Got a book in your head, or already finished on your laptop, and wondering how to sell it on Amazon without a publisher? That is exactly what Amazon KDP is for. With Kindle Direct Publishing you publish eBooks, paperbacks and hardcovers for free, keep your rights and earn royalties of up to 70%. A lot changed in 2026: since 7 July the 70% eBook tier on Amazon.co.uk runs up to £12.99 instead of £9.99, while cheaper paperbacks have only earned 50% since June 2025. This guide shows you how Amazon KDP works in the UK, what it costs, how much you earn per book and what to watch out for as a self publisher.
Key points at a glance
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is free and one of the biggest self publishing platforms in the UK book market. You publish eBooks, paperbacks and hardcovers without a publisher and without stock. eBooks earn a 35% or 70% royalty rate, print books 50% or 60% minus printing costs. Royalties are paid around 60 days after the end of each month. The best reach comes from strong keywords, a professional cover and advertising.
What is Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)?
Amazon KDP, short for Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, is Amazon's self publishing platform. Authors upload their manuscript and cover, set a price, and Amazon sells the book in the Kindle Store and as a printed edition across its marketplaces, including Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Amazon.de and Amazon.fr. According to Amazon, you can publish in more than 45 languages and reach readers in over 10 countries.
The big difference to a traditional publishing deal is control. You decide on content, title, cover, price and timing, and you keep the rights to your work. In return you take on the jobs a publisher would normally do: editing, cover design, marketing and advertising. KDP is not a publisher. It is a tool that lets you become your own.
Which formats can you publish on KDP?
You can publish three formats and link them so they share one product page:
eBook: Readers read your book on Kindle devices or in the Kindle app. KDP accepts Word and EPUB files, among others, and the free Kindle Create software lets you format your manuscript yourself.
Paperback: Amazon prints each copy only when someone orders it. This print on demand model means no stock, no print run and no upfront risk. Printing costs are simply deducted from your royalty.
Hardcover: Works like the paperback but with a hard binding and higher printing costs. It often makes sense for non-fiction, gift books and children's books.
Every book also gets its own Amazon number. For books, the ASIN is the same as the ISBN-10. We explain this in detail in What is an Amazon ASIN?.
How much does Amazon KDP cost?
Signing up for Amazon KDP is free. There is no monthly fee, no cost per title and no minimum print run. For paperbacks and hardcovers KDP even gives you a free ISBN, although you can only use it on KDP. Amazon only earns money when you sell, by keeping a share of the price and deducting printing costs on print books.
You will still have costs outside KDP. Budget for professional editing, a good cover, your own ISBN from Nielsen if you want to sell through other retailers, and advertising. Many self publishers underestimate that last one. Without visibility, even a great book barely sells.
Signing up to Amazon KDP UK: what you need
You can use your normal Amazon customer account for KDP or create a new one. Before you get paid, KDP needs three things: proof of identity, your tax details and a bank account.
In the tax interview you enter your UK tax information. Because Amazon is a US company, KDP checks whether US withholding tax applies. Thanks to the UK and US tax treaty, UK authors with complete details usually pay 0% US withholding. You do not need a separate seller account in Amazon Seller Central to publish books. The two systems are completely separate.
How to publish on Amazon KDP in 6 steps
1. Create your KDP account
Sign in at kdp.amazon.com, verify your identity and complete the tax interview and bank details. This usually takes 15 to 30 minutes.
2. Prepare your manuscript
For the eBook a clean Word file or EPUB is enough. For the paperback you need a print-ready PDF in your chosen trim size, for example 5 x 8 inches for a novel. Check margins, page numbers and table of contents. Kindle Create and the KDP templates help with this.
3. Design your cover
Your cover decides whether someone clicks in the search results. Upload your own design or use the free Cover Creator. For print you need a full cover PDF with back cover and spine, and the spine width depends on your page count.
4. Add your book details
Enter title, subtitle, author name, description, language and audience. You also get up to 7 keywords and 3 categories. These details are your most important tool for being found in Amazon search, so choose terms your readers actually type.
5. Set price and royalty
You set a price for each marketplace and choose between 35% and 70% for the eBook. KDP shows you straight away what you earn per sale. The details follow in the next section.
6. Publish
After you submit, Amazon reviews your book. According to KDP it is usually live within 72 hours, low-content books can take up to 10 business days. Order a proof copy first so you spot print errors before your readers do.
KDP royalties 2026: how much you earn per book
eBooks: 35% or 70%
For eBooks you pick one of two royalty options. On Amazon.co.uk the 70% option applies to list prices from £1.77 to £12.99. The ceiling was £9.99 until 6 July 2026 and had not changed since 2007. According to KDP, existing books are not repriced automatically. If your eBook costs between £10 and £12.99 and is still on 35%, you have to switch it yourself.
At 70%, KDP calculates the royalty on the price excluding VAT and deducts a delivery cost of £0.10 per MB. Since UK eBooks are zero-rated for VAT, you get 70% of the full list price minus delivery. The 35% option has no delivery cost and only makes sense for very cheap or very large, image-heavy files.
Paperbacks and hardcovers: 50% or 60%
For print books you earn a percentage of the list price minus printing costs. Since 10 June 2025 there are two tiers on Amazon.co.uk: 60% from a list price of £7.99, and 50% up to £7.98. For a black and white paperback on Amazon.co.uk, KDP charges £0.85 per book plus £0.010 per page, or a flat £1.93 up to 110 pages. Through Expanded Distribution to bookshops and libraries you earn 40%.
Worked example for Amazon.co.uk
| eBook | Paperback 60% | Paperback 50% | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | £3.99 (0% VAT) | £9.99 list price | £7.49 list price |
| Size | 2 MB file | 250 pages | 250 pages |
| Deducted | £0.20 delivery | £3.35 printing | £3.35 printing |
| Your royalty | about £2.65 | about £2.64 | about £0.40 |
The example shows why the paperback price matters so much. Charging £2.50 more gives you more than six times the royalty. KDP's printing cost and royalty calculator shows the exact figure for your book.
KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited: is exclusivity worth it?
KDP Select is a free programme for eBooks that runs in 90-day periods. Your eBook is automatically added to Kindle Unlimited, Amazon's reading subscription, and you are paid for every page read from a monthly fund. In August 2026 KDP paid out 69.4 million US dollars from this fund. You can also run free book promotions and, on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com, Kindle Countdown Deals.
The catch: for those 90 days your eBook cannot be sold digitally anywhere else, so not on Kobo, Apple Books or your own website. Paperbacks are not affected. KDP Select often pays off for fiction in genres with heavy readers, such as romance, thrillers or fantasy. For non-fiction you want to sell widely, it usually does not.
Payments and tax in the UK
Amazon pays royalties monthly, around 60 days after the end of the month in which you sold. What you earn in January arrives at the end of March. With direct deposit there is usually no minimum payment. KDP does not offer PayPal.
In the UK your KDP royalties count as income. If you earn more than the £1,000 trading allowance in a tax year, you usually need to register for Self Assessment with HMRC. Speak to an accountant if your income grows, especially before you publish many titles.
AI and low-content books: the 2026 rules
KDP requires you to disclose AI-generated content, meaning text, images or translations created by an AI tool. This includes covers and illustrations. AI-assisted content, where you write yourself and only use AI for editing or ideas, does not have to be disclosed.
Low-content books such as notebooks, journals or planners are allowed on KDP. They do not need an ISBN but are not eligible for a free KDP ISBN either. Many barely sell because the market is crowded, so you need a clear niche and a design that stands out.
Marketing your book on Amazon
A published book is not yet a sold book. These levers bring you readers:
Keywords and categories: Use all 7 keyword slots for search terms that are not already in your title.
Amazon Ads: Ads for KDP books show your title in search results and on similar books' pages. Start with a small daily budget and automatic targeting so you see which search terms really convert.
A+ Content and Author Central: A+ Content adds images and comparison tables to your product page. Author Central lets you manage your author page.
Reviews: Without reviews almost no book sells. Ask readers at the end of your book for an honest review. Paid reviews break Amazon's rules.
The most common Amazon KDP mistakes
The most expensive mistake is pricing a paperback just below the threshold: at £7.49 you only get 50% instead of 60%. The second is a home-made cover that looks cheap next to the rest of the category. Third, many skip editing and the first reviews mention typos. Fourth, many write for an audience that does not exist, without checking demand first. Each of these costs sales even when the content is good.
Amazon KDP pros and cons
The advantages are clear: no upfront cost, readers in many countries, full control and royalties of up to 70%, far more than a traditional publishing deal. Print on demand saves you stock and upfront investment.
The downsides are real too. Competition is huge, and Amazon can change the rules at any time, as the 50% cut for cheaper paperbacks showed. With KDP Select you depend on one platform, and getting into high street bookshops through KDP is hard. Our experience from selling physical products on Amazon applies here as well: treat it like a business, with numbers, tests and patience.
Niche research with BSR data
Before you spend months on a book, check the demand. The Best Sellers Rank (BSR) shows how well a book sells compared with others. A single value tells you little. It only becomes meaningful over several weeks.
This is where ProfitGo helps. The Chrome extension shows BSR and price history over 30, 60, 90 or 180 days on any Amazon product page, including books in your target niche. That way you see whether top titles sell steadily or just spiked once. You can try ProfitGo free for 14 days.
Would you rather sell books than write them? Book arbitrage is an alternative: you buy used or discounted books cheaply, for example in charity shops, and resell them on Amazon. With the ProfitGo app you scan barcodes in store and instantly see whether a buy is worth it. Our Retail Arbitrage Guide explains how it works.
KDP or FBA: which Amazon business suits you?
KDP is one of the few ways to sell on Amazon with no stock at all. We cover more options in Sell on Amazon Without Inventory. With KDP you sell your own intellectual product. With FBA you sell physical products, either other brands or your own. Our guide Amazon Arbitrage vs Private Label compares both models, and Is Amazon FBA Worth It in 2026? gives you an honest review.
Amazon KDP FAQ
Is Amazon KDP free?
Yes. Signing up, publishing and the ISBN for print are free. Amazon keeps a share of each sale and deducts printing costs on print books.
How much can you earn with Amazon KDP?
It depends on price, format and sales. A £3.99 eBook on Amazon.co.uk earns you about £2.65 per sale. Many books sell only a few copies a month, and only a small number of authors live from KDP alone.
When does KDP pay royalties?
Monthly, around 60 days after the end of the month in which the sale happened. For Expanded Distribution it is around 90 days.
Do I pay tax on KDP royalties in the UK?
Yes, royalties are taxable income. Above the £1,000 trading allowance you usually need to register for Self Assessment with HMRC.
What is KDP Select?
A free 90-day programme for eBooks. Your book joins Kindle Unlimited and you earn per page read. In return the eBook must be exclusive to Amazon in digital form during that period.
Is Amazon KDP legit?
Yes. Kindle Direct Publishing is Amazon's official platform and has existed since 2007. Be careful with courses and services promising fast money with KDP or selling reviews.
Conclusion
In 2026 Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing is the easiest way to publish a book without a publisher in the UK. It costs nothing, you keep your rights, and with the new £12.99 ceiling you earn more on eBooks than before. Watch the £7.99 threshold for paperbacks, use keywords and categories deliberately and check demand with BSR data before you start writing. And if physical products tempt you next, our blog covers everything you need to start with Amazon FBA.
