How To Publish On Amazon KDP Using Canva

How to publish a children’s book using Amazon KDP and Canva without spending a dime

Have you heard of Amazon KDP? It’s a publishing service that Amazon uses and it’s super fast, easy, and all you need is an Amazon account. It is quick, easy, and does all the work for you. So I’m going to tell you exactly how to publish on Amazon KDP using Canva!!

For YEARS my mom told me I needed to turn one of my high school essays into a children’s book but the task always seemed daunting. 

I have no idea how to publish a book, I have no artistic skills to illustrate- how am I supposed to create a book without spending money on someone else to publish/illustrate for me??

Enter Amazon KDP!! Since learning how to use Amazon KDP (and Canva), I published my first TWO children’s books within a week of each other! It’s seriously that easy!

Why Choose Amazon KDP? 

While I’m sure there are other ways to publish children’s books out there, I chose Amazon KDP because it’s FREE (I already have an Amazon account) and the process was QUICK! 

Once you have your book created on Canva (I’ll walk you through this process), all you have to do is upload it, make a couple selections, then publish it! Amazon will review it (which in my experience doesn’t take as long as Amazon says), then it will be on Amazon for anyone to see! 

The best part? 

You don’t lift a finger at this point! (Besides maybe posting on Facebook so all your friends can buy it). Amazon does ALL the work! They create the book and ship it to the buyer’s address. They even keep track of how much you’re making and send you your money each month! Disclaimer- there is a three month delay to ensure your book hasn’t been returned before you get the money-for example I published in January and got my first payment in March. BUT once you get your first payment, it’ll be a check every month based on how much you sell! 

How Do I Create a Book on Canva?

Illustrating my books was probably the most challenging part for me, I didn’t want to pay someone to illustrate it because I don’t really have the budget for that, and I wanted to control the way my book looked!

So, I turned to Canva! Canva has both free and paid versions. I have the pro version because I use Canva for a lot of different things and it’s worth it to me, but you definitely don’t need the pro version!

The Nitty Gritty:

1. Download the Canva app to your phone or tablet, or use your computer and go to canva.com.
2. Create a new project in the dimensions you want your book to be. I did mine 8.25in x 8.25 in. Amazon KDP has several different dimension options, you can check them out prior to setting your dimesnions!
3. Once you have a new project created, you can do whatever you want to it!! Make it your own and start creating your children’s book!
4. Keep in mind that if you are going to sell your book on Amazon, you can’t use any of Canva’s pre-made illustrations or pictures. Soooooo, how do you illustrate your book then?? I would LOVE to tell you!!

How Do I Illustrate My Book With Canva

1. Decide what picture you want to create that goes along with your story.
2. Go to elements-lines & shapes.
3. Manipulate the shapes to create your own images!

For example: to create an American flag, I used rectangles for the flag shape and the stripes, a square for the blue field, and stars for the stars! Use triangles to create mountains, circles to create faces/heads, etc.

Below you can see I used a rectangle and a circle on the top left and bottom right to create a scroll type look!

Here I used a combination of several shapes: rectangles, circles, pentagon, triangle, etc. to create a train!

You could get very detailed or keep it minimal! Create your own colors, manipulate the sizes of the shapes, put shapes together to create another shape, The possibilities are endless!

After you have created a book that you are happy with, save it as a PDF and head on over to your Amazon KDP account! Upload the book and make some selections such as price, book category, etc. and submit it for review! Before you know it, your book will be published and ready for anyone to buy!

It’s as simple as that! Create a book on Canva-> upload it to Amazon->make money! 

Now that you know how to publish to Amazon KDP using Canva, what are you going to create??