Guest Blog By Stephen Ross

My friend Stephen Ross helps people get their books published on Amazon and he has very kindly offered to share some of his information with my audience. Here is Part Three in his three-part series on getting your book published on Amazon.

Although most non-fiction books do not include illustrations, often the author of a children’s book or a book with content that is more visual in nature will want to include some. If your book falls into this category, you will want to scan them into a digital file. It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on this step, and the images can be saved and stored in any of the standard image formats such as jpeg, png or tif files.

Amazon’s Publishing Process

There is a whole section in Amazon’s publishing process that relates to setting individual pricing based on region, and you can pretty much set any price you want for your book in Canada, the USA, Europe, or Japan. Amazon will display on a graph how much profit you can expect to make based on the various levels of sales in each region. It’s a good idea to check these occasionally and adjust the price accordingly in each region where your book is available.

It’s important to note that all of this relates to self-publishing. If your book is being published by a large publishing house, they will have a team who handles all of these details for you, and provide some guidance on getting exposure for your book They will also be able to ensure your book is available in bricks and mortar stores. You’re on your own with marketing your book as a self-published author.

Amazon does have services that they do charge for to assist you with various levels of book marketing, promotions and social media, however, they are completely optional and the tools for tracking sales and running your own promotions are always free to use on their portal.

If you are going to go this route, you will simply need to create an account with Amazon if you don’t already have one, link it to the KDP Portal and provide Amazon with your Social Security Number and a Bank Transfer Number (your bank can provide that to you). This last piece will allow Amazon to deposit money directly into your account and issue you with a proper 1042-S form for your accountant at the end of the year.

You might want to check out the KDP website help centre if you want to explore a little more on your own:

Publishing a book is an exciting adventure and there is a lot to know – if you feel I can be of assistance to you in this process, please email me and let’s talk about how we can get you published!