The Process of Self-Publishing
Self-publishing changed how writers share their work. Before platforms like Amazon's KDP and IngramSpark, getting published meant finding a traditional publisher and waiting for approval. Now, anyone with a finished manuscript and a bit of patience can release a book to readers around the world. Both KDP and IngramSpark make that possible, but they work in slightly different ways.
Publishing through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is simple. Once you've created your manuscript and cover, fill in the book's details, choose your publishing rights, and set your price. KDP lets you promote your book through Kindle Unlimited, Amazon ads, and your author page. You can also add A+ Content, which includes visuals, short text sections, and comparison charts that make your book page stand out. Expanded Distribution makes your book available to libraries and other retailers, though KDP still focuses mainly on Amazon and Kindle.
IngramSpark gives you wider distribution but takes a little more work to set up. You'll need an ISBN and a properly formatted EPUB file before you upload. Once the book passes validation and pricing approval, it becomes available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, OverDrive, and many other partners. It takes more effort than KDP, but the trade-off is more potential readers, especially outside Amazon's ecosystem.
Editing and Quality Control
This is where a lot of self-published books fall apart. Without an editor, it's easy to miss things: typos, weird spacing, broken links, or formatting that looks fine on one screen but awful on another. Amazon removes any e-books that don't meet their standard of quality.
To keep your e-book looking professional, you don't need to follow a long publishing guide. Just focus on the basics: make sure the formatting is clean (EPUB or MOBI formats work best), the cover looks good, the table of contents works, and your links and metadata are correct. The book doesn't have to be perfect, but it should look finished. Readers notice when a book feels rushed, and so do retailers. Once your book reaches platforms like Amazon, presentation and polish start to matter just as much as the story itself.
Royalties and Payment
Amazon gives you two options for royalties: 35% or 70%.
The 70% option pays more but comes with rules:
- Your price must be between $2.99 and $9.99
- Your book can't be public domain
- This option only applies in certain regions
- Amazon subtracts a small delivery cost based on file size
The 35% option is simpler and tends to be more flexible:
- Works for any price range between $0.99 and $200
- No delivery fees, even for large files
- Better for books with lots of images or heavy formatting
If your book is mostly text and fits the listing price range, the 70% plan is the better deal. If it's image-heavy or priced outside that range, the 35% plan makes more sense.
Writing a Book Description with HTML
When you publish through KDP, you can write your book's "blurb" directly into a text box. You can also use basic HTML tags to customize the description to your liking, such as:
- br for line breaks
- b for bold text
- i for italics
- p for paragraphs
- ul for bullet points
Keep in mind that a good book description should be quick to read, easy to follow, and hard to forget. It needs to stand out to readers and make them want to click "Buy". Once a book is ready to publish, there is really only one place most writers look to first.