KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) Defined.
Definition
KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) is Amazon's self-publishing service for Kindle ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers. Publishing through it is free: you upload a manuscript and cover, choose a royalty option and list price, and Amazon sells each copy, printing paperbacks on demand and paying you a royalty from every sale.
Sources checked 20 October 2026. Figures: KDP's Amazon.com ebook royalty, list-price and delivery figures, as of 11 October 2026; KDP's paperback royalty rates, trim classes and spine figures, as of October 2026.
How it works
Everything happens from the Bookshelf, where one title can hold an ebook, a paperback and a hardcover edition. Each edition goes through the same steps: book details (title, contributors, description, keywords, categories), content (manuscript, cover and, for print, an ISBN), and pricing (territories, royalty option, list price), then a review before the book goes live. KDP's help pages say publishing with it leaves you the full rights to your book, and that the one case where your ebook can't also be sold elsewhere is when it is enrolled in KDP Select.
An example
Say you finish a 30,000-word guide. You might publish the Kindle edition first, then add a paperback to the same title with a free KDP ISBN, which KDP offers for paperbacks and hardcovers only. The ebook is paid under the 35% or 70% royalty option; the paperback pays 50% or 60% of its list price, depending on that price, less the printing cost.
Common mistakes
Treating KDP as a route into every bookstore: it sells on Amazon, and reaches other stores and libraries only for paperbacks enrolled in Expanded Distribution. Publishing material you can't show you have the rights to: KDP's content guidelines put that responsibility on the author. And expecting KDP to make any printed product: its help page says it does not make magazines, periodicals, calendars or spiral-bound books.
