Publish your book for free and start earning: What is Amazon KDP? Here’s how it works

Publishing your book does not have to start with printing bills or publisher approvals. Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) lets writers publish without upfront publishing fees. You can offer an eBook, a paperback or a hardcover and earn royalties when readers buy copies.

Start by preparing your manuscript. Read through chapters and correct spelling, grammar and unclear sentences. Use grammar tools to support your checks. Spending time on editing helps you present a polished book to readers.

Next, organise the pages so your book is comfortable to read. You can upload Word documents, EPUB files and PDFs as accepted eBook formats. Amazon, however, prefers the other two formats to PDFs.

Free tools such as Kindle Create help arrange chapters, contents pages and paragraph margins. For paperbacks, check page dimensions, margins and page numbers. KDP’s free templates can help you prepare the layout.

English is the most-preferred language for Amazon KDP. Take a look at all accepted languages for books:

Then, create a cover that represents your book. Make sure it remains readable as a small image on a phone screen. You can use Canva’s book cover templates to design one for free. Check that the title and author name are easy to spot.

Once your files are ready, visit the official KDP website. Sign in using your Amazon account details. Complete your author profile and provide the tax information. Add your banking details so your earnings can be deposited into your account.

Amazon KDP: How to create books

Select ‘Create’ and choose an eBook or paperback. Enter the book title, subtitle and author name. Write a clear description explaining what readers can expect. Treat this description like the introduction printed on a book’s back cover.

Choose categories and up to seven keywords. These details help readers find your book when searching for subjects or genres. Pick words that accurately describe your content. Upload your manuscript and cover, then use KDP’s previewer to check their appearance. Correct any formatting problems before publishing.

Amazon KDP: Pricing your book

Next, decide on your price and review the royalty options. You can earn up to 70% of your sales. For this option, a delivery charge is applied. You can choose any price between $2.99 and $12.99 for your book.

Amazon KDP offers one more option to earn 35% of the sale price. There’s no delivery charge, and the book’s price is much lower. For this option, you can choose any price between $0.99 and $200 for your book.

For a higher revenue, you should choose the 70% option. But a higher price may work against a new writer as readers could hesitate to pay a higher price for their book.

You can also consider enrolling your eBook in KDP Select. This makes it available for Kindle Unlimited subscribers to read. Earnings depend on how many pages subscribers read.

Amazon KDP: Final check

Finally, check your book details, uploaded files and price before publishing. KDP removes the upfront publishing fee, making the first step easier for independent writers.

Amazon KDP will flag any formatting issues in your book. You can fix it and upload the file again. Careful editing, clear presentation and useful descriptions help you prepare your book for readers.

After you publish your book, you can check the daily sales report in the Reports section. Here’s a sample if how it looks:

Amazon KDP also offers marketing tools. You can choose Amazon Ads to promote your book in different marketplaces around the world.