Kindle Create Add-In Beta for Word: Don't Waste Time with Trailing Edge Technology

Kindle Create Add-In Beta, Kindle Create, and the Kindle Previewer are powerful new authoring tools which are offered to you at no cost by Kindle Direct Publishing. Kindle Direct Publishing has set a course for the future and that future involves Microsoft Word. Sadly, many authors don’t know how to get the most out of Microsoft Word. They’re not familiar with the word processing features which Kindle Direct Publishing requires and references. Further, many authors aren’t familiar with KDP’s authoring programs—Kindle Previewer, Kindle Create, and the recently released add-in version of Kindle Create. Most books describe the features of Kindle Create or the methods for uploading a manuscript to Kindle Direct Publishing. Fewer books teach the intersection between the features of Microsoft Word and self-publishing through KDP.
One reason why authors don’t know how to make the most of MS Word and KDP authoring tools is the rapid rate at which both systems are developing. Word is constantly adding new features. Since I started writing this book three months ago, KDP has added manuals and versions. The Kindle Previewer has released two versions! The practical results of this information explosion are several. KDP’s instructions are hard to follow, difficult to relate to your version of Word, and are scattered throughout help pages and manuals.
If you’re like me, you’re struggling to publish your first or second book. You’re wasting hours trying to edit your book and to upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing. I tired of wrestling with KDP, and I decided it was time to learn to use MS Word as a publishing tool and to learn how to set up a manuscript so that it could be uploaded to KDP.
My research convinced me that a writer’s best investment is new technology, Kindle Create Add-In and Microsoft Word 365. I’ll teach you what I’ve learned through time consuming trial and error. I’ll walk you through an efficient publishing process in a step-by-step non-technical fashion beginning with getting your MS Word manuscript into a form which the KDP publishing platform will accept.
The specific benefits you’ll derive from learning how to get the most from the Kindle Create Add-In or the Kindle Create tools for Microsoft Word are several. First, you won’t have your name associated with an ugly digital book. Believe me, there are a lot of ugly books out there. Better still, you won’t print copies of your ugly book. The Kindle Create Add-In is easy to use, and it offers several professional book layouts. These layouts can be used to build digital books and print books of many sizes and types.
Second, you can streamline your editing and formatting process. This keeps you in control of your manuscript, and you won’t spend endless hours trying to get the page numbers or the headers and footers to come out as you wish them to be. You won’t have to figure out how to get the required interactive table of contents. You won’t have to pay someone to correct your mistakes.
Third, you’ll learn the mysteries of the Microsoft Word menu bar which are relevant to self-publishing. Most of us learn those aspects of Word that we need for the immediate project, never crack a manual or book, and don’t know how to integrate Word functions with self-publishing software. I can’t make you a Microsoft Word expert. What I will do is take a 1, 2, 3 step approach to self-publishing using the Kindle Create Add-In.
Fourth, the book is designed to help visual learners. Most of us comprehend better when we see a program function demonstrated rather than described on a written page. In other words, when learning computer programs, showing is often better than telling. In addition to listing the necessary steps, I’ve relied heavily on the excellent videos on YouTube. I’ll provide links you can follow to hasten your learning experience.
Finally, the steps in this book have been “kitchen tested.” As I wrote this book, I did each one of these steps as written.