How to self publish your e-books on Amazon

My first attemps to convert my Cookbook into an e-book was not easy. I started on Amazon Kindle but found the instructions very complicated. There was too much information there, which gave me a headache each time I started reading it.

After reading many tutorials and forum threads, someone mentioned on the Amazon forum that there is a great tutorial on Smashwords and they were absolutely right. If you follow their instructions it is 100% guaranteed that you will succeed to publish your e-book.

However Amazon is AMAZON!!!!, if you know what I mean and who wouldn’t want to be visible on one of the biggest sites on the web?

I know I did and I finally made it a couple of days ago and now my e-cookbooks are available on all Amazon stores!!

If you want to self publish here is a synopsis of what I have learned during the course of self publishing my e-cookbook Volume 1 and Volume 2 and if the information provided is incomplete, you can also download and find more information on the Kindle Publishing Guide:

A. Prepare your manuscript

• Make a list of all the recipes you want to include. Arrange them either in alphabetical order or sort them into categories.
• Add the recipes from your files or blog.
• When done, highlight everything with Control A to copy content. Open Notepad and left shift or Control V to paste content. This will remove any formats or links.
• Open a new word document and Save As .doc (not docx)
• Prepare a Table of Content and add links.
• Do not add page numbers, headers or footers or symbols.
• Use Styles to format your document. Do not use a font size bigger than 14.
• Do not use more than one line breaks. If you want to change a line do not press enter more than once.
• After each recipe use a Page Break and add a link to your Table of Content.

B. Adding photos

• Do not copy paste a picture but add each picture from Insert / Picture.
• Do not resize it by dragging the picture from the corners. Resize your photos on Photoshop, Picassa or Gimp. The image should be a minimum 500 pixels wide and 1280 pixels high.
• In the member’s area of the Kindle Desktop Publishing website there is a tutorial for formatting your manuscript document. Read through that document and follow the directions to make sure that your e-book displays properly.
• Make sure that you carefully edit and proofread your book’s manuscript before you upload it.
• Prepare you Book Cover.

C. Create a free account on the Kindle Desktop Publishing platform

Go to KDP/Amazon and sign up for a free publisher account.

D. Create your profile

Create your profile on Author Central

E. Publish your e-book

Write a concise and compelling description of your e-book and upload it to the Kindle Store. Last step: set your price, “Save and Publish” and if you have done everything correct you are now an AA, no not that kind of AA but an Amazon Author.

I used to think that you needed a Kindle device to read Kindle e-books but found out after publishing that you can download Kindle Cloud, which is a free application where you can read kindle books on your browser, even if you are not online.

Hope my article was useful to you but if you need more help, do not hesitate to contact me.

On a last note, if you have already purchased my book in print, my e-book on Smashwords or you have won a copy or it was sent to you as a gift or if you intend to buy one in the future, PLEASE write a sincere review.  You know that reviews are helpful to potential buyers, so please take a minute and write your review either on AMAZON or on SMASHWORDS.

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!