For a lot of Nigerians, becoming a published author would be a dream come true. Unfortunately, so many have not been lucky to have the coveted title either due to financial restraints or other issues which makes traditional publishing out of reach for them.

If you're one of these people, with platforms like Amazon Kindle, your dream of becoming a published author and sharing your ideas with the world is about to become a reality. And if you're wondering why I sound so sure about this, then maybe you should know that about five years ago, I was also in this same position, until I stumbled on Amazon's Kindle Publishing...

To cut the long story short, for me, Amazon was my life saver. It gave me my first shot to becoming a published author. It has also done same for a handful of young Nigerian authors and many others around the world. And if you're a fan of digital publishing, you could also publish your books on Amazon, FREE no matter your location.

The following are some reasons you may want to publish on Amazon.

1. Publishing on Amazon Kindle or ACX is free. You don’t pay anything before getting published.

2. No one asks you to wait for some time or provide any credentials before getting started. You or any internet John Doe can get published on amazon whether you just wrote your first ever article today or you’ve been writing for a millennium.

3. Publishing on amazon is fast and simple. It takes approximately less than 30 minutes to get your book published on the amazon platform.

And it’s so easy that even a non-techie person can upload his books and get published in minutes.

4. It takes just a maximum of 72 hours to get your published book live on Kindle and accessible to people all over the world right there on amazon.

5. Make money. Yes! Make up to 70 percent royalty on amazon when people buy your books. Earn some money when people borrow your books.

6. Update your books anytime notwithstanding the fact that it’s already been published.

7. Fix your selling price at any amount you feel like and publish in digital format, print copy or audio format.

8. Free traffic and ready to buy audience to market your books. (especially when you use appropriate keywords).

I can go ahead and list out the many benefits of publishing with amazon but taking a look at these ones I’ve mentioned here, let me ask you some honest question here, who doesn’t want to get published on amazon?

Have you come across any one? I doubt if you have. Because we all want to publish our books.

I mean you and me. Yeah. We don’t just want to write for our local audience we want to gather our thoughts together and have it read by people around the world. You want your name to be written behind a book. And I understand that perfectly.

Of course you and I know that waiting for that local publisher around here will not help you one bit. Because they don’t know you. I mean you’re not some Bishop Oyedepo, Rev. Sam Adeyemi, JK Rowling, Stephen King or even Seth Godin. So why should they care?

That your publisher friend is after his maximum gains. So he’s definitely going to hunt for established names that will bring him more money… And this is not some personal beef. It’s a business strategy.

That’s why you must read this complete guide to publishing on Amazon, if you’re ready to get your book from an idea to a collection of thoughts that will boost your brand and pay your bills.

Step by step process on how to publish on Amazon as a Nigerian

Okay. So in today’s tutorial, I’ll be focused on publishing a digital book or what we call an eBook on Amazon.

So the platform used for publishing ebooks on amazon is the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

The KDP from Amazon is divided into two, the basic Kindle Direct Publishing and Kindle Direct publishing Select.

These two programs will give you the chance to publish your books to millions of Kindle users but they are a bit different.

One only allows you to publish on Amazon while the other still gives you the chance to publish both on Amazon and any other platform you’d want.

You see while self publishing on your website is a great thing to do (if you have one), gaining access to the massive audience on Amazon is even a greater reason to publish on in there…

So let’s check out the step by step process for publishing on amazon below…

1. Write and finalize your book. [/b]The first thing you’ll want to do before publishing is writing down your ideas. And putting everything in proper shape.

You’ll not want to be perceived as an incompetent author so you’ll want to edit your books and fix all the typos completely before getting ready to publish on amazon.

[b]2. Create an account on Kindle. Head over and create your publishing account on kdp.amazon.com. Giving them all the necessary details.

3. Format the book to meet digital publishing standards. Since we’ll be focusing on digital publishing here, your formatting should also be done in a way that complies with Amazon publishing guidelines.

That’s because the layout and format of an eBook is not going to be the same with that of a print copy because of the platform it’s going to be read with.

Also, if you’re writing your book on a Microsoft word processor, you’ll have to re-format it so it can be properly displayed on the electronic reader.

Read details formatting requirements for publishing on Amazon here (https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200645680)

4. Choose a preferred plan between Kindle Direct Publishing Select (KDP Select) and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

Although Both programs connect you with millions of Kindle users around the world. KDP select allows you to publish exclusively on the Amazon kindle platform…

This means that If you choose to publish on KDP select, your books can only be made available on amazon stores alone. You can’t publish it on any other online book store..

Also if your book is available for free or pre-order on any other platform, it is not eligible to be published on the KDP select program.

On the other hand, if you’re settling for the ordinary Kindle Direct Publishing, you can also publish your book elsewhere including your website and any other retail platform of your choice.

Alright.

So you ask yourself, which publishing program should I choose between Kindle Direct Publishing and KDP select?

Well, there’s actually no wrong or right choices here.

If you want to publish on Amazon and other online publishing platforms, then you should go for the normal KDP.

Although when you choose this program, you will not have access to most of the free Amazon promotional services for publishers but you will be able to publish on any other platform you’d want.

On the other hand, in a situation where you want to publish exclusively on Amazon, and use the promotional services among other few benefits, then the KDP select program is the best way to go.

Another thing you should note as you get set to publish on Amazon is that if you’re settling for the KDP select, you can still promote your books on other platforms even when you can only sell it on amazon.

And the goodnews about the KDP select is that you can opt out of the program after 90 days.

This gives you the chance to publish your books elsewhere. Although you’ll also give up the benefits that comes with KDP Select the moment you opt to publish elsewhere.

5. Adding/Listing your book on KDP. From your dashboard area in your KDP account, where there are certain forms you’ll have to fill and add some details about your book, before uploading it.

Right on your book shelf (still within your account), select + kindle eBook.

Next, you’ll be prompted to enter your book details. This should include the name of your book, title, short description etc.

You’ll also need to categorize your book in a way that will help you reach your exact target audience by selecting the right category based on your book's genre and topic and also, adding the keywords that will be most likely used when people are searching for your kind of books on Amazon.

* Also, to gain some decent visibility for your book in Amazon search engine, be sure to Include your target keywords in your short description. Extend this to the description for your book in Amazon's author central.

Be sure to pay close attention to this aspect of the listing process because this will to a large extent decide the success of your book.

Also if you’re not very conversant with this, you can get an experienced friend or expert’s help.

6. Create your book cover. After filling out the listing, you’ll have to create a book cover for your work or upload a pre-made copy if you have any,

If you don’t have any cover designed for your work, the KDP platform can guide you as you create one for your book right on the platform.

Otherwise you can use a free platform like Canvas to design some cool book cover from pre-designed templates or get one for 5 dollars over at Fiverr.com, or get the services of a graphics designer for your book cover.

If you're engaging an external graphics designer, you should note that for best quality, Amazon requires your cover design's Height/Width ratio to be fixed at 1:6. Be sure your design falls within those limits.

Also, make your cover design catchy and attractive to potential buyers. And well illustrative of the content of your book.

7. Upload your book on Amazon. Finally you’re done with adding all the necessary information on your about to be published book. Now it’s time to really upload it on Amazon.

Before we continue, note that Amazon accepts only the following document formats, Doc, PDF, HTML, MOBI.

Also, for me personally, I prefer you upload your books in the PDF format. It helps in keeping your book's interior design and styling intact. Although Amazon prefers you keep your book in the word format for ease of formatting.

Now, to upload your finished book, click on “browse” and you’ll be taken to your device (computer or smart device) where you’ll begin the uploading process.

When you’re done, use the “preview function” to preview your book, see what it will look like on different devices when it’s being read and then make adjustments as appropriate.

After you’re satisfied with the preview of your yet to be published book, you can now settle on a price, taking into account, the depth of the information you’re passing across, your audience, it’s marketability, etc.

Once you’re done fixing your pricing, you can now click on "publish" and then your book will be forwarded to the Kindle Direct Publishing Team.
Usually, it will take a maximum of 72 hours for your book to be reviewed and uploaded for purchase on Amazon.

Now before your book is uploaded, you can use the time to create promos for the book and get the word out even before it’s live on amazon. There are more tips on how to style and promote your book on the second link below.

You should note that details for publishing a Paperback on Amazon is slightly different from this especially when it comes to choosing your book's size and cover details. Your book cover for instance has to meet their specifications before it can be published. Outside these, the whole process is quite similar for both e-books and paperback.

Alright. So, there you have it; your complete guide on how to publish on Amazon from Nigeria. I hope with this guide, you’ve been able to learn a lot on how to publish on amazon?
https://www.victorwinners.com/how-to-publish-on-amazon-the-step-by-step-guide/

You can also use the link below to learn more about formatting, styling and promoting your book.
https://www.victorwinners.com/category/how-to-publish-online/

Can you please throw more light on this as the platform is saying amazon books can't be operated from Africa.

That's not right. You can publish your books on Amazon from Nigeria and almost every other country in Africa. I personally have a published book on Amazon and I've published for other Nigerians too.

RayDay007:
Can you please throw more light on this as the platform is saying amazon books can't be operated from Africa.

Thank yhu so much..... this is really a nice piece.....

I'll come back with testimonies when I successfully publish my book..

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