Step 1: Sign Up
Amazon KDP is an online portal where you can publish your work, request printed copies of your book, set the pricing and lots more. The first step is to setup an account with Amazon KDP . Follow the prompts, enter the author's details and tax information. If you add your Australian TFN the U.S. withholding tax rate will reduce from 30.0% to 5.0%.
Step 2: Bookshelf
When you login to Amazon KDP you will start in the "Bookshelf". The Bookshelf gives you two publishing options: Kindle eBook and Paperback (see screen shot below). The best practice is to publish both e-book and paperback and link them together so that customers can choose the electronic version or paperback. Your digital e-book will be available worldwide. However, printed paperbacks and print on demand are limited to a few countries, including Australia.
Step 3: eBook
Publishing a Kindle eBook is relatively straight forward. Click on "+Kindle eBook" and follow the prompts. If your book has images and text on the same page, select "One image at a time". If your book has an image on one side and text on the other, select "Two images side-by-side". Upload your e-book cover, inside pages and press publish. If there are any problems with the PDF, you will need to create a MOBI file with "Kindle Kids Book Creator", otherwise, skip to "Step 4: Creating a paperback".
Kindle Kids Book Creator
Kindle Kids Book Creator is an APP from Amazon that helps create and layout picture books. If something goes wrong with the PDF upload, this is the failsafe. First you need to download
Kindle Kids Book Creator and Kindle Previewer, which will give you a visual preview of how the book with look on different devices.
What you will need: (1) Kindle Kids Book Creator (2) Front cover (3) Inside pages
Step 1: Open "Kindle Kids Book Creator" and click "Create a New Kids Book"
Step 2: Select the orientation and "Two images side-by-side". For square books select "Landscape"
Step 3: Import your cover from a separate image
Step 4: Add the inside pages from a PDF with single pages (not side-by-side)
Step 5: Click File, "Save for Publishing". This will create a MOBI file in the directory you specify
The file is now ready to import into Amazon KDP. If you installed Kindle Previewer you can click Book Preview, "Create Book Preview".
Open Amazon KDP and click "+Kindle eBook". Follow the prompts and upload the MOBI file that you created in Kindle Kids Book Creator. Add the book details and publish your Kindle eBook.
Step 4: Creating a paperback
The next step is to add a paperback option and link it to your Kindle eBook. Amazon Australia will print a good quality paperback in Sydney and deliver it directly to the customer. This is called print-on-demand and gives customers another way to buy your book.
For printed paperbacks you will need a wrap-around cover with a front, spine and back. The dimensions need to be exact or Amazon will reject the book cover. Amazon have a downloadable cover template which makes the process much easier. Plug in the trim size, page count and paper colour and Amazon will work out the rest. Downloading the template is the best way to ensure the required dimensions are met.
For the inside pages, Amazon requires an additional 3mm added to the width and 6mm to the height to allow the images to stretch to the edge of the page. The inside pages will need to be reworked to fit the new dimensions and exported as a PDF with single pages and no bleed.
Once you have the wrap-around cover and reworked inside pages, you are ready to upload the book on Amazon KDP. Log into Amazon KDP and press "+Paperback". Select the relevant options and "Bleed (PDF only)", which works the best for most PDF files we work with. Preview the book and you're done. Once approved, you can link the paperback to your Kindle eBook with the ... menu and order some 'author copies' for yourself.