How to self-publish a Kindle paperback
Folio is the prep. Kindle Direct Publishing is the publish. Write short pieces, order them by mood, take the files, and upload them yourself. The sample chapbook below is what “done” looks like.
1. Write the pieces
Open The Folio Desk and write poems, stories, recipes, or journal entries.
Sit at Poetry, Short stories, Recipes, or Journal. Type, import a file, or split a manuscript. Line breaks stay on poems. A recipe is a dish and the notes, not a form.
2. Arrange by mood
Assign moods or weather and set the sequence of pieces.
The rail is Light, Joy, Love, Wonder, Still, Grief, Dark, Fire — plus any bubble you add. Infer may suggest weather; you can ignore it. Dual tags are for placement. Sequence is the table of contents you can drag. That order is the paperback.
3. Package print files
Export the print-ready interior PDF and wrap cover (and paste card) for your trim size.
On the desk: Book → Package for KDP. Set trim (6 × 9, 5.5 × 8.5, or 5 × 8), cream or white paper, a dedication if you have one, a cover from type or a photograph. Build. Take the interior. Take the jacket when it is yours. Copy the print line.
4. Publish on KDP
Create a paperback title at Kindle Direct Publishing, set the same trim and page count, upload Folio’s files, and publish. Folio does not publish for you.
Start a paperback, not a Kindle eBook, unless you also took the EPUB. Paste the card. Match trim, paper, black ink, no bleed. Upload interior, upload wrap. Preview on Amazon’s proof. Price. Publish.
On the desk, in order
- New book, a kind, a title that is not Folio.
- Pieces on the desk — typed, imported, or split from a manuscript.
- Weather, by hand or inferred. Custom bubbles if the rail is wrong.
- Sequence: drag until the book reads.
- Dedication if you have one. A page on a mood if the weather needs a door.
- Cover: compose or a photograph, crop, trim, paper.
- Package for KDP. Build. Take the interior. Take the jacket. Copy the print line.
- Open KDP. Match trim, paper, ink, no bleed. Upload. Preview. Price. Publish.
Folio packages the files. You create the paperback title at kdp.amazon.com and upload them. There is no Publish button here, and no autosubmit. The interior PDF is always free. The wrap, the zip, and the paste card are the jacket ($24). Folio is not affiliated with Amazon or Kindle Direct Publishing.
Open a finished book
Poetry, stories, recipes, a journal — interiors and wraps already built.
Folio
Poems · 36 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
Night Buses
Stories · 24 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
The Kitchen Book
Recipes · 24 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in
The Desk
A journal · 24 pages · 5.5 × 8.5 in