How to Format a Book for Amazon KDP (Step-by-Step)

Overview

Formatting a book for Amazon KDP means preparing two deliverables from one manuscript in most cases: a reflowable ebook for Kindle and a fixed-layout PDF interior for paperback. Both must meet Amazon's content and technical guidelines or the dashboard will block publication until you fix and re-upload.

This step-by-step guide walks through decisions in the order that minimizes rework. Trim size and margin choices come first because they affect every page. Typography and navigation come next. Preview and export come last.

You can execute these steps in Word with manual care, but dedicated book formatting software such as Manusly, Vellum, or Atticus automates TOC generation, trim presets, and export pipelines tuned for KDP.

Plan ebook and print together

Decide early whether you are publishing ebook only, print only, or both. Dual format is common for indie fiction and non-fiction because the incremental cost of preparing print is modest once the manuscript is structured correctly.

Maintain one source project when possible. Divergent Word and InDesign files drift out of sync within a single editing pass. A unified formatter project exports EPUB and PDF from the same styled chapters.

List elements that differ between formats. Print may use running headers and page numbers; ebooks often hide folios and rely on progress indicators. Front matter order may match, but ebook title pages sometimes simplify navigation.

Metadata alignment

KDP metadata (title, subtitle, series, description) is separate from interior files but should match spelling on the title page and cover. Mismatches confuse readers and support tickets.

Choose trim size

Trim size is the finished width and height of the printed page. KDP supports multiple paperback sizes; fiction frequently uses 5×8, 5.5×8.5, or 6×9 inches. Non-fiction with diagrams may prefer 6×9 or 7×10 for margin space.

Changing trim after layout invalidates pagination and cover spine width. Pick trim before heavy proofreading on PDF page breaks.

Research comparable titles in your genre. Readers rarely notice half an inch, but genre conventions exist: mass-market feel versus trade paperback feel.

Consult the dedicated KDP trim sizes guide for dimension tables and margin interaction.

Margins and bleed

Print margins include outside, top, bottom, and inside (gutter) edges. KDP specifies minimum margins that increase with page count to account for binding creep. Inside margins must be large enough that text does not disappear into the glue line.

Set margins in your formatter, not by pressing Enter repeatedly. Manual spacing breaks when you edit chapters or change trim.

Bleed extends background color or images 0.125 inches beyond trim on edges that touch the physical page boundary. Enable bleed only for pages that need full-bleed art. Text-only pages do not require bleed extension.

After setting margins, scroll the print preview and inspect chapter openings, footnotes if any, and full-page images near edges.

Typography

Use a readable body font at appropriate size and line height for print. Ebook export may map the same family or substitute licensed embeddable fonts depending on your tool.

Apply heading styles to chapter titles and section breaks. Avoid manual bold and font size changes for structure; formatters and ebook converters depend on semantic headings.

Scene breaks deserve a consistent ornament or whitespace block. Random extra blank lines create ambiguous pagination in print and odd gaps on Kindle.

Limit font variety. Body plus one display face for titles is enough for most novels. Non-fiction with code or tables may need additional monospaced faces with embedding rights confirmed.

Special characters and encoding

Use proper Unicode punctuation—em dashes, curly quotes, ellipses—rather than double hyphens unless you prefer ASCII style deliberately. Broken encoding shows as replacement characters in EPUB after conversion.

Front matter and TOC

Standard front matter often includes half title, title page, copyright, dedication optional, epigraph optional, and table of contents. KDP does not mandate every element, but copyright with ISBN placeholder or statement is standard practice.

Generate the table of contents from headings, not by typing page numbers manually. Manual TOCs go stale the moment you edit a chapter title or reflow pagination.

Ebook TOCs need working navigation links in the EPUB NAV document. Print TOCs may show page numbers pulled from the layout engine after pagination stabilizes.

Verify that front matter uses Roman numerals or unnumbered pages only if your formatter supports separate numbering streams; otherwise keep front matter minimal and consistent with KDP expectations.

Images

Supply images at sufficient resolution for print, typically 300 dpi at the placed size. Downscaling is safer than upscaling blurry art.

For ebooks, compress images to balance quality and file size. Very wide images may overflow small phone screens unless CSS constrains max width.

Alt text improves accessibility in EPUB and is increasingly expected by retailers. Add concise descriptions in your formatter if supported.

Illustrated and children's books need extra care; see children's book formatting for full-page spread workflows.

Preview before upload

Run print preview at 100 percent zoom and inspect random spreads, first pages of chapters, and any full-bleed art. Look for clipped text, headings alone at page bottoms, and images crossing margin lines.

Run device preview for ebook at multiple font sizes. Reflow should preserve paragraph order and keep TOC links functional.

Fix issues in the source project. Editing exported PDF in Acrobat is a last resort for typos, not layout strategy.

Export and upload

1. Export print PDF at exact trim dimensions with fonts embedded.
2. Export EPUB3 or Kindle-targeted ebook file from the same project.
3. Upload interiors separately in KDP for paperback and Kindle.
4. Review KDP online previewer for both formats.
5. Fix source, re-export, re-upload until clean.

Manusly on Windows or macOS supports this loop with local projects, KDP trim presets, device and print preview, and export to EPUB3, Kindle, print PDF, and DOCX. It is one credible path among several; choose based on your platform and book type.

Explore formatting features, download the app, or read companion blog notes for quick reminders.

Back matter

Back matter follows the narrative body: acknowledgments, about the author, also-by pages, and optional appendices. Order affects reader expectations; literary fiction often ends acknowledgments before about-the-author bios.

Also-by pages should list titles available at publication time with consistent series branding. Update back matter when you release new books rather than leaving stale lists for years.

Appendices with charts or reference tables need the same margin and font rules as body chapters. Wide tables may require landscape pages or split layouts; verify KDP supports your chosen approach for your trim and page count.

Ebook back matter should remain navigable via TOC entries so readers can jump to marketing pages without scrolling through the entire book again.

Headers and footers

Running headers typically show book title on verso and chapter title on recto, or simplified variants for minimalist design. Consistency matters more than ornate rules.

Page numbers usually start at chapter one for fiction, with front matter using Roman numerals or no numbers depending on formatter capabilities. Misnumbered front matter confuses print proof reviewers even when readers forgive ebooks.

Suppress headers on chapter opening pages and full-page illustrations. Header text overlaying art looks unprofessional in print preview.

Ebooks often omit folios entirely because reflow changes page breaks. Do not hard-code "Page 47" references in reflowable EPUB body text unless you accept they will drift on different devices.

Troubleshooting

Clipped margins in print preview — Increase inside margin for your page count band or reduce body font size slightly. Check mirror margins are enabled.

Kindle TOC links dead — Rebuild TOC from heading styles instead of manual anchors. Remove duplicate heading ids introduced by paste from Word.

Fonts substituted in PDF — Embed fonts on export or switch to licensed embeddable families. Missing embedding shows warning in preflight tools.

Images blurry in print — Replace low-resolution placeholders with 300 dpi assets at placed size. Upscaling in Photoshop does not recover detail.

Extra blank pages — Scene breaks using manual page breaks before blank paragraphs create empty pages. Use formatter scene-break styles instead.

When stuck, export a five-chapter sample and upload to KDP draft mode if available, or use retailer preview only for that sample project before reworking the full book.

Related guides

• Best software for KDP authors
• How to create EPUB3
• EPUB vs PDF for books
• Manusly vs Atticus