The Pressborn blog
Guides to publishing your book
Plain-English guides to the parts of self-publishing that actually trip people up: getting onto Amazon KDP, formatting a manuscript, ISBNs, the real costs, and covers with the title spelled right.
How to Publish a Book on Amazon KDP: A Step-by-Step Guide
The whole KDP flow start to finish, and the parts most guides gloss over.
A plain-English walkthrough of publishing your finished book on Amazon KDP in 2026: account setup, manuscript and cover files, metadata, pricing, and the two royalty options.
Read the guideHow to Format Your Manuscript for KDP and Print
The exact print rules, in numbers, and why the ebook rules are the opposite.
Trim size, margins, gutter and bleed explained for KDP paperbacks, how ebook formatting differs, and the mistakes that get a file rejected or printed wrong.
Read the guideDo You Need an ISBN to Self-Publish? When It Is Required and When It Is Free
A confusing topic made simple, store by store, with the current US prices.
What an ISBN is, which stores assign one free, when you must buy your own, current US ISBN prices, and why the publisher of record matters more than the fee.
Read the guideHow Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book in 2026?
The real numbers, the range they sit in, and where the money actually goes.
An honest, line-by-line look at what self-publishing costs in 2026: editing, cover, formatting, ISBN and printing, and the difference between paying upfront and paying per use.
Read the guideAI Book Cover Design: Getting a Cover With a Correctly Spelled Title
The one thing that separates a usable AI cover from an embarrassing one.
Why AI-generated covers usually mangle the title text, how to avoid it, and the approach that keeps your title and author name perfectly typeset over model artwork.
Read the guide