AI publishing knowledge base
Pillar guides for writers, indie publishers and operators who want repeatable workflows: niche research, manuscript quality, book metadata, covers and catalog systems.
This blog collects 27 guides on AI-assisted book publishing — niche and keyword research, KDP metadata, covers, formatting, pricing, royalties and catalog operations — written for indie publishers, self-published authors and KDP catalog operators. Every guide carries the date it was last reviewed, cites Amazon's official documentation where rules are involved, and promises no Amazon rankings, KDP approval or sales.
27 guidesUpdated
How an AI agent can
Pillar guide
book SEO
KDP metadata
publishing automation
How an AI agent can
Pillar guide 01
A practical guide for autonomous AI agents — Claude, Hermes Agent, OpenClaw and others — to generate complete, sellable books through DraftToDone: the MCP server, the CLI, the REST API, where the human is still required, and the honest limits.
DraftToDone CLI and MCP server:
Pillar guide 02
Reference for the DraftToDone command-line tool and Model Context Protocol server: install, authenticate, create a book, poll progress and download all four files — from a terminal or an AI agent.
How to write a book
Pillar guide 03
A practical, step-by-step method for writing a real book with AI: niche selection, blueprint, chapter drafting, revision passes, quality control and the mistakes that make AI books unreadable.
Best AI book writing tools
Pillar guide 04
An honest comparison of the three categories of AI book writing tools — general chatbots, AI writing apps and end-to-end book pipelines — with costs, strengths, failure modes and how to choose.
Amazon KDP's AI content policy
Pillar guide 05
A clear guide to Amazon KDP's rules for AI-generated and AI-assisted books: the disclosure question, the difference that decides it, volume limits, quality enforcement and how to publish AI books safely.
KDP paperback formatting: trim size,
Pillar guide 06
Everything KDP checks in a paperback interior: choosing a trim size, calculating gutter margins from page count, bleed rules, fonts and embedding, spine width math and the errors behind most rejections.
How to self-publish a book
Pillar guide 07
Every step from finished manuscript to live Amazon listing: KDP account setup, metadata, keywords and categories, uploading ebook and paperback files, pricing, royalties and what happens after you press publish.
How much do self-published authors
Pillar guide 08
Honest math on self-publishing income: what single books really earn, why the distribution is so skewed, the catalog effect that changes the economics, and a month-by-month model you can sanity-check your plan against.
How to price a self-published
Pillar guide 09
A practical pricing method for KDP books: the 70% royalty band, printing-cost floors, price anchoring between formats, launch pricing, international price points and when 0.99 actually makes sense.
Low-content books on KDP: what
Pillar guide 010
A realistic guide to publishing journals, planners, logbooks and workbooks on Amazon KDP: the post-saturation landscape, niches that still sell, design and interior standards, keyword rules and the medium-content upgrade path.
Amazon Ads for KDP books:
Pillar guide 011
How to run profitable Amazon Ads for self-published books: when a book is ready for ads, the ACOS break-even math, the three campaign types, a starter structure with real budgets, and the weekly optimization loop.
Writing an Amazon book description
Pillar guide 012
Turn the 4,000-character description field into your best salesperson: the above-the-fold hook, proven structures for fiction and nonfiction, allowed HTML formatting, keyword reality and an A/B iteration loop.
KDP categories and Amazon Best
Pillar guide 013
How Amazon's category system and BSR actually work: reading sales velocity from rank, choosing the three categories that maximize visibility, the best-seller badge math, requesting changes and avoiding miscategorization penalties.
How to get reviews for
Pillar guide 014
A clean review-building system: why the first 10 reviews matter most, Amazon's strict rules and the practices that kill accounts, ARC teams, in-book asks, reviewer outreach and a 90-day plan.
How to create an Amazon
Pillar guide 015
A practical guide to creating an Amazon KDP account, adding bank and tax details, tracking royalties and understanding why KDP payments usually arrive about 60 days after month end.
How much can you earn
Pillar guide 016
A realistic guide to Amazon KDP earnings with examples for 35% and 70% ebook royalties, paperback royalties, printing costs, Expanded Distribution and Kindle Unlimited page reads.
KDP Select or not? How
Pillar guide 017
A practical guide to KDP Select, Kindle Unlimited, 90-day ebook exclusivity, KENP page reads, free promotions, Countdown Deals and when going wide makes more sense.
Why is my KDP book
Pillar guide 018
A practical troubleshooting guide for KDP books with no sales: keywords, categories, cover, title, description, reviews, pricing, sample quality and ads.
How to choose KDP keywords:
Pillar guide 019
A simple beginner-friendly guide to choosing KDP keywords: reader intent, Amazon autocomplete, competitor research, keyword clusters, metadata fields and mistakes to avoid.
AI book publishing workflow: from
Pillar guide 020
A complete workflow for AI-assisted publishing: niche validation, outline, manuscript, editing, cover, metadata and final quality control.
Book SEO metadata: titles, subtitles,
Pillar guide 021
Learn how to structure book metadata for search intent, conversion and long-term catalog clarity without keyword stuffing.
AI book cover design: front
Pillar guide 022
A practical guide to AI-assisted book cover design for genre clarity, print readiness, typography, spine, back cover and marketplace thumbnails.
Publishing catalog operations: scale without
Pillar guide 023
How to build a repeatable publishing operating system for briefs, production, QA, metadata, updates and catalog learning loops.
KDP niche and keyword research:
Pillar guide 024
A practical SEO guide to finding profitable KDP niches, reader demand, keyword clusters, category fit and book angles before writing.
AI manuscript editing: quality control
Pillar guide 025
How to edit AI-assisted manuscripts for voice, structure, originality, repetition, factual caution and reader trust.
KDP book launch checklist: metadata,
Pillar guide 026
A launch checklist for Amazon KDP books covering final files, metadata, cover checks, pricing, categories, reviews and post-launch improvements.
Pen name strategy: build author
Pillar guide 027
How to choose and manage pen names, author positioning, catalog consistency and trust signals for multi-title publishing.
English
DraftToDone helps transform ideas into manuscript, cover assets and optimized metadata from one controlled pipeline.