Self-Publishing with Amazon KDP

Hello, fellow writers!

I’ve been busy revising, editing, and formatting my short story “Ghost Girl: The Story of Jamie Jones” and self-publishing it as an ebook through Amazon KDP. I thought it would be a good idea to share my process and the resources that helped me along the way. Please note that I’m not a techie person, so I had to search for the easiest–not necessarily the fastest–way to do this. Yes, it was a trial-and-error, time-consuming endeavor, but it wasn’t impossible, and if I could to do it, then so can anyone else.

So here’s how I did it:

1- I revised and revised my story and–with the help of my editor (you really should have one)–created the best possible final copy.

2- I copyrighted my work ($35 online). (This was a personal choice.)

3- I downloaded and studied the following two guides:

a) Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing

http://www.amazon.com/Publish-Amazon-Kindle-Publishing-ebook/dp/B004LX069M/ref=pd_sim_kstore_24

b) Building Your Book for Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Building-Your-Book-Kindle-ebook/dp/B007URVZJ6

4- I used the following two internet sources to help me create a cover:

a) http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/02/4-incredible-free-sources-for-photos-to-use-in-your-book-or-blog/ (I found a great public domain photo for my story in Wikimedia Commons.)

b) http://www.williamking.me/2012/02/22/create-your-own-ebook-cover-step-by-step-with-pictures/ (The dimensions suggested by Mr. King [6 x 8] no longer work [KDP image requirements have changed], but, other than that, the instructions for creating a cover using powerpoint and then saving the image as a jpeg are clear, simple, and very helpful. KDP’s new image requirements are: a height/width ratio of 1.6 [divide the longest side by the shortest side], minimum dimensions of 625 by 1000 pixels, and preferred dimensions of 1563 by 2500 pixels. What I did was play around with the dimensions in powerpoint [page setup] until I found the ratio in inches that most closely transferred to 1563 by 2500 pixels in jpeg.)

4- I used the following source to write my copyright notice and legal disclaimers:

http://jwmanus.wordpress.com/cheat-sheets-for-ebook-formatting/legal-stuff-in-ebooks/

5- I followed the instructions in Building Your Book for Kindle (see step 3) to format my ebook and get it ready for publishing. (This step took a long time!)

6- I joined Amazon KDP and followed their step-by-step self-publishing instructions.

https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin 

7- Success! (With many trial-and-error stressful moments along the way.)

I plan to dedicate more time to my poems and stories, which means I’ll be blogging less. My goal is to add a post to each of my blogs (I’ve got four!) at least once a month.

“A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it.” (she, in my case) –Roald Dahl