Working with Kindle Create

Is self-publishing with Amazon KDP th... Putting up your KDP book for pre-order

Working with Kindle Create

Dear readers,

Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. The first part of this series was published on 4th July and many people have found it helpful. I’d promised to write a little more about Kindle Create, so here goes.

As I mentioned in the first post, KDP allows us to upload our manuscripts as Word and PDF files but there are other formats that it accepts too. I’m not going to go into the others but I’d like to take some time to talk about Kindle Create.

If you want your eBook to look professional without breaking your head over issues like formatting and what goes where, I highly recommend that you download Kindle Create on your computer. There is an MS Word plugin too but I didn’t like it very much.

There’s something very important that you need to remember about Kindle Create. There is no spell-check here, and neither are there any track changes for you to keep track of the changes that you make, unlike that in Word.

But don’t worry if it all of this sounds confusing. It’s actually quite simple and intuitive. Don’t let it overwhelm you at all! I’ve been working on Kindle Create for all my books and I can vouch that it makes my books look extremely professional.

Here’s what working with Kindle Create looks like once you’ve installed it on your computer.

1. Double-click the Kindle Create icon.

2. Click on New Project from File.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-199-281 {
padding-bottom: 70.8185053380783%;
padding-bottom: min(70.8185053380783%, 199px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-199-281 img {
max-width: 281px;
max-height: 199px;
}

3. Choose the first option – Novels, Essays, Poetry, Narrative Non-fiction and upload your manuscript.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-199-284 {
padding-bottom: 70.07042253521126%;
padding-bottom: min(70.07042253521126%, 199px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-199-284 img {
max-width: 284px;
max-height: 199px;
}

4. You’ll get this screen and it’s perfectly fine. Just hang on a bit.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-200-284 {
padding-bottom: 70.4225352112676%;
padding-bottom: min(70.4225352112676%, 200px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-200-284 img {
max-width: 284px;
max-height: 200px;
}

5. Click on Continue (which appears after the file has been imported).

6. Click on Get Started.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-196-283 {
padding-bottom: 69.25795053003534%;
padding-bottom: min(69.25795053003534%, 196px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-196-283 img {
max-width: 283px;
max-height: 196px;
}

7. Okay, so now, your manuscript has been uploaded and Kindle Create has detected the chapters. This entire space is your working view. (I’m using one of my books as a sample. But of course!)

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-319-604 {
padding-bottom: 52.81456953642384%;
padding-bottom: min(52.81456953642384%, 319px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-319-604 img {
max-width: 604px;
max-height: 319px;
}

8. On the top left corner, you have the Chapter Titles section. Click on Accept Selected.

Now, it’s time to take this apart, section by section. Let’s begin with the left hand side column:

There are three sections here.

1. Front Matter

2. Body

3. Back Matter

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-202-81 {
padding-bottom: 249.3827160493827%;
padding-bottom: min(249.3827160493827%, 202px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-202-81 img {
max-width: 81px;
max-height: 202px;
}

Let’s look at each of these in detail.

Frontmatter

1. Click on the + sign next to Frontmatter.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-243-174 {
padding-bottom: 139.6551724137931%;
padding-bottom: min(139.6551724137931%, 243px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-243-174 img {
max-width: 174px;
max-height: 243px;
}

2. Click on Title Page

3. You’ll get this screen.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-274-439 {
padding-bottom: 62.414578587699324%;
padding-bottom: min(62.414578587699324%, 274px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-274-439 img {
max-width: 439px;
max-height: 274px;
}

a.       Enter your Book Title.

b.       Enter a Subtitle if you have one.

c.       Enter your name.

d.       Leave the publisher page blank. (Alternatively, you can come up with a publishing name that you want to use across all your KDP books, but that’s another topic for later)

e.       Click on Create Page.

f.        Here’s what the finished page will look like:

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-281-439 {
padding-bottom: 64.00911161731207%;
padding-bottom: min(64.00911161731207%, 281px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-281-439 img {
max-width: 439px;
max-height: 281px;
}

g.       Now click the + sign next to Frontmatter again.

h.       Select Copyright.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-282-439 {
padding-bottom: 64.2369020501139%;
padding-bottom: min(64.2369020501139%, 282px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-282-439 img {
max-width: 439px;
max-height: 282px;
}

i.         Enter your name under Copyright Owner.

j.         Enter year of publication.

k.       Under the Rights section, remove what is not applicable for you or retain as it is.

l.         Click on Create Page.

m.     Here’s what the finished page will look like:

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-280-436 {
padding-bottom: 64.22018348623854%;
padding-bottom: min(64.22018348623854%, 280px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-280-436 img {
max-width: 436px;
max-height: 280px;
}

n.       Now you can go back to Frontmatter and keep repeating the earlier steps to fill whatever is applicable for you. Kindle Create will create the relevant pages for you.

Body

1.       Now that you’re done with the front matter, let’s look at the Body. This will have your manuscript divided into chapters.

2.       Click on Chapter 1 and the central portion will open up to Chapter 1.

3.       Go over your manuscript carefully. Look out for typos and other mistakes. I often find myself spotting several mistakes at this juncture because it looks different from the usual Word file. But there’s something important that you need to know at this point. So please pay attention.

If you make changes here, in this file, there will be differences in your final Word file and the final file that you create here. You will not be able to download your work here as a Word document.

The moment you hit SAVE, a folder is created that you need to save at an appropriate location on your computer. It will have the .kcb file and the word file that you uploaded originally. It looks something like this:

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-171-384 {
padding-bottom: 44.53125%;
padding-bottom: min(44.53125%, 171px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-171-384 img {
max-width: 384px;
max-height: 171px;
}

4.       Now, once you’re satisfied with the manuscript completely, move on to the next section which is the Backmatter.

Backmatter

This is a great new addition in Kindle Create which allows you to add the following features to your manuscript:

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-254-172 {
padding-bottom: 147.67441860465115%;
padding-bottom: min(147.67441860465115%, 254px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-254-172 img {
max-width: 172px;
max-height: 254px;
}

Click on those which are relevant to you, fill the pages and click on create page and that’s it, you’re done.

Well, not quite. So far, we were only looking at the left hand side of the screen. Let’s look at the right hand side.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-284-130 {
padding-bottom: 218.46153846153845%;
padding-bottom: min(218.46153846153845%, 284px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-284-130 img {
max-width: 130px;
max-height: 284px;
}

There are 5 menu options on the top.

1.       Print Settings – This is not applicable if you are working on making an eBook only.

2.       Theme – This one lets you choose from 4 options – Modern, Classic, Cosmos and Amour.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-188-222 {
padding-bottom: 84.68468468468468%;
padding-bottom: min(84.68468468468468%, 188px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-188-222 img {
max-width: 222px;
max-height: 188px;
}

Each Theme changes all the aspects of your book, from font, to chapter headings, to even the separators between passages. So fiddle around and see what you like best. I personally feel Kindle Create should offer many more options. I usually choose Amour because I’m publishing romances and those have nice curly fonts for headings.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-225-197 {
padding-bottom: 114.21319796954315%;
padding-bottom: min(114.21319796954315%, 225px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-225-197 img {
max-width: 197px;
max-height: 225px;
}

3.       Save – Clicking on this will save your file.

4.       Preview – Now this is a great feature. Click on this, and you will see this screen.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-312-329 {
padding-bottom: 94.83282674772036%;
padding-bottom: min(94.83282674772036%, 312px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-312-329 img {
max-width: 329px;
max-height: 312px;
}

Choose which device you want to preview your work in. You can choose from Tablet, Phone and Kindle e-reader.

5. Publish – Once you’re sure that everything is in order, hit the Publish button. Please note that by doing this, you are not automatically publishing this to your KDP page. Kindle Create and KDP are not directly connected. What happens here is that a .KPF folder is created and you get this screen.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-186-284 {
padding-bottom: 65.49295774647888%;
padding-bottom: min(65.49295774647888%, 186px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-186-284 img {
max-width: 284px;
max-height: 186px;
}

Click on Show .KPF folder and it will direct you to where you have saved the file.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-125-343 {
padding-bottom: 36.44314868804665%;
padding-bottom: min(36.44314868804665%, 125px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-125-343 img {
max-width: 343px;
max-height: 125px;
}

The .KPF file is what you need to upload in the KDP page where you are asked to upload your finished manuscript.

Below these menu options, there’s a full list called Text Properties.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-251-88 {
padding-bottom: 285.2272727272727%;
padding-bottom: min(285.2272727272727%, 251px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-251-88 img {
max-width: 88px;
max-height: 251px;
}

Fiddle around with these and see if you want to make things look more interesting here. For instance, if you choose the third option, Chapter First Paragraph, your page will look like this.

[image error]
a.image2.image-link.image2-274-207 {
padding-bottom: 132.3671497584541%;
padding-bottom: min(132.3671497584541%, 274px);
width: 100%;
height: 0;
}
a.image2.image-link.image2-274-207 img {
max-width: 207px;
max-height: 274px;
}

Check each of the elements and use whichever is applicable to you. Or don’t. I don’t use any of these elements. But suppose you have a quote from another writer at the beginning of your manuscript, you can use the second option under Standard Elements.

Save your work and hit Publish once you’re satisfied completely. Locate your .KPF folder as shown above and upload it onto KDP and complete all the remaining steps.

Your book is ready to be published!

Friends, I’m hoping this tutorial has helped you to navigate through Kindle Create. Many people I know prefer working on MS Word and don’t use it but I think that barring a few issues like the inability to do a spell-check (for god’s sake, Kindle Create, make it happen already), it’s still a very good option to make sure your book looks just perfect.

Happy publishing!