Self-publishing on Amazon is the process of publishing your book without a publisher. You do this by creating and uploading a book to Amazon and then selling it to customers.
Read on to find more about self-publishing on amazon pros and cons among interesting information on publishing.
There are two types of self-publishing on Amazon: Kindle Books and Hardcover Books.
Kindle Books are books that you can read on your Kindle device. Hardcover Books are books that you need to be prepared to print.
They come in various formats, including paperback, hardcover, and e-reader formats.
Self-publishing on Amazon can be a great way to get your book out there and make some money.
However, there are some essential self-publishing tips to keep in mind if you want to make the most of your experience.
The Pros of Self-Publishing on Amazon
Self-publishing on Amazon has plenty of benefits, including:
- Your complete control over the process. You get to decide what you want your book to look like, and you don’t have to worry about whether or not your publisher will be able to make all of your changes.
- You keep the money that you make. You don’t have to give a portion of your earnings to a publisher.
- There are no submission fees.
- You can get your book out there quickly. If you have already written and edited your book, getting it published can be done while you sleep, meaning that within a few days, you could be selling your book on Amazon.
- You don’t need to wait for a publishing house to accept your manuscript for publication.
- You get a percentage of the revenue from every sale you make. This is a massive benefit because you’re earning money for every sale you make instead of splitting the profit with someone else.
- There are no setup costs or fees involved with self-publishing on Amazon. You pay a small price to publish your book (this fee goes up depending on how many pages your book has), and then everything else is free.
The Cons of Self-Publishing on Amazon
There are some cons as well:
- You need a lot of knowledge to self-publish successfully. While it might seem easy at first glance, quite a bit goes into designing and publishing a book successfully. You need to know how ebook formatting works, how sales work on Amazon, and how marketing works if you want to succeed at self-publishing.
- You need to be prepared to put in a lot of work to succeed at self-publishing. You’ll need to design your cover and interior, market your book, and make sure that you have enough money available to print copies of your text if you decide that you want to make a hardcover version.
- It can take a while before you start seeing any sales. It can take several weeks or months before you start seeing any sales, so don’t expect instant success!
- You do all of the work. You will need to do all writing, editing, designing, and marketing yourself. If you don’t know how to do these things yourself (or if you want someone else to do them for you), self-publishing might not be the best option.
- Your book is only available in digital format (unless it is a print-on-demand item). If people want a hard copy, they will have to pay extra for it or print it themselves at home (which means they will also have to purchase the printing supplies).
- You will have to pay for your book to be published. Depending on the type of book you are publishing, you might have to pay a fee to Amazon, ranging from $0.99 – to $2,500.
- There is no guarantee that you will make money from your book. You could put a lot of time and effort into writing and publishing your book, but your time and effort will be wasted if no one buys it.
- You don’t have an editor or designer working on your book with you. You will need to do all of this work yourself (or hire someone yourself). If you don’t know how to do these things yourself (or if you want someone else to do them for you), self-publishing might not be the best option.
Things You Should Know Before Self-Publishing on Amazon
Before self-publishing on Amazon, there are a few things that it is essential to know:
- You are not allowed to publish a book that is already published. If you try to post an already published book, your text will be rejected by Amazon.
- You cannot publish your book as an audiobook. You can only print it as a regular text-based book.
- If you want people to be able to print your book, you will need to make sure that it is formatted correctly and that the interior design is good enough for them to want to print it themselves.
- You cannot use the same ISBN on more than one of your books (you can use the same ISBN on multiple editions of the same book, though).
- You should get professional editing and proofreading done before publishing your book. This can be expensive, but it could have been better spent if no one had bought your self-published book because of its mistakes!
- Your cover needs to look good and have a professional design (or at least look interesting) for people to want to buy your self-published title.
- Make sure that you know what genre or category your novel falls into before publishing it on Amazon (or any other online bookstore). This way, you will know which types on Amazon would be most appropriate for your book.
- You cannot publish an e-book or paperback on Amazon if you are a new author. You will have to have published at least one other book (on Amazon or elsewhere).
- Amazon will not publish your title within the first 30 days after you sign up to be an author. You will have to wait until this period has passed before you can publish your book.
- Your Kindle version of your book will be available for sale approximately 2-3 days after uploading it to the site. Still, your paperback version might take up to one week before it is available on Amazon.
- You are only allowed to upload two free books every five days and only two books that cost money every 90 days. If you want to upload more than these amounts, you will need to contact Amazon directly and ask them if they can increase this limit.
Conclusion
You may want to look into self-publishing on Amazon if you want the freedom to create your book without worrying whether or not a publisher will be able to handle all of the different changes you want.
However, keep in mind the pros and cons of self-publishing on Amazon before deciding!