More and more authors, professionals and beginners alike, are turning to digital publishing to get their books out there in front of readers. And why not? E-books are the fastest growing part of the modern reading audience, and a good number of authors are doing quite well financially with e-books.
Right now the king of e-book sales is Amazon through its Kindle e-reader device, though there are other companies and sites selling e-books and offer e-reader devices.
Also, more and more companies are beginning to offer self-publishing services for their e-reader devices.
Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is one of the more popular digital self-publishing services.
So, you want to publish an e-book for the Kindle, right? Well, here are a few things you need to be able to do so.
Account
If you want to publish an e-book for the Kindle through Amazon, you're are going to need a Kindle Direct Publishing account. The good news is that if you already have a regular Amazon account, you can use that account's user name and password.
Basic information
Amazon is going to have to have your name, address, a contact phone number, an e-mail address ... you know, basic stuff so they can contact you if they need to. If you are an individual, Amazon will also have to have your Social Security Number for tax purposes. If you are operating as a business, Amazon will need your company's Taxpayer ID Number.
If you operate outside of the United States, it gets a little more complicated. For one thing, you can only publish through Amazon if your country has a tax treaty with the United States, though most nation's do. What you will have to do is get a W8 form from the IRS; this form must contain a U.S. tax ID number, must be signed in blue ink and must include your supplier or vendor code.
But don't simply take my word for it. Please look over all the requirements for an Amazon KDP account.
Payment information
If you sell e-books, you want to get paid for them, right?
There are two ways to get paid by Amazon for your e-book sales.
One way is by direct electronic transfer of funds to a U.S. bank account. You'll need an account number and a routing number from your bank. Payments usually come right at 60 days after the end of the month in which your sales occurred.
The other way to get paid is by check. Yes, Amazon will mail you a check approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which your sales occurred. They check will be in either U.S. dollars or British pounds, your choice, but the bank must have a U.S. address.
That's it!
Yes, that is the basics of what you need to begin publishing e-books for the Kindle. Your account will be set up, Amazon will have all the needed information, now all you have to do is write, edit and format your book.
Something to keep in mind is that formatting a file for an e-book with Amazon is easier than it will look. It will seem quite complicated at first, but I've found formatting with Microsoft Word works best, and using the free Open Office software isn't a bad choice, either. More than likely you are going to run into difficulties and have a few questions, but when that happens don't forget to check out the KDP support forums for help.
Good luck!
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