If reading indie authors is your thing, Humans Don’t Have Horns
is widespread: eBook: Amazon Kindle + KU; Paperback: Amazon, Barnes & Noble online; Audiobook: Audible, Apple Books, Spotify, Kobo, Everand, Storytel, and Barnes & Noble
Humans Don’t Have Horns has launched on August 21, and so I’ve officially been a published indie author for one month (!!) Consider this another Amazon’s “learn from my mistakes so you can make your own” 🖤
1. Pre-Orders – are they important?
Pre-orders are valuable in creating momentum, making a strong call to action, and helping you build anticipation leading up to launch day.
Having said that, I still can’t say what the benefits of pre-orders are algorithm-wise. I ran a three-month pre-order, and my paperback ranked higher than my eBook on launch week. Categories may have played a role, but still.
Perhaps if you rank in the top 100 in your category, there’s a real benefit to it. But I’m also a bit skeptical about that because whatever books Amazon recommends to me are always sponsored. But maybe I’m missing something.
If you are doing pre-orders, I don’t advise a three-month period like I did (by mistake), unless you have a strategy that works. Amazon’s ranking is updated daily. If you sell well today, your rank goes up. If you sell fewer copies tomorrow, your rank will go down. Long pre-orders spread sales too thin across weeks, so I didn’t see any big algorithmic payoff on launch day.
My advice: pre-orders are useful as a call to action and hype builder, but keep them short and strategic.
I also didn’t realize in advance that Pre-orders only affect your eBook ranking, not paperback. This makes sense, since pre-orders are exclusive to eBooks, so what I really didn’t understand was that ranking is separate for each format. 🤣
2. If ranking matters to you, categories matter.
Amazon ranks your book inside categories. It took me a month (embarrassingly) to realize my eBook and paperback weren’t even listed on the same ones.
A top 100 placement may not guarantee automatic Amazon love, but it’s a great credibility badge. So take time to find less competitive categories. There are entire guides and even a paid program out there to help you choose the right ones. (I bought one. Still haven’t mastered it.)
📚 You can change categories after publishing.
📚Each format gets three categories, period. The old “email Amazon for more” advice is outdated.
📚 Amazon changes things daily, so this post might also be outdated. 🤣
3. Beta Tools
Subscribe to the KDP Beta Authors newsletter. This will help you get access to a few things.
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Whispersync – sync your audiobook with your eBook. I thought this would be done automatically once I launched my audiobook and made sure that it would be similar to the eBook. But that did not happen, and when I contacted Amazon, the answer was that they approach authors and offer that option, but only to authors who are signed up for the beta newsletter. They sent me a link to sign up, and I did. Soon after, my eBook and audiobook got synced.
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Promotions – as far as I can tell, only beta users can nominate their eBook for Kindle Deals or Prime Reading.
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I’m sure there are more tools I haven’t discovered yet.
4. Proofs vs. Author Copies
Proof copies: Always order a proof copy before publishing. Nothing compares to holding your book in your hands. Seeing the font size, the margins, the cover colors, the paper tone – it’s the only way to know if the formatting actually looks the way you imagined.
If you need to make any changes (such as cover alignment, font, paper color, or even a single typo), Amazon must re-approve your files before you can publish. That takes time. If you wait until right before launch, you might end up stuck with issues you can’t fix quickly. (Ask me how I know.)
Author copies: Once your book is live, you can order author copies. These look identical to retail books (no watermarks). They look like real retail books but cost less.
Why order them:
🎁For influencer mailings or PR boxes (what I did).
🎁For giveaways, book clubs, or events.
🎁Some authors even order through Amazon, sign them, and sell directly (for example, on TikTok). From what I found, this is allowed – as long as you’re not undercutting Amazon’s retail price. But I haven’t tried it myself
5. X-Ray for Kindle
X-Ray is the feature on Kindle where readers can tap a name or place and get a quick reference. It’s especially powerful for fantasy books (like mine) because we throw entire kingdoms, family trees, and invented words at our readers. But it’s not just for fantasy – character lists, locations, and recurring terms are helpful in any genre.
✅ It improves the reading experience. Readers don’t have to flip back or feel lost.
✅ It can make your book look more polished and professional on Kindle.
✅ I’ve heard it might give a tiny nudge in ranking, but if it does, it’s not significant.
If you’ve already done the work of building your world, you may as well spend the extra time to upload X-Ray data. It’s free, it’s easy, and your readers will thank you.
6. Author Page
You can add your books, bio, and even recommended reads to your Author Page.
There’s a theory floating around that the more Amazon tools you use, the more the algorithm “rewards” you. Is that true? No one knows for sure. But my approach is simple: if Amazon gives me a free feature, I’ll use it.
7. A+
A+ lets you add more visuals and text to your product page, including banners, graphics, and additional context about your book. In the past, authors could even upload videos (which would have been amazing), but Amazon changed that policy. Currently, it’s images and text only. It pushes sponsored ads further down your page, so readers see more of your content before Amazon tempts them with “You might also like…”
As I said, some believe that the more you use Amazon’s tools, the more the algorithm favors you.
8. Sensitive Content Labels
Don’t do it.
I checked “sexual content” because my book has explicit scenes. If you check that box, your book basically disappears from Amazon’s search results. Readers will only find it if they type in your exact title or author name.
The spiciest books on Amazon don’t check that box, and you shouldn’t either. Lesson learned.
9. Print Quality
Amazon’s print quality isn’t always perfect. When I ordered a large batch of author copies, a noticeable number arrived with issues. Nothing so bad that a reader would likely return them, but not up to the standard I felt comfortable sending out to influencers. That was enough for me to pull back on offering hardcovers through KDP. I think people who buy hardcovers tend to expect a premium product. That made me nervous about offering them through Amazon’s print-on-demand. But many authors sell hardcovers through KDP. It’s not a deal-breaker, just something to keep in mind.
10. Kindle Unlimited (KU)
KU means going exclusive with Amazon for 90 days at a time. You can still sell your paperback (and hardcover) through other platforms, and you can publish your audiobook elsewhere, too.
💸 Lower royalties. You will earn less compared to eBook sales. The exact gap depends on your book length and price point, but I can see it in my royalty reports.
You only see the total number of pages read per day. Not how many unique readers you have, how far individual readers got, or where they stopped. Social media platforms give better analytics than Amazon does, and I really wish they didn’t keep authors in the dark.
Having said all that, KU puts your book in front of more readers, especially those hesitant to take a chance on an unknown author. For a new indie, that exposure is invaluable.
Big-name authors use KU, too, so it’s not just for beginners. I’m currently reading The Fallen And The Kiss Of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent on KU.
When you read on KU, the author is being paid per page, so please do read the entire book, including the acknowledgment and whatever.
11. ACX
If you want to turn your book into an audiobook, ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange) is an easy way to do it.
🎧 Once your eBook is scheduled for publication on Amazon, you can set up your audiobook on ACX.
🎧 Narrators audition for your project, reading the pages you posted.
🎧 My experience was of a great, easy platform.
🔒 Exclusive with ACX: You get higher royalties and promotional perks like free coupons. But you’re locked into five years of exclusivity with Audible, Amazon, and iTunes. Ninety days exclusive for KU is one thing. Five years of exclusivity for ACX felt like too much.
I went wide: I receive lower royalties, but now my audiobook is available on Spotify, Kobo, Chirp, and more, through Voices.com.
I don’t know yet whether wide will be more profitable; I’ll only see sales reports after my first whole month on Voices.com.
12. Getting reviews is Hard
Amazon prefers verified purchases, and even then, some reviews never appear. Goodreads is easier for ARC readers. I suspect that reviews impact ranking, but I don’t know for sure. Please leave an Amazon review for your indie authors.
