What Is KDP Expanded Distribution?
Expanded Distribution is a switch on a KDP paperback that makes it available outside Amazon. Here is what KDP's help pages say about it: who can use it, what it pays, when, and what it doesn't promise.
By Shri and Sarath · 6 min read · Updated 20 October 2026 · Facts checked 20 October 2026
Every fact below comes from KDP's own help pages, read on 2026-10-20. Where a page doesn't say something, this guide says so rather than guessing. KDP changes these rules, so check the linked pages before you enroll.
What Expanded Distribution is
KDP's page says Expanded Distribution "can help you reach more readers through bookstores, online retailers, libraries, and academic institutions." It applies to paperbacks only: KDP notes that hardcover books are not eligible.
How it works, in KDP's words: booksellers and libraries buy paperbacks from large distributors. If you enroll, KDP makes your book available to those distributors so booksellers and libraries can find and order it. KDP says it currently works with distributors in the United States and the United Kingdom, but that booksellers and libraries around the world may buy from them. It is free to enroll.
Who can enroll: KDP's requirements
KDP says Expanded Distribution is open to all KDP publishers regardless of where they live, and that the paperback must be available on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. It adds that these requirements are set by its distributors, not by KDP, and that a book that isn't accepted or is removed has no effect on your KDP account status or its availability on Amazon.
- ISBN: the paperback can use an ISBN you bought or one KDP assigns, but the ISBN must not have been submitted for distribution through another service.
- Territories: you need distribution rights in the US to enroll in Expanded Distribution US, and in the UK for Expanded Distribution UK.
- Language: KDP lists Hebrew, Yiddish and Japanese paperbacks as not currently eligible.
- Trim size and paper: eligibility depends on the combination of trim size, ink and paper type, shown in a chart on KDP's page. For example, KDP's chart marks 5.5 x 8.5 in and 6 x 9 in as eligible for black ink on white, cream and groundwood paper; 8.5 x 11 in as eligible for black ink on white paper but not cream or groundwood; and 8.5 x 8.5 in as not eligible for black ink on white paper. Check the chart for your exact combination, and re-check it if you change paper type.
- Content: distributors may refuse some content. KDP's list of content not currently accepted, which it says is not limited to these, includes frequent lined or blank pages (journals, notebooks, planners), public domain content, coloring books, poorly translated content, and content that is excessively reused, recycled or repeated within or across books. Under that last line the page shows a table with no heading, listing topics such as workbooks, activity books, puzzle books, how-to books, cookbooks, travel guides, mindfulness, and fitness and dieting.
That list matters if you make coloring books: KDP names them as content not currently accepted. The table matters if you make workbooks, activity pages or how-to books, but KDP's page doesn't say whether it means every book on those topics or only repetitive ones, and one entry, "Title count > 99", isn't a topic at all. If your book is on it, plan as if it may not be accepted. KDP's page doesn't give a minimum page count or a minimum list price for enrollment in this section, so check the pricing grid in your own Bookshelf.
What it pays: 40% minus printing cost
KDP's Paperback Royalty page says that with Expanded Distribution, the royalty is 40% of the book's list price in the distribution channel at the time of purchase, minus printing costs. The royalty page adds that taxes and withholding apply. Sold on Amazon itself, a paperback pays 50% or 60% depending on list price (on Amazon.com, 60% from $9.99).
KDP's own example uses a $15.00 list price and a 333-page regular trim paperback in black ink. Sold on the US marketplace: (0.60 x $15.00) - $5.00 = $4.00. Sold through Expanded Distribution channels: (0.40 x $15.00) - $5.00 = $1.00. Same book, same price, and a quarter of the royalty.
Amazon.com
- Rate
- 60%
- Sum
- 0.60 x $15.00 - $5.00
- Royalty per copy
- $4.00
Expanded Distribution
- Rate
- 40%
- Sum
- 0.40 x $15.00 - $5.00
- Royalty per copy
- $1.00
The minimum list price is higher
KDP says it uses a minimum list price so the royalty always covers the cost to print your book, calculated from the printing cost and the royalty rate. A lower rate means a higher minimum. KDP's page doesn't print a separate minimum figure for Expanded Distribution, so the sum below is our arithmetic from KDP's formula, not a KDP number. The Bookshelf pricing grid shows the real minimum for your book.
Example for a 120-page regular trim black-ink paperback, using KDP's Amazon.com printing chart: printing is $2.44 a copy. At 50% the break-even list price is $4.88; at 40% it is $6.10. Use the Kindle royalty calculator for ebooks; for paperbacks, KDP's own pricing grid is the check that counts.
When you get paid
KDP's payments page says royalties are paid monthly, approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which the sale was reported, and 90 days for Expanded Distribution, provided you meet the minimum payment threshold. The Expanded Distribution page explains why: royalties show in your reports approximately 30 days after the end of the month in which the sale occurred, and are paid approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which the distributors report their sales. Sales appear as a separate line item in KDP reports.
After a distributor accepts your book, KDP says it can take up to eight weeks before booksellers and libraries can order it, and up to eight weeks for later changes to details, content or pricing to update. Prices and details on other websites may differ until they catch up.
Pros and cons
Pro
- What KDP's pages support
- Free to enroll; lets booksellers and libraries find and order the book through distributors; a single checkbox in Bookshelf.
Pro
- What KDP's pages support
- Open to KDP publishers wherever they live; being refused or removed doesn't affect your KDP account or your Amazon listing.
Con
- What KDP's pages support
- 40% of list price instead of 50% or 60%, with the same printing cost taken off, so the royalty per copy is lower and the minimum price is higher.
Con
- What KDP's pages support
- No promise a distributor lists the book or that anyone orders it, and KDP can't say who bought it.
Con
- What KDP's pages support
- Payment about 90 days after the sale month, and up to eight weeks for changes to reach distributors.
Con
- What KDP's pages support
- Copies may be made by third parties, and KDP says there may be minor differences in paper thickness or color shade.
Con
- What KDP's pages support
- KDP's not-currently-accepted list names coloring books, and its unlabeled table of topics beneath it includes workbooks, activity books, puzzle books and how-to books.
Whether it is worth it depends on whether you have a reason for a bookstore or library to stock the book. KDP's pages say nothing about how many copies sell this way, so don't plan around it.
Before you tick the box
- Confirm the paperback is available on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
- Check that your ISBN hasn't been submitted for distribution through another service.
- Look up your trim size and paper type in KDP's eligibility chart.
- Read KDP's list of content not currently accepted and compare it with your book.
- Open Edit paperback rights & pricing and check the estimated royalty at 40% for your list price.
- Enter your price, tick Expanded Distribution for each marketplace, then press Publish Your Paperback Book: KDP says ticking the box alone doesn't save the change.
- Plan for about 90 days to payment and up to eight weeks for the book to become orderable.
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