My Learnings About Self-Publishing On Amazon

Your blueprint to self-publish

Amazon: Your business partner

Amazon is the second-to-none leader in book distribution worldwide. Every year, over 1.4 million new books are self-published through the platform, making it an extremely accessible yet competitive space for new writers. I have self-published two books through Amazon, and I’m preparing for the launch of my third one.

If you are interested in self-publishing, I’m journaling all the steps of the process on Medium, sharing my personal learnings and recommendations. Below is the previous article.

The great advantage of Amazon is that it’s not only a distribution channel but also a marketplace, with millions of buyers across different categories.

You don’t have to look for buyers; your readers are already there endlessly browsing for things they often don’t need. It’s up to you to break through the clutter and capture their attention in a crowded place.

One obvious but underrated fact is that Amazon wants you to sell more books. Allow one minute to let that sink in:

Amazon wants you to sell more books.

The more books you sell, the more they earn, and they empower new authors, just like yourself, to maximize your sales. They are a marketing monster and offer authors an arsenal of tools, both free and paid.

Reframe your mindset and look at Amazon as your business partner. It’s your job to educate yourself, maximize the tools strategically, and take calculated risks to experiment.

Building behind the scenes

The first step is to become familiar with Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), as this is your one-stop shop for everything that has to do with your book before, during, and after the launch. KDP is the digital ecosystem that has the potential to turn your book into a best-seller.

It’s worth noting that no matter if you want to publish an ebook, a paperback, or a hardcover book, the platform is the same, which makes it easy, as once you understand the process, it’s a copy-paste.

Once you create your free account, the platform is intuitive and self-explanatory. It allows you to do all the pre-publishing work in the background and make as many changes as you wish before you go live (and afterward).

That means that even if you are only 80% ready, you can start to add information such as the title and subtitle, book details, and royalty model and prepare for the launch in private without public scrutiny.

Starting the process in the background is a mental milestone as it symbolizes the beginning of your self-publishing journey, and there’s something empowering in that. You are making it real: the caterpillar is starting its transformation into a beautiful butterfly.

You are about to become a published author!

I urge you to create your account and initiate the process. You will feel like a million bucks.

These are the main items required in order to press ‘Publish’:

• Book content and details
• Book cover
• Category
• Distribution

Book Description

Although Amazon KDP allows for a lengthy description of over 3,000 characters, I go with the basic rule of less is more. Just like on social media, readers are browsing and skimming through a saturated screen where your book competes with dozens of others on the same digital shelf.

Your objective with the description is to convert browsing into attention and attention into interest. How? Through keywords. Like on X or LinkedIn, your first sentence is the hook, something punchy and concise that captivates the reader from the first second.

Your reference here is a movie trailer on Netflix. You have seconds to influence the audience’s decision. Use them wisely. Picture your reader as someone who is sitting on the couch after a long day at work browsing through dozens of titles. How do you excite that person about your trailer, aka book?

A best practice that will help you write a more compelling description is to select a couple of bestsellers in your genre and analyze the book summaries.

The book description is worth spending time on as you will most likely repurpose it for social media posts, pitching to magazines, introducing your book, and more. It’s your sales pitch.

A golden copywriting tip is to read your summary out loud to assess how it feels. Try to write it the same way you speak, avoiding jargon and complicated terms. Write it again and again until it fits like a leather glove.

In my next article, I will write about your options for the book cover and share some tips on how to make it stand out. Practice what we discussed today and be curious: browse through Amazon categories, read the summaries of the best-sellers, take notes of what you like and keep learning.

The journey of self-publishing is a challenging yet rewarding one if you are willing to get your hands dirty and get the work done!

If you are interested in reinventing yourself, check out The Lemon Tree Mindset on Amazon. It’s the framework I used to go from unemployed to public speaker, author and solopreneur.