Tag: Kindle Direct Publishing

Creating a Kindle Book Cover for Your Family History Book

Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) will allow you to design your own book cover. If you don’t want to do that, you can have them do it for you with Cover Create. Personally, I like using a photo that I’ve acquired as a cover. You can make your own cover in Canva, save as a .pdf and upload but I prefer using Microsoft Word. Here’s the directions:

  1. Find a picture and paste to Word.
  2. Save as a .doc to your desktop, calling it Front Cover
  3. Open Paint.net. Copy the picture into Paint.
  4. Select the color picker tool to identify a solid back cover that matches something on the front. It looks like an eye dropper. Write down the three numbers that appear so you can duplicate that color in Word.
  5. Now go back to Word. Place a text box over the picture, type in the book title and your name. Save as a .doc as Front Cover
  6. Format the photo to the textbox by clicking both and then click, under Shape Format – Arrange – Group.
  7. Now you’ll “Save as picture” making it a  .jpg. I save this to the Desktop, too, as Front JPG to differentiate between the document (where you can continue to make changes if needed) and the picture, (which is what you will ultimately upload).
  8. Open a new Word.doc and click Shape Format Outline – no fill– More Fill Colors and type in the color numbers your wrote down. Now the back cover will match the colors on the front cover.
  9. Save as a .doc as Back Cover to your desktop.
  10. Insert a text box to the Back Cover and type in the book description.
  11. Format the text box to the page itself by clicking on both and then by clicking under Shape Format – Arrange – Group.
  12. Save as a .doc. You do this in case you have to change something. Occasionally, how the text box is placed may be a little off on KDP, though it looks perfectly fine on the Word doc. That’s because you have to take into consideration the book binding. Dependent on how thick your book is, there will be some wrapping from the front cover to the back which means you might not like the look. The Word doc will be helpful to quickly alter and reupload, if needed.
  13. Now you’ll click “Save as a Picture” making it a .jpeg and save to the Desktop as Back JPEG.
  14. Open another Word doc – this makes the third! Make sure under layout to change via Page Set Up-Layout-Orientation to Landscape
  15. Next to Layout is Margins – Click Custom and change all four to a .4. You want as much space to work as you are going to be combing the front and back covers together to upload.
  16. Copy and paste the Front cover. jpeg. Click text wrap to move it to the right side of the page.
  17. Click Shape Format and look at the far right to Size. Now type in the height and width of the cover to adjust to  your book size. I used 8.5 x 11” books so my typed in numbers are .7727=6.18
  18. Now copy and paste the back .jpeg to the page and adjust the size as in the last step. Voila! The two images are now the same side. Click the Wrap to move the back cover next to the front cover. HINT: You can hold down CTRL and use the arrow keys to align it perfectly together. You’ll know you did it correctly when you see no white line between the two. If you see a black line, you somehow have a border around the pages. Simple go to Shape Format-Shape Styles – Shape Outline and click No Outline.
  19. Group both front and back covers by holding the CTRL key and clicking both, then going to Shape Format – Arrange – Group. Now you have one large picture. Click “Save as Picture” as a .jpeg calling it Final Cover to your Desktop.
  20. When you are ready, upload to KDP. HINT: If your name got cut off or the text boxes aren’t centered, you can remove your upload by clicking anywhere on the cover on KDP. A box will appear on the right and you can click “Discard Cover.” It tells you this NO WHERE but after experimenting we figured it out. Then, go back to your .doc for whatever you didn’t like, change it, Save as picture as a .jpeg, ungroup the Final Cover, replace the one you didn’t like, Regroup, Save as picture as Final Cover, and reupload.

Yes, this looks and sounds complex, but after you do one, it will be a breeze. Best part, now your book is ready for publication!

Publishing Your Family Story Through KDP

Self-publishing with Kindle Direct Publishing is a breeze. First, create a free account at kdp.amazon.com. Then click the  +Create button to get started.

Next, decide on the type of book you want to create. No worries, you can always change your mind later and even publish in more than one type (eBook and Paperback or Paperback and Hard Cover, etc.).

You also have size options! I selected 8 ½ x 11″ because I had many colored photos I wanted to share. Next you’ll have more options to consider:

  1. Choose your language
  2. Type in the book’s title. Don’t have a subtitle? Leave it blank
  3. Not a series? Just skip this section.
  4. Since this is the first edition, leave the Edition Number blank. One of the benefits of KDP is that if you revise your book, you can easily enter the 2nd (or 3rd, etc.) here so that purchasers are aware of which copy they are buying. This is perfect for when you finally get over that brick wall and can update your story.
  5. Next, type in your name as you’d like it to be shown on the front cover.
  6. If you didn’t work with anyone else on writing the book, leave the contributors blank
  7. The description is important as it will tell buyers a little bit about the contents of your book. You can have your favorite AI proof what you come up with.

As family historians, copyright is always important, but the beauty here is that if you want to make your work available in the public domain, you have that option. Or, what I did instead, was copyright the book on KDP, but when I donated a copy to the Allen County Public Library, I signed a release that allows them to digitize the books for FREE to everyone. My goal was to get the information out into the hands of distant family who can benefit from it, and not make money from book sales.

You MUST select either Yes or No regarding sexually explicit content. If you select no, you can skip the reading age.

I opted to have my books sold through Amazon, but other options are available.

Categories are very important, and you can pick three with subcategories available. Genealogy is under the history reference.

Why select keywords? They help Amazon market your book to the right audience. Think hashtags! You don’t need to come up with 7, but you can if you like.

Since this is your first printing of your book, leave the selection at “Publication date and release date are the same.”

I will release my book for sale as soon as it’s available through KDP, but perhaps you want to wait for a special occasion, like a family reunion.

Click the yellow button, Save and Continue.

The next section is Paperback Content. Here is where you will upload the book cover if you’ve created one and the book contents. You don’t have to do this all at one time, either – once you’ve saved, you can go back to working on your selections any time.

I recommend clicking that you want KDP to assign an ISB number; if you plan on giving copies to libraries, this will be helpful.

Next, upload your manuscript. It does take a few minutes to process.

When it’s ready, you will receive a notice that it has uploaded successfully. Go to the bottom of the page to preview your book by clicking Launch Previewer. You will have to open and close your Word document numerous times if you have included a lot of photos and tables. What the Word .doc looks like is NOT how KDP’s software publishes it, so you may have to adjust your Word .doc 50 times (seriously) or more to get it to print right on KDP. This is the most tiresome and difficult part of the process, but know you are at the end of the journey,y so hang in there.

Now it’s time for the cover. See last week’s blog for the how-to on creating it. I use a photo I have taken and add a text box to it, format it, and upload it through Launch Cover Creator. I’ve tried the .pdf upload and wasn’t happy with the results. If you have no idea what you want for a cover, KDP will give you ideas through Launch Cover Creator.

Next, you’ll need to complete a survey about AI usage.

If you used it, click Yes, and you will have three items to complete – what tools did you use and how much of AI (some sections, extensive, etc.) from a drop-down menu; what images and what translations did you had help with.

When you are happy that the book is formatted properly, then click “Save and Continue” at the bottom of the page. Next step – Pricing:

KDP will tell you how much it is going to cost for them to print the book(s). You set the price after they give you their minimum. I want the books in the hands of people who share my ancestry, and I don’t want them to pay a fortune, so my royalty, as you can see on my latest book, is 3 cents. Yes, you read that right. I’m making 3 cents on every book sold. If you want to be paid for all the time and effort you put it, then adjust the price, but that’s not why I wrote my books.

I didn’t include the lengthy page info that follows, but it will show you how much it will cost in all of KDP’s markets using the type of money that is accepted in those areas. So, for Great Britain, it will display the cost in pounds, places in Europe, in euros, etc.

Obviously, you have to agree to the terms and conditions. I haven’t requested a proof book as I wait until KDP has reviewed it and is ready to publish it.

Next, click the yellow box “Publish Your Paperback Book.” KDP will review your book, and within a day, you’ll receive an email that your book is ready to publish.

Then, I request an author’s copy, which is the bare minimum that you can purchase the book for (so it’s less than the .03 cents of my royalty). I typically buy 3 – one for my husband and me, and one for each of our adult kids. I look through it, and if I’m happy with it, no changes needed, I then order copies for local libraries to donate.  In the meantime, the book is available to the general public through Amazon. Just go to Amazon.com and type in your book title or your name, and it will be there for you to see. They also allow buyers to see some of the contents, the table of contents, and a chapter or two. If you don’t want to sell to the public, take the book off the market.

After KDP reviews the content, you can order Author copies:

That’s it! If you sell books through Amazon, you will get an email monthly that tells you what your royalty payment is. The money will be placed into the bank account that you authorized KDP to use. Any changes – edition updates, corrections, from paperback to hardcover, etc., can be easily made after logging back into your account.

What are you waiting for?! Time to get writing that family history you’ve put off.