How to publish an AI-written eBook on Amazon KDP

Files, AI disclosure, cover, pricing and royalties, explained plainly.

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) lets anyone publish an eBook in the Kindle Store for free. This guide shows how to publish a book written with AI eBook Suite: preparing the file, answering Amazon's AI questions, setting the price and understanding royalties. It is general information, not legal or tax advice. KDP changes its rules from time to time, so check the details in the KDP Help Center before you publish.

1. Amazon's rules for AI-generated content

• Generated or assisted? Amazon distinguishes content created by AI (which you must disclose, even if you edited it afterwards) from content you wrote yourself and only edited, polished or brainstormed with AI tools (which you don't need to disclose). If in doubt, disclose.
• Content guidelines still apply. Every book must respect Amazon's content guidelines: no infringing text, no misleading title or description, and no "disappointing" content such as books that don't deliver what they promise. KDP also limits how many new titles an account can create per day.
• You are responsible for the book. Read it, edit it and check the facts before publishing. AI can make mistakes, invent sources or repeat itself.

2. Your KDP account

• Go to kdp.amazon.com and sign in with an Amazon account, or create one.
• Tax interview: KDP asks for your tax details (form W-9 if you are a US person, W-8BEN for most authors outside the US). This decides any withholding on your royalties.
• Payments: add a bank account. Amazon pays royalties about 60 days after the end of the month in which the sales happened.

3. Prepare the manuscript

Before uploading: read the whole book, fix anything that is wrong or repetitive, and check the result in the previewer that KDP offers during upload, or in the free Kindle Previewer app, on phone, tablet and Kindle views.

Paperback? A print book needs a PDF with the right trim size and margins. Our PDF export is a reading copy, not a print-ready file: start from the DOCX and lay it out with one of KDP's print templates.

4. The cover

The cover is the first thing readers see. KDP's ideal eBook cover is 1,600 × 2,560 pixels (width × height, ratio 1:1.6), as a JPG or TIFF file.

• Design it yourself: KDP's built-in Cover Creator, Canva or Adobe Express offer eBook cover templates; GIMP is a free image editor.
• AI images: if the cover image was made with AI, say so in KDP's AI questions.
• Hire a designer: marketplaces such as Reedsy, 99designs or Fiverr list professional cover designers.

5. Pricing and royalties

Example: a $4.99 eBook of 1 MB on the 70% plan earns about $4.99 × 70% − $0.15 = $3.34 per sale. Text-only books are usually well under 1 MB.

KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited (optional): if you give Amazon 90 days of exclusivity for the eBook, it is included in Kindle Unlimited and you are paid for pages read from a monthly fund (historically around half a cent per page; the rate changes every month). During those 90 days you cannot sell the eBook in other stores.

6. Publish step by step

1. Create the title: in your KDP Bookshelf click + Create and choose Kindle eBook.
2. Details: language, title and subtitle (exactly as in the book), author (your name or pen name, as in the book), description (up to 4,000 characters), the AI-content questions, up to 7 keywords and up to 3 categories.
3. Content: upload the EPUB and the cover, choose whether to apply DRM, and check every page in the previewer.
4. Pricing: decide on KDP Select, choose the territories where you hold the rights, the royalty plan and the price, then click Publish. Review usually takes up to 72 hours.

7. Earnings: what to expect

What you can calculate is the royalty per sale on Amazon.com (70% plan, 1 MB file):

Remember the costs too: the subscription, the AI usage of your provider, and any cover, editing or advertising you pay for.

8. Getting readers

• A clear promise: title, cover and description should tell readers exactly what the book gives them.
• Amazon Ads: start with a small daily budget and stop ads that don't pay for themselves.
• Your own channels: a simple website or newsletter, and communities where your readers already are.
• Promotions: with KDP Select you can run Kindle Countdown Deals or free-book days.
• Reviews: ask readers for honest reviews. Never buy reviews or trade them with other authors: it breaks Amazon's rules.
• Series: in genre fiction readers often look for the next book, so a series can help each title find readers.

9. Rights and copyright

• From us: under our Terms, we claim no rights over the books generated for you. You can publish and sell them.
• Copyright protection: in the US, the EU and many other countries, copyright protects works of human authorship. Text generated by AI without significant human creative contribution may not be protected, which means others may be free to reuse it. Rewriting, editing and adding your own material makes the book more yours.
• Originality: AI can occasionally produce passages similar to existing texts, or invent facts and quotes. Check, especially in non-fiction; plagiarism checkers can help.
• Amazon: you keep your rights and grant Amazon a non-exclusive licence to sell the book (exclusive for the eBook only while it is enrolled in KDP Select).

10. Checklist before publishing

• The whole book has been read and edited by a person.
• Facts, names, figures and quotes have been checked.
• Title, subtitle and author name match in the file and in KDP.
• The cover is 1,600 × 2,560 pixels and readable as a thumbnail.
• Description, keywords and categories describe the book honestly.
• The AI-content questions are answered truthfully.
• The previewer shows no problems on phone, tablet and Kindle.
• Price and royalty plan are chosen.

Resources

• KDP Help Center: official rules on content, formats, royalties and AI disclosure
• Kindlepreneur: free guides on keywords, categories and marketing
• Reedsy Blog: editing, covers and self-publishing
• Draft2Digital Blog: publishing beyond Amazon