Self-Publishing with Amazon KDP: A Best Practices Guide 2018
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AskALLi: Quick & Easy
Self-Publishing Guides
INSIDE
The Basics on
Self-Publishing EBooks and
PBoooks
with Amazon
KDP: A Best Why Does
Amazon
Practices Guide Purge Some
2018 Reviews?
How to use
ALLi to
Communicate
with Amazon
and More!Quick & Easy Self-Publishing Guide
Self-Publishing The Basics
Amazon turned publishing upside
with Amazon KDP: down ten years ago with the invention
Introduction of the Kindle e-reader because not
only did it come with the largest retail
store in the world attached, it brought
Self-Publishing with Amazon along the stunning innovation that is
KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is KDP.
recommended to all ALLi (Alliance of
Independent Authors) members. Amazon Says: Self-publishing
No self-publishing service is larger, through KDP takes less than five
more innovative, more powerful, more minutes and your book appears on
influential with readers, and more Kindle stores worldwide within 24-48
useful to writers. But, of course, no hours, reaching millions of readers on
company is perfect. Amazon. Earn up to 70 percent
Recently, the service has been royalty. Keep control of your rights, set
plagued by click-farming, review- your own list prices and make changes
stripping, book-stuffing, and poor to your books at any time. Enroll in
communications, causing heated KDP Select to earn more money [from
debate and confusion among our a specially allocated monthly KDP
members and the wider self-publishing Select Global Fund] for pages read,
community. through Kindle Unlimited (KU) and the
That’s why we’re presenting this Kindle Owners’ Lending Library
guide, based on our own research and (KOLL) and access a series of tools.
an interview with Darren Hardy,
Amazon KDP’s UK manager, about a ALLi says: Publishing is not just the
number of issues. We hope to provide moment you press the
clarity and dispel some of the “Publish” button, or even the act of
many myths and making a book. Publishing is seven
misunderstandings that swirl around processes you must get right. If you
Amazon, and enable our members to want to be a good publisher as well as
work well with KDP without fear or a good writer, you will need to learn
confusion. various skills and hire help along the
ALLi always recommends that way.
authors use a variety of services, and
focus on building their own platforms Useful Links:
rather than working exclusively with kdp.amazon.com
one service, though using KDP Select Publish Your Ebook on KDP
selectively can be a good strategy. Royalties in KU and KOLL
www.allianceindependentauthors.orgQuick & Easy Self-Publishing Guide
Self-Publishing Storyteller Award
Pbooks With KDP
Amazon writing competition that
Print offers a £20,000 cash prize and a
marketing and translation campaign to
CreateSpace (based in Charleston, support the winning book. Readers
North Carolina) has been Amazon’s play a hand in selecting the shortlist,
print facility since it acquired compiled using “a number of factors
Booksurge in 2008, but in Spring 2017 which measure customer interest in
it launched KDP Print. the titles” along with a panel of judges
made of up Amazon executives and
Amazon Says: KDP automatically literary figures, including ALLi Director
suggests to people eBooks, but we’ve Orna Ross.
been working hard to add print
services into KDP. You can now Amazon says: The Kindle
publish your books in print through Storyteller Award 2018 is a literary
Kindle Direct Publishing and just prize recognizing outstanding writing. It
recently we’ve added some additional is open to writers publishing in English
features for authors outside the US, in any genre, who publish their work
whereby author copies to proof or sell through Kindle Direct Publishing, this
directly ordered through KDP are year before 31 August 2018. Readers
shipped locally, which is quicker and will play a significant role in selecting
cheaper. the winner, helped by a panel of
judges including TV celebrity Lorraine
ALLi Says: It’s very convenient for Kelly, Director of the Alliance of
authors to publish print and ebooks Independent Authors, Orna Ross, and
through one dashboard. Amazon is various book industry experts.
migrating its print services to KDP print
from Createspace, so we recommend ALLi says: Storyteller is one of the
that authors publish through this best competitions on our Book Award
service from now on and consider and Contest Ratings. This is an
transferring all your titles over at this opportunity to get untold exposure on
point. the Amazon platform for your book.
Reader response is important but this
Useful Links: contest is not just for genre books. We
Publish Your Ebook on KDP encourage all members to enter, you
Publish Your Paperback on KDP have nothing to lose.
Producing a proof copy using KDP
Useful Link
Kindle Storyteller Contest 2018
www.allianceindependentauthors.orgQuick & Easy Self-Publishing Guide
their work. Authors are distressed
Amazon Author when they wake up some morning and
Academy find a number of their reviews
removed, affecting their books ranking,
Amazon Author Academy provides without explanation.
free advice and practical support to
help authors to better understand KDP Other authors have found their page
and how to use it to publish, sell and or book or even author rank stripped
market books. This is a UK program. without explanation, and their account
closed.
Amazon says: We are delighted to
be holding these events, enabling both This poses problems for authors and
aspiring and established writers to for ALLi, as good communication is
come together and hear from some one of the core tenets in our Code of
local authors who have reached Standards, the code we use to
readers all around the world through evaluate partner members
KDP. There, you can hear about all performance.
sorts of author questions from the
creative side of the writing journey The ideal, from an author’s
through to the practicalities of perspective, as summed up by ALLi
marketing and publishing and so on. member Chas Newport in our member
forum, would be:
ALLi says: Amazon Academy is an
opportunity to find out more about • No action without prior warning.
producing and selling books using • No presumption of guilt.
KDP. It’s also a place to learn what’s
• Evidence of the supposed
new, ask questions, meet the people
offense.
behind the programmes, and hear from
• Proper right of appeal with a
other writers about what it takes to run
two-way dialogue.
a successful indie author business.
Feedback from our members has been • Prompt restoration of lost rank,
overwhelmingly positive. momentum and earnings on
successful appeal.
All this sounds eminently reasonable
but KDP runs on artificial intelligence–
Purging of bots and algorithms.
Reviews, Author For large tech companies like KDP
the policy is to use AI generated
or Page Rank processes to implement services then
human beings (in outsourced customer
Stripping service desks) to solve any issues
Purging of reviews regularly arising, as they are revealed through
generates uproar by authors as a customer complaint.
decent quantity and quality of reviews
can be crucial to their ability to market
www.allianceindependentauthors.orgQuick & Easy Self-Publishing Guide
This is frustrating if you’re one of the personally, have done something
customers caught in a problem but it’s wrong.
the price we pay for having a platform
that can deliver millions of books, while If your book reviews have been
trying to cope with the authors and removed in error, or if any other error
other companies who also use bots or has been made contact Amazon
“clickfarms” to inflate page views, directly. We have had many many
manipulate ranking and post fake instances of reviews and rankings
reviews. being restored. If you are an ALLi
member and have not received
Amazon says: We don’t want to get satisfaction, follow the Appeal process
drawn into a detailed conversation below.
about guidelines and decisions
because there are people who are Also, if your book has been
looking to abuse those guidelines. reviewed in violation of Amazon
Given the number of books that are policies or in a way that is potentially
published on the platform, it’s not harmful to authors generally, let us
scalable for us to reveal every instance know.
of what we’ve spotted and what we’re
trying to do about it.
We did have some specific technical Book Stuffing
problems earlier in the year. We sorted Hardworking author-publishers
those out now and as far as we know understandably have strong feelings
those problems haven’t repeated. Like about cheating or scamming of KDP,
any business when you create and most especially about book
something which is very successful, stuffing, as it artificially inflates the
there’s a small percentage of people payout that cheaters receive from
that look to distort the rules in some Amazon — money coming from a
ways and cheat the system. We’ve communal pot.
been working very hard to make sure
that legitimate authors are not Book stuffers slip entire old books
penalized. into the back of their latest ebook,
As long as authors are following the getting significantly more pages in front
community guidelines (see Useful Link of their reader’s eyeballs and taking a
below), they have nothing to worry larger chunk of the royalty fund that is
about. paid per number of pages read and
split between all of the self-publishing
ALLi says: Amazon’s policy and authors included in KU that month.
process means authors’ wish to have
prior warning of “offences” against There are many other tricks used,
guidelines is not likely to happen. It eg. guiding readers to click forward to
also means that an author should not the end of the book.
interpret the removal of reviews or
page ranking as a sign that you,
www.allianceindependentauthors.orgQuick & Easy Self-Publishing Guide
Many of those using these systems
are earning All Star bonuses and Appeals and
getting Top 100 promotion by Amazon,
while legitimate authors are squeezed
Communications
out of ranking and payment, causing
great frustration.
Process
ALLi is pleased to enjoy good
relations with KPD, to field speakers
Amazon says: There are now limits
for Amazon Academy and a judge for
around the amount of bonus content
the Storyteller Award, to receive
that can go into a title, and there are
sponsorship for some of our nonprofit
very clear guidelines around how
activities, and to intervene for our
authors tell their readers about the
members in a variety of ways when
content of the book or within a table of
they have specific problems or
contents or within the metadata that
concerns that cannot be worked out
they supply for the title.
with Amazon’s customer service.
ALLi says:The author community is
We also offer feedback to KDP on
currently watching this situation closely
matters of policy or process that are
to see how it unfolds. There is also an
raising concern in the indie author
issue with misuse of categories which
community. Member input is valuable
is ongoing. e.g. the category
to us since it helps us gather important
“Anthologies and Literature” is flooded
information about authors’ issues.
with erotica short stories.
Much work has gone into fixing the
Please keep us informed of
substantive issues, we now hope to
problems as you encounter them. All
address the issue of communcation.
feedback is relayed directly to
Amazon.
If you are an ALLi member who has
an issue that cannot be resolved
Useful Links
through Amazon’s own Customer
Ebook Bonus Content Guidelines
Service desk, write to us in confidence
General Book Content Guidelines
through the contact form on the main
EBook Metadata guidelines
ALLi member site, quoting your
KDP Jumpstart
membership number.
KDP University
KDP Publishing Community
Useful Links
Amazon Community Guidelines
KDP Help
David Gaughran, Author Activist
ALLi Watchdog Desk
www.allianceindependentauthors.orgQuick & Easy Self-Publishing Guide
ALLi publishes:
Choosing The Best Self-Publishing
Companies and Services 2018
The only annually updated guide to the global self-publishing services
industry.
The 2018 edition is now availablee
(FREE to ALLi Members).
The AskALLi Quick & Easy Guides to Self-Publishing address the
most common questions our members have about self-publishing.
The Guides are organized across the seven stages of the publishing
cycle: editorial, design, production, distribution, marketing,
promotion, and licensing rights. There are also guides to running a
successful business as an indie author.
For more advice and a daily blog, visit our Self-Publishing Advice
Centre at http://selfpublishingadvice.org/blog/
Founded by novelist and poet Orna Ross, the Alliance of Independent Authors
is a global nonprofit organization offering authoritative advice, experienced
guidance, and advocacy within and outside the publishing industry.
Its mission is ethics and excellence in writing and publishing. The Alliance
offers a variety of member benefits, including discounts and incentives and
collaboration and connection with the best self-publishing authors and
advisers in the world.
www.allianceindependentauthors.orgYou can also read
