How to Self-Publish a Poetry Book for Free with Amazon KDP
How to Self-Publish a Poetry Book for Free with Amazon KDP
Self-publishing a poetry book can feel like an impossible dream. Even the most confident writers hit roadblocks when it comes to the world of self-publishing. With so many factors to consider, from cover design and ISBN numbers to interior formatting and printing costs, self-publishing can present a never ending list of questions and confusion.
As a self-published author myself, I have released multiple, beautifully crafted poetry books and self-development journals using Amazon KDP. How does this benefit you?
My experience and knowledge will save you time, energy and effort. I have streamlined the entire process so that you can self-publish your poetry book easily and enjoyably, for free.
This guide will save you endless hours of trawling the internet trying to find a multitude of answers, plus the lessons learnt from my mistakes will save you hundreds of pounds.
Are you ready to self-publish your poetry book?
Okay, let’s hit the first page.
Your Step-By-Step Guide to Self-Publishing Your Poetry Book
1. Collate Your Poetry in a Word Document
Type up and collate your poetry collection. If you’re anything like me, you will have poetry all over the place, on scraps on paper, in the notes on your phone, and across social media. Collate your poetry into an order that flows, listing relevant chapter names and sections as you add to your collection.
2. Run Your Poems Through Grammarly
Use Grammarly to perform a basic spelling and grammar check. Note that you may have certain poetry stanzas and style choices that Grammarly may not understand. Use your common sense to determine which suggestions to keep and which to ignore.
3. Create an Amazon KDP Account
Create an Amazon KDP account using the link below.
4. Choose Your Book’s Dimensions
Use Amazon KDP’s Print Option Guide to choose the size of your book. Standard poetry books are 5″x8″, 5.5″x8.5″ and 6″x9”, but it is not unusual to find others in smaller or larger sizes.
At this point you will also need to make the following decisions:
- Height and width (trim size)
- White or cream paper
- Black and white or coloured ink (interior)
- Paperback and Hardcover
Note, click on the dropdown menu item titled ‘Trim size specifications (width x height) with minimum and maximum page counts (kdp.amazon.com)’ in order to see all these options.
Poetry Book Dimension Examples
Here are some examples of my poetry books, along with their dimensions and paper, ink and cover choice so that you can choose yours with confidence.
And So She Chose (paperback)
5 x 8 inches, white paper, black and white interior >
And So She Chose (hardcover)
5.5 x 8.5 inches, white paper, black and white interior version on the right hand side >
Simple Truths (paperback)
5 x 8 inches, cream paper, black and white interior >
*note that choosing coloured ink for you interior will significantly increase printing costs and decrease your profit margins. I would recommend using colour on the cover design only.
5. Create a Canva Account
Create a free Canva account so that you can start designing your book. It is totally possible to design and format your book on the free version of Canva, however you may want to upgrade to the paid account for access to more images, photography and design tools.
Can I Use Any Other Programmes to Design My Poetry Book?
Of course, there are many design software options out there. In fact, Amazon offers two tools to support you to design your interior and cover, called Amazon Cover Creator and Kindle Create.
Kindle Create is super simple to use and will automatically typeset your entire book, simply by uploading a word document. However, it has limited fonts and styles and personally, after trying both tools, I thought the formatting appeared outdated, old-fashioned and a bit clunky. On the flip side, if you are not too concerned about the aesthetic appeal of your book, and want a quick, easy formatting option, these tools may be for you.
The rest of this post will focus on using Canva as a design tool.
6. Design & Format the Interior of Your Book
If you have followed the above steps, you will have already chosen your book dimensions. Log in to Canva and click ‘Create a Design’ followed by ‘Custom Size.’ Set the units to inches and type in your chosen book dimension width and height. Then start designing!
Make sure you choose and set a size from Amazon’s Print Option Guide above.
Tips for Designing the Interior of Your Poetry Book
- Firstly, create the following pages: copyright pages, title page, contents page and ‘About the Author page.’ Note that you may need to leave blank pages in between, depending whether these pages fall on the left or the right hand side of the book.
- Next create two perfect pages (one left and one right side) as a template for your poem pages. Duplicate these pages as you create each poetry page so that all titles, icons and page numbers remain aligned as you move through the book.
- Note that page numbers do not start until the first chapter/first piece of prose in a book – check out some of your favourite poetry books and you will see what I mean!
- Once you have decided where the page numbers will start in your book, label left pages as even-numbers and right pages as odd.
- If you want to sell your book on other platforms (other than Amazon), you will also need to include an ISBN number on the copyright page (we will cover more on this later).
An example of a left and right hand side page from my poetry book ‘Simple Truths.’
Note, formatting the interior of your book is the longest task in this guide. If you need support to format your book and make it super beautiful, whilst saving save time and energy, contact me to find out about poetry book formatting services.
7. Download Your Interior Design as a PDF Print File
Once you have finished your interior design, download your interior using the ‘PDF Print’ file option. Save it somewhere safe for later use.
8. Download Your Custom Cover Design Template
Before you crack on with designing your book cover, you will need to download a custom cover template from Amazon’s free tool ‘Paperback Cover Templates.’
Amazon’s tool now has most template sizes featured, however, if you cannot find your chosen trim size, you can also use Bookow to input your information and download a cover template.
Here you will need to enter the following information:
- Hardback or Paperback
- Black and White or Colour (interior)
- White or Cream Paper
- Reading Direction (left to right is standard)
- Measurement (select inches)
- Chosen Trim Size
- Your Final Page Count
Now, can you see why we had to design the interior first? We needed the final page count, as this determines the width of the spine which it turn, affects your cover design template.
After filling in this information, you will then be able to download your cover design template!
Note, your book must have at least 79 pages if you would like to include text on the spine.
9. Create a ‘Custom Size’ Canva Canvas to Fit Your Template
Now that you have downloaded your cover template, you can set up your Canva canvas.
Whether you used Amazon’s or Bookow’s cover template, both will be provide you with a PDF and PNG version of your template. Open up the PNG version and look for the following, depending on which cover provider you chose to use.
- Overall Dimensions (Amazon template)
- Overall Dimensions (Bookow’s template)
Now use the sizes listed below these headings to set up a custom Canva Canvas e.g. for the poetry book above, I set up a blank canvas that was 10.43” x 8.250”.
10. Upload the PNG template to Canva
After setting up your blank Canvas, you will need to upload the PNG template to Canva by clicking ‘uploads’ on the vertical left hand menu. Then click ‘upload files’ and select the PNG version of your template. Once it has uploaded, drag the template onto the blank canvas and stretch out the four corners so that it fills the entire Canva canvas.
Note, it should fit and align perfectly the with canvas outline. If it does not, you may need to go back and revisit the template/and or canvas size to check for any mistakes.
11. Design Your Book Cover
You can now start designing your cover, yippee! Use the guidelines on your template and make sure that your background colour/pattern fills the entire cover (white and red areas).
However, important text, logos and images should not be placed in the red zones. Also, make sure that any spine text falls within the white spine width area.
Tips for Designing Your Poetry Book Cover
- Set your cover template to be in the background of the image (send to back).-
- Change the templates transparency by clicking the chequered box button in the top right-hand corner of your Canva design. This will help you to layer your design over the template, whilst seeing your design clearly.
12. Download Your Cover Design as a PDF Print File
Once you have finished your cover design, you will need to download your cover design as a PDF Print file using the Canva download option.
You will notice one more download option listed this time, which gives you the option to select RGB or CMYK. You will see this if your cover features colour of any kind.
Canva recommends downloading your PRF Print File as CMYK for professional printing, so initially role with this one. However, you may want to get creative and download both versions and then test each when it comes to printing.
Personally, I have tested both and found colour variations, especially with pale covers.
12. Upload Your Poetry Book Designs to Amazon KDP
You’re nearly there, whoop whoop! Congratulations for being SO determined to self-publish your poetry book. The next step is to sign in to your Amazon KDP account to upload your book designs. Login and click the appropriate ‘+’ option under ‘create a title.’
Note, there will be options for e-book, paperback and hardcover. Depending on your selected type of cover, you will need to choose your option. We’ll discuss e-book formatting shortly.
13. Complete the Three Main Amazon KDP Steps
Amazon KDP will then take you through a series of forms to complete, including book details, book content and book pricing. On the book content page, you will be asked to upload you cover design and interior pages. There are three options (eBook, Paperback and Hardback). Once you have selected the type of book, you will then be taken to 3 x easy to follow pages titled:
1. Book details
Here you will be asked to set your book title, subtitle and description, plus publication and release dates. Here you can also add categories and keywords.
2. Book content
Here you will be asked whether you want a free ISBN or to add your own ISBN. You will find more on this below. You will also need to select your paper and ink type, trim size, whether you want a glossy or matte cover and will need to choose ‘bleed’ or ‘no bleed.’ If your background or image stretches right up to the edge on your cover design, select ‘Bleed (PDF only).’
Here you will also upload your cover PDF and interior PDF – it’s all coming together!
What is an ISBN? And Do I Need One?
An International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique number assigned to published books. Whilst it is not a legal requirement to allocate ISBNs to your books, it is used by publishers, booksellers and libraries to find and order books. If you are self-publishing and want your book to be available in various marketplaces, it is recommended that you use an ISBN.
Can I get ISBN for free?
Yes, you can get a free ISBN by selecting the ‘Get a Free KDP ISBN’ option. However, this will only allow you to publish with Amazon KDP. If you use your own ISBN number you are permitted to publish with and outside of Amazon KDP. Also, if you choose the free option, the imprint and publishers details will automatically show as ‘Independently published.’ However, if you use your own ISBN you have more control and can choose your own imprint name.
Still unsure? Read more about the difference between a free Amazon ISBN and paid ISBNs.
How do I get my own ISBN number?
You can purchase your own ISBN number from Nielsen (UK) or Bowker (US). Prices range from £93.00/$125.00 per single ISBN to cheaper deals for block purchases of ten or more ISBNs.
Nielsen Prices:
1 single ISBN – £93.00
10 x ISBNS – £174.00
100 x ISBNS – £387.00
Bowker Prices:
1 single ISBN – $125.00
10 x ISBNS – $295.00
100 x ISBNS – $575.00
I would recommend purchasing ten ISBNS, as you will need a different ISBN per version of your book e.g. one for a paperback, one for a hardback and one for an e-book version. A block of ten also works out much cheaper per ISBN, and gives you the incentive to write more books 😉
Okay, I’ve got the number – what about the barcode?
Whether you choose to use Amazon’s free ISBN, or purchase your own, Amazon will give you the option to add a barcode when you upload your cover design. To automatically create a barcode from your ISBN number, simply leave the ‘Yes, my cover has a barcode’ box unchecked.
*note, you can create prettier looking barcodes using other websites, but for simplicity and ease I would use Amazon’s barcode option. Then you can be sure it will fit printing dimensions.
3. Book pricing
In the final section of the set up, you will need to select your primary marketplace e.g. amazon.co.uk, amazon.com or any other country. You can then type in your ‘list price’ and see the royalty that you will earn from this list price.
Amazon takes a 60% royalty per sale, and whilst this sounds a lot, it is worth it for the ease – when someone purchases your book on Amazon, they print and post directly without you having to lift a finger. Passive income wins.
Here, you can also check the ‘expanded distribution’ box which allows other distributors to add your book to their catalogue. For example, I checked this box when I published my poetry books.
At the time I didn’t really understand what it meant, but it made sense when I started seeing my books appearing on other sites such as goodreads.com and worldofbooks.com
Don’t worry too much about pricing, as you can come back and change the price at any time.
14. Request a Proof of Your Book
You’re nearly there – hazaaaah!
At the end of the pricing section, you will find a button to order a proof of your book. I would recommend ordering a proof so that you can proof read once more in the physical form, plus check for any alignment or design errors.
15. Publish Your Poetry Book!
You made it. Once you have received your proof and are happy with any tweaks, you are ready.
Hit the button, you can do it – ‘Publish Your Paperback book.’
How long does it take to get a book published on Amazon?
Once you hit publish, it takes between 3-10 days business days for your book to be available to purchase to Amazon.
Self-Publishing & Selling Your Poetry Book
Self-publishing your poetry book is easier than most people think. Whilst, you may want to throw your laptop out of the window on more than one occasion, if you follow the above guide, you will most definitely get there in the end. However, I would like to be upfront that writing, designing and self-publishing your poetry book is a whole different skillset from making sales.
I published my first poetry book in 2021, and after a few more collections, I am only now getting to grips with how to promote effectively using various marketing techniques. I hope to write more on this as I see my own sales results, and my knowledge and experience progresses.
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