How to Publish a Book on Amazon with KDP

Here is how to publish on KDP on one page: each step, what KDP asks for and a free tool that helps.

KDP lets you publish ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers for free. Each format is a separate book in KDP, which links them on one Amazon page when the title and author name match exactly.

Sign in at kdp.amazon.com with your Amazon customer account, or create one. KDP then asks for three sets of details:

• Account details. Individual or company, legal name and mailing address. Use your real name even if you write under a pen name: payments and tax forms are issued to it.
• Getting paid. A bank account, added after two-step verification. KDP recommends direct deposit, which usually has no minimum payment.
• Tax information. The tax interview, which KDP Help calls the tax questionnaire: Your Account, then Tax Information, then Complete Tax Profile.

KDP must validate your tax identity before you can publish or update a book. Authors outside the US have 30% US tax withheld by default from Amazon.com royalties, among others; a tax treaty can lower that, and the questionnaire is where you claim it, with a US tax number or your own country’s. KDP may also ask you to verify your identity with a government-issued ID, such as a passport or driver’s license, and publishing stays restricted until you do.

On your Bookshelf, click + Create and pick the format. The first page, Details, fills in the book’s Amazon detail page. On a Kindle ebook the title, subtitle and primary author can’t be changed after publishing; a paperback allows changes for 72 hours after it first goes live.

• Title and subtitle. The title exactly as on the cover; title and subtitle together under 200 characters. The Metadata Guidelines rule out words like “bestselling” or “free”, unauthorized references to other books, authors or trademarks, repeated generic keywords and HTML. The title analyzer checks length, capitalization and characters Amazon may reject.
• Series. Enter the series name, which follows the title rules; the series page appears within 72 hours of a live title.
• Author and contributors. A pen name is fine if it is appropriate and consistent; editors, illustrators and co-authors go in as contributors.
• Description. Up to 4,000 characters, HTML tags included. KDP’s description guide suggests a scannable paragraph of about 150 words and bans reviews, prices, links, spoilers and emojis. The book description generator builds the HTML and counts the characters, and our guide on what a blurb is helps with the words.
• Keywords. Up to seven words or short phrases about setting, characters, themes or tone. KDP’s keyword page says to skip words already in your metadata and to search Amazon with each one first.
• Categories. Three, from lists that differ by format and marketplace; KDP may change categories that mislead readers. Browse common paths in the category finder first.
• Audience. A required yes or no on sexually explicit images or title, and an optional reading age.
• AI disclosure. The Content Guidelines require you to tell KDP about AI-generated text, images (cover art included) or translations when you publish or republish. Content you wrote yourself and only edited, checked or brainstormed with AI is AI-assisted and needs no disclosure.
• Release. Sell the book once it passes review, or put an ebook on pre-order: for pre-orders created on or after September 2, 2026, up to 18 months ahead, with the final manuscript due at least 72 hours before release. Paperbacks can’t be pre-ordered, but you can schedule a release up to 90 days ahead.

The second page, Content, takes the book itself; the title, subtitle, author, series and ISBN in the file must match your details.

Ebook

KDP lists DOCX, KPF and EPUB among its recommended formats. KPF comes from Kindle Create, KDP’s formatting app for text-heavy books with simple layouts, which can prepare the ebook and paperback from one file. DRM, which limits reading to Kindle apps and devices, is optional and can be changed later; without it, buyers can also download the book as EPUB and PDF files.

Paperback

First come the print options: ink and paper, trim size, bleed and a matte or glossy cover. Large trims cost more to print. KDP recommends a PDF for the interior, requires one if images run to the page edge, and asks you to embed all fonts.

Margins grow with page count, from 0.375 inches inside for 24 to 150 pages to 0.875 for 701 to 828; outside margins are at least 0.25 inches, or 0.375 with bleed. KDP’s manuscript guide names forgotten bleed as one of the most common reasons a manuscript fails review.

Page count sets the margins, spine and printing cost; the word count to page count tool estimates it for your trim size, and the copyright page generator drafts your copyright page.

An ebook cover is a JPEG or TIFF image, ideally 2,560 pixels high by 1,600 wide and at least 1,000 by 625, in RGB and under 50 MB.

A paperback cover is one PDF with the back cover, spine and front cover, plus 0.125 inches of bleed on the top, bottom and outside edges. Its size depends on trim size, page count and paper. Spine text needs at least 79 pages, and images need at least 300 DPI.

The KDP cover size calculator gives the full cover and spine size a designer needs. KDP’s free Cover Creator sizes a cover to your interior from the paper, ink and page count, though you can’t download it for use outside KDP.

You don’t need an ISBN for an ebook on KDP. A paperback needs one, and each print format needs its own. You have two options:

• Free KDP ISBN. Registered with Bowker under the imprint “Independently published” and usable only with KDP.
• Your own ISBN. From Bowker in the US or your country’s ISBN agency, under your own imprint name; worth it if you plan to publish the same edition elsewhere.

Changing the ISBN later takes a new edition. If the cover has no barcode, KDP adds one to the back cover at no cost; your own needs a white background, at least 0.25 inches from the spine and trim, and 300 PPI unless it is vector art. Our ISBN barcode generator checks that an ISBN-13 is valid and draws its barcode for a mockup; for the print file, let KDP add the barcode or have your designer place one at full resolution.

On the Content page, click Launch Previewer. For an ebook, the online previewer shows the book on a tablet, a phone and a Kindle E-Reader, and flags misspellings, low-quality images and a language that doesn’t match your choice. Kindle Previewer, a free desktop app, previews by device, orientation and font. For a paperback, the print previewer flags problems to fix. KDP’s title setup guide calls the preview step required, and KDP checks print files by hand after you submit.

A proof, a printed test copy marked “Not for Resale”, is optional, but holding the book shows problems a screen hides, such as tight margins. Our guide to KDP author copies covers what proofs and author copies cost and how to order them.

On the third page, Rights & Pricing, you decide on KDP Select, a free 90-day program for ebooks. An enrolled ebook joins Kindle+ (formerly Kindle Unlimited), earning a share of the KDP Select Global Fund for pages read, and can run Kindle Countdown Deals or Free Book Promotions.

In return, the ebook must be exclusive to the Kindle Store while enrolled; print can be sold anywhere. Enrollment renews automatically unless you turn renewal off, and you have three days from the start of enrollment to cancel. In Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India, the 70% royalty also requires KDP Select. If you plan to sell the ebook in other stores, leave it out; you can enroll later from your Bookshelf.

Next, territories: for your own, never-published work, KDP says you most likely hold worldwide rights. Then set a price for your primary marketplace and let KDP convert it, or price each marketplace yourself.

An ebook earns 35% or 70% of the list price without VAT. On Amazon.com the 70% plan needs a price from $2.99 to $12.99 (the top was $9.99 until July 7, 2026), subtracts a delivery cost of $0.15 per MB, and pays 35% on sales outside KDP’s 70% territories. You can’t set the list price to free.

A paperback earns 60% of a list price of $9.99 or more on Amazon.com, or 50% at $9.98 and below, minus the printing cost, and KDP sets a minimum list price that covers printing; the KDP printing cost calculator shows both for your page count and trim size. Expanded Distribution, free for paperbacks, offers the book to bookstores and libraries through distributors, who decide whether to list it; those sales earn 40% of the list price minus printing.

For example, a $4.99 ebook with a 2 MB file earns 70% × ($4.99 − $0.30) = $3.28. A 300-page black-ink paperback in a regular trim at $14.99 costs $4.60 to print and earns 60% × $14.99 − $4.60 = $4.39. The KDP royalty calculator runs your own numbers, and the KDP book price calculator lists the Amazon.com royalty at every price point. Other costs are in our guide to what it costs to self-publish a book.

When everything is final, click Publish Your Book; that confirms the book meets KDP’s Terms and Conditions and Content Guidelines. While it is In Review, the book is locked, and review can’t be expedited or canceled.

KDP says a book takes up to 3 business days to go live. Its timelines give up to 72 hours for an ebook’s product page; for a paperback, up to 72 hours on Amazon.com, 5 days in other stores, and 6 days for an account that hasn’t published before. Low-content books such as journals can take 3 to 4 weeks.

If the book drops back to Draft, KDP emails what to fix; correct it and resubmit. KDP also caps new titles at two per format each week.

A live book appears in Amazon search within 72 hours, and KDP links the ebook and paperback 48 hours to a week after each is live. The description, keywords, categories, contributors and price stay editable; edits are reviewed again, and most show within 72 hours.

Sales show in KDP Reports: the Dashboard updates every 15 minutes, the Royalties Estimator within 24 to 48 hours, and Prior Months’ Royalties near the 15th of the next month. KDP pays monthly, about 60 days after the end of the month in which a sale was reported (90 days for Expanded Distribution). Direct deposit has no minimum; checks and wire transfers wait for a threshold of $100 on Amazon.com. Our KDP reports guide explains which one to trust.

From here, self-publishing books on Amazon becomes selling them: A+ Content, an author page, reviews, promotions and ads, covered in our guide on how to market a self-published book.

Once the book is selling, the question becomes what it earns after ads. A spreadsheet works: royalties per book from your KDP report, ad spend per book from Amazon Ads, month by month. SelfPub Go, a desktop app for KDP authors, does the same job. Its royalty analytics reads the KDP report you already download and puts it next to your Amazon Ads spend, so you see the profit of each book after ads.

Steps, limits and timings in this guide come from KDP Help as of the date at the top, using Amazon.com prices. If something here no longer matches, the linked help pages are the source to trust.