To publish a book made with AI on Amazon KDP, you go from idea to outline, draft, edit, illustrations, interior PDF, cover, Kindle eBook and listing, then declare the AI-generated content and set a price. KDP allows AI books with that disclosure, and up to 2 new titles per format per week. Each step below shows the do-it-yourself way and the kdpbook.io way.
The steps at a glance
| Step | Do it yourself | With kdpbook |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Idea and book type | Research your niche, write a one-paragraph brief | Describe it in a chat, or pick one of 36 book types |
| 2. Outline | A chat assistant, then your own restructuring | A plan with title, characters and every page, which you can review first |
| 3. Draft | Prompt section by section with a style sheet | Written from the plan, or import your own manuscript |
| 4. Edit | Your own reading, ideally a second reader | Page editor with AI rewrites; your reading is still needed |
| 5. Illustrations | An image generator plus a reference image per character | Character sheets reused on every illustration, 40 styles or your own |
| 6. Interior | Word processor, Kindle Create or a layout app | Typeset by code to KDP’s trim, margin and bleed rules |
| 7. Cover | KDP’s cover template and a design app, or Cover Creator | Full-wrap cover PDF sized from the final page count |
| 8. Kindle eBook | Kindle Create, then Kindle Previewer | EPUB, reflowable or fixed layout, plus the Kindle cover |
| 9. Listing | Amazon’s search bar for keywords, KDP’s category picker | Listing sheet with description, 7 keywords and categories |
| 10. AI disclosure | KDP’s definitions and your notes | Suggested answers on the export sheet |
| 11. Price | KDP’s royalty calculator | Our free calculators; the price stays your call |
1. Pick the idea and the book type
Start with a reader and a format, not a prompt. The book type decides most of the KDP rules that follow: a picture book is a premium color paperback with bleed; a coloring or puzzle book is print only, because KDP lists books meant to be colored or written in as unsuited to Kindle; a novel is usually a Kindle eBook plus a cream-paper paperback. Low-content books such as journals don’t need an ISBN. The book types page shows the usual format for each.
Do it yourself: Look at books already on Amazon in your niche, note their trim sizes, page counts and prices, and write a one-paragraph brief: who the book is for, what it promises and how long it is.
With kdpbook: Describe the book in plain words in the planning chat, or pick one of 36 book types in 8 families. Each type starts from a trim, ink and paper that suit it. kdpbook doesn’t research the market for you: which books are worth making is still your decision.
2. Outline
An outline keeps an AI draft on track and is the cheapest place to fix a book. For a picture book, plan it spread by spread, one scene per spread with a page turn at every surprise. For a novel, list the chapters and what changes in each. For non-fiction, list the questions each chapter answers.
Do it yourself: Ask a chat assistant for two or three outlines, then merge and rewrite the best parts yourself. Keep the result in the same document as your brief.
With kdpbook: The plan step sketches the title, the characters and every page or chapter. You can turn on a pause after the plan to read the story and the page plan before any image is painted, then approve or cancel.
3. Draft
Long AI drafts drift: names change, the tone wanders, facts repeat. Work in sections, and keep a short style sheet (characters, tense, voice, reading level) that goes into every prompt, so chapter twelve still sounds like chapter one.
Do it yourself: Generate one chapter or spread at a time with the outline and the style sheet in the prompt, and paste each accepted section into a single manuscript file.
With kdpbook: The text is written page by page from the plan, in the structure the book type needs: chapter openers and a table of contents for a novel, a few lines per page for a picture book, in any of 34 KDP languages. You can also import your own manuscript (DOCX, PDF, EPUB or plain text) and use AI only for the pictures and the layout.
4. Edit
This step is yours whichever tool you use. AI states wrong facts with confidence, repeats itself and loses track of details. KDP’s content quality guide names typos among the problems readers report most, and it doesn’t allow content that is excessively repeated or doesn’t provide an enjoyable reading experience.
Do it yourself: Read the whole book, aloud for a children’s book. In non-fiction, check every fact, name and number against a real source. A second reader catches what you no longer see.
With kdpbook: The page editor shows each page as it will print. Editing text, fonts and layout by hand is free, and an AI rewrite of a passage costs 12 credits. The reading itself can’t be automated: kdpbook doesn’t fact-check your book.
5. Illustrations with consistent characters
KDP asks for images of at least 300 DPI at their printed size. The harder problem is consistency: the same character, clothes and colors from the cover to the last page.
Do it yourself: Create a reference sheet for each main character once, attach it to every image prompt, keep one style description word for word, and upscale the final images to 300 DPI. Keep text out of the images and set it as real text on the page.
With kdpbook: Character sheets are drawn first and used as the reference for every illustration, in one of 40 styles or your own, described in words or from a reference image. Any page that drifts can be redrawn, and coloring books get clean line art. The method, with or without kdpbook, is in how to keep AI characters consistent.
6. Format the interior: trim, margins, bleed
Choose the trim size and ink first: they set the page size, the page limits and the printing cost (see trim sizes and paper types and premium vs standard color). For a novel or a non-fiction book, the word count to page count calculator shows how many pages your manuscript makes at each trim and font size. Then the margins: the inside (gutter) margin grows with the page count, from 0.375 in up to 0.875 in, and the outside, top and bottom margins are at least 0.25 in, or 0.375 in with bleed. If any art touches the page edge, the whole PDF uses bleed: pages 0.125 in wider and 0.25 in taller than the trim.
Do it yourself: A word processor with a KDP template, KDP’s free Kindle Create, or a layout app. Export a PDF with the fonts embedded, then check the margins for your final page count with the margins and bleed tool. For a text-based book, how to format a novel has the details.
With kdpbook: The layout follows KDP’s trim, margin and bleed rules, applied by code rather than by AI, and a preflight keeps checking margins, bleed, fonts and image resolution while you edit. The interior PDF is exported at its true size.
7. Cover wrap and spine
A print cover is one flat PDF: back cover, spine and front cover, with bleed around the edges. Its width depends on the spine, and the spine on the final page count and paper. A 336-page 5.5 × 8.5 in novel on cream paper has a 0.84 in spine and a 12.09 × 8.75 in cover. Spine text is only allowed from 79 pages, and the back cover needs room for the barcode (2 × 1.2 in at KDP’s suggested size), which KDP adds for you if your file doesn’t include one.
Do it yourself: Get the exact size and a template from our cover size calculator or KDP’s own, design on it in any image editor and export a PDF. KDP’s Cover Creator is simpler and allows spine text from 80 pages. The rules are in cover dimensions and spine width.
With kdpbook: The cover art is painted with your characters, and the full-wrap PDF is sized from the final page count and paper, so the spine matches the interior. A 3D preview shows the printed book before you export.
8. Kindle eBook
Text-based books use a reflowable EPUB, which adapts to any screen. Picture books and comics need a fixed layout, so every page keeps its design. Coloring, puzzle and blank books are print only. The Kindle cover is a separate image: KDP recommends 1,600 × 2,560 pixels.
Do it yourself: KDP’s free Kindle Create prepares reflowable books, comics and kids’ eBooks. Check the result in Kindle Previewer, which KDP recommends, in phone, tablet and e-reader views.
With kdpbook: Every book type that suits Kindle exports an EPUB, reflowable or fixed layout, with its Kindle cover. Print-only types don’t offer one.
9. Listing: title, keywords, categories, ISBN
The listing is what shoppers and Amazon’s search see: a title and subtitle under 200 characters together, a description of up to 4,000 characters, up to 7 keywords and 3 categories. KDP’s metadata guidelines rule out sales claims such as “bestselling”, promotions such as “free”, and unauthorized references to other books, authors or trademarks. Print books need one ISBN per format; KDP provides one for free (the imprint then reads “Independently published”), and eBooks and low-content books can do without. See free KDP ISBN vs your own.
Do it yourself: Collect the phrases shoppers type into Amazon’s search bar for books like yours, put them in the keyword boxes rather than the title, and pick the categories where the book honestly belongs. For bold text, headings or lists in the description, our free book description formatter gives you the HTML KDP accepts, with a character count.
With kdpbook: Every book comes with a listing sheet: title, description, 7 keywords, categories and the AI-disclosure answers, ready to copy into KDP’s setup screens.
10. AI disclosure
If an AI wrote the text or drew the images, the book contains AI-generated content, even after heavy editing, and KDP asks you to declare it when you publish or republish. The cover counts as an image. Using AI only to fix grammar or brainstorm is AI-assisted and doesn’t need to be declared. Can you publish AI-generated books on KDP? covers the rules; the AI disclosure guide covers the answers.
Do it yourself: Keep a note of which parts were generated and which you wrote or drew yourself, so you can answer precisely.
With kdpbook: The export sheet suggests the answers from what was actually generated. For a book made from a prompt, that is usually texts “Entire work, with minimal or no editing” and images “Many AI-generated images, with minimal or no editing”; with a manuscript you wrote yourself, the text answer becomes None.
11. Price and royalties
Print royalties on Amazon.com are 60% of the list price from $9.99 and 50% below it, minus the printing cost. Kindle eBooks earn 70% between $2.99 and $12.99 on Amazon.com (a band that widened on July 7, 2026), minus a delivery cost per megabyte, or 35% at other prices.
- The 336-page novel above costs $5.03 to print on Amazon.com, so its minimum list price is $9.99. At $14.99 it earns $3.96 per copy.
- Its Kindle edition at $4.99 with a 2 MB file earns $3.28 on the 70% option, after a $0.30 delivery cost, against $1.75 on 35%.
Do it yourself: Compare the prices of similar books, then check the royalty at each price in KDP’s calculator before you commit. The pricing guide works through three examples.
With kdpbook: Our free printing cost and royalty calculators need no account. The price itself stays your decision.
After you click Publish
- KDP reviews every book. It takes up to 3 business days to go live, or up to 10 for low-content books. If the book goes back to Draft, check your email, fix what KDP asks and resubmit.
- For a print book with a new trim, paper or cover style, order a proof copy: only paper shows real colors and the real spine.
- Plan the next book around KDP’s limit of 2 new titles per format per week (since September 21, 2026).
- Before you upload, work through the publishing checklist.
DIY or kdpbook?
Doing it yourself mostly costs time: a chat assistant, an image generator, KDP’s free Kindle Create and Cover Creator, and a lot of careful assembly. It gives you control of every word and pixel, and for a text-only novel you already wrote, free tools are enough. The hard parts are keeping characters consistent across dozens of illustrations and getting page sizes, margins, bleed and the spine exactly right.
kdpbook does the assembly: one description or manuscript in, the interior PDF, the cover PDF, the Kindle EPUB and the listing sheet out. New accounts get 2,000 free credits once, with no card required. Free-plan books carry a kdpbook.io preview watermark and are shared in the community; any paid plan exports clean files. A 32-page picture book is estimated at about 1,624 credits, within the free credits, and a 336-page novel at about 5,377. Paid plans start at $25/month. It doesn’t upload to KDP for you, and it can’t promise that KDP will accept a book: the listing, the price, the AI answers and the final read stay with you.
Comparing tools? kdpbook.io vs ChatGPT, kdpbook.io vs Sudowrite, kdpbook.io vs Squibler, kdpbook.io vs Kindle Create, kdpbook.io vs Reedsy Studio, kdpbook.io vs Canva, kdpbook.io vs Atticus, kdpbook.io vs Vellum, kdpbook.io vs KDP Builder.