In 2018, Amazon launched a new program for non-fiction authors called Great on Kindle. The goal of this program was to make high-quality, non-fiction eBooks easier to find. Here’s the video I did about this news at the time.
One piece of now ancient history about the launch of this program was that it previewed as a glitch in the pricing structure where you choose the royalty option during the publishing process.
Normally, there are two options: 35% and 70%. However, if you have a book enrolled in the Great on Kindle program, you get a third option at 50%.
For one day only, a few KDP dashboards displayed all three options regardless of their Great on Kindle participation.
The mystery was soon solved when Amazon introduced the Great on Kindle program in mid-May of 2018.
So, how’s Great on Kindle going 5 years on and how can you get your books in the program? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
The Benefits of Great on Kindle
There’s got to be some benefits to this program, right? There are a few:
- Your book listed in the Great on Kindle store on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au, Amazon.in, and Amazon.fr
- A message and badge on your detail page showing your book is Great on Kindle
- Promotional credit offers for US customer only
- The chance to be more discoverable
Eligibility Requirements for Great on Kindle
The prerequisite requirements for your non-fiction eBook to be eligible for Great on Kindle are:
- Written in English or French
- Selected to take part in the program – There’s no information about how this works
- Available in these marketplaces: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.au, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.in, or Amazon.fr
- Be one of these file types: DOC/DOCX, EPUB, MOBI*, or ZIP
- No issues in the Quality Notifications Dashboard
- Must have a lower price than the print version if applicable
* Amazon KDP doesn’t use the MOBI file format anymore, so this information may not be entirely accurate even though it’s directly from their website.
There’s a little extra legwork if you want your book to be considered for this program. Here are the other requirements your books must meet in order to be in the Great on Kindle program:
1. Fix any and all quality issues.
If there are any quality issues such as formatting, spelling, or grammar errors associated with any of your books, this will be indicated at the top of your KDP dashboard. You will need to go in and fix all the issues. Here’s more about the Quality Notifications Dashboard.
2. Make sure all your images are high resolution.
With eBooks, readers can tap and interact with images to view them on a larger scale. For Great on Kindle, these images need to be a high resolution. See the guidelines here. You’ll also find some image tips on the help page for Great on Kindle itself.
Here’s another juicy tidbit on images:
As a nonfiction author with files that are image heavy, you lose out on a large chunk of the profits due to delivery fees.
The standard delivery rate for eBooks is about a penny for smaller files. But, once you break into the megabytes, it can cost 15 cents per megabyte.
This doesn’t seem like much to the average self-publisher, but it certainly adds up if you have a 10-megabyte file that sells at a $2.99.
Between the 30% take from Amazon and the delivery fees, most nonfiction authors with large interior files are left with royalty scraps.
So, now the 50% royalty is much more enticing, because you WON’T be charged for the delivery fee.
3. Make sure your book details are unique and accurate.
Your metadata must match what’s on your cover and all the information about your book must be accurate and consistent. Amazon KDP is making sure that Great on Kindle isn’t a place where keyword stuffers can gain a foothold. The days of gaming the system are over. You get places through your ability to follow guidelines and produce high-quality books.
KDP goes on to say:
We also recommend entering unique book details. Commonly used terms or phrases in your title, subtitle, or series name can make it harder for customers to find your book. Further, as a best practice, don’t be redundant when choosing a subcategory. Choosing even a single category will display your book in a variety of searches, so don’t list your book in both a category and one of its sub-categories.
4. Enable Enhanced Typesetting
Enhanced Typesetting is a series of features that provide benefits like faster reading and less eye strain. It allows readers more options to adjust their preferred reading layout on their eReader device. You can see what I mean here.
If you’re not sure if Enhanced Typesetting is enabled on your book, you can use the Kindle Previewer to find out. Download it free.
- Launch the Kindle Previewer and open your book.
- Click View and select Book Information.
- If your eBook supports Enhanced Typesetting, it will be clearly indicated on the pop-up window.
If your book includes large tables, consider breaking these up into smaller tables to qualify for Great on Kindle.
5. Turn on X-Ray.
This is where a little extra work may come in. X-Ray lets you add your own commentary to your book, and it is displayed to the reader when they use the X-Ray feature. It allows them to learn more about the topic, event, or place when they long-press certain terms.
You can enable X-Ray on your published eBooks.
To turn on X-Ray:
- Click the ellipsis (three dots) menu next to the eBook you want to enable X-Ray on in your KDP dashboard. Select Add X-Ray from the drop-down menu.
KDP will then automatically create X-Ray entries from Wikipedia content. This will take about 4 hours and they’ll email you when it’s complete.
In some cases, X-Ray may already be enabled. In this case, you would select Launch X-Ray from the drop-down menu to view and edit your X-Ray entries if you desire.
Find more information on X-Ray for Authors here.
6. Set up an Author Page.
This one is pretty darned simple and anyone who’s published a book on Amazon should take advantage of Amazon Author Central.
In fact, I have an entire YouTube video series about the Amazon Author Central Profile Set Up. For a peek at the videos, head over to selfpublishingwithdale.com/authorpage.
I also have a comprehensive tutorial here on my site if you prefer. Check it out.
What Do You Think?
Even though you may meet all the criteria above, the Great on Kindle program is currently invite-only and on a book-by-book basis.
This means there’s not much you can do to get into the program outside of meet all their eligibility requirements and hope for the best.
For the full rundown about the Great on Kindle program, head over to https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GSAHB36P88UNH845
So, what do you think about the Great on Kindle program? Do you think this could benefit you in your self-publishing business? Would you like to see more data? I did find this post with a comparison before and after participation in the program. That’s interesting stuff.
I’d love to hear from you if you’ve been lucky enough to be chosen for the Great on Kindle program. Let us know about your experience in the comments.