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Are you a fairly experienced knitter who loves creating original knitting patterns? Maybe you have offered a few free patterns on Ravelry or even sold them on Etsy. If this sounds like you and you are ready to scale up and make some real money, it is time to consider Amazon KDP.
The KDP stands for Kindle Direct Publishing. Amazon has an entire division devoted to self-publishing novels, comics, cookbooks, journals, poetry, and even textbooks. Self-publishing can be in the form of paperback, hardcover, or ebook and can be offered to individual countries or globally. With Amazon KDP, you retain full rights to your content and publishing your pattern or book on the platform is free. Whether you are interested in publishing single knitting patterns or a complete book of several patterns, Amazon KDP will allow you to self-publish and sell to fellow knitters.
The first step is to create an Amazon KDP account. The website will guide you through the process where you will add bank details and tax information allowing Amazon to collect and disperse payments. You will use this account to upload and finalize the publication of your completed knitting patterns. Logging into this account will also allow you to create reports and view data about sales and deposits.
Amazon KDP permits digital files to be uploaded for publication in the following formats:
Create your knitting pattern or ebook of patterns in a Word document and save it as a doc. or docx. document. If you use a Mac, you can create your pattern in Pages and then export to Word. Do not add a book cover, images or a table of contents to your Word document, only the actual text. Be sure to add page breaks and headings. Download Kindle Create and upload your Word file. Kindle Create will then guide you through the process of preparing your publication. Using Kindle Create, you will be able to add images and other tables. Once your pattern looks perfect, click "generate" and the file will be uploaded to your Amazon KDP account.
Your book cover is your first impression and will help you stand out from the crowd. It is best to take your own photos and use Canva free software to create your cover. Once you have created the cover, upload it in Amazon KDP where prompted.
Writing the title and description is very important because this will be used by Amazon to display your publication in response to search queries. Be very careful to disclose that your product is a pattern and not the actual knitted garment. For example, "Multi-Color Knitted Scarf" would get you in trouble with Amazon because buyers may think they are receiving an actual scarf. Instead, use "Multi-Color Scarf Knitting Pattern."
Consider whether you are selling a single knitting pattern or a collection of patterns and research the competition. Decide on a price point that is right in the middle. You want your customers to feel as if they are receiving a good value for the price. Reviews on Amazon are very important, so avoid disappointing the buyer.
Once every detail has been added to Amazon KDP, it is time to publish.
Congrats! You have now self-published a knitting pattern on Amazon.
