Amazon KDP

Publishing terms

Formats

Kindle ebook, Paperback, Hardcover

Distribution

Amazon stores, Expanded Distribution (print)

Exclusivity

Not requiredPublishing on KDP does not require exclusivity. Enrolling a title in KDP Select does: for the 90-day term Amazon holds the exclusive right to sell the digital edition, and you may not sell or license it in digital form in any territory where you hold rights. Enrolment renews automatically in further 90-day periods unless you opt out before renewal. Print, audio and video editions are unaffected.

ISBN

Free ISBN supplied: YesAccepts your own ISBN: YesA free ISBN is offered for paperback and hardcover only; Kindle ebooks do not need one. The free ISBN cannot be used with another publisher or printer, and the imprint is registered in Bowker as "Independently published". Supplying your own ISBN lets you register a custom imprint name and reuse the identifier on other platforms.

Royalties

• 70% of list price after delivery costs70% option — Kindle ebookList price $2.99–$12.99 on Amazon.com. The price band widened from $2.99–$9.99 on 7 July 2026. Available only in listed territories, and the list price must be at least 20% below the list price of any physical edition on Amazon. Books enrolled in KDP Select also earn 70% in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India; unenrolled books earn 35% there. Titles consisting primarily of public-domain content are limited to 35%.Delivery costs are deducted before the rate is applied — $0.15/MB on Amazon.com, €0.12/MB in EU stores, ¥1/MB in Japan, ₹7/MB in India.
• 35% of list price35% option — Kindle ebookList price $0.99–$200.00 on Amazon.com. Available in all territories.No delivery cost is deducted.
• 60% of list pricePrint sold on Amazon, list price $9.99 or aboveApplies to Amazon marketplaces at or above the marketplace threshold ($9.99 on Amazon.com).Printing cost is subtracted after the rate is applied: (royalty rate × list price) − printing cost. Printing cost varies with page count, ink and marketplace.
• 50% of list pricePrint sold on Amazon, list price $9.98 or belowApplies at or below the marketplace threshold ($9.98 on Amazon.com).Printing cost is subtracted after the rate is applied.
• 40% of list pricePrint sold through Expanded DistributionApplies to sales through Expanded Distribution rather than Amazon's own stores.Printing cost is subtracted after the rate is applied.

Rights & privacy

Manuscript upload

Required

Cloud storage

Yes

Account required

Yes

AI features

Not determined

AI training on your work

The terms are unclearThe KDP Terms and Conditions do not address training machine-learning or AI models on uploaded content at all — the subject is neither permitted nor excluded. Silence is not a commitment: it leaves the question to the general licence grant and to policies that can change without amending this agreement.

Content licence

Section 5.5 grants Amazon a non-exclusive, irrevocable right and licence to print and distribute the book directly and through third-party distributors, and Amazon may let its affiliates and independent contractors exercise those rights. Section 6 is explicit that you retain copyright and all other ownership. The licence runs for the term of the agreement, but rights in copies customers have already bought survive termination. KDP Select is the exception to non-exclusivity: while enrolled, the digital edition is exclusive to Amazon.

Deletion

Withdrawal is quick; deletion is not on offer. Give notice and Amazon stops selling your ebooks and printing your paperbacks within five business days — faster than any other agreement here. But it may keep selling print inventory it already holds, fulfil orders already placed, and, in its own words, “continue to maintain digital copies” of your Digital Books after termination. Customers keep access through Virtual Storage, expressly both during and after the term. Nothing in the agreement offers deletion of the files or the account on request, so this is recorded as not available rather than undetermined — the agreement was read in full and does not provide it.

Export

Outside KDP Select the licence is non-exclusive, so the book can be published anywhere else at the same time and withdrawal takes five business days. What is not offered is any documented export of the catalogue — uploaded files, metadata or full sales history — and Amazon may keep digital copies after you leave.

Policy reviewed 4 September 2026

Recent changes

1. 7 July 2026

   70% royalty price band widened to $12.99

   The upper limit of the 70% royalty band on Amazon.com moved from $9.99 to $12.99, so a title priced between those figures now earns 70% rather than 35%.