Set up pre-orders up to 18 months in advance - KDP Forum

That's it for today.

Panzer found an announcement at the Kindle Direct Publishing site about pre-orders.

 

There are new rules for pre-order cancellations and the length of a pre-oder.

 

Note: This is a short announcement. You don't need to bring anything to snack on.

 

To read the post tootle over to KDP 

Groundwood Paper - KDP Publishing Feature

I already have a small footprint. I'm a cat.

Here's some information about a new KDP Publishing feature Panzer discovered on the site.

 

Authors can now choose to use groundwood paper  instead of standard paper for their paperback books. You can learn about the advantages of using groundwood paper to lessen your carbon footprint and save money on printing at the site.

 

 Panzer says, "This little kitty has heard sometimes the letters show through the paper from the other side of the page."

 

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a glass of iced tea. 

 

To read about groundwood paper tootle over to KDP Amazon

Introducing Kindle Translate in Beta: Translate eBooks into multipla languages - KDP Forum

Books translated? Who checks the translation?

Panzer's next stop was at the KDP Forum site. 

 

There our inquisitive kitty boy found a post about the new Kindle Translate feature. Kindle Translate is in Beta and so by invitation only.

 

Panzer says, "Right now it's free because it's in Beta testing." 

 

To read the announcement tootle over to Kindle Translate 

Free Self Publishing With Dale Podcast: Huge News: KDP Publishing Audiobooks???

It's Friday.

Panzer thought you might like to watch a podcast about Amazon and AI narrated audiobooks. He told you about Amazon's beta test of AI narrated audiobooks earlier this week.

Dale L. Roberts' podcast episode is 32 minutes long. It covers not only Amazon's original announcement, but his speculation about what the future might be for Amazon's audiobooks market.

Enjoy!

To watch the video tootle over to KDP and AI Audiobooks

Kindle Direct Publishing Will Beta Virtual Voice-Narrated Audiobooks - Publishers Weekly

How many voices will there be?

Today Panzer was shaken from his nap in his kitty bed by loud ooohing and aaahing and "It's about time," coming from the Catosphere. Hopping in the Panzermobile, our brave kitty boy followed all the noise to the Publishers Weekly site. There he discovered a post about Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) audiobooks.

 

According to the post, KDP announced in the Kindle Direct Publishing Community Forum they will begin beta testing virtual voice narrated audiobooks. (That means AI-narrated audiobooks.) The books chosen for the beta testing will be by invitation only. The post includes a link to the Community Forum announcement.

 

 Panzer says, "Interesting. ... Google has been letting authors do AI narrated books for several months now."

 

 Note: This is a short post as is the announcement at the Community Forum. Bring a cup of tea for your reading today.

 To read the post tootle over to KDP virtual voice audiobooks

Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing Will Limit Daily Number of Titles - Publishers Weekly

Today, at the Publishers Weekly site Panzer found a post about Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).

 

Will AI-books get banned?

According to a post by Jim Milliot, Amazon announced on Monday they will only allow a self-publisher to upload three books per day on KDP. Amazon also makes a reference to its previous post about policy and AI-generated material. The post includes a link to Amazon's announcement in the Community Forum.

 

Panzer says, "This little kitty still remembers when everybody started publishing those no content empty diaries and journals. Humans will do anything to avoid working to make money."

  

Note: This is a short post. You won't need to bring anything to snack on while you read today.

To read the post tootle over to KDP limit

Changes to the KDP Categories Experience - KDP Forum

I've got to check my books' categories..

On his way home Panzer made a quick stop at the KDP Forum. There he found a post about changes made to the book categories.

 

You can now pick three categories for your book to be in. You can see other books in the categories to make sure you've made the right choices. The post includes instructions to help you.

To read the post tootle over to KDP Categories

KDP Raises Printing Costs - KDP

All costs are rising.

Panzer heard KDP is raising printing costs for authors' print on demand (POD) books. To see how much the new pricing will impact his books, our speedy kitty boy made a trip to the KDP site.

 

There he found a chart which shows the current printing cost and the changes effective June 20.

 

 You can use the link below to see if you'll need to make changes to your books' pricing before June 20.

 

 To read the chart tootle over to KDP New Printing Costs

Publish KDP Paperbacks and Hardbacks in Sweden and Poland! - KDP Community

Today's trip into the Catosphere took Panzer to the KDP Community site. There he found a post that KDP authors' paperback and hardback books are now available for sale in Sweden and Poland.

 

Maybe I'll adjust the prices there.

According to the post, authors who chose Worldwide, UK or EU distribution have their books automatically made available in Amazon's Sweden and Poland markets. There are links in the post to make changes for your books distribution.

 

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Two new marketplaces."

 

Note: This is a short post. You don't need to bring anything for today's reading. If you want to follow the links in the post and make changes to you books, you decide what to bring to eat and drink.

 

To read the post tootle over to Publish in Sweden and Poland

How to cancel or postpone a KDP preorder deadline without penalty - Creativindie

Today Panzer decided to visit some of the sites he hasn't been to for a while. Our nostalgic kitty boy made a stop at the Creativindie site. With a little digging in the posts there he found one about cancelling or postponing an author's pre-order deadline.

 

Cats don't like deadlines.

According to site owner and author Derek Murphy, over the years he's had to change his pre-order deadlines several times. Previously, KDP banned him from having pre-orders for a year. Now KDP has changed the pre-order deadline cancel and postpone rules. Derek Murphy explains the new rules and the steps necessary to successfully use them.

Panzer says, "Sometimes life just gets in the way and you can't finish your book on time."

Note:This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a muffin for today's reading lesson.

 

To read the post tootle over to KDP preorder

Three downloadable reports added to KDP reports beta - KDP Community

A quick nap. See you later.

Panzer found a news release at the KDP Community site about three reports that are now downloadable.

 

The three downloadable author reports are the Orders report, the KENP Read report, and the Pre-orders report. There's a link to log into the KDP reports site included in the post.

This is a very short post. You won't need anything to eat or drink for this reading selection.

 

To read the post tootle over to KDP reports

Publishing paperback and hardcover in the Netherlands is now available!

 Panzer had just started eating his dinner, when he heard clapping and cheering coming from the Catosphere. Hopping in the Panzermobile, our brave kitty boy followed all the joyful noise to the KDP site. There he found an announcement about publishing in the Netherlands.

Another market?

According to the post, effective January 31 KDP began distribution of paperback and hardcover books in the Netherlands. You must have worldwide, EU or UK distribution selected for your books to be eligible for the program. The end of the post includes links to instructions for changing your distribution if you need to.

 

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Guess I better have Mom go check our books."

 

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of cocoa for your reading. If you plan to follow the links, you probably don't want to bring anything else to eat or drink so you can concentrate on learning what to do.

 

To read the post tootle over to Amazon POD in Netherlands 

KDP adding a Transparency code to some barcodes - News Release - KDP Community

Today Panzer found a new announcement at the KDP Community site.

 

Makes it easier for authors.

According to the news release KDP will be beginning adding what the company calls Transparency Codes to the back of some of the books they publish in the U.S. and Canada. The announcement says the Transparency Code is similar to a QR Code. 

 

Panzer says, "With the new code the reader can find out everything about the author."

Note: The post is very short. You don't need to bring anything for today's reading.

To read the full post tootle over to Transparency Code

How to Self Publish a Hardcover Book on Amazon - Kindlepreneur

 When Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere today, our little adventuresome kitty decided to make a stop at the Kindlepreneur site. There he discovered a post about publishing a hardcover cover book at KDP. Panzer already told you about the new hardcover book option at KDP.

The post by Jason Hamilton explains in step-by-step instructions how to publish your book at KDP. While the instructions are simple, the post does include a rather hard sell on a formatting software he recommends. There are no formatting instructions for your manuscript if you don't get the software. The rest of the instructions, however, are easy to follow and can be used to upload your finished PDFs.

My work is never finished.

Panzer says, "Doing a hardback is now next on my list."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a big cup of tea, a muffin and a brownie.

To read the post tootle over to hardcover book

 To read Panzer's previous post about KDP hardcover books tootle over to KDP

Hardcover is available on KDP! - KDP Announcement

 Today as Panzer was napping, he was rudely shaken from his kitty bed by clapping and cheering coming from the Catosphere. Hopping in the Panzermobile, he followed all the noise to the KDP Community page. There he found an announcement about Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and hardcover books.

 

According to the post KDP has announced hardcover books will now be available as an option for authors' books. The hardcover books will have a 60 percent royalty. Submission information and links are included in the post.

 

Now back to that nap.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty wonders how this will work because of all the paper shortages everybody is talking about right now."

 

Note: This is a short post. You wont need to bring anything to read the post. If, however, you plan to follow all the links in the post, bring two cups of tea and three muffins.

 

To read the post tootle over to Hardcover on KDP

10 Amazon changes authors need to know about - Build Book Buzz

Today Panzer made a quick trip to the Build Book Buzz site. With some digging in the posts our speedy little kitty boy found one about changes Amazon has made that authors need to investigate.

 

The post by Rob Eagar explores the changes Amazon has made to Amazon ads, changes to Author Central and additions to KDP. In all, there are descriptions of 10 changes which authors need to be familiar with and use when appropriate. There are links to specific change areas included in the post.

My work is never finished.

 

Panzer says, "The first thing this little kitty is going to do is update his Amazon Author Central page."

 

Note: This is a long post. Bring a large glass of lemonade, two chocolate chip cookies and one brownie. If you plan to follow the links included in the post, you decide what else you want to bring.

 

To read the post tootle over to Amazon changes

 

 

 

Kindle Create Now Outputs POD Book Files - The Digital Reader

 It's been a while since Panzer has gone to The Digital Reader site, so he decided to make a stop there today. With a little digging in the posts, our traveling kitty pilot found one with news about the Kindle Create app/program/plugin.

According to The Digital Reader site owner Nate Hoffelder, Amazon has added the ability to do POD book files to Kindlw Create. This means you can create the files for your ebook and your paperback book using Create. As the post points out, the paperback book files created can't be used on any other platform. If you plan to use Amazon as your only paperback seller, then Create will work fine for you. The post contains a link to download Create from the Amazon site.

I wonder. Do you?

Panzer says, "Hmm ... We have Kindle Create as a plugin for Word. Inquiring kitties want to know, if we have to download the update ourselves or if it will update itself the next time we open it."

Note: This is a short post. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection. If you plan to download and install Kindle Create, bring a muffin too.

To read the post tootle over to Kindle Create

The Number of Self-Published Titles Cracked 1 Million in 2017 - Publishers Weekly

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when he decided to make a stop at the Publishers Weekly site. With a little digging in the posts there our adventurous kitty boy found one about ISBNs.

According to Jim Milliot, Bowker, the dispenser of ISBNs, has issued their annual report for 2017. The report lists print book ISBNs issued as 879,587 and ebook ISBNs issued as 129,601 for a total of 1,009,188 for the year. While ISBNs issued can be used to estimate the number of self-published books, it's not a totally accurate number. The ISBN numbers don't include Amazon's ASIN numbers for books published through KDP. The post does give information about ISBNs through CreateSpace (which is now gone), Lulu, Smashwords, and Author Solutions all of whose ISBN numbers are included in Bowker's total.

Everybody wants to write a book.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... What's a little kitty to do. The book publishing competition just keeps growing and growing."

Note: This is a medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and a cinnamon roll for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to self-published titles

Create Space to be Phased Out - Indies Unlimited

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere when the Panzermobile was buffeted by crying and wailing. Following all the noise took our brave kitty boy to the Indies Unlimited site. There he found a post about Create Space.

I knew it was coming, but I don't like it.

According to the post by K.S. Brooks, Amazon announced today that Create Space is being merged into KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). The email quoted in the post states that Create Space's publishing facilities and employees will still be used, so there should be no change in quality of service. However, a second email quoted in an update at the end of the post states there is an increase in printing costs for shorter UK and EU books. There are links included in the post for more information.

Panzer says, "This little kitty doesn't think Barnes and Noble will be getting his books from Amazon KDP like they have from Create Space to sell in their stores and online. ... So ... He (and you) better learn how to use Ingram to publish and distribute his (your) paperbacks."

Note: This is a long-medium length post. Bring a cup of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection. Oh, and you better bring a tissue to dry your tears at the demise of Create Space.

To read the post tootle over to Createspace

KDP Expanded Distribution - Kindle Direct Publishing Announcement

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere today when the Panzermobile was suddenly buffeted by cheering and clapping and laughing. Following all the joyous noises our kitty boy went to Amazon's KDP announcement site. With no digging at all he found a post by Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) about a new service they're offering.

This doesn't look good for Create Space.

According to the announcement, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is now offering expanded distribution to bookstores and retailers for KDP paperbacks. This has been the remaining difference between KDP and Create Space. Included in the announcement are royalty rates and fees for the expanded distribution service. There are also instruction on how to sign up your paperback for the service. Also included is a link to information about how expanded distribution works.

Panzer says, "Hmm ... This little kitty is wondering how much longer Create Space will continue now that KDP has added the expanded service."

Note: This is a short announcement. Bring a cup of tea for today's reading selection. If you plan to follow the link for distribution information, bring a muffin too.

To read the post tootle over to KDP