Welcome to Kindle Office Chair Publishing University, from now on known as KOCPU.
Many writers make a lot of money by self-publishing on Amazon's KDP platform. The ebooks are called Kindle books, but people can read them on a lot of medias, not just on Kindles. You can install their Kindle app on a PC, a Mac, on Android phones and tablets and many other places.
So if you've been thinking about writing and publishing books on Kindle, here's a short guide in six parts that will give you the basics you need to get started.
Welcome to Kindle Office Chair Publishing University
This is from now on known as KOCPU.
Before you start writing, it's good to know what you'll be writing about.
Maybe you already have a topic?
If you're not sure what you're going to write about, it's good to check your options first.
I suggest you spend a couple of hours, at least, finding a category. And if you haven't picked a category after the time is up, pick one randomly.
Does that sound nasty?
Good. Then make sure you've made your choice before the time runs out ;-)
Speaking of time tracking - use a good timer for this. And take notes to keep track of how much time you spend on each task. This will help you stay focused. (More about focus in a later email.)
The perfect category on Amazon is the one with lots of interest, lots of buyers and little competition.
There are many different theories about how to find such a category, and of course, they are all speculation, because only Amazon knows all about sales numbers and ranking.
You can get a good idea about it by using a tool like Kindle Spy.
When you check the best-sellers in the different categories and sub-categories it will show green, yellow and red lights for Popularity, Potential and Competition. Three green lights and you're good to go.
Here's an example of a good category:
The above one is a nonfiction category, but there a still several fiction categories with three green lights available as well.
Once you've picked your category, you're ready for the next step: Research. And we'll talk more about that later.