If you’re publishing a book with a print on demand service, then you may well have decided to use Amazon KDP (formerly Createspace) for your new title, after all, being a part of Amazon, they have one of the biggest platforms in the world for online retail and offer a great free to use service for authors.

Using their platform for self-publishing is fairly straightforward and we have written lots of articles showing you how to upload books, tweak your KDP account and even promote your book on Amazon with their own advertising options for authors & sellers.

But an important part of your publishing journey with Amazon KDP will be your book cover design.
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The first thing to remember is that you will likely publish your book as both an eBook and in print, the eBook will be sold via Kindle and the cover has to be created to certain specifics to work with their book readers, whereas the book cover design for print will need to be created specifically for your paperback and/or hardback (taking in to account the spine width based on the page count) and a different set of specifics.

Getting your manuscript ready for publication can be a complex task, and this is why many authors use a professional formatting service to get the job done. Prices for this can be from $50 up to $1500 and above (depending upon the complexity and the experience of the person working on your book of course).

So, if you are looking for a formatter, where do you start?

Well, there certainly is a lot of choice available for self-publishing authors, and if you feel like going on a bit of a learning curve, you can always opt to do the formatting yourself, however, if you do decide this, it will take time and patience, but in this article, we’ll take a look at services who will format the book for you.

Here are our top five formatting services that you should be aware of

We all understand that a great book cover design is essential when it comes to catching the eye of your potential reader, ensuring that your book stands out upon the page, looks professional and is readable as a thumbnail.

But what do you need to consider when creating an eBook cover?

The first thing that you’ll need to look at will be the actual dimensions of the eBook, because when it comes to publishers, they do require different sizes for the eBook cover.

If you have ever looked at your favorite author’s books on Amazon, you will see that on each book’s page there’s a section a little lower down which reads ‘From the Publisher’, here you’ll see banners, promotional images, graphs, details about the author, technical information, and other elements to help you sell the book.

Creating content for A+ is certainly worth doing and will enable you to present not only a professional image to your reader, but it also allows you to add further information that will help to explain important contents within your book (and this is great for non-fiction books, guidebooks and manuals).

So, how do you add A+ Content to your book’s Amazon page?

Many people have dreamed of becoming a published author, and they do say that there is a book within us all, but for those who may not have either the time or the skill to write a book, there are people and businesses who offer ghost writing services to help you reach that goal of having a book in print.

Now, for many authors, this is a sticky subject, is it right to see someone become a bestselling author for a book they did not pen themselves? Maybe, maybe not, but ghost writers will still work with clients, and we’ll still see books in the stores that won’t have been written by the name on the cover.
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A big area for ghost writers is in ‘auto-biographies’, here you’ll have a person of interest to the public who will work with a ghost writer to ensure that their life story is written well and makes an enjoyable read.

Getting your book proofread is a vital step that every author should take prior to hitting the ‘publish’ button on their work, and regardless of how you are approaching your publishing journey, there are great ways (and services) to ensure that your book is checked thoroughly before launch.

For some authors the first option is to do this themselves, for many others they’ll use the services of friends and family, and for a larger portion of publishing authors, they’ll use a professional service to get the task completed.
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All options have both pros and cons, whether you’re looking to save money or time, you can still get the job done and in a way which works for you. So, here are some great ways for you to get your book proofread.

We have all heard the old saying not to judge a book by its cover, meaning not to take things at face value, and try to look a little deeper, the only trouble with this is that we’re subconsciously predisposed to make quick decisions based on how something looks. This is something that we have kept within our subconscious minds for millennia, and as such, we all make assumptions about a person or product based on looks all the time.

From this, the world of advertising has developed and pushed boundaries to ensure that what you look at when you walk into a store has the best chance of grabbing your attention, this goes for the online stores too.
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Now, you may say ‘well advertising doesn’t work on me’ and if that truly is the case, that’s great, however, it does work on lots of other people, and if you want to give your book the best chance of being considered by a potential reader, then you should think about the design you choose for your book. 

For most self-publishing authors, print on demand is the obvious choice for getting your book in print, and there is an abundance of services to choose from too. Of course, you have the big names like KDP publishing and IngramSpark, but another company called The Book Patch offers this service and could be an option for your book.

So, who are ‘The Book Patch’?

They are a US based print on demand company founded in 2009 by the bestselling author Victor Ostrovsky, they print and sell both eBooks and hardcopies of books too, like other POD services, when a book is ordered, it is then freshly printed and sent out to the customer.

Doing what you love

The dream for most authors and writers is to make a career (or even a side hustle) from their creative talents, being able to do what you love and make money when and where you want.

But when you think of writing and making money, you may only come up with a couple of ideas and even then, these ideas may be limited.

However, with some creativity you can do what you love and make some money at the same time, here are TEN great ways for you to make money with writing.

​If you’re a self-publishing author using Amazon KDP, then you may have considered using Publisher Rocket at some point. They offer comprehensive tools that have been used by best-selling authors, publishers, and indie authors alike, giving up-to-date information and helping you to get your book in front of more Amazon customers.