Episode Summary: Part 2 of the self-publishing series — the 3 core Amazon tools for getting a book published, on-demand printed, and turned into an audiobook.
What You'll Learn
- The 3 core Amazon self-publishing tools: KDP, CreateSpace, and ACX
- How Kindle Direct Publishing works and what Amazon takes in commission
- Amazon's non-Amazon self-publishing competitors worth knowing about
- What audiobook narrators actually get paid on ACX
Part 1 covered writing and editing tools and resources. This episode covers self-publishing directly on Amazon.com: Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), CreateSpace (on-demand printing), and ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange).
Competitors to Amazon in Self-Publishing
Apple iBooks Store, Kobo Writing Life, Barnes & Noble, Blurb, and Google Play Books, among others.
Amazon's 3 Self-Publishing Components
Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
The e-book publishing side of Amazon, launched in 2007, and how a book ends up in the Kindle Store. Completely free to use, though Amazon takes a 30% commission on sales. The Kindle Store grew from 500,000 titles in 2010 to over 5 million by this episode.
Step 1: create an account and profile on KDP using an Amazon login — worth doing as soon as the decision to write a book is made, just to start exploring the process. Add tax info, bank account details, the book title, and verify rights.
CreateSpace
Also owned and operated by Amazon — on-demand printing for physical copies of a book, for a fee plus roughly a 40% commission.
ACX
Amazon's Audiobook Creation Exchange, for turning a digital book into an audiobook. Audiobooks sell through Amazon, iTunes, and Audible (also Amazon-owned).
How narrators get paid on ACX — 3 options:
- Hourly rate — roughly $225/finished hour
- Royalty split — 50% of all royalties
- A combination of hourly plus royalty
One finished hour of audio equals roughly 9,300 words, and takes the average narrator about 6.2 hours to produce.
Show Notes & Links
- Apple iBooks Store
- Kobo Writing Life
- Barnes & Noble
- Blurb
- Google Play Books
- Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
- CreateSpace
- ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange)
Related Episodes
Episode 72: The Self-Publishing Show (Pt. 1) Episode 74: The Self-Publishing Show (Pt. 3)
Read the complete show notes and resources on mikemurphy.ai.
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