KDP announces its changes on its community site, mixed in with monthly fund figures and giveaways, so the ones that matter are easy to miss. This log keeps only the changes, newest first. Each entry says what changed and what it means for you, and links to KDP's own announcement.
To hear about new entries, add the log's Atom feed to a feed reader.
The changes that reach your files
Most of the changes below are about money, accounts and programs. These six touch the files you upload:
- KDP refuses print files that carry a Lucida font, since January 2026, without an announcement.
- An ebook pre-order can show a sample of the file you uploaded, since January 2026.
- Buyers can download an ebook without DRM as EPUB or PDF, since January 2026.
- You can download the files you uploaded from your Bookshelf, since February 2026.
- Kindle Previewer 4 replaces Kindle Previewer 3, since September 2026.
- Kindle Translate makes ebooks only, so the paperback of a translation needs a file of its own.
October 2026
Kindle Unlimited becomes Kindle+, with audiobooks
Kindle Unlimited, Amazon's reading subscription, is now called Kindle+, and on Amazon.com it includes audiobooks. An audiobook made with virtual voice, Amazon's computer-generated narration, joins when its ebook is in KDP Select. That's the program that puts an ebook in the subscription in return for selling it only on Amazon. An audiobook made through ACX, Amazon's service for narrated audiobooks, joins when you enroll it in KDP Select.
Listening is paid by the page from the KDP Select Global Fund, the monthly sum shared among the authors in the subscription, just as reading is. The KENP report, which counts the pages subscribers read, now counts pages read and pages listened in Kindle+ together, with a filter for each. Pages of virtual-voice audiobooks listened to in Audible Plus are no longer in that count, for past months too.
What it means for you: your files stay as they are. To add an audiobook to Kindle+, enroll its ebook, or the ACX audiobook, in KDP Select from your Bookshelf.
KDP: Kindle Unlimited is now Kindle+, KDP audiobooks now included; KDP Reporting Updates FAQ (30 October 2026)
W-8 tax forms signed before 2023 expire at the end of 2026
A W-8 is the US tax form that publishers outside the US fill in through KDP's tax interview. One signed before 1 January 2023 expires on 31 December 2026, and KDP emails the publishers it affects. Without a new tax interview, payments for sales on the US marketplace are subject to 30% US tax withholding. A year earlier, the same notice covered forms signed before 2022.
What it means for you: if KDP emailed you, take the tax interview again in your account before 31 December 2026. Your books aren't affected.
KDP: W-8 Internal Revenue Service Form (IRS) Form; the same notice for 2025 (10 November 2025)
September 2026
Kindle Previewer 4 replaces Kindle Previewer 3
Kindle Previewer, KDP's free program for checking an ebook before you upload it, is now at version 4. It runs on Windows 10 or later and on macOS 12 or later, now also on Macs with Apple silicon. It opens the same files as before: EPUB, HTML, OPF, KPF and Word.
What it means for you: version 4 installs separately, so install it and check your next ebook in it before you upload. The files themselves don't need to change.
At most two new titles per format each week
Since 21 September 2026, an account can create at most two new titles per format each week: ebook, paperback and hardcover. Since 5 October, at most two new titles per format can also be submitted for publication each week. Both limits reset every Sunday at midnight UTC.
What it means for you: if you're releasing more than two books in one format, spread them over several weeks. Only a title's first submission counts, so updating a book you've already submitted doesn't.
Ebook pre-orders up to 18 months ahead
An ebook pre-order set up on or after 2 September 2026 can have a release date up to 18 months away. It can be postponed twice, up to six months past the first date. A second cancellation stops new pre-orders and postponements for six months.
What it means for you: the longer lead time doesn't move the deadline for the file. The final manuscript is still due 72 hours before the release date, and a pre-order without it is cancelled.
KDP: Set up pre-orders up to 18 months in advance; Change your pre-order release
July 2026
The 70% ebook royalty now reaches $12.99
Since 7 July 2026, an ebook priced from $2.99 to $12.99 on Amazon.com can earn the 70% royalty. The top of the range used to be $9.99, and the other marketplaces changed in step. The delivery cost, a charge per copy based on the file's size, still applies, and the 35% option is unchanged.
What it means for you: nothing is required. If an ebook of yours is on 35% and priced inside the new range, you can move it to 70%.
KDP: The 70% eBook Royalty Option price band has expanded to $2.99–$12.99
June 2026
No more royalty checks in euros
From August 2026, KDP no longer pays euro royalties by check: Amazon.de, .fr, .es, .it, .nl, .ie and .be. Without a bank account by 13 July 2026, euro royalties are converted at Amazon's rate and paid by US dollar check, once they reach $100.
What it means for you: if KDP offers electronic payment in your country, add a bank account, so your euro royalties arrive without the conversion.
Kindle Translate adds Portuguese (Brazil) and Italian
Kindle Translate now translates between English and Portuguese (Brazil), and between English and Italian. It's still a beta that KDP opens by invitation.
What it means for you: as before, a translation is an ebook only, so its paperback needs an interior of its own; see November 2025.
KDP: Kindle Translate: Portuguese (Brazil) and Italian now available
May 2026
Payment service providers must be in KDP's program
A payment service provider is a company that receives your royalties for you, for example where KDP can't pay into a local bank account. Since 10 November 2025, a provider added as a bank account had to be one in KDP's program. From 1 August 2026 this applies to every account paid through one, with the provider's identity check completed. Otherwise payments and publishing are put on hold.
What it means for you: if your royalties go to a payment service provider, check that it's on KDP's list and that its identity check is done.
KDP: Payment Service Provider Program Update for KDP; Payment Service Provider Program for KDP (10 November 2025); the list of providers
Printing fees stay the same in 2026
KDP doesn't change its printing fees in 2026. It reviews them every year and says it will give notice before any change.
What it means for you: a paperback's printing cost stays as it was, and so does its royalty. Our royalty calculator uses these fees.
Kindle Translate adds French
Kindle Translate now translates between English and French, both ways.
What it means for you: as with every language, the translation is an ebook only; see November 2025.
KDP: Translation between English and French now available for Kindle Translate
April 2026
More ebooks can use Kindle Translate
KDP made more ebooks eligible for Kindle Translate.
What it means for you: to see which of your ebooks qualify, start a translation from your Bookshelf.
Standard color paperbacks on Amazon.co.jp
Amazon.co.jp now sells paperbacks printed in standard color, which uses the same paper as black ink. Printing there costs 206 yen a copy plus 3.50 yen a page, or 4.50 yen a page at a large trim size.
Standard color paperbacks with Worldwide or Japan rights were listed there without being asked. A right-to-left paperback in standard color is sold only on Amazon.co.jp.
What it means for you: if you have a standard color paperback with Worldwide or Japan rights, it's now on sale in Japan. Check its list price for Amazon.co.jp under Paperback Rights & Pricing.
KDP: Standard color now available on Amazon.co.jp; the notice before the launch (23 March 2026)
Kindle Translate adds English into German
Kindle Translate now translates English into German. Until then it offered English and Spanish both ways, and German into English.
What it means for you: the German edition is an ebook only, like every translation; see November 2025.
KDP: Translation from English to German now available for Kindle Translate
February 2026
Download the files you uploaded from your Bookshelf
You can download the latest manuscript and cover you uploaded, for ebooks, paperbacks and hardcovers, from the “…” menu on your Bookshelf. It works while a book is live or a draft, but not in review or publishing. A cover made in Cover Creator can't be downloaded.
For a print book, the download is closed in the five days before a scheduled release.
What it means for you: you get back exactly what you uploaded. For a PDF that's the PDF, not the Word file you made it from, so keep your own source files.
KDP: New feature: Download your KDP print book files from Bookshelf; the help page
A cover of its own for a Kindle Translate edition
A translation made with Kindle Translate can now have its own cover, uploaded as JPG or TIFF. Without one, it uses your cover with a white border and the language of the edition at the top.
What it means for you: if you want a cover in the reader's language, make one for each translation.
January 2026
KDP refuses print files that carry a Lucida font (not announced)
From late January 2026, authors on KDP's forum report that KDP refuses print files carrying Lucida Grande, Lucida Sans Unicode or Lucida Calligraphy. The earliest report we found is dated 27 January 2026.
KDP made no announcement and names no font. Its help page on paperback fonts explains why a font is rejected and where one can hide.
What it means for you: find the Lucida font in your file and replace it, even where it's only in a symbol or a space. Our PDF checker names the font with its pages and characters; see KDP says “Unsupported fonts are used in your file”.
KDP: Paperback Fonts. KDP Community: the earliest report we found (27 January 2026); the longest thread (28 January 2026)
December 2025
Ebook pre-orders can show a reading sample
From the week of 12 January 2026, Amazon shows a Read Sample on some ebook pre-orders: up to 10% of the manuscript uploaded to KDP. A pre-order with no manuscript shows no sample, and you can ask KDP to remove one.
What it means for you: readers may see the manuscript you upload for a pre-order. Upload the final text or a placeholder page, not a rough draft.
KDP: eBook pre-orders will soon show a reading sample on Amazon - Update
Buyers can download an ebook without DRM as EPUB or PDF
DRM (digital rights management) is the copy protection that ties a bought ebook to Kindle devices and apps. Since 20 January 2026, buyers of a new ebook published without DRM can download it as an EPUB or a PDF. A book already published without DRM gets the download only if you choose “no DRM” again on its Kindle eBook Content page and publish it.
What it means for you: choose DRM knowingly. Without it, everyone who has bought the book, or will, can keep it as an EPUB or PDF file.
KDP: New eBook Download Options for Readers Coming in 2026; the help page
Ebooks in Persian, Hebrew and Latin
KDP now publishes ebooks in Persian, Hebrew and Latin, uploaded as a Word file (.doc or .docx) or an EPUB.
What it means for you: follow KDP's formatting page for these languages. Persian and Hebrew read right to left.
KDP: Publish eBooks in Persian, Hebrew & Latin; the formatting page
November 2025
Kindle Translate opens as a beta
KDP opened Kindle Translate, Amazon's AI translation service for ebooks, as a beta for invited authors. It began with English and Spanish both ways, and German into English. A translation is free and needs no formatting, and it can be published only once it passes Amazon's quality checks.
What it means for you: a translation is an ebook only, because KDP's help page says Kindle Translate can't make print books. The paperback of a translation needs its own interior; see The paperback of a translated book.
KDP: Introducing Kindle Translate in Beta; Beta: Kindle Translate
Earlier changes still in force
The print royalty falls to 50% below $9.99
Since 10 June 2025, a paperback or hardcover priced below $9.99 earns a 50% royalty instead of 60%. The other thresholds are €9.99, £7.99, 13.99 CAD, 13.99 AUD, 99 SEK, 40 PLN and 1,000 yen.
The same day, standard color printing became cheaper on Amazon.com, and premium color on Amazon.co.uk, .de, .fr, .es, .it and .nl.
What it means for you: a book you update after that date needs a list price at or above the new minimum. Our royalty calculator applies both rates.
KDP: Update - Changes to KDP royalty rates for print books priced below certain list prices; the first notice (13 May 2025)
Publishing an ebook asks about its accessibility
Since 28 May 2025, publishing a new ebook, or a new manuscript or cover for one, asks which accessibility features it has. The answers appear on the book's detail page, and KDP ties them to Europe's accessibility rules.
What it means for you: answer from what your EPUB really has, not what you'd like it to have; see What the EU now asks your ebook to say about itself.
Amazon Endure, KDP's free font
KDP released a free font for print books, Amazon Endure, and said it reduces a paperback's page count by roughly 20%.
What it means for you: in our measurement, Endure made more pages at the same size, not fewer. Set 1.5 points smaller, it made 9% to 14% fewer pages than Times New Roman; see Does Amazon Endure cut your page count by 20%?
KDP: KDP Print on Demand launches Endure font that saves paper
KDP's own pages are what count. Each entry links to its announcement; read it before you change a book or an account.