The Amazon guide

From manuscript to live on Amazon

Every step and every rule, in the order you'll need them. Amazon changes numbers from time to time, so where money or a limit is involved, check the figure on KDP's own page when you get there. We link to it.

1. Create your KDP account

1. Go to kdp.amazon.com and sign in with your Amazon account, or create one just for publishing.
2. Under Account, fill in your author or publisher information: your legal name and address.
3. Turn on two step verification if it asks. It protects your royalties.

2. Tax interview and getting paid

1. In Account → Tax information, complete the tax interview. US authors enter their SSN, or the EIN if a business owns the book. It takes about 10 minutes.
2. In Getting paid, add your bank account. Amazon pays royalties about 60 days after the end of each month.
3. Your book can be live before this is done, but Amazon holds payments until it is.

3. ISBN: KDP's free one, or your own

An ISBN is the number that identifies one edition of your book. Each print format needs its own: paperback and hardcover each get one. Your Kindle eBook doesn't need one; Amazon gives it an ASIN.

How to get your own ISBN (US)

1. Pick an imprint name. It's the publisher name readers see. It can be your name or a simple brand of your own. Search Amazon and the web to make sure nobody else is using it.
2. Go to myidentifiers.com (Bowker, the official ISBN agency for the US) and create an account in your name or your business's name.
3. Choose how many. One ISBN covers one format. If you'll do a paperback and a hardcover, you need two, and a block of ten usually costs much less per ISBN than buying one at a time. Check Bowker's current prices on their site. You don't need to buy their barcodes; KDP makes the barcode for you.
4. Assign each ISBN in your Bowker account: title, format (paperback or hardcover), your imprint name and publication date.
5. In KDP, on the paperback's Content page, choose "Use my own ISBN," type the number and enter the exact same imprint name you used at Bowker.
6. Put it on your copyright page, labeled by format (for example "ISBN 979-8-0000-0000-0 (paperback)").

Outside the US, every country has its own ISBN agency. Search "ISBN agency" plus your country. Want a Library of Congress number (LCCN) on your copyright page too? Apply through the Library of Congress PrePub Book Link before the book is published.

4. Front and back matter

Front: title page, copyright page, dedication (optional), table of contents. Back: acknowledgments, about the author, and one clear next step: your website, a free resource, your podcast. Then a short, honest ask for a review.

Your copyright page: © year and your name, "All rights reserved," the ISBN for that format, the publisher (your imprint name, or "Independently published" with KDP's free ISBN), the edition, and any disclaimer your content needs (medical, legal, financial, or "names have been changed"). Copyright is yours the moment you write it. Registering at copyright.gov is optional and lets you sue for damages if someone copies it.

5. Format the interior

Paperback trim size

6 x 9 inches is the standard for business and nonfiction. 5.5 x 8.5 or 5 x 8 is common for memoir and fiction. Look at your comps and match them.

Margins (paperback and hardcover)

The inside margin (gutter) grows with page count so words don't disappear into the spine:

Outside, top and bottom margins: at least 0.25 in with no bleed, 0.375 in with bleed. We set 0.6 in or more so the page breathes. Bleed (only if images run to the edge of the page) adds 0.125 in to the top, bottom and outside edge.

The files

• Print: one PDF, every font embedded, images at 300 DPI, page size equal to your trim size (plus bleed if used), chapters starting on right hand pages.
• Kindle: an EPUB or a Word file (DOCX). Amazon's free Kindle Create makes clean ebooks from Word. Use real headings for chapters so the table of contents works.
• Paperbacks run 24 to 828 pages depending on ink and paper. Hardcovers run 75 to 550 pages.

6. Cover

• Kindle cover: JPG or TIFF, RGB, ideally 2,560 pixels tall by 1,600 wide.
• Print cover: one PDF with the back, spine and front together. Width = bleed + back + spine + front + bleed (0.125 in bleed on every outside edge). Get the exact size from KDP's cover calculator once you know your page count.
• Spine width depends on page count and paper: about 0.002252 in per page on white paper and 0.0025 in per page on cream. Spine text only on books over 79 pages, kept 0.0625 in clear of each spine edge.
• Leave a 2 x 1.2 inch space at the bottom right of the back cover. KDP prints the barcode there.
• The title and author on the cover must match what you type into KDP exactly.
• Hardcover needs its own cover wrap from the calculator. It's larger than the paperback's.

7. Title, description, keywords, categories

• Title and subtitle: match the cover. No "bestselling," "free," or a list of keywords stuffed into the subtitle. Amazon pulls books for that.
• Description: up to 4,000 characters. Open with the reader's problem or the story's hook, not your bio. Short paragraphs, a few bold lines.
• Keywords: 7 boxes, up to 50 characters each. Use phrases readers type ("leadership book for new managers"), not words already in your title.
• Categories: choose up to 3. Pick the ones your comps rank in.

8. Set up the Kindle eBook

1. On your Bookshelf, click + Create → Kindle eBook.
2. Details: language, title, subtitle, series (if any), author, contributors, description, publishing rights ("I own the copyright"), keywords, categories, and the adult content question.
3. Content: upload your manuscript and cover, then open the Previewer and page through the whole book on phone, tablet and Kindle views.
4. The AI question: KDP asks whether text, images or translations were AI generated. If you wrote it and AI only helped edit, brainstorm or fix grammar, that's "AI assisted" and you answer no. If AI wrote passages or made images, answer yes and say which. Be honest. This is your account.
5. Pricing: the 70% royalty applies when the price is between $2.99 and $9.99 in the US store (minus a small delivery fee per megabyte). Outside that range it's 35%. Most nonfiction ebooks sell at $4.99 to $9.99.
6. KDP Select (optional): 90 days of ebook exclusivity to Amazon in exchange for Kindle Unlimited page reads and promotions. Your paperback can still sell anywhere.

9. Set up the paperback and order a proof

1. From the same title, click + Create paperback so it links to the ebook. Details carry over.
2. Content: ISBN, print options (paper color, trim size, bleed, matte or glossy cover), upload the interior PDF and cover PDF, then run the Print Previewer and fix every flag.
3. Pricing: in the US store you earn 60% of the list price minus the printing cost when the book is priced at $9.99 or more, and 50% below that. Printing a black and white paperback runs about $1.00 plus about a cent and a quarter per page. A 200 page book at $16.99 earns about $6.80 a copy. Use the royalty calculator on the pricing page for your real number.
4. Order a printed proof before you publish. Read it on paper. Check the spine, the margins and the cover colors.

10. Hardcover (optional)

Same steps from + Create hardcover: its own ISBN, case laminate cover, its own cover wrap from the calculator, and a higher price. Trim sizes include 5.5 x 8.5, 6 x 9, 6.14 x 9.21, 7 x 10 and 8.25 x 11.

Picture books and color books

• Ink: premium color, white paper. It costs much more to print than black and white, so check the royalty calculator before you set a price.
• Trim: 8.5 x 11, 8 x 10 or 8.5 x 8.5. Match the shape of your art so little gets cropped. Art that runs to the edge needs 0.125 in bleed, and nothing important within 0.375 in of the edge.
• Images at 300 DPI at the size they print. Art exported for the web (about 100 DPI) prints blurry.
• Words on the art, 16 to 22 point, in a clear, rounded font. Not small text on a blank facing page.
• The cover is not in the interior. It's a separate wrap file. Paperbacks need at least 24 interior pages. Hardcovers need at least 75, so most picture books are paperback and Kindle only on KDP.
• Kindle: use Amazon's free Kindle Kids' Book Creator for a fixed layout ebook, and set the reading age and grade range.
• Audio: a short picture book is too short for Audible. Record a video read-aloud instead.

11. Publish and check the live page

1. Click Publish. Review takes up to 72 hours. Each format goes live on its own.
2. When it's live, search Amazon for your title and check every format shows on one page. If they don't link, ask KDP support to link them.
3. Claim your author page at Amazon Author Central: photo, bio and your books. It can take a few days for new books to show up there.
4. Buy author copies at printing cost from your Bookshelf for events and signings.

12. Launch

• Reviews: give free advance copies to real readers and ask for an honest review. Never pay for reviews, and don't trade them. Amazon removes reviews it thinks come from family or close friends.
• A+ Content: from the KDP Marketing tab, add images, a comparison chart of your books and your story below the description.
• Content: every recording session is a clip. Quotes are posts. Your launch week is a series.

Get your own checklist