21 Things You Might Not Know about Amazon Self-Publishing by Francis Booth

1. It doesn’t cost you anything. Nothing. Zero.
2. Amazon allows you to create and publish paperbacks on KDP as well as e-books.
3. You can also publish an audiobook version through Amazon.
4. You keep the copyright; with a mainstream publisher you have to sign away the copyright for up to 10 years.
5. Amazon gives you a free ISBN.
6. You have your own Amazon Author Page where you can put pictures, biographical details, promotional videos and upcoming events; readers can click to follow you.
7. Your book will be available for purchase on Amazon within 48 to 72 hours of you uploading it.
8. Your paperback will be printed on demand (POD) so there is no minimum or maximum order quantity.
9. You can specify your own fonts and layouts for the paperback and you can include illustrations in both e-book and paperback versions, though they will be black and white in the paperback.
10. If you have an image for the cover you can design the complete wraparound cover online using Amazon’s Cover Creator; if you don’t you can use one of Amazon’s stock designs.
11. For the paperback, you can choose matte or glossy covers and cream or white paper.
12. Amazon customers will receive your paperback one or two days from ordering; Amazon Prime customers don’t have to pay postage.
13. The paperbacks are large format, well printed and highly professional.
14. You can set your own prices, subject to a certain minimum. You can also set prices for markets outside the UK. While you are publishing the book you can play around with pricing on the Amazon site to see how much you will make at various price levels.
15. You keep 70% of the selling price for e-books and 60% minus cost on paperbacks.
16. Your book will simultaneously be available in major countries like the US, Japan, France and Germany.
17. You can order as many copies of your paperback as you want for yourself at cost price plus postage. Cost price is 70p +1p per page.
18. After publication you can make changes to your book at any time without withdrawing it from sale; you can change anything except the title and ISBN.
19. There is a new desktop/laptop Amazon tool called Kindle Create that allows you to format your e-book; you can import your Microsoft Word document straight into it.
20. Your readers don’t need an actual Kindle; the Kindle app is free and runs on any computer, tablet or smartphone, including all Apple devices.
21. Amazon advertising will suggest your book to readers next to the authors and books you specify; there is no upfront charge for their advertising services.

Thanks, Francis. 

This is taken from my this week's Bookchat blog on Hastings Online Times. (Tuesday 14 May, 2019)