Amazon KDP

Amazon KDP started as a Kindle ebook publishing platform in 2007 and later folded in CreateSpace's paperback print-on-demand service, so today an author can publish an ebook and a physical paperback or hardback from a single account without juggling two separate systems. Each book prints only after a customer clicks buy, so there's no inventory risk, and setup is free with no per-title fee, which makes it the lowest-friction starting point for a first-time author testing whether a book sells at all.

The catch is that KDP's print distribution is essentially Amazon-only, unlike IngramSpark's reach into thousands of other retailers and libraries, so a book published purely through KDP won't show up on a Barnes & Noble shelf. For many independent authors that's an acceptable tradeoff given how much book search traffic runs through Amazon anyway. Royalty rates on print copies run lower than on ebooks once printing cost is deducted, so it pays to check the math on a specific trim size and page count before pricing a book. A strong first move for any author, worth pairing with IngramSpark later for wider retail reach.