Create a Children's Book to Sell on Amazon KDP | Step by Step Tutorial to Self-Publish in 2024

The video provides a step-by-step guide on creating and publishing a children's story book using Amazon KDP. It covers setting up book templates, margins, and choosing between bleed and no bleed options for the interior pages. The presenter suggests designing the interior pages before the cover to ensure consistency and to determine the correct cover size based on the number of pages. Links to KDP's trim size, bleeds, and margins information are provided for reference.

The speaker explains how to set up the interior page dimensions and margins for a children's story book in Canva, using specific measurements from Amazon KDP. They discuss the importance of setting margins to avoid content being cut off during printing and demonstrate how to use rulers and shapes to accurately place these margins. Additionally, the video touches on writing age-appropriate content and engaging stories for children's books.

This part of the script discusses various methods for illustrating a children's story book, including hiring a professional illustrator, using artificial intelligence platforms like mid Journey, Leonardo AI, or chat gp4, or leveraging existing graphic elements from sources like creative Fabrica or Canva. The presenter shares their personal preference for AI methods and provides tips on finding and using graphic elements to create unique scenes.

The video demonstrates how to use Canva's AI capabilities to create and expand backgrounds, like a magical forest, and how to use existing elements to build scenes with characters. The presenter shows techniques for adding text to the scenes, ensuring it contrasts with the background for readability, and using transparency tricks for better text visibility. They also emphasize checking the margins to ensure no elements are cut off during printing.

The speaker guides viewers through the process of designing a book cover using Canva, starting with selecting a background and adding elements like characters and objects that fit the story's theme. They explain how to use Canva's AI feature to expand backgrounds and ensure elements are within the cover's margins. The video also covers downloading the cover as a PDF for printing and using Amazon KDP's cover calculator to determine the correct cover size.

After designing the book's interior and cover, the script explains how to download them as PDFs with the appropriate color profiles for printing. It details the process of setting up a new book on Amazon KDP, including entering book details like title, author name, description, and selecting appropriate categories and keywords. The video also covers determining the competitiveness of keywords for better book discoverability on Amazon.

The presenter discusses the importance of selecting relevant keywords for the book's visibility on Amazon and how to assess keyword competitiveness. They guide through setting the book's pricing, ensuring it covers printing and delivery costs while remaining competitive. The video also explains Amazon KDP's process for adding a barcode to the cover and the importance of transparency regarding AI-generated content in the book.

The final part of the script covers the steps to upload the book's interior and cover to Amazon KDP, checking for proper margins, and approving the preview. It explains the cost implications for printing the book and setting a price that allows for a profit while remaining attractive to customers. The video concludes with the publishing process, including the potential wait time for Amazon's review and eventual publication of the book.