Self-publishing glossary
Short definitions you can quote, then the detail that matters when you publish. Each entry links to the tool or guide that goes with it.
Lead magnet
A lead magnet is a free piece of content, most often a short ebook, checklist or guide, offered in exchange for an email address. It turns an anonymous visitor into a subscriber you can write to. Good lead magnets solve one specific problem quickly and lead naturally to a paid product or service.
KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)
KDP, Kindle Direct Publishing, is Amazon’s free self-publishing platform. Authors upload a manuscript and a cover, set a price, and the book appears on Amazon as a Kindle ebook, a paperback or a hardcover within about 72 hours. Amazon pays a royalty of 35% or 70% on each ebook sale.
KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited
KDP Select is an optional 90-day program in which an ebook is exclusive to Amazon. In return it joins Kindle Unlimited, Amazon’s subscription library, where the author is paid per page read from a monthly fund, and gets promotion tools such as free days and Countdown Deals.
KENP (Kindle Edition Normalized Pages)
KENP, Kindle Edition Normalized Pages, is Amazon’s standard page count for a Kindle ebook, used to pay authors in Kindle Unlimited. Each page a subscriber reads earns a share of the monthly KDP Select Global Fund, historically around $0.004 to $0.005 per page, so a fully read 200-page book pays roughly $0.80 to $1.
Ebook royalty
An ebook royalty is the share of each sale paid to the author by the store. Amazon KDP pays 70% for prices between $2.99 and $9.99 (minus a small delivery fee) and 35% outside that range; Kobo and Apple Books pay 70%; Gumroad and your own site keep only the payment fee, leaving you 90% or more.
ISBN vs ASIN
An ISBN is the international 13-digit book identifier issued by national agencies, needed for print distribution to bookshops and libraries. An ASIN is Amazon’s own 10-character product code, assigned free to every listing. A Kindle ebook needs only an ASIN; a paperback needs an ISBN, which KDP can provide free.
EPUB
EPUB is the open standard file format for ebooks, used by every major store and reader except Amazon’s internal format, which KDP now creates from an EPUB upload. An EPUB is a zipped package of HTML, CSS and images with a navigation file, which lets text reflow to any screen size and font setting.
Reflowable vs fixed layout
A reflowable ebook adapts its text to the screen and the reader’s font size, like a web page; it is the normal format for novels and non-fiction. A fixed-layout ebook keeps every page exactly as designed, like a PDF, and suits picture books, comics and heavily designed workbooks at the cost of readability on phones.
Front matter and back matter
Front matter is everything before chapter one: title page, copyright, dedication, contents, foreword and introduction. Back matter is everything after the last chapter: acknowledgements, about the author, notes, and a call to action. Together they frame the book, and in ebooks the back matter is where the next sale happens.
AI disclosure (KDP)
AI disclosure is the question Amazon KDP asks at upload since September 2023: whether the text, images or translations were AI-generated. Content created by an AI tool must be declared, even if you edited it; content you wrote and then refined with AI (AI-assisted) need not be. Buyers never see the answer.
Print on demand
Print on demand (POD) is a service that prints and ships a physical book only when a copy is ordered, so the author holds no stock and pays no printing cost upfront. Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and Lulu are the main providers; the printing cost is deducted from each sale before the royalty is paid.
Low-content book
A low-content book is a print-on-demand product with little or no written text: journals, planners, logbooks, notebooks, colouring books and puzzle books. They are cheap to make and were a self-publishing trend around 2020; the category is now crowded, and Amazon has tightened its rules on repetitive listings.
Book blurb (description)
A book blurb is the short sales description of a book, printed on the back cover and shown on the store page. On Amazon it is the “description” field, up to 4,000 characters with basic HTML. A good blurb names the reader, states the problem or the stakes, promises the outcome, and ends with a reason to buy now.
Wide distribution
Wide distribution, or “going wide”, means selling an ebook on all stores, Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play, Barnes & Noble and your own site, instead of enrolling it exclusively in KDP Select. It trades Kindle Unlimited page reads for independence, library sales, and the right to sell or give the book away directly.
Workbook
A workbook is a book built around exercises: each chapter explains one idea briefly, then asks the reader to apply it with prompts, checklists, tables or reflection questions. Coaches, trainers and course creators use workbooks as lead magnets, as companions to a programme, and as a paid product that turns advice into practice.
Ghostwriting
Ghostwriting is writing a book that is published under someone else’s name, usually an expert, executive or public figure who has the knowledge but not the time or the craft. A ghostwritten non-fiction book costs from about 5,000 € for a short guide to 30,000 € and more for a full-length book, over three to nine months.