Formatting a paperback for Amazon KDP

KDP rejects files for small, avoidable reasons: a margin that is a millimetre too thin, a font that is not embedded, a cover made before the page count was final. This guide goes through the setup in the order you will meet each decision. The figures are KDP's own, checked on 24 October 2026.

1. Choose the trim size

The trim size is the finished page. KDP offers a fixed list, and a file in any other size is refused. The list includes 5 × 8 in, 5.25 × 8 in, 5.5 × 8.5 in, 6 × 9 in, 6.14 × 9.21 in, 7 × 10 in, 8 × 10 in, 8.5 × 8.5 in, 8.27 × 11.69 in and 8.5 × 11 in, among others. Paperbacks run from 5 × 8 in up to 8.27 × 11.69 in.

Fiction and narrative non-fiction usually sit between 5 × 8 in and 6 × 9 in. Larger sizes suit workbooks and illustrated books. Wider than 6.12 in or taller than 9 in counts as a large trim, and it costs more to print. Decide this first: the margins, the page count and the cover all follow from it.

2. Know your page count and paper

A paperback has at least 24 pages, and KDP rounds an odd count up to an even one. The paper decides the maximum: black ink on white paper takes up to 828 pages, on cream paper up to 776, and standard color up to 600. Cream paper is the usual choice for novels, white for books with many images.

Fix the page count before anything else is built. The spine width, the inside margin and the printing cost all depend on it, so a change late in the process means redoing the cover.

3. Set the margins and the bleed

The inside margin, the gutter, grows with the thickness of the book: 0.375 in (9.6 mm) up to 150 pages, 0.5 in (12.7 mm) up to 300, 0.625 in (15.9 mm) up to 500, 0.75 in (19.1 mm) up to 700 and 0.875 in (22.3 mm) above. The other three sides need at least 0.25 in (6.4 mm), or 0.375 in (9.6 mm) when the book has bleed.

Bleed is only for images or colour that run off the page. It adds 0.125 in (3.2 mm) on the top, bottom and outside edge. If a single page has bleed, the whole interior has to be set up with it, and it has to be a PDF. Do not make the margins larger than needed for looks alone, but treat KDP's numbers as the floor, not the target: text that sits exactly on the minimum looks cramped. Enter your book into the margin calculator to get all of these values at once.

4. Fonts and images

Embed every font completely, not as subsets, and keep the text at 7 points or larger. Images need at least 300 dpi at the size they are printed. An image that is 1,000 pixels wide and printed 6 in wide has only about 167 dpi, so check the printed size, not just the pixel count. KDP suggests staying under 600 dpi, since very large images slow the processing.

Flatten transparency and layers before you export.

5. Export the PDF

A PDF is the safest format, and it is required for any book with bleed. KDP prefers PDF/X-1a. Export single pages, not spreads. The page numbering must be continuous, with odd numbers on the right-hand pages, so page 1 is a right-hand page. KDP also checks for leftovers, so switch off crop marks and printer's marks and remove bookmarks, comments, annotations, hidden objects and placeholder text. Do not lock or encrypt the file. Keep it under 650 MB and avoid long runs of blank pages: no more than four in a row at the start or in the middle, and ten at the end.

6. Make the cover after the page count is final

The cover is one flat file: the back cover, the spine and the front cover, with 0.125 in (3.2 mm) bleed all round. Its width is bleed + back + spine + front + bleed, and its height is the trim height plus two bleeds. The spine is the page count times a thickness per page: 0.002252 in on white paper, 0.0025 in on cream, 0.002347 in for premium color.

Spine text needs about 80 pages; thinner books have a blank spine. If you let KDP assign the ISBN, it prints a barcode on the back cover, in a white box of 2 × 1.2 in at the bottom right. Keep text and pictures out of that corner. The calculator gives you the flat cover size and the spine width.

7. Decide on the ISBN

KDP gives you a free ISBN for a paperback. It works only on KDP, and the imprint shows as KDP's. If you buy your own ISBN, you are the publisher of record and you can use it with other printers and shops. Changing from one to the other after publication means publishing the book as a new title, with its reviews and ranking left behind, so choose before the first upload.

8. Price it and check the royalty

The royalty is a share of the list price, minus the printing cost. The share is 60 % at a list price of 9.99 (US dollar or euro) or 7.99 (pound) and above, and 50 % below. The printing cost is a fixed part plus a part per page, higher for large trims. A 300-page book in 6 × 9 in, black on white, costs about 4.60 US dollars to print, so at 14.99 you keep about 4.39. Try your own numbers in the calculator.

9. Check before you publish

Upload the files and read the previewer page by page, looking at the margins, the page breaks, the first and last pages and the cover edges. Then order a printed proof copy. A printed page shows problems a screen hides: text too close to the fold, images that came out darker than expected, a spine that is a little off.

Kernsetzer is being built to take care of steps 3 to 5 for you: you pick the trim size and the page count, and it sets the margins, the gutter and the bleed and exports the print-ready PDF. Join the closed beta.

Sources: Amazon KDP's help pages on paperback manuscript requirements, trim size, bleed and margins, cover specifications, ISBNs, printing cost and royalty, read on 24 October 2026. KDP changes its rules from time to time. Check the current ones at kdp.amazon.com before you upload; this guide is a help, not a guarantee.

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