatted exactly for your KDP Print book or your paperback that you're going to be putting out there.
Then, you are going to need a cover. It's also going to be I believe, a PDF that you're going to do it in as well. But you're going to have created it using the cover that perhaps you use for your Kindle.
Then combining those 2 together, we're able to upload those files. We have your title, we have your keywords and I use a program called KDSpy to do that. For my book cover, I do it for free using GIMP.
The initial cover that I use for my Kindle and the contents, I use an amazing program called Jutoh. It gives you the ability to pull all these together and make sure that your table of contents and everything is flawless for both the Kindle version and your paperback version.
Jutoh is an amazing piece of software you won't want to miss. Then, the book information, we can get it out but KDSpy is what I used to figure out what are the keywords that are going to be helping me make as much money as possible off of my book.
When people are searching for it, you're going to have your title, your author, your book description, and any other information. These are all going to be in there. You're going to want to get the HTML formatted properly.
After we have filled out all of this information and uploaded the files, then we can put our book out there. We're are going to run ads against it at that point but those are the initial steps you are going to need.
Start Making Money
But let's get into the secret answer of today and this is a huge mistake. It is the fact that you do the paperback version of your book, you are going to want to make sure you have the Kindle version out.
Now I know you might be thinking, well wasn't the eBook version going to be more difficult to do than the paperback? No, it's the opposite. So, you're going to take your files like we were talking about.
When you use Jutoh, you generated your Mobi file and you already had your cover. So you put that out there and now we are ready to do the paperback version. Then we say spit out the PDF file which is what Jutoh will do.
You put the cover right in there, it comes out and now we have the contents file in place. We now have our cover from Kindle and we grab a template which you download from your kdp.amazon.com.
We are just going to put that cover in there and then make sure that it fits inside the borders. Using a free piece of software called GIMP to create our cover, we export it to a PDF and flatten everything out. We already have our cover and our files, we upload them and we're ready to start making money.
Check out this related article: How To Make Money With Kindle Publishing On Amazon In 2020
The only thing I would just say is that the reason why this Kindle strategy is better is that Kindle is easier and also it drives a lot of traffic. People in the Kindle store search and they see your page.
We have multiple formats available and we don't know which of the different formats your users are going to want to go for. So, this is exactly the reason that anybody who understands the secrets of making as much money off of Amazon, they are not the authors who are literally losing money every year.
But they are the authors who are actually making a huge profit. They are using these exact tips and tricks to go about doing it. So, how to self publish a paperback book on Amazon?
What have you found? Let me know below in the comments. Check out my other blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.