Writing your novel for the Kindle is a lot easier than it may appear. While there is a variety of formats for which you can upload, the best format for most is Word.
Amazon Direct Publishing (formerly Amazon Digital Text Platform)
Amazon’s Direct Publishing (KDP) is the easiest way to publish your e-book to the Amazon Kindle. For those still unfamiliar with e-readers, Amazon’s wireless reading device, the Kindle, allows you to download and read thousands of book titles instantly. Similarly, these same titles can also be downloaded for reading to your Mac, PC, or other device, such as the Android smartphone.
Overview
VIDEO: Click the link to view the Video on setting up a Word Document (and images) for Amazon Kindle publishing:
Packaging Your Word Novel to AZW using Amazon’s DTP* (VIDEO)
*The video refers to the DTP platform although it is now Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
Before you can upload your book to the Kindle store, be prepared to supply the following information:
- Book Title
- Description
- Language
- ISBN (optional)
- Publisher (optional)
- Categories (choose up to 5)
- Upload file ( in Word (.doc), Adobe PDF, Plain Text (.txt), ePub, RTF, HTML, zipped HTML (.zip) or Mobi (.mobi)
Create an Amazon Account
The first step to to create an account with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin .
Your Member access to the KDP dashboard is where you will add book titles, enter details and upload the document for Kindle publication. The dashboard also manages sales reports and your account information. Make sure your bank and payee information is correct to prevent any delays to your royalty payments.
In your account area (the link at the top right corner of the KDP homepage) allows you to complete your account set up and become a publisher in the Kindle store. Your name, address and payment settings are required.
Add or Edit Book Title
Add a new title by clicking the “Add a new Title” button, or edit an existing title by scrolling to the right and clicking the “Action” button and select “Edit book details.” You can also delete book title from the Action Menu.
Book Information
NOTE: I am not going into depth in this post as to each section of information you need to add when preparing your book for Amazon. This information will be broken down in later posts. We are mainly concerned with how to upload your files correctly to Amazon using KDP.
Add the necessary information for your book, including the Title, and whether this is part of a series. (Consider Trademarking book series Titles). For contributors, you want to add yourself as the author, and any other people you wish to acknowledge, such as illustrators and editors.
Book Content
KDP lets you upload and convert your content from several formats. For best results, we recommend that you upload your content in HTML (HTM).
Supported Formats
The below formats are supported formats by KDP. Click here for samples.
- Zipped HTML (.zip)
- Word (.doc)
- Adobe PDF (.pdf)
- ePub (.epub)
- Plain Text (.txt)
- MobiPocket (.mobi and .prc)
For our example, we will be working with a Word document with images. To upload the Word document with images, you will need to “Zip” the file into an archive.
DTP states, “At this time, documents in .docx format are not supported on KDP. If your content has been created in .docx format, please re-save your document in .doc format and use the file to upload through KDP.”
Amazon recommends you save your content file as a .doc (not .docx) by using the save as option from the file menu in Word. Many publishers have reported conversion errors with Word documents saved in the .docx file extension.
Zipping your File
According to KDP, all the files in the .zip archive must be in a single folder, without any files in subfolders (such as image files). Save your content in the web browser using the “Save As Web Page (Complete)” option or similar, which will include any images on the page. Then the resulting files can be put inside a .zip file.
NOTE: I was able to select the HTM file and the folder of images, with no problem on file conversion: however, please KDP’s guidelines should you have any issues.
For PC computers I use WinZip; Mac I use Stuffit Deluxe; however, there are many other Zip services online. Just do a simple search to find the software that works best for you.
Other Information on ePublishing
You can publish content that is in the public domain; however, Amazon may request additional information to confirm it is not under copyright. Copyright protection varies between countries so make sure you indicate your territory rights accurately.
Keywords (Tags) will be important on how your book is found in the Amazon search. Choose 5 to 7 keywords, separated by commas, that best describe your work.
DRM, digital rights management, means if you want your Kindle book to be solely for Kindle users, or unlockable to be sold and converted to other devices. DRM technology inhibits unauthorized access to or copying of digital content files. Once you publish your title, this setting cannot be changed.
Other Resources
Amaon Kindle Direct Publishing Support Forums, is available, although it is somewhat difficult to follow and contains conflicting information.
the book written. just having a situasin on how to up loadad. eletronikly.
the book done it tranfering medioums.
I forgot my password and kdp account number. Please send. Thanks. Charles Toftoy, casb@gwu.edu
Charles,
If you have lost your information for your KDP account, you need to contact Amazon directly.
At the bottom of the KDP page is a link to their contact us.
Click Contact Us and a log in page will appear. Click “Forgot Password”. Enter the email associated with your account and the CAPTCHA code and you will be emailed a new password.
If you do not remember the email you used, then you need to contact Amazon Customer Support.