Amazon KDP

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.

AI and model training

The 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.

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 and lock-in

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.

Change history

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%.