Kindle Kids’ Book Creator was pulled from download on February 6, 2025, and since March 18, 2025 KDP no longer accepts the MOBI files it produced. A fixed-layout Kindle picture book is now uploaded as a KPF file made in Kindle Create or as a fixed-layout EPUB. Books already published with the old tool stay live.
What changed, and when
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | KDP announced the retirement of Kindle Kids’ Book Creator and Kindle Comic Creator, and recommended KPF files made with Kindle Create, or EPUB, for fixed-layout kids’ books and comics. |
| February 6, 2025 | Both tools stopped being available for download. |
| March 18, 2025 | KDP stopped accepting MOBI files for fixed-layout eBooks. Reflowable MOBI uploads had already ended on August 1, 2021. |
| Since then | Upload KPF or EPUB. Published titles remain live, but a revision counts as a new upload, so an update to an old picture book also needs a KPF or EPUB file. |
One trap: on September 28, 2026, KDP’s How to publish your children’s book (opens in a new tab) page still told readers to download Kindle Kids’ Book Creator. The Help pages listed in the sources are the current ones.
Fixed layout vs reflowable
A reflowable eBook lets readers change the font and its size, and the text flows to fit the screen. It suits novels and chapter books. A fixed-layout eBook keeps every page as designed, usually as an image with the text placed on it, and the reader can’t resize the text. Picture books need fixed layout, because the words belong to the art. KDP doesn’t allow a mix: a book is either entirely reflowable or entirely fixed.
- Fixed layout (kdpbook.io types): Baby & toddler book, Picture book, ABC book, Counting book, Illustrated storybook, Early reader, Kids' fact book.
- Reflowable: Bedtime story collection, Early chapter book, Middle-grade novel, Young adult novel.
- No Kindle edition: coloring, activity and puzzle books. KDP lists them as unsuited to Kindle, so they are print only.
Three ways to make one now
| Option | You provide | Good at | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kindle Create free, by Amazon, Windows and Mac | Finished pages as a PDF, or as JPEG or PNG images, with the text already on them | Free and official. Adds Guided View, which leads a young reader through the art in order. Exports a KPF file to upload to KDP. | No text tools for kids’ books: text must be placed on the images before import. KPF is a Kindle-only format. |
| Fixed-layout EPUB built by hand or in layout software | XHTML pages, images and a package file with fixed-layout metadata | Full control: live text, text pop-ups, and an open format other eBook stores also use. KDP takes EPUB 2 and EPUB 3. | Technical: fixed-layout metadata, an original resolution for every page, and testing in Kindle Previewer. |
| kdpbook.io | A one-sentence idea, or your own manuscript | Writes, illustrates and lays out the book, then exports the print PDF and a fixed-layout EPUB from the same pages. | The text is part of each page image: no text pop-ups and no Guided View. Free-plan files carry a preview watermark. |
If you already have a print-ready interior PDF from another tool, Kindle Create is the shortest path. If you want text that readers can enlarge on its own, you need an EPUB with text pop-ups. For a side-by-side look, read kdpbook.io vs Kindle Create: an honest comparison.
KDP’s rules for fixed-layout picture books
- Metadata: the package declares fixed layout (the
rendition:layoutproperty or the olderfixed-layouttag) and anoriginal-resolution, the pixel size the pages were designed at, in the page’s proportions. This applies to an EPUB you build; Kindle Create exports a KPF file instead. - Text size: on a 7-inch tablet, capital letters must be at least 4 mm tall in children’s books (2 mm in other books). Smaller text needs text pop-ups, which KDP calls Region Magnification.
- Images: for books with image pop-ups, KDP asks for JPEG images, recommends at least 300 ppi and suggests planning for 2× magnification. For books without pop-ups, each page’s background image should be larger than the screen.
- Back cover: KDP suggests ending a children’s eBook with a back cover, without the barcode, price or promotional text.
- Kindle cover: uploaded separately. KDP’s ideal size is 1,600 × 2,560 pixels.
- Test it: KDP asks you to check fixed-layout files in Kindle Previewer before you publish.
File size and royalties
Picture-book files are large, and that matters for the 70% royalty option: on Amazon.com, KDP subtracts a delivery cost of $0.15 per MB. At a $4.99 list price, a 5 MB file earns $2.97 at 70% ($0.75 delivery) against $1.75 at 35%. A 25 MB file earns $0.87 at 70% ($3.75 delivery), so 35% pays more. Compare both options for your own file in the royalty calculator.
How kdpbook.io exports a fixed-layout EPUB
Every fixed-layout kdpbook book type gets its Kindle edition from the same pages as the print interior, without the bleed:
- An EPUB 3 file with
rendition:layoutset topre-paginated, anoriginal-resolutionand a viewport on every page. - Each page is one JPEG in the book’s trim proportions, 1,600 pixels on the short side: 1,600 × 1,600 for a picture book at 8.5 × 8.5 in, 1,600 × 2,000 at 8 × 10 in.
- Page 1 is a right-hand page, as in print, and pages are paired into spreads when the tablet is turned sideways.
- Each page’s words are in the image’s alt text, and the table of contents takes readers straight to the start of the story.
- Every export is checked with EPUBCheck, the W3C’s EPUB validator. The Kindle cover comes as a separate JPEG.
The trade-off is the one in the table above: the text is baked into the page, so readers can’t resize it. The preflight reminds you of KDP’s 4 mm rule; keep picture-book text large and short. Free-plan exports carry a kdpbook.io preview watermark and aren’t for sale; paid plans export clean files. Start from the AI picture book generator, or read the full picture book guide.