How to submit a KDP or e-book or e-short story on Amazon?

April 16, 2019 11:36 AM

I want to submit some chapters of a book I'm writing to KDP or the e-book version on Amazon. I have both short stories and a book I'm working on. Does Amazon KDP accept short stories and poems? And for a book, can I submit my first 10 chapters and see if readers enjoy it, then add to my book in the months ahead? Or does the book have to be completely done? Thanks!
posted by lynnie-the-pooh to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

KDP is for full, real publishing of full documents -- you don't really have the opportunity to only partly publish a book then add to it later, because then that's not a permanent, fixed document . I believe you can do revisions, but that's not really for what you're doing. You need to have a book ready for publishing to put out on KDP.

It doesn't look like there's a minimum length unless you want a printed document.
posted by AzraelBrown at 11:50 AM on April 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Interesting idea...

Amazon KDP doesn't really know the difference between finished and unfinished as you describe it.

You would be able to publish files with KDP as a book. And later replace those files.

You could write in your DESCRIPTION that it is an excerpt.
Do NOT write in the SUBJECT that it is an excerpt, because changing the title requires a conversation with Amazon support.


Separately, if you have never published to KDP before, you'll want to read through their documentation to ensure that the manuscript and the book cover are formatted in a way that will work.
posted by jander03 at 11:50 AM on April 16, 2019

Length isn't a problem (though figuring out pricing for short stuff can be hard...) but incomplete works are a problem (and stand a decent chance of getting flagged as disapppointing content - see here for the KDP guidelines.)

WattPad is better set up for 'float some text and see how people respond' through transitioning from that to getting people to buy it (once you have a complete version on KDP or whereever) can be tricky.
posted by jenettsilver at 11:52 AM on April 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Seconding Wattpad; I've a couple friends who use it and it's apparently a great community and way to get your stuff out there-- and one of them even got some real publishing opportunities through Wattpad!
posted by Pastor of Muppets at 1:12 PM on April 16, 2019

You can pretty much publish whatever you want -- I mean, there's no submission process, although there is a removal one that basically consists of waking up to an email from Amazon saying your book has been dumped -- but there is a very specific way to do what you want to do.

That method is to publish a book of short stories with a preview of your forthcoming full-length novel at the end, appended by an exhortation to join your mailing list at Authorname.com to find out when the novel is available on Amazon and by the way please also leave a review. This is 100% normal and routine; I actually can't remember the last time I bought a novel, novella or book of short stories without a substantial preview at that end. OK, ten chapters might be very substantial, but four or six isn't unusual.

So yeas you can do what you want, just perhaps not in the way you were initially imagining it. But no, there is no market for poetry; you can see that it isn't very popular from the Amazon sales rank of poetry books. Sorry.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:15 PM on April 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

You'd be much better off publishing your book as a serial and titling it as such, rather then calling it "unfinished" and promising to update it later.

And I really recommend spending some time learning about self-publishing, because you'd be much more successful (and thus happier and more likely to continue in the long run).
posted by stormyteal at 5:35 PM on April 16, 2019