Help CenterPart 3 - You’re Ready to Learn, Start Here
If you’ve reached this part, it means you’re serious about learning and doing things the right way. That’s a great sign and it’ll save you time, stress, and rejections down the road. If you ended up on this page and missed the start of this article, please click here to go back to the Intro.
If you're new, one of the best things you can do is watch the two oldest Live Call videos. Neil always recommends starting here. They’re both long—over two hours total—but they lay the foundation for understanding everything you need to know. Grab a notebook, take your time, and really focus.
Book Bolt Webinar – Research, Covers, Keywords, Listings
Book Bolt Webinar – KDP Research for Low Competition Niches
Once you’ve finished those, the next step is getting comfortable inside the Book Bolt Studio. Start with the Getting Started in the Book Bolt Studio video in the top-right corner of the Studio. I personally like to watch it once all the way through to get the overall feel, then go back and pause as I follow each step or take notes. That works best for me, but you’ll find what works best for you.
To create a test project in the Studio, go to the dropdown menu and select: Project > New Project. Leave the default settings, but update a few things:
• Project Name – Call it something like “Testing”
• Trim Size – Try 8.5" x 11" or 6" x 9" or any other size you want
• Page Count – Start with 100 pages, or whatever works
As you explore the Studio, spend time clicking around and testing each tool. Most tools on the left reveal new options across the top when selected, try everything. It’s the best way to learn how the software works before diving into real book creation. Get to know the layout, the options, and how things interact so you’re not overwhelmed later. I probably spend 3 or 4 hours playing around in the studio myself.
We offer a lot of templates, over 200+ regular ones and 20+ puzzle templates for Pro members. If it’s your first time using a specific template, or you haven’t used it in a while, I recommend testing one or two pages first instead of selecting your full book. Things change. New features are added, and you may want to adjust font size, spacing, or layout before applying a template to the entire book. Advice On / Importance of Learning How to Use Templates & the Options Offered.
Once you’ve created a project, try downloading it using the Download Project CMYK choice. When the popup appears, you’ll see a link that says, “While you wait, learn how to upload to Amazon KDP Step-by-Step.” That tutorial is extremely helpful when you’re preparing to publish your first real book. Take the time to watch it now, it’ll make the upload process much less intimidating later.
If you're someone who learns best by doing, go ahead and create a book. Download it from the studio and create a new book on KDP and upload it. Purchase the book if you want to see it, we recommend just like any other user does, just do not review your own books.
I also want to stress the importance of research. You’ve already seen this emphasized in the two Live Call videos, but if you only take one more step before moving forward, make it this: read the Book Bolt Research Help article found in the FAQ. It includes a collection of our most helpful content related to research. This step can make or break your success. Research is something you should do before even opening the Studio to design a book, because without it, you might be creating something nobody is searching for. One other thing you can look at is in the Live Call Material from the Learning drop down menu is you can look at the snippets from the Niche of the Week, from each live call. The process gets repeated over and over again and once in a while done a little different. There are generally 5 to 10 minutes long.
And remember, the Learning dropdown menu inside the Studio is always available. It gives you access to over 650 articles, videos, walkthroughs, FAQs, troubleshooting, past Live Calls, and more. Everything is in one place, and it's always there when you need it.
You’ve done more than lay the foundation already, and more than most people who start this journey. In Part 4 – Learning Even More & Doing Better, we will pass on more information and links.