In the modern-day, we live in a digital world where everything is done online and takes a short duration for completion. In the publishing and authoring world, we have the KDP Amazon. This is one of the best platforms with great features that you can use to publish and sell your book online. This article has provided you with details on what KDP Amazon is, how it works, what you need to join, and its benefits, plus many more.

What is KDP?

KDP is an abbreviation for Kindle Direct Publishing. Amazon KDP is an online platform or tool that you can use to publish your books and other works online. Amazon KDP is, therefore, a self-publishing platform that you can use to publish your books and sell them to a global audience. After you have authored your book independently, readers can access your books globally without passing through a traditional press.

Once you have self-publish a book online, those who want to read it can purchase it as an eBook or print-on-demand book. KDP is how you can publish your books on Amazon for them to be downloaded and read by readers worldwide.
Since the launching of KDP Amazon in 2007, most authors and publishers have been using it to self-publish their books for easy access and purchase by readers worldwide.

How Kindle publishing works

Kindle publishing is a platform that you can use to self-publish eBooks and paperback books. This platform has multiple essential features plus free file conversion, sales tracking, and additional tools that will help you in formatting special types of books such as textbooks and many more.

eBooks

You will need to upload your book files to KDP Amazon directly. After uploading your book files, publish them to the KDP platform, and then they whey will appear in the Kindle store as an eBook. The readers will then be able to purchase and download your book’s files as an eBook immediately.

Printed books

You only need to upload your book files to KDP Amazon, and KDP publishing will use print-on-demand technology to print the paperback book once the reader has purchased it and ship your book directly to them. The cost of printing is subtracted from the royalties that you earn for each of your books that are sold.

The contents types that you can typically publish on KDP are:

•    Novels
•    Book Series
•    Children’s Books
•    Comics
•    Cookbooks
•    Journals
•    Poetry
•    Textbooks

When you are publishing your book on KDP Amazon, you will need to provide:

•    Your book’s Title
•    Your name or Author’s name
•    Optimized book description for marketing
•    Categories and keywords for Amazon
•    Texts of your books
•    Your Book’s cove
•    Your books price

How to join

Joining a KDP Amazon is relatively easy and fast. You will need to set up an account at Amazon KDP. Setting up an account at Amazon KDP is free.

You will first go to  https://kdp.amazon.com.  Then if you already have an Amazon account, you click the Sign In button, and when you sign in. suppose you do not have an Amazon account; you will click the sign-up button and follow the next steps one by one to create an Amazon account. A page will appear with KDP terms of service. You will read and press the accept button after reading the KDP terms of service that open onscreen.

After doing this, you will see the KDP Bookshelf appearing; that is where your published eBooks will be listed. On your screen at the upper right corner, you will find a warning that the information on your account is incomplete. You will then click the Update Now link. After that, you follow by completing the form for your account. You will then enter your author/publisher details by clicking (Your Name) ‘s account link that will appear at the top of the page, and then it will take you to the My Account page.

On this page, you will enter your name, address, and your phone number. Otherwise, if your publishing business has a company name, you should enter it instead of your name and add the company’s address plus phone number. While on the My Account page, you will go to the ‘Getting Paid” section and enter payment and banking details.

The payment and banking details are helpful since they will be needed when royalties are paid after your book has been purchased by a customer. After this, while on the same My Account page, you will go to the Tax Information section and enter details like your name, publishing company name, address, and Social Security Number. When you are done, you click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

What to expect and what you will encounter as a first-time user

After signing up and logging in to your KDP Amazon account for the first time, you may have problems navigating through the platform. This is because you may not be familiar with the platform. You may also not get much traffic as a first-time user since you are new, and readers may not have heard of you. If you are a first-time user on KDP Amazon, expect your book to be reviewed and published within a day or three days. Additionally, your book is required to be returned to an editable status for a minimum of 12 hours before midnight of the final day available for editing.

List the benefits of using the service for content creators.

a.    Wide distribution

Amazon is a global brand. Setting up an account with KDP Amazon and uploading your books, you are assured of global markets all over the world.

b.    Higher royalties

When using KDP Amazon to publish and sell, your royalty earnings are quite higher compared to selling through traditional publishing houses. Selling your book on Amazon will get you royalties as high as 60 %.

c.    Author rights

KDP Amazon has Amazon’s non-exclusive agreement that allows you to retain the rights to your books even though you publish your book and sell through it.

d.    Quick publishing time

Traditional publishing used to take a long time. With this Amazon publishing platform, the publishing process is very quick and efficient.

e.    No inventory

KDP Amazon uses print-on-demand technology, which means the books are printed as they are purchased. You do not need to purchase printed books upfront in order to sell them.

f.      It is algorithm-driven

There is no merchandising team on amazon book stores, and they don’t care about merchandising. Therefore, they let their algorithm decide on which books to promote and feature.

KDP Amazon is a must-have account in the modern-day if you are a publisher. KDP Amazon is equipped with great features that will enable you to publish your books faster and sell them globally, entailing high returns.