How to publish a book on Amazon, step by step

Publishing on Amazon KDP is free and the dashboard is friendly, but the order of the steps matters and a few screens hide decisions that affect your royalties for years. This is the process in the right order, including the checks most first-time authors skip.

Step 1: Create your KDP account properly

Sign up at kdp.amazon.com with your legal name, tax information and bank details, exactly as they appear on your official documents. Royalties are paid into this account roughly 60 days after each month's sales, so errors here delay real money. Complete the tax interview in full; a half-finished profile is the most common cause of a stuck account.

Step 2: Prepare the manuscript file

For ebooks, a clean Word document with proper heading styles converts well; for paperbacks, you need a print-ready PDF at your chosen trim size with correct margins and page numbers. Run your draft through our Word Counter to know your real length: page count drives printing cost, and printing cost drives your minimum sensible price.

Step 3: Prepare the cover

Ebooks need a front cover image (JPEG or TIFF, 2560 x 1600 pixels is ideal). Paperbacks and hardcovers need a full wrap PDF: back cover, spine and front, sized to your exact page count, because the spine width depends on it. Never stretch an ebook cover into a print wrap; the spine text will land in the wrong place.

Step 4: Enter the book details

Title, subtitle, author name, description and seven keyword fields. Write the description like sales copy, not a summary: who the book is for, what it gives them, and why you. Choose your two browse categories carefully, because categories decide which bestseller lists your book can appear on.

Step 5: Set the price with your eyes open

For ebooks, the 70% royalty band on Amazon.com is $2.99 to $12.99; outside it you earn 35%. For paperbacks, $9.99 is a cliff edge: below it the rate is 50%, at it the rate is 60%. Price first with the numbers, not by gut feeling: our KDP Royalty Calculator shows what each candidate price actually pays you.

Step 6: Proof, then publish

Use the online previewer for the ebook and order a physical proof copy of any print edition before you publish. Read the proof like a stranger: check margins, chapter openings and the cover in real light. KDP review after you press publish usually takes 24 to 72 hours per format.

Step 7: The two steps everyone forgets

Create your Amazon Author Central page and claim your book, so your name becomes a followable author page. Then ask your first readers for honest reviews on the live page, never in exchange for payment, which Amazon bans. If you are publishing a series or multiple clients' books, remember KDP's current limit of 2 new titles per format per week, and plan your release dates around it.

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