Kindle Direct Publishing

Amazon's own print-on-demand book service

Kindle Direct Publishing, usually shortened to KDP, is Amazon's free self-publishing service for eBooks, paperbacks and hardcovers. It prints books on demand when a customer orders them on Amazon and ships them to readers around the world, so an author never buys a print run or holds stock. The homepage promises: "Publish print and digital formats in three simple steps, and see your book appear on Amazon stores around the world in 72 hours." It says KDP provides "free and simple tools to self-publish your book in more than 10 countries in over 45 languages."

For this directory, KDP is the print-on-demand route for books and low-content titles sold through Amazon. The author keeps control: KDP gives "control over your book's content, design, price, audience, and advertising", and authors "Retain ownership of your content, publish on your schedule, and set your own list prices."

What a publisher actually gets

On the print side, the homepage says: "Bring your book to life in paperback and hardcover formats. KDP will print your books on demand and ship them to customers around the world." Amazon handles printing, the sale and delivery, and pays the author a royalty.

The help center shows how much of the production workflow sits inside KDP:

• Formatting. Guides cover trim size, bleed and margins, front, body and back matter, paperback and hardcover manuscript templates, paperback fonts, and submission guidelines. Cover Creator builds paperback covers, and there are separate hardcover cover instructions.
• Print options. Articles cover color ink options, groundwood paper, hardcover print elements, and low-content books.
• ISBNs and barcodes. KDP explains what an ISBN and imprint are, how to get one, and how barcodes work.
• Pricing tools. The help center has pages for paperback printing cost, hardcover printing cost, and a printing cost and royalty calculator.
• eBook tools. Kindle Create prepares reflowable, print replica, comic and children's books, and Kindle Previewer checks the result.
• Book copies. Authors can order proof and author copies, with help pages on their cost, shipping cost and delivery time, and on what to do if a copy arrives damaged, late or with printing errors.

A new feature lets authors download their eBook and print book manuscript and cover files from the KDP Bookshelf. Series pages, linking a paperback to its eBook on one Amazon detail page, and category and keyword settings help a book get found.

For a first-time publisher, the KDP Jumpstart guide walks through six stages: setting up the account, preparing the manuscript, preparing the cover, entering book details, content and pricing, publishing and review, and finally promoting the book and getting paid. The help center also covers the languages KDP supports, with dedicated pages for Arabic, Traditional Chinese (in beta), Hebrew, Persian and Yiddish, and Indian-language publishing, as well as public domain content, accessibility features for eBooks, and the rules on metadata and content. Authors with a CreateSpace account, which the site labels "Indie print publishing made easy", can link it to KDP.

Royalties and earnings

KDP publishes its headline royalty rates:

• Print books. "Earn up to 60% royalty on paperback and hardcover books sold through KDP." The actual figure depends on printing cost, which the help center covers per format.
• eBooks. Authors "Choose between two royalty options (70% or 35%) depending on your eBook content and which countries it’s sold." The help center announces that the 70% royalty price band "has expanded to $2.99–$12.99" on Amazon.com, "from the previous range of $2.99-$9.99, with equivalent changes in other KDP marketplaces."
• Kindle Unlimited. Enrolling a book in KDP Select lets the author earn royalties for each page read by Kindle Unlimited subscribers. The site reports total KDP Select author earnings of $69.4 million for August 2026.

The service itself is free. The help center warns that "KDP is a free service and not affiliated with third-party companies", and that KDP will never ask for an Amazon password or full banking details outside the KDP account.

Timelines and release control

Books appear on Amazon within 72 hours of publishing, according to the homepage. eBook pre-orders can be set up to 18 months in advance, and authors can now postpone the release date twice, "for a total of up to 6 months beyond your original release date." The help center has further pages on book status and timelines, and on scheduling a release.

Distribution and marketing

The help center lists Expanded Distribution alongside paperback and hardcover distribution rights, Amazon advertising for KDP books, A+ Content for richer detail pages, Author Central, Kindle Countdown Deals, free book promotions, and guidelines for the Available at Amazon badge. Newer beta programs include audiobooks with virtual voice and Kindle Translate, and indie audiobooks can go through ACX.

Accounts, taxes and support

Authors sign up free, add a bank account and complete a tax profile. The help center covers tax withholding, US ITIN and EIN applications, and how EU and UK taxes affect print book list prices, and KDP has started asking authors to verify their identity. Help comes through the searchable help center, KDP University webinars and videos, the KDP Community forum, and a Contact Us form. The site is available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch.

The homepage features author stories. Romance author Tricia O'Malley says her books reached the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists; Brazilian fantasy author Jéssica Macedo says KDP brought her readers in her own country and around the world; and Hal Elrod says he has "sold over 2 million copies" of The Miracle Morning "since publishing with KDP in 2012."

Who it suits

KDP suits authors, small presses and creators of low-content books who want their books on Amazon with no setup cost and no stock. The built-in templates, Cover Creator and royalty calculator make it approachable for a first book, and the help center goes deep enough for a publisher managing a series or a backlist. The KDP Select option adds page-read income for eBooks.

It is an Amazon channel first. Books reach readers through Amazon stores and KDP's distribution options, so a seller who wants to print books for their own website or ship branded parcels would look at a printer that fulfills orders from any store. KDP's public pages point to the calculator for exact printing costs rather than printing a price table.