Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts

Saturday 6 July 2019

Getting Started with Book Publishing through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

getting started with Amazon kindle direct publishing

There are some basic things you need to know about book publishing through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) as a Nigerian who is new to digital publishing. The following questions and answer approach will help you to quickly familiarize yourself with most of these things.


On What it will Cost to Publish My Book through Amazon KDP

On the aspect of Amazon KDP, it will cost you nothing to publish your books through them. As they earn a percentage of each sales of your book just like you will earn royalties which is also a percentage of each sales of your book. These are the basic steps involved in book publishing through Amazon:

  • Write the book
  • Typeset the book in Microsoft Word.
  • Format the book's manuscript to eBook publishing standard. And if you want to publish it as KDP print (paperback) it has to be formatted to KDP print standard too.
  • Design eBook cover for it, and if applicable, a paperback cover too.
  • Create a publishing account with Amazon KDP. Click here to do that now.
  • Login to your account KDP and publish it.

Note that the areas you will need to spend a bit is in formatting your manuscript to Amazon KDP publishing standard and in designing book cover for it. We can offer you affordable services in this respect. If you are interested, check out our Publishing Services page here.


On Target Audience

If you have a particular audience in mind, write your books such that that particular audience expectation will be met. This will determine the choice of words, scenes, and settings you will use in the book. If you are targeting a global audience, that is anyone anywhere in the world should be interested in it, write your books in such a way that the audience you have in mind is a universal one.

On Formatting

Once you have completed the manuscript of your book, you will need to typeset it using Microsoft Word and then format the manuscript to Amazon KDP publishing standard. You can check out our Publishing Services page here if you want us to help format your manuscript.


On Cover Design

You will need to design book cover for your book before going ahead to publish it on Amazon kindle direct publishing. You can a picture you want as part of the cover so that you can create a custom and unique book cover for your book. You can also check out our Publishing Services page here if you want us to help design book cover for your book.


On Free eBook Promotion

You can set your published book’s price to $0 so that interested readers can download it for free during the days you made it free and thereby publicizing your author brand. To do this, click on the "Promote and Advertise" button to the right of the book on your bookshelf. Select the option button on "Free book Promotion" and click the orange button there to start the free promotion by following through the processes to setup the free promotion.


On Countdown Deal Promotion

You can reduce your published book’s price so that interested readers can buy it at a cheaper price during the days you put it on a “Countdown Deal” Promotion and thereby publicizing your author brand while still making some money. To do this, click on the "Promote and Advertise" button to the right of the book on your bookshelf. Select the option button on "Countdown Deal Promotion" and click the orange button there to start the Countdown Deal Promotion by following through the processes to setup the Countdown Deal promotion.

On eBook and Print (Paperback) Editions

The following are things you need to know about book edition as you plan to publish your book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

  • There are eBook and Print (Paperback) Editions.
  • Paperback edition is the book format that will be printed and delivered to a buyer just like the textbooks or novels you are used to while the eBook will be delivered electronically to the buyer’s device (Kindle reader or phone).
  • Paperback cover has both front and back while an eBook cover is only a front.
  • It is not compulsory to publish your book in both editions. You can decide to publish it as only an eBook.

On "Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) Read" Program 

You can enroll your book in the KENP program during the publishing processes on Amazon KDP, by checking the enrollment check box on the third stage of the publishing processes. Does this affect earnings? Yes and No. Yes because it is another way readers buy books i.e those who have Amazon subscription download books enrolled in the KENP program and the authors are paid some few cents per pages read. No because this does not work for all authors or books. For example, most of my sales come from royalties from direct book sales.


On How to be a Best Selling Author

Someone asked me how he can be a "Best Selling" Author and this was my answer: Write a great book, professionally edit it, professionally format it, design a professional cover for it, and promote it using AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) or any other paid book marketing services. Guess what! If you can do these things, you will surely be glad you did.


On ISBN

If you are publishing your book as an eBook or paperback through Amazon, you don't need an ISBN as Amazon KDP will assign its own ASIN number to it in the case of an ebook and both ASIN and free ISBN in the case of a paperback book. It is only if you want to publish it as a paperback book in Nigeria here that you will need one and in that case you can ask a traditional publisher or Liberian where you can get an ISBN for your new book.

On Royalties

As for royalties, you can get 35% or 70% depending of the Llist price of the book. For list price below $2.99 you get 35% but for List price above $2.99 you get 70% but set a price that will encourage prospective buyers to take the risk and hence let it be in accordance to the worth of the book.

On Receiving Your Royalties Payment via Payoneer

You can register and open a US bank account through Payoneer with which you can receive your royalties. For more information on this, read my post on Payoneer here.

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Wednesday 27 December 2017

How Nigerians can Open US Payoneer Bank Account


As a Nigerian author, receiving your books royalties can be an uphill task since Amazon and other book publishing platforms don't accept Nigerian bank accounts but you can open and own U.S bank account as a non-U.S citizen through Payoneer. It is a checking account and hence you are provided with a master card which you can use on any ATM in that accepts master card. This implies that you will no longer wait to accumulate royalties or earnings from your online businesses to a certain threshold before you get paid by cheque. To register and apply for this payment solution now, click here.

How Payoneer U.S bank Account Simplified International Payment

As an author or publisher, freelancer, or an affiliate you can use this service to receive your royalties or earnings from Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, Google AdSense, Fiverr, Upwork and many others. You can register with Payoneer now if you need an account through the link above.

How to Register and Apply For Payoneer U.S Bank Account

You can apply for the Payoneer Bank account for free through the link at the end of this write up. Once you successfully register, you will receive an email informing you of the approval.

Make sure you use your legal details same with the ones used in your online businesses account. The next email you will receive from them will contain your bank account details like (The name of the Bank, account number, routing number, and your holder name). To register and open the Payoneer bank account, click here and follow the steps below:

  • Go to Payoneer website through the link at the end of this write up.
  • Fill the form provided with the required details.
  • Make sure you use a correct P.O Box mailing address or postal code of your area, house address, email, and phone number.
  • You will receive an approval email and account details through your email soon after registration.
  • In one of the emails you will be informed that your Payoneer card have been shipped through regular mail and the expected period of delivery.
  • From experience, the regular mail delivery is good but not too effective because the expected delivery period will pass sometimes without some people receiving the card. So, in such a case login to your Payoneer account and re-order the card but ask them to ship it through expedited shipping.

How to Submit the Required Documents

After successfully opening the account and while you await the delivery of the card, it is good you login to your Payoneer account using your email and password to submit the verification documents. At the bottom of the page, click on the button that ask you to submit evidence of your online business and identity card. Properly submit these documents.

You can now go to your online business accounts and enter your Payoneer usbank details appropriately. Make sure you select EFT as pay option and checking as type of bank account.


How to Re-order Payoneer Card

If after almost two months of application your card was not delivered by regular mail, then it is good you login to your Payoneer account to re-order it and then let them deliver it through expedited shipping via DHL which will cost you $40 and the card will be delivered to you in few days. The delivery cost will be taken from your Payoneer card and that was why I advised you to enter the account details into your online businesses account so that you will start receiving payments into it.

Note: Once you decides reorder another card in place of your missing or stolen card you will be charged extra $12 on ordering for a replacement. Also, to order your card via expedited shipping once the last regular shipment period is over without getting the card, use the "contact us" button at the bottom of the page and not through the manner you applied for reorder via regular mail shipment.

How to Activate Your Payoneer Card

Once you receive your Payoneer card, the next step is to login to your account and activate it. To do this, follow these steps:

  • Login to your Payoneer account.
  • Click on the "Activate" tab at the top of the dashboard.
  • Enter the card number in the field provided for it.
  • Enter your chosen PIN in the field provided for it.
  • Confirm the PIN by entering it again in the next field.
  • Click the ok button.

Note that in case you ordered more than once before the card was Delivered, you must select the appropriate card having the 16 digit number on the one delivered to you during the activation process.

Your Payoneer card is now activated and ready for use. This image shows the successful activation confirmation message.

How to Check Account Balance or Use/ Withdraw Cash

You can check your account balance by login toyour Payoneer account or through ATM as you go to shop online with your money. You can withdraw your fund in your local currency from any ATM that accepts master card worldwide or you shop online with your money and then sell off the product if you need the cash.

How to Refer Friends To Payoneer And Get $25 Reward

Refer people to use Payoneer and both of you will get a $25 reward once the person have received a total of $1000 through his account. To register and apply for this payment solution now, click here.

How to Enter Your Payoneer usBank Account Details into Your Amazon KDP Account

The procedures for entering your Payoneer bank account details into your KDP account are described below and note that this procedure is similar to adding your Payoneer bank account to other online platforms that accepts it:

  • Login to your KDP account.
  • Scroll down to just after the tax interview and click on the "Add Bank'' link.
  • Select the country from the list which is US since Payoneer bank account is a US account.
  • Enter the bank name, account number, routing number, your name as the holder in the fields provided for them and select checking as the type of account. This will automatically be added to all the national market places.
  • Click on the + sign in front of each market place to confirm that EFT payment option is selected and also set the currency of your choice.