How to Publish a Book on Amazon KDP in 2026 (Step by Step)

Publishing a book on Amazon KDP takes about 60 to 90 minutes of actual setup work once your manuscript and cover are ready, costs $0 in platform fees, and your book is typically live worldwide within 72 hours of hitting publish. The process has eight concrete steps, and the ones authors get wrong most often are keywords, categories, and the paperback cover file.

Step 1: Create your KDP account and pass the tax interview

Go to kdp.amazon.com and sign in with an Amazon account (an existing shopping account works). You will complete three things before you can publish: author or business details, payment information (bank details for royalty deposits), and the tax interview.

The tax interview is a five-minute guided form, not an interrogation. US authors provide an SSN or EIN. Non-US authors provide their local tax ID, and most countries with a US tax treaty get withholding reduced from 30% to somewhere between 0% and 15% automatically. Do this before launch week, not during it; royalties cannot be paid out until it clears.

Step 2: Enter your book details correctly

The details page is where discoverability is won or lost, so treat it as marketing copy, not paperwork.

Title and subtitle must match your cover exactly. For nonfiction, the subtitle is prime keyword real estate: "a practical guide to X for Y" style subtitles exist because they rank. Do not stuff keywords that are not really your topic; KDP suspends listings for it.

Description supports basic HTML formatting (bold, line breaks, lists) if you use a free description generator tool or hand-write the tags. Structure it like a sales page: a one-line hook, a short paragraph of what the reader gets, a bulleted list of takeaways, and a closing line that tells them to buy. Flat single-paragraph descriptions convert measurably worse.

Series and edition fields matter for fiction. Linking books into a KDP series creates a series page and enables whole-series purchasing.

Step 3: Use all 7 keyword slots and both categories

KDP gives you 7 keyword slots. Each slot accepts a phrase, not just a word, so "leadership books for new managers" is one entry. Fill all seven. Think in terms of what a reader would type into the Amazon search bar, and avoid repeating words already in your title or subtitle, since those already count.

You also pick 2 categories at setup. Choose the most specific subcategories that honestly fit; "Business > Mentoring & Coaching" beats "Business" because you are competing against hundreds of books instead of millions. After publishing, you can contact KDP support and request placement in additional categories, up to 10 total. Most authors never do this, and it is the cheapest visibility gain available.

Step 4: Upload your ebook file

KDP wants an EPUB for ebooks (the old MOBI format was retired). A clean EPUB has a working table of contents, consistent paragraph styling, and embedded fonts only where licensed. Export from Vellum, Atticus, or Kindle Create, or have it professionally formatted; our published formatting rate starts at $99 per format.

After upload, run the online previewer on at least three device sizes: phone, tablet, and e-reader. The single most common ebook complaint is broken formatting on phones, which is where most Kindle reading actually happens.

Step 5: Set up the paperback

Print has stricter specs, and this is where most first-timers stall.

• Trim size: 6 x 9 inches is the default for nonfiction and trade fiction; 5 x 8 is common for shorter fiction.
• Interior PDF: print-ready, with fonts embedded, correct margins for your page count (gutter margins grow with page count), and 0.125-inch bleed only if you have images running to the page edge.
• Cover: a single full-wrap PDF containing back cover, spine, and front cover with 0.125-inch bleed on all sides. Spine width depends on your exact page count and paper choice, so generate KDP's cover template calculator file first and build on top of it. A front-cover JPEG alone will not work for print; this is the number one paperback rejection.

Professional cover designers handle the wrap math as part of the job; our published cover design rate is $349 to $599 including print-ready files.

Step 6: Price for the 70% royalty band

KDP has two ebook royalty rates. Price between $2.99 and $9.99 and you earn 70% of list price, minus a small delivery fee based on file size. Price below $2.99 or above $9.99 and you drop to 35%. Here is what that means per sale.

Note the trap in the last row: a $14.99 ebook earns less per copy than a $9.99 ebook, and sells fewer copies. Unless you publish specialized professional or technical material, stay inside the 70% band. Paperback royalties work differently: 60% of list price minus printing cost, so a $15.99 paperback with a $4.50 print cost pays about $5.09.

Step 7: Publish and wait out the review

Hitting publish sends your book into KDP review, which typically takes 24 to 72 hours per format. Ebook and paperback review independently, so stagger expectations if you upload both at once.

Common rejection reasons, all fixable within minutes:

• Cover text does not match the title and subtitle entered in metadata.
• Paperback cover missing bleed or the spine text sits too close to the fold on a low-page-count book.
• Interior margins too small for the page count.
• Description or keywords containing prohibited claims ("bestseller," "free") or another author's name.
• Duplicate content flags on public-domain or previously published material without clarified rights.

A rejection is not a suspension. Fix the flagged item, resubmit, and review restarts.

Step 8: Run a launch-week checklist

The first week disproportionately shapes Amazon's algorithmic ranking, so batch these tasks:

• Claim the book in Amazon Author Central and set up your author page with bio and photo.
• Request your additional categories from KDP support (up to 10 total).
• Line up 10 to 20 honest early reviews from your reader list; never buy reviews.
• Set a launch price at the low end of the 70% band ($2.99 to $4.99) and raise it after the first push.
• Verify the ebook and paperback are linked on one product page; if not, Author Central support links them.
• Check the "Look Inside" sample renders cleanly, since it is your best on-page salesperson.

When to add IngramSpark alongside KDP

KDP covers Amazon superbly and other channels adequately through Expanded Distribution. IngramSpark exists for everything Amazon does not reach well: physical bookstores, libraries, and international wholesale, because stores order from Ingram's catalog, not from Amazon.

The practical setup most professional indies use: KDP for Amazon (better print margins there) plus IngramSpark for everywhere else, with your own ISBN, which is roughly $125 for a single ISBN, used consistently across both. Skip IngramSpark for a first ebook-led launch; add it when a paperback with bookstore or library ambitions justifies the extra file management.

Key takeaways

• KDP costs nothing to use; account, tax interview, and upload can all happen in one sitting.
• Fill all 7 keyword slots with reader search phrases and request extra categories after launch, up to 10.
• Ebooks need EPUB; paperbacks need a print PDF and a full-wrap cover with bleed built on KDP's template.
• Price ebooks between $2.99 and $9.99 to earn 70% instead of 35%.
• Expect 24 to 72 hours of review, fix rejections calmly, and spend launch week on categories, reviews, and Author Central.