Before I tell you more about publishing free on Amazon Kindle, I'll briefly mention something that has fascinated me for a while. Have you noticed the many times that politicians and
TV pundits use the words "slippery slope"? I'll bet that most of them and a lot of us don't have any idea where that phrase originated. I suspect that the idea of a slippery slope originated in the words of the great Eightenth Century New England preacher
Jonathan Edwards whose sermon "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" was well known and referred to for many years. He spoke of sinners on slippery ground being kept from slipping down to Hell only by the hand of God. What do you think?
Getting back to publishing on Kindle, the very first thing you need to do is start an account with Amazon Kindle for the purpose of safe communications from you to them and vice-versa.
To do that, go to Amazon.com on the internet and be sure that you are on their main page, the one that has a long search box at the top, with what looks like a magnifying glass in a small yellow box on the right end of the search box (I've noticed that once
in a while, when I expect their main page to pop up, some advertising page comes up instead, and I have to figure out what to click on to get to their main page).
Next,
go to the bottom of the main page and look at the four columns just above the words AMAZON.COM. Near the bottom of the second column from the left, find the words "Self-publish with us," and click on those words. In the box
labeled "Publish to Kindle," click on "Get Started." On the right side of the page, where it says "Don't have an Amazon account?" click "sign up."
When you make
up your password, please put that password in two separate safe places. I did not do that when I first signed up, and I had to start all over again because I could not figure out what to do without a password!
You may already know that you do not have to own a Kindle to read Kindle books. But do you also know that you do not need to own a Kindle to publish
on Kindle? Just download from Amazon their free Kindle reader APP, which you can find in a number of places on Amazon, or just look for it on their search box. The free Kindle reader can be downloaded to your computer, IPAD, and smartphone.
As soon as you can read Kindle books on a device, search for the free Kindle book Building your book
for Kindle and start reading it. In my next Blog, I'll give you some hints that may help you more quickly get your book ready for publication (free!) on Kindle and out to the world.