OPC member John McCormick is CEO of Groundhog Press Inc. and has authored 23 books, 6 with major publishers. He was the Washington bureau chief for the Newsbytes News Network, a tech wire service, and over a decades-long career has written for tech journals such as Government Computer News and Newsblaze.com, among many others. In the piece below, he shares advice about self-publishing on Amazon and Kindle Vella.
by John McCormick
One reason I switched from major publishers to self-publishing is the time problem. It would take about six months to go from a finished manuscript to printing – and that is often too long.
I have gotten a Kindle or print book finished and published in three days, not counting my writing, with one of those days spent waiting for Amazon to approve the text.
It is even faster using the newer Vella episode format – about 12 hours from submission to publication online.
More on Vella later. It is very simple.
Here is a quick guide to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and Amazon book publishing.
First, it is all free. This is not a vanity press, this is more like being your own publishing company. I own a publishing company but am not seeking submissions. I am happy to give advice.
Kindle and print publishing take a bit of work, with considerably more formatting for paperback or hardcover books. There are multiple questions to answer about categorization, suitability for kids, pricing in various markets, digital rights management, etc., but the actual publishing is easy. Just prepare some text, download the free Kindle Create tool to format, make final edits and submit.
Your submission can be in multiple formats but Kindle Create will tell you what you need. I compose in Google Docs for constant backups, then download as a “docx” file for Microsoft Word. Adding formatting such as headings lets the Create program automatically generate a table of contents, if you need one.
Amazon will look at your submission closely, mainly to weed out dangerous works or plagiarism, but also for technical problems. Feedback is minimal on rejections.
There is lots of online help available. This page provides a good starting place.
Amazon has good marketing tools, but promotion is all up to you. I found the same with major publishers, so it wasn’t new to me. I had books published by McGraw-Hill, Times Mirror, and others.
You can give away free books for a period of time, but normally people have to pay a minimum of 99 cents. You set your own price and royalties above that. Bonuses are possible, and they can be significant.
You get paid a royalty if someone downloads an e-book or orders a print book. You should also let Amazon members read your book at no charge. You still get paid based on how much of the book they read online.
Kindle Vella
You can use Vella publishing for almost anything that doesn’t require links or images.
Kindle Vella is for relatively short pieces, short stories, news reports, memoirs and lots of other things.
You set up a free account, then periodically upload a new episode. They can be part of a series or unrelated. You get paid when the material is read.
You need to build a reader/client base for your Vella series, which is up to you.
Kindle Vella Mechanics
Publishing is incredibly simple. Just cut and paste the text, add a title and an author note if desired, mark whether you used AI in creating the piece, choose a release date or select “ASAP,” and submit. It usually takes 24 hours to go live.
Readers can recommend your story and share the link, which allows you to receive credit and get paid.
A Vella Example
“It Was A Bright And Stormy Night” when a janitor ran the studio lights during a live broadcast at WGBH TV in Boston.
My title was an homage to the infamous Dark and Stormy Night opening line. You can look at it for free to see how Vella appears.