If you’ve ever been interested in self-publishing a book, there’s a high chance at some point or another you have come across Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), an e-book publishing platform that has been around for over a decade at this point.

However, while you may have seen rave reviews of this platform online, it’s crucially important for anyone deciding to publish a book to be aware of how reliable a publishing program is since there are unfortunately many scattered across the web that are not legitimate and are posing as reliable publishers in order to scam an author out of their sales.

Therefore, so that you know whether KDP is reliable and if you should choose them when you’re ready to publish, we’ve got everything you need to know right here.

What Is Kindle Direct Publishing?

Kindle Direct Publishing is an online ebook publishing platform that was first launched back in 2007 upon the release of the very first Kindle.

Since Kindle is owned by Amazon, the publishing service is also affiliated with the mega-company who are the ones in charge of the actual uploading of the book.

Amazon has attempted to implement several different publishing platforms onto their Kindle devices throughout the last decade, though all of them have been discontinued or minimized in their functionality, except for Kindle Direct Publishing.

Kindle Scout, Kindle Worlds, and Kindle Publishing for Blogs are just a few of these programs that never survived the long term, primarily because they weren’t receiving enough traffic or attention, but KDP on the other hand has remained strong ever since it was released and has very recently been labeled as the largest ebook publisher of self-published books, having sold over 487 million kindle books to this day.

How Legit Is Kindle Direct Publishing?

Many aspiring authors who are being careful with their publishing decisions will often think that Kindle Direct Publishing sounds a little too good to be true, especially since it is advertised as being completely free, but the truth is that it is entirely legitimate and there is no attempt by Amazon to trick people out of their money by using this platform.

In fact, many people say that there is a bigger chance of the readers being scammed as opposed to the authors, but only in the sense that there are many books on the Amazon and Kindle stores which are poorly written and purposefully padded out which they can get away with since it is so easy to publish books using KDP.

However, Amazon works feverishly to get rid of these types of books that seem a little suspicious and are considered very poor quality in order to have a service that provides real, authentic, and worthwhile books by real authors, rather than those that could be AI-generated for example.

With that being said, in terms of the authors themselves, they should never immediately turn down the opportunity to publish through KDP since it is fast, efficient, and completely reliable.

How Much Does It Cost To Publish A Book With KDP?

Not only is it completely free for an author to publish their book using the KDP platform, but it actually pays more than ever nowadays thanks to the scheme Amazon uses in regard to their royalties.

The way it works is when you go through the publication process, you will not be asked to pay any upfront cost, however, you will be required to agree to Amazon taking a portion of your book’s earnings when it is available to buy.

Overall you will be left with up to 70% royalties after the book print price, which is actually a fair amount compared to many competitor publishing platforms and considering how much lower this number used to be for authors using KDP.

Additionally, in true self-publishing fashion, you will also be able to set your own list prices and make any amends to your book at any time, so you won’t lose any of your rights as an author when you publish through KDP.

Benefits Of Publishing With KDP

Now that you know that Kindle Direct Publishing is trustworthy and completely legitimate, the biggest question then becomes whether it is actually worth publishing through KDP, or if there are more worthwhile alternatives.

The truth is there are plenty of exciting benefits that come with self-publishing a book through KDP, so let’s take a look at some of the perks that you can expect.

Speedy Publishing

Not only does it take 5 to 10 minutes to publish a book using KDP, but your book will also appear on Kindle and Amazon stores worldwide within 72 hours.

This is a lot faster than many other online publishing platforms which often take a few working days before the book will become available, and it saves a lot of hassle, especially when you consider that going through a publishing agency can take weeks and even months to publish a book.

Change Your Book At Any Time

Whether you want to change the price of your book, update the cover image, or even correct some minor errors that you noticed after the publication was complete, all of this is still available to you with the author still having full control over their product.

This is an especially beneficial perk if you are an indie author or someone who doesn’t want their book being meddled with and edited by publishers which can end up diminishing a lot of the charm and authenticity of a story.

Access To Sales Data

By logging into your KDP account and clicking on the “Reports” tab, you will be able to see all the sales figures and data for your books. This is especially important to know since it can help you improve as a writer by noticing what your audience is gravitating towards the most.

If you notice that one of your books has been selling a lot better than others, it means that people have been recommending and sharing the book through word of mouth and reviews, so you can be sure there will be plenty of new fans feverishly waiting for a new installment.

This then grants you the option to either write a sequel to the book and follow a similar writing and thematic structure, or you can write another standalone book that borrows some light elements and ideas from that story that the fans have shown an interest in.

Global Audience

When finalizing the publication of your book, you will be asked what countries you want the book to be available in, and the list of countries offered by KDP is extremely large, giving you a great opportunity to catch as many eyes as possible.

Summary

All in all, Kindle Direct Publishing is not only completely legitimate, but it also comes with so many benefits that any author interested in self-publishing should consider advertising their book through it.

It is the best platform for driving as much traffic and attention toward your book as possible, and since publishing through KDP is so easy and can be done in a matter of minutes, along with being entirely free, it is a fantastic option for any author looking to self-publish a book.