What should those who want to publish on Kindle do? A summary of the methods and process [with a planning sheet]
"I want to try Kindle publishing, but I don't know where to start."
This is an article for those who want to get a rough overview of the whole picture.
I have summarized what you should do when publishing on Kindle, as well as the benefits of Kindle publishing.
I was able to publish in a little less than two months after deciding to "publish!" Looking back, there are
"I wish I had done it this way~~~"
things that often happen, don't they?
I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did, so I'm writing this down here.
The Path to Kindle Publishing
The Kindle publishing process proceeds in the following steps.
1. Account Setup
Obtain an Amazon account (not required if you already have one)
Sign in to Amazon KDP and create an account
Enter author/publisher information
Register bank account information for royalty payments
Enter tax-related information
2. Content Creation
Create a table of contents and title (you can change them later, so start rough)
Write the manuscript (20,000 to 30,000 characters is common for beginners)
Review and proofread (check for typos, omissions, phrasing, and accuracy before publishing)
Create a cover
Adjusting the body layout (horizontal writing, vertical writing, heading design, etc.)
3. Publishing Procedure
Enter book details (title, author name, description, etc.)
Upload cover image and content
Check with the previewer
Set price and royalties
4. Review and Publication
Submit for Amazon review (usually 3 to 10 business days)
After passing the review, it will be available for sale on the Amazon Kindle Store in as little as 5-6 hours, or up to about 72 hours at the longest
*Note: Applying on weekends may delay publication, so apply with plenty of time. Also, if there are any deficiencies, corrections will be required, so be sure to check the content thoroughly before applying.
Benefits of Kindle Publishing
As a platform for expression, I feel that Kindle publishing has several features that are superior to blogs.
YMYL content can rank high!
For important information related to an individual's life or health (YMYL), sites from professional institutions are prioritized in Google search results, and individual personal experiences tend to get buried.
On the other hand, on Amazon, you can reliably deliver valuable personal experiences, such as "A record of my battle with XX disease", to the readers who need them.
Moreover, I have received words of thanks from readers, and I have thought "I'm so glad I published this!" many times.
Possibility of achieving zero-to-one in the first month of publication!
It takes a long-term effort to earn affiliate income from a blog. As the principal says, it is common for it to take a year to achieve zero-to-one.
In contrast, with Kindle Unlimited, you can expect earnings of 0.3 to 0.5 yen per page, and there is a possibility of achieving zero-to-one results from the very first month of publication.
*However, unlike blogs, Kindle does not have an unlimited ceiling for earnings. I do know an author who sold 20 million yen per year solely through Kindle publishing. However, for many people, it might be difficult to even reach 50,000 yen per month... (My maximum is 25,000 yen/month).
The high barrier to entry is an opportunity☆
Kindle publishing requires writing, proofreading, cover design, KDP registration, etc., which involves more steps than blogging.
However, once you experience these processes, publishing your second book and beyond becomes smoother. I have also continued to publish my second and third books.
Precisely because there is this barrier to entry, if you work on it continuously, you have the potential to gain a competitive advantage.
Recycle your blog posts♪ You might be able to increase your revenue sources!
In my case, I have been sharing records about my child's developmental disabilities from nursery school through high school on my blog. By systematically reorganizing these years of records, I was able to publish them in the form of a Kindle book.
While earning income through AdSense and ASP affiliate marketing on my blog, I provide the compiled articles to readers in the form of a Kindle book. This has allowed me to gain two different revenue sources from the same content.
Using this method, I have published three Kindle books and achieved earnings of 25,000 yen in my best month. What is especially encouraging are the empathetic reviews I receive from parents who share the same struggles.
Content related to YMYL (Your Money Your Life), such as money and health, tends to be difficult to rank high in Google search results, but I feel that on Kindle, personal real-life experiences are valued as precious information, and I can deliver them to readers who need them.
Now, I will introduce the "important points you don't want to miss" while roughly following the Kindle creation flow I introduced earlier.
Gather information & confirm the purpose of publishing
Well, the first thing to do is "information gathering".
Let's read how-to books on Kindle publishing with Kindle Unlimited. There are many Kindle publishing books out there, so they are helpful.
There also tends to be a lot of information on platforms like note. However,
・Using Kindle books as a lead for high-priced consulting projects
・SNS like X are also full of high-priced consulting projects
There is a tendency for beginner hunting, such as the above. If your goal is "to reach #1 bestseller and publish to promote your own services", then such know-how might be necessary.
To avoid getting caught up in unwanted promotional activities before you realize it,
"Why do I want to publish on Kindle?"
try to confirm that for yourself.
In my case,
“I want to compile useful information for parents who are going through similar painful experiences.”
That was the feeling I had when I published.
Let's set up a KDP account
If you have an Amazon account, you can easily register for KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).
Unlike an Amazon shopping account, this is an account specifically for those who want to publish on Kindle.
Through this KDP, you will:
Register author information
Register the cover, body text, price, and scheduled publication date of the book to be published
and so on. You will also use it to check your earnings after publication.
However, since there will likely be parts you don't understand, such as US tax-related registration, you should look into those areas.
A friend of mine said they registered their Individual Number (My Number) because taxes were applied to paperbacks (the system that publishes in paper format). I also registered using my Individual Number.
Let's create content
First, think about the table of contents and title.
1) If you have blog posts, fit them in according to the table of contents.
2) If you don't have articles, it's fine to write them up on platforms like note, aiming for 10 articles of 2,000 characters each, or 20 articles of 1,000 characters each. (Since there is also an SNS function, it helps maintain motivation!) Let's break it down into small pieces!
3) Counting how many characters you wrote per day boosts motivation.
4) You might swap things around in the table of contents along the way, so start by working on it casually.
5) Once you finish writing, revise it. It's painful to re-read your own writing...
A tool like Google Keep is fine for your table of contents, so make sure you can input ideas whenever they come to you on your smartphone.
“What was I planning to write about again?”
This way, you won't forget.
Recently, AI can act as an auxiliary brain for you, so
“I made a table of contents for this theme, can you supplement it if there are any gaps?”
“What else would the target reader want to know?”
If you ask AI questions like these, you should find some unexpected discoveries.
I personally didn't have things written up specifically for Kindle, but I was able torepurpose blog poststhat were categorized to some extent.
If you are going towrite a manuscript from scratchfor Kindle, I think it's also a good idea to write your articles on a platform like note, where you can get comments and see how readers react.
I wrote using Google Docs. Checking the word count at the end of the day and seeing how much it had increased helped me stay motivated.
Even the table of contents I thought of at the beginning,
“This doesn't fit here,”
I often had to rearrange things. You don't have to make your table of contents 100% perfect.
You can also change the title later. By the way, one of the keys is tosprinkle in keywords that are likely to be searched on Amazon.
My first book's title includes the term “learning disability.” There are synonyms like “LD,” “specific learning disorder,” and “reading and writing disorder,” but after searching on Amazon, they didn't seem to have much demand, so I didn't include them in the main title.
Everyone, please think about“words that many people are likely to search for.”This is also one of the ideas you'll come up with if you've been writing a blog!
What is the most important part of a book?
Also,what determines the reader's impression after finishing the bookare the book's“Introduction” and “Conclusion.”
“Why did I write this book?”
How do you want the people who read this book to feel?
Pour your passion into it, and so on!!!
Many of those who read my book also mentioned in their Amazon reviews that they picked up on the thoughts I shared in the "Introduction" and "Conclusion."
You will likely reach a point while writing where you think,
"Who would even read a book like this?"
"It's definitely not going to sell anyway."
I've felt that way every time I've written a book, no matter how many I've done. Other experienced authors have told me they've felt the same way too.
But, I'm so glad I wrote them!!!
First, just finish writing one book!
Ask for proofreading of your manuscript
When I published my first book, I had 10 fellow Kindle authors look it over, and by having them leave comments in a Google Doc, I gathered over 100 comments. I corrected everything based on the feedback I received.
Because I hadn't decided on any formatting rules, I received comments on those parts as well. It's a good idea to set your own rules and be consistent, such as using full-width characters for single-digit numbers and half-width for double-digit numbers.
If your number formatting has become a jumble, try using the Find and Replace function to convert them all at once.
Since there are many parts written based on the author's own assumptions, you should definitely ask for proofreading. It would be disrespectful to the readers otherwise...
If you don't want to trouble others, there are two methods you can use.
1. Have an AI point out typos, omissions, and clearly awkward phrasing.
2. Use text-to-speech to check if the text is easy to listen to.
When I first published on Kindle, it was technically impossible to have an AI look over my manuscript for editing, so all proofreading was done by hand.
Nowadays, it can handle requests like "Edit this" or "Point out the awkward parts in the original text." It's amazing, isn't it?
I also relied heavily on AI proofreading features for the book I published in 2024.
How to maintain motivation for Kindle publishing
Whether or not you have someone close to you who has experience with Kindle publishing makes a huge difference in how high the hurdle for publishing feels.
In my case, I participated in an online event because someone who had published on Kindle was offering to talk via Zoom. When I joined and mentioned that I wanted to try Kindle publishing myself, the organizer encouraged me.
While I was reporting my progress to the organizer, before I knew it, I had filled in 25,000 characters of manuscript.
Writing a book might be thought of as a lonely task, but in reality, it is different.
I think that by belonging to an online community where many people are working toward their goals (in the case of LibeCity, a chat), you can maintain your motivation and write at a good pace.
Since there are not many real-life acquaintances who have achieved Kindle publishing, it is difficult to talk about publishing, isn't it?
Things I wish I had done before writing
Above all, it is dealing with Kindle layout issues. If you are someone who thinks it is fine to publish in any format, please skip this.
If you are concerned about how images and headings will be displayed, it is a good idea to create a sample page of about 5 to 6 pages (like a pre-publication).
Download the Kindle Previewer to your PC and check how the manuscript created in Google Docs or Word is displayed.
Indentation is necessary for vertical writing. Numbers may also fall over, so decide whether to use horizontal or vertical.
The thing I thought was my biggest failure was not checking what the layout would look like when read on a device before writing.
Paste a test manuscript of 5 to 6 pages and any images you want to include into Google Docs or Word and download it in EPUB format.
By loading the EPUB file into the Kindle Previewer, you can easily check how it will be displayed on an actual device.
Because I did not perform this check, I was troubled by the following things:
That it is easier to read using middle dots (・) rather than bullet point formatting
That the line spacing of paragraphs was too narrow and I didn't like it
The heading text was too large
That even though I decorated the headings, they were not displayed nicely
I think it is fine to adjust the layout after the manuscript is completed.
However, if you are able to create a layout you are satisfied with from the beginning, you won't have to worry about whether to use Word, Google Docs, or a text editor and can write without hesitation, so I personally recommend it.
By the way, because I was somewhat particular about these layout adjustments, even people who downloaded Kindle for the first time to read my book said,
"I thought Kindle was hard to read, but the line spacing and headings were just right, making it very easy to read."
I feel it was worth the effort.
Tools useful for Kindle writing
Voice input is very convenient. Whether you use Google Voice Typing or Simeji, using it will help you write faster.
I am currently writing this article using voice input as well. That is how essential voice input is as a writing tool.
Since many Kindle readers are not used to text-heavy information, I think a conversational writing style is more approachable.
You can use either Google Docs or Word for manuscript creation. With Google Docs, the sharing and commenting features are incredibly useful during proofreading.
If you are not particular about the layout, you can simply download Google Docs or Word files in epub format to create your Kindle manuscript.
Word count is generally said to be best around 20,000 characters. The Kindle book I wrote this time is about 25,000 characters.
I also wondered if it was better to write more, but looking at reader reactions,
"I was able to read it all at once"
is a common comment. If someone stops reading halfway through, it becomes a hassle to resume, and the likelihood of receiving a review also decreases.
I think 20,000 to 30,000 characters is the best length for an average person to write.
When you write your manuscript in Google Docs, it is very easy and convenient to share the text when having someone proofread it.
Limit the sharing range and grant access via email address.
If you enable commenting, the proofreader can point out things like,
"This phrasing is strange" or "There is a kanji error"
It is smooth because they will leave comments on parts that seem strange.
The text-to-speech functionis also convenient.
"This part doesn't quite convey what I want to say"
I found that the parts I thought were hard to listen to were indeed difficult, so I revised them.
How do you create covers and images?
If you are doing it yourself, Canva is recommended. You can find illustrations on sites like Illustration AC.
If you are going to commission a cover, you should ask someone on Coconala whose style matches the content of your book.
The cover is"the face of the book".
Some people might want to go without makeup, but I think it is better to create a cover that makes people think"I want to read this"when they search on Amazon.
You can alsoreplace the cover later. At first, you can try making the cover yourself, and if you start earning some income, it is also an option to pay someone to do it.
In my case, I was making the cover myself using Canva, but the person who proofread my book offered to handle the cover layout, so I decided to ask them to do it.
What I found most helpful wasthe covers of similar books to the one I was publishing.
There are category-specific rankings on Amazon, so I think the shortcut is to search those andincorporate the essence of the covers of best-selling bookswhen creating yours.
In my case, I used the iPad app Procreate to create the illustrations for the text and the cover.
If you are someone who draws, why not give it a try?
Layout: worrying about it even though you don't have to
If you are concerned about layout issues in Google Docs or Word, I recommend using Denden Converter (I think you can use it if you have ever touched HTML).
Densho-chan's Denden Converter
Satisfying for everyone from beginners to advanced users. You can easily create high-quality EPUBs.
You can paste images into internal links, and have headings converted along with CSS files.
Thanks to you, I think the headings, line spacing, and image placement have turned out quite well.
KDP Registration and Pre-orders
The time has finally come to register the Kindle book you have written.
There are two ways to sell your book.
Sell immediately after the review is complete
Set a release date and sell via pre-order
If you register immediately, the review will be completed within 72 hours and it will be listed on Amazon. If you set a release date, you can conduct pre-orders with a 99-yen campaign, and if you get many pre-orders, it is possible to reach #1 on the bestseller list.
The common claim of "#1 in an Amazon category!" is a trick where, by running a pre-order campaign at the minimum price for five days, you can reach #1 in some categories with just over a dozen pre-orders. "#1 in an Amazon category!" is a trick where, by running a pre-order campaign at the minimum price for five days, you can reach #1 with just over a dozen pre-orders in some categories.
If you want the title of #1 in a category, please give it a try. However, if you don't have a place to promote it, such as on social media or in a Kindle community, a pre-order campaign might not be very meaningful.
Because they want this #1 spot, quite a few people hire Kindle author influencers for consulting to have them promote it on social media.
In my case, I ran a free campaign for five days starting at 5:00 PM on the day of release. I will share the results of the campaign in the next section.
Campaigns do not run according to Japan Standard Time. They start at 5:00 PM on the day of the campaign.
You can run a free campaign again after a 90-day interval.
My Kindle publishing pace (July–August 2022)
Around July: Started thinking I'd like to make a Kindle book
Around 7/10: Started making the table of contents, registered an account
Around 8/2: Got serious about writing and creating illustrations. Reported progress on Minchalle and in an online community
8/15: Requested proofreading, created the cover
8/20: Requested cover design
8/21: Proofreading finished
8/22 Registered with Amazon KDP
8/23 Announced to everyone
8/25 Released
8/26 Free promotion started (5 days)
What I realized this time is that by receiving cooperation from many people, we can achieve much more than we could on our own.
More than the desire to have many people read my book,the fact that I received support from so many people even before publicationleft a deeper impression on my heart.
Ultimately, there were 905 downloads during the free promotion, and as of February 2025, receiving over 100 reviews has also been a great encouragement.
➡ Promoted on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere starting from the beginning of the free promotion.
➡ Achieved #1 in all free Kindle categories and #1 in Pedagogy (by the way, it's a good idea to take screenshots! Note that the bestseller banner does not appear in the free category).
➡ 843 downloads on 8/30. 23 reviews (including star-only ratings).
➡ From my friends on FB
"Publishing is amazing!"
I was surprised to receive such words of celebration.
I am truly humbled that people introduced it on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well.
From those who were happy about my publication on social media,
"Let's meet up after a long time!"
I was invited out, and it was a Kindle publishing experience where I reaffirmed my gratitude for human connections.
Sharing the Kindle publishing planning sheet!
Thank you for reading until the end!
"I'd like to try publishing on Kindle"
"Maybe I can publish too!"
For those who feel this way, I have created a Kindle publishing planning sheet.
You can copy and use the Google Spreadsheet below.
Reference:Kindle Publishing Planning Sheet
I hope this is helpful! May it be of use to everyone.