It goes without saying that Amazon is well past its days as an online book-selling platform. These days, the mega-retailer slings everything from skincare and clothing to big-name electronics and even groceries, serving more than 100 million customers in the United States alone.
That said, the online retailer continues to sell new and used hardcover, paperback, and e-books, both online and through the Amazon Kindle. In fact, Amazon is still considered to be the world’s largest book retailer with over 33 million titles available. As such, it’s also one of the best platforms for those looking to sell used books or authors looking to self-publish their own content.
Curious to find out more about how to get started buying and selling books on Amazon or on the Amazon Kindle? Read on to get to know the ins and outs of buying, selling, and self-publishing with the world’s largest book retailer.
How to buy Kindle books on Amazon
Nothing will ever beat the smell of a freshly published novel or a decades-old second-hand book, but there’s no denying the ease and convenience that is the ability to carry around hundreds of books in your pocket. Buying Kindle Books on Amazon affords readers to work their way through multiple books at once, pack dozens of beach reads for their next holiday, or simply adjust the text size and font for easier reading.
Kindle Books are also extremely easy to purchase and download onto your Kindle device or smartphone, and they tend to be relatively less expensive than purchasing a hard copy of the same book. To purchase Kindle Books, all you have to do is open Amazon on your browser of choice (you cannot purchase Kindle Books on the Amazon app), select the book you want, and hit the “buy now with 1-click” button. This will automatically send the Kindle Book directly to your Kindle or smartphone in a matter of seconds.
How to sell used books on Amazon
If you have a collection of rare books you’re looking to sell or you just want to clear some space on your bookshelf for new paperback releases, selling used books on Amazon is a great way to make some extra cash while ensuring your books will be enjoyed by someone new–and it’s surprisingly simple.
In order to sell books on Amazon, first, you’ll need to register as an individual seller or a professional seller. Then you’ll have to decide how you want to fulfill your orders. You can either opt to store, list, and ship books yourself or, for an additional fee, you can ship your books to an Amazon Fulfillment Center and have Amazon take care of shipping, handling, reviews, and more. The latter is a particularly good option as many Amazon shoppers prefer taking advantage of Amazon Prime (which individual sellers cannot offer).
After you’ve gotten your account logistics up and running, the next step will be to list and price your books. Search the ISBN code for each book and do some research to see what each used book is selling for before creating the listing. When listing each book, you’ll also want to be totally honest about the condition the book is in to ensure happy customers and good reviews.
How to self-publish a book on Amazon
If you have a story that just needs to be told, sometimes the best route to take is self-publishing–and Amazon Self-Publishing is one of the best platforms for authors looking to get their book out there. The first step is to create an Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) account. From there, you’ll click the “+ Kindle eBook” button, set your book’s primary language, and follow the prompts to add your book title, subtitle, author name, and description. Keep in mind that your book description will be what hooks your reader, so you’ll want to consider this first step just as important as the book contents.
From there, you’ll have to go through a series of questions and confirmations to ensure you have the rights to your book contents, the target audience age range, keywords, and your desired book release date. Then you’ll get to upload your book content and cover and preview your book. It’s recommended to take this step slow and pore through your content with a critical eye as once it’s published there’s no going back in to edit a typo or grammatical error.
Finally, you’ll be prompted to select the publisher name (optional) and ISBN code, set the retail price, and save your draft until you’re ready to publish.
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