Kindle Direct Publishing

Kindle Direct Publishing (“KDP”) is a part of the Amazon conglomerate. They’d existed an an online retailer for some years before introducing a portable e-reader, the Kindle, in 2007. At the same time, they offered publishers and independents access to the ecosystem, such that they could making books available via download (and then via print-on-demand) and receive royalties based on sales.

The e-reader model changes things a lot for independent authors. No longer is it necessary to persuade a publisher to take a chance on you and your book by having wholesale quantities printed. Instead, just one copy of your book exists, held in a data centre somewhere and ready to be duplicated each time somebody pays for it. That removes all the risk for the publisher and wholesaler... but it also means there’s no longer a need for those functions to exist at all. The author can do everything. (Quality is variable, however: eliminate the publisher and you also lose the services of a professional proofreader/copy editor.)

The e-reader format has changed the landscape for fiction significantly. It’s revitalised the novella – a form that had all but disappeared from mainstream publishing as page-counts swelled. It’s reversed the upward trend in book prices (while still paying better royalties than print media) and allows people to take a chance on a new author. Physical retail locations simply couldn’t take a chance on new authors or niche topics because their retail shelf space had become too expensive. It was always safer to use that space for known authors, multi-part serials and film- and TV tie-ins. Another key change brought about by e-readers is privacy: people don’t necessarily know what you’re reading on a Kindle, a Nook (Barnes & Noble equivalent) or most commonly via an app on your smartphone. This is expected to have been a factor in the success of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘.

Amazon continue to try new things with Kindle Direct Publishing. Subsequent features have included the ability to lend books to friends, a monthly subscription “all you can eat” business model (where authors are paid per page view), audiobooks, etc. Most recently, Vella, a pay-to-view model for serials has been attempted.

Publishing via KDP (or elsewhere) is easy to do, but hard to do well. Perhaps authors can expand this wiki entry to feature advice about how to get the most from the platform?