How to Self-Publish a Cookbook on Amazon KDP

Cookbook self-publishing follows the same steps as any book; our guide to self-publishing a book on Amazon covers them. KDP prints each copy on demand and deducts the printing cost from that sale’s royalty, so, as its printing cost page notes, you pay nothing upfront.

What sets a cookbook apart is the print setup you choose before uploading: ink and paper, trim size, bleed and binding (KDP’s Print Options offer only paperback and case laminate hardcover, and KDP doesn’t allow spiral-bound books). The ebook layout comes last.

The Print Options page lists black ink on cream, white or (for paperbacks) groundwood paper, standard color on white paper for paperbacks only, and premium color on heavier white paper for both formats. A color photo prints in color only with color ink, KDP’s page on formatting images explains.

KDP’s Color Ink Options page sets out the difference between the two colors. Standard color is printed with inkjet printers on the lighter paper used for black-and-white books, has a matte finish, and differs from premium in sharpness and richness of color; KDP recommends it for books with many pages and fewer images. Premium color, it says, is ideal for “image-heavy color interiors, like children’s books, cookbooks, or photography books.” Standard color also needs at least 72 pages, against 24 for premium, and isn’t offered for hardcovers or on Amazon.com.au. KDP suggests publishing one of the two, since shoppers can’t tell them apart on the detail page.

Decide before you publish: once the book is live, KDP won’t switch it between black ink, standard color and premium color, and a black-and-white version of a color cookbook has to be set up as a separate book. KDP recommends ordering a proof first; our guide to KDP proof and author copies shows how.

A rule of thumb: if the photos sell the book, color is part of the product. If the recipes carry it, black ink keeps the price down.

Printing cost is a fixed cost per copy plus a cost per page, depending on ink, trim, page count and store; bleed and cover finish don’t change it. Above a minimum page count, the paperback rates on Amazon.com for a large trim are $1.00 plus $0.017 a page in black ink, $0.0402 in standard color and $0.08 in premium color. A large-trim premium color hardcover costs $5.65 plus $0.080 a page.

The royalty is the rate times the list price, minus printing. On Amazon.com the paperback rate is 60% from a $9.99 list price and 50% below it, the same line as for hardcovers, and KDP won’t accept a list price below the printing cost divided by the rate. For a 200-page cookbook in a large trim such as 8″ × 10″:

The royalty also caps your advertising: at $34.99, break-even ACOS is about 47% in black ink, 34% in standard color and 11% in premium color. Our ACOS guide explains the math.

For a black-ink edition, our KDP printing cost calculator and KDP royalty calculator work this out for your page count, trim and store. For color, use the rates above and check the printing cost KDP shows under Rights & Pricing.

The most common US trim size is 6″ × 9″. Anything wider than 6.12″ or taller than 9″ is a large trim with the higher per-page rate. KDP’s trim size table includes large trims such as 7″ × 10″, 8″ × 10″, 8.25″ × 8.25″, 8.5″ × 8.5″ and 8.5″ × 11″, and Print Options allow custom paperback sizes up to 8.5″ wide and 11.69″ tall. Hardcovers come in five sizes up to 8.25″ × 11″.

Bleed. KDP trims 0.125″ off the top, bottom and outside edge of every page, so a photo meant to reach the edge must extend that far past the trim. An 8″ × 10″ book with bleed is laid out at 8.125″ × 10.25″, with outside margins of at least 0.375″. If one page bleeds, KDP says the whole file should, and a bleed interior must be uploaded as a PDF. Bleed costs nothing extra to print.

Cover. Covers come glossy or matte; KDP calls glossy typical for nonfiction, and neither changes the printing cost. The spine depends on the paper: premium color paper adds 0.002347″ a page, about 0.47″ for 200 pages. Our KDP cover calculator sizes the full wrap for white, cream or color paper.

Each option, what it changes and when it fits:

A Kindle book has one layout; switching later means unpublishing and adding a new title, says KDP’s page on ebook file formats. Amazon’s Kindle Create app for Windows and Mac makes both layouts:

• Reflowable, from a Word file: resizable text on every Kindle device and app. KDP’s guide to reflowable books says this works when the text separates from the images without losing context or layout.
• Print Replica, from a PDF: the printed page as is, and KDP lists cookbooks among the books it suits. The text can’t be resized, and the Print Replica device list names only Fire tablets and Kindle apps for Android, iOS, Mac and PC.

KDP’s overview of the paths onto Kindle says to use Print Replica only when an exact print layout is essential, and notes that it doesn’t work with screen readers. A typical recipe (title, introduction, ingredients, steps, photo) separates cleanly, so start with reflowable unless your pages are designed as spreads. For a reflowable cookbook:

• Keep recipes as text. KDP’s image guidelines say not to turn text into images, and ebooks with blurry images get a content quality warning on the detail page.
• Finish ingredient lists in Word. Kindle Create can’t edit tables, lists or footnotes, and doesn’t support image captions in reflowable books.
• Give every photo alt text, which the image guidelines require.
• Check the result in Kindle Previewer, KDP’s free desktop app, which can preview all pages with images or lists.

For print, KDP’s page on formatting images asks for images inserted at their original size, flattened, at 300 DPI or more, and calls anything under 200 DPI low resolution. Raising the DPI number on a computer adds no detail, and Word compresses images unless you switch that off. The upload limit is 650 MB.

On rights, KDP’s Content Guidelines make you responsible for not infringing copyright, and KDP won’t accept copyrighted content that is freely available online unless the owner provides it. Its intellectual property FAQ warns that content you have no rights to can get a book removed and cost you royalties. In practice:

• Use photos you took or licensed. From a photographer or stock site, get written permission that covers a commercial book in print and ebook. A photo saved from a food blog is neither.
• Write the recipes in your own words. In the US, the Copyright Office says a bare list of ingredients isn’t protected, but a recipe with substantial written explanation or directions, or a collection of recipes such as a cookbook, may be.
• Recipes from your own blog? If KDP asks you to confirm your rights to content first published on a website, the IP FAQ suggests showing that you own the site.
• Disclose AI images, cover and interior, when you publish, as the Content Guidelines require.

This is general guidance, not legal advice.

KDP gives each book three categories. They differ by format and Amazon store, so choose them for your main marketplace: look where similar books are shelved, pick accurate categories, and balance popularity against relevance. KDP doesn’t tolerate misleading categories, and changes can take up to 72 hours to show. Our category finder lists common Amazon category paths to start from.

You also get up to seven keywords or short phrases. KDP suggests thinking like a reader and searching Amazon with each one first, and advises against words already in your title or categories, words common to most books in the category, brands you don’t own and Amazon program names. For a cookbook, useful keywords usually name the cuisine, the diet, the method or appliance (generic, not a brand), the occasion and the reader: beginners, families, cooks for one.

Print. Price a color edition from its printing cost. KDP’s minimum list price only makes sure the royalty covers printing, not the photos or the ads.

Ebook. On Amazon.com the 70% plan covers list prices from $2.99 to $12.99 and pays 70% of the price minus $0.15 per MB for delivery, for buyers in the countries KDP lists. The 35% plan has no delivery cost, though its minimum price rises to $2.99 for files of 10 MB or more. For a $9.99 ebook:

The 70% plan pays more only while the file stays under about 3.3 MB per dollar of list price, so resize photos to the size a Kindle shows them. The eBook Pricing tab shows the estimated royalty for each plan at your price.

KDP Select. Enroll the ebook in KDP Select and it joins Kindle+ (formerly Kindle Unlimited), which pays by pages read; images count toward the KENP page count. In return the ebook must stay exclusive to the Kindle Store for each 90-day period, and KDP’s Select page rules out distributing it digitally anywhere else, your blog included. If your recipes began on a blog, read those terms first.

Bookstores. Expanded Distribution offers a paperback to bookstores and libraries for 40% of the list price minus printing. Hardcovers can’t enroll, 8.25″ × 8.25″ isn’t eligible, and 8.5″ × 8.5″ qualifies only in color. Distributors may also refuse interiors that need a high concentration of ink, or content excessively reused within or across books; under that point, KDP lists topics that include cookbooks. Our guide to what it costs to self-publish a book covers the other costs.

1. Choose ink and trim, and check the royalty at your planned price.
2. Lay out the interior, with bleed if photos reach the edge, and export a PDF.
3. Make the cover for the final page count and paper.
4. Order a proof and check color, margins and spine.
5. Build the ebook and check it in Kindle Previewer.
6. Add categories, keywords and prices, then publish.

A cookbook often costs money before the first sale: test ingredients, photography, perhaps a designer. KDP reports show royalties and Amazon Ads shows ad spend, but neither knows what the photos cost. A spreadsheet with all three per book answers that.

SelfPub Go does this in a desktop app. Its royalty analytics reads the KDP report you already download and puts each book’s royalty next to its Amazon Ads spend. On the Profit by book screen you can add book expenses, such as photography, and switch on net profit after taxes, fees and book expenses.

Rules and numbers come from the linked KDP Help and US Copyright Office pages as of the date at the top, in Amazon.com prices without VAT. If a page now says otherwise, trust the page.