How to publish a paperback on KDP: the checklist

To publish a paperback on Amazon KDP, work in this order: pick a trim size, pick paper and ink, confirm your page count fits KDP's window, export an interior PDF with the right margins, export a full-wrap cover PDF sized to that exact page count, fill in the metadata, price above your printing cost, order a proof, then submit. KDP says review can take up to 3 business days.

The order matters because each step fixes a number the next one needs. The cover depends on the page count, the gutter depends on the page count, and the page count depends on the trim. Change the trim late and you redo everything after it.

KDP updates its guidance from time to time. The figures below come from KDP's help pages and from our print engine, which encodes KDP's rules, so treat them as the working numbers and check KDP's current pages before a big print run.

Step 1: which trim size should you pick?

The trim size is the finished page size, and it's the first decision because every later number hangs off it. KDP offers a fixed catalogue of paperback sizes, from small trade formats up to 8.5 by 11 inches, plus a custom size between 4 and 8.5 inches wide and 6 and 11.69 inches tall.

• 6 by 9 inches: the common size for novels and non-fiction.
• 8.5 by 11 inches: the default for large-print puzzle books, workbooks and activity books, where a big grid or a writable page is the selling point.
• 8.5 by 8.5 inches: a popular square for picture books.

Pick the size your readers already expect on the shelf in your category. Set it once, then build the interior to it.

Step 2: which paper and ink should you choose?

KDP offers four main paper and ink combinations for a paperback: black ink on white paper, black ink on cream paper, premium colour and standard colour. KDP also lists groundwood paper for some black-ink books; our print engine doesn't model it, so take its spine width from KDP's cover calculator if you use it. Black ink on white is the usual choice for puzzle books and workbooks. Cream is common for fiction. Colour is for picture books and anything with photos.

Paper choice changes how thick the book is, which changes your spine width and with it the size of your cover file, so lock it in before you start the cover.

Step 3: what page count does KDP allow?

Every KDP paperback needs at least 24 pages, and the ceiling depends on your paper, ink and trim together. These are the windows our print engine enforces, which encode KDP's Print Options table:

Paper and ink	Minimum pages	Maximum pages
Black ink, white paper	24	828
Black ink, cream paper	24	776
Premium colour	24	828
Standard colour	72	600

Two large trims are capped lower whatever the paper: 8.5 by 11 and 8.5 by 8.5 top out at 590 pages, and A4 at 780. A bound book also has an even number of pages, so an odd-length interior prints with one blank page added at the end. Work every later number from that even count.

Step 4: what does the interior PDF need?

The interior PDF is where most first submissions fail, usually on page geometry rather than on the content itself. KDP's paperback guidelines ask for:

• Single pages, not two-page spreads, at your exact trim size (plus bleed if you use it).
• Outside, top and bottom margins of at least 0.25 inch without bleed, or 0.375 inch with bleed.
• An inside margin (gutter) that grows with page count. Our engine uses 0.375 inch up to 150 pages, 0.5 inch to 300, 0.625 inch to 500, 0.75 inch to 700 and 0.875 inch above that.
• Bleed of 0.125 inch on the top, bottom and outside edges, only if art runs to the edge of the page.
• All fonts embedded. In Acrobat, every font under File, Properties, Fonts should read "Embedded" or "Embedded Subset".
• Images at 300 DPI or more. KDP suggests staying under 600 DPI to keep the file under 650MB.
• A clean file. No crop marks, trim marks, bookmarks, comments, annotations or placeholder text, and any transparent objects or layers flattened before you export.

The gutter margin is the one people set once and forget. A 120-page book needs 0.375 inch, but grow it past 150 pages and it needs 0.5 inch, which moves every page's content.

For the niche-specific numbers, see the interior specs for word search books and crossword books.

Step 5: how big is the cover PDF?

A KDP paperback cover is one PDF holding the back cover, spine and front cover side by side, with 0.125 inch of bleed on every outside edge. KDP's formula is:

• Width = bleed + back cover + spine + front cover + bleed
• Height = bleed + trim height + bleed

The spine is page count multiplied by the thickness of one page of your paper. Our engine uses 0.002252 inch per page for white paper, the multiplier behind KDP's cover calculator.

Take a 120-page, 8.5 by 11 inch book on white paper:

• Spine: 120 × 0.002252 = 0.2702 inch
• Width: 0.125 + 8.5 + 0.2702 + 8.5 + 0.125 = 17.5202 inches
• Height: 0.125 + 11 + 0.125 = 11.25 inches

KDP only prints spine text on books with more than 79 pages, so this 120-page book can carry a title on its spine. Leave at least 0.0625 inch between spine text and each fold.

The free calculator does this arithmetic for you, from your trim, paper and page count:

Full wraparound cover

Back

Spine

Your BookFront

Trim + bleedSpine from page count

KDP cover calculatorSpine width and full wraparound cover size from your trim, paper and page count. Free.Try it free

Step 6: what metadata does KDP ask for?

The book details page is what buyers see on Amazon, so treat it as the sales page it is.

• Title and subtitle: 200 characters or fewer combined. Name the format and the reader ("Large Print Word Search for Adults").
• Description: up to 4,000 characters, and any HTML tags you use for formatting count toward that limit.
• Keywords: up to 7 keywords or short phrases. KDP suggests 2 to 3 words each, written the way a reader searches.
• Categories: up to 3, chosen for your primary audience and marketplace.
• AI disclosure: KDP asks whether the book contains AI-generated text, images or translations, including cover art. AI-assisted editing doesn't need disclosing; AI-generated content does.

Keywords and categories have to describe the book. KDP's guidance warns against terms unrelated to the content, because they send the wrong readers to your page.

Step 7: how do you price a KDP paperback?

KDP's printing cost is a fixed cost plus a cost per page, and your royalty is a percentage of list price minus that printing cost. The rate is 50% or 60%, depending on list price and marketplace.

KDP's own example: a 300-page, black-ink, regular-trim paperback sold in the US has a $1.00 fixed cost plus $0.012 per page.

What you're working out	Arithmetic	Result
Printing cost	$1.00 + (300 × $0.012)	$4.60
Minimum list price at 60%	$4.60 ÷ 0.60	$7.67
Royalty per copy at a $9.99 list price	(0.60 × $9.99) − $4.60	$1.39

Large trims like 8.5 by 11 and colour ink cost more per book, so run your exact numbers through KDP's printing cost and royalty calculator before you set a price. Fewer, roomier pages can earn more per copy than a cramped book with more of them.

Step 8: should you order a proof copy?

Yes. A proof is a printed test copy marked Not for Resale, with no ISBN. You order it from your KDP Bookshelf through the "..." menu, up to 5 copies at a time, and KDP emails an order link within 4 hours.

Check four things when it arrives: nothing important disappears into the gutter, the spine text sits centred between the folds, the cover colours match what you expected, and the paper colour suits your interior. The on-screen previewer can't show you any of those as well as a physical copy does.

Step 9: how long does KDP review take?

KDP's timelines page says a submitted book takes up to 3 business days to go live on Amazon. Search lags behind: once it's on sale, it can take up to 72 more hours to appear in results. If review finds a problem, fix the file and resubmit. Allow the same window again.

Which rejections do first-time publishers hit?

Most rejections trace back to a number set at the wrong step. The common ones:

1. Page size doesn't match the trim. The PDF was exported at letter size for a 6 by 9 book, or without the 0.125 inch bleed the art needs.
2. Content outside the margins. Usually a gutter left at 0.375 inch after the book grew past 150 pages.
3. Art that stops short of the edge. A background meant to bleed was placed at the trim line, so a white sliver shows after cutting.
4. Fonts not embedded. Common with PDFs saved through a print-to-PDF driver.
5. A cover built for the wrong page count or paper. The spine is the wrong width, so the cover file is the wrong size.
6. Spine text on a thin book. KDP prints spine text only above 79 pages, so a 64-page book's spine has to stay blank.
7. Low-resolution images. KDP's minimum is 300 DPI at printed size.

KDP's "Fix Paperback and Hardcover Formatting Issues" page has the fix for each.

Where does Publisher Studio fit?

If you're making a puzzle book, Publisher Studio produces the two files KDP asks for. It exports a 300 DPI interior PDF at any KDP trim with the margins and gutter set for your page count, a separate answer-key PDF, and a wraparound cover PDF sized to your trim, paper and page count. It checks the page count against KDP's window before exporting and refuses an export that falls outside it.

The built-in cover is deliberately plain: your title over a solid colour, spine text only when the book is thick enough, and the barcode area left clear. If you want illustrated cover art, you'll still need to design it yourself or with a designer, using the same dimensions.

Start with the maker for your niche: word search, sudoku, crossword or spatial puzzles. Each project unlocks once for $4.99 and re-exports at any trim as often as you like. Publishing an illustrated picture book instead? The tools for authors export a print PDF with KDP as the target. For the whole path in one puzzle niche, from theme to listing, read how to make and sell word search books on KDP.